Diamond Investing News on coloured diamonds

 

Demand for colored diamonds is surging and prices are rapidly following the upward trend. According to Leibish Polnauer, President of Leibish & Co, a five carat yellow diamond is currently selling in the range of  $75,000-$100,000, and notes that this is a 40 percent increase over last year’s prices. Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD), whose Ellendale mine supplies Tiffany & Co. with yellow diamonds, announced that in the first quarter of 2011, it sold the jeweller these stones for an average of $3,379 per carat compared to $2, 545 per carat during the first quarter of 2010.

Interest in colored diamond prices and the profit potential of the stones is extending beyond producers and industry consumers to an expanding number of individual diamond investors. Leibish & Co maintains a special inventory of investment grade colored diamonds and confirms an increase of profit-focused clientele. Sean Dunn, Vice President of J.R. Dunn, reported a similar trend. Tight supply and growing demand, especially in emerging countries, are increasing prices throughout the diamond industry.

However, colored diamonds are much rarer than white stones, therefore a surge in interest is difficult to accommodate. High-end US consumers have come back to the market, said Dunn. “But demand in Asia is simply outstripping supply,” he adds. “Our inventory often sells faster to international clients. Some fly in willing to pay prices above retail. They take the diamonds overseas and sell them for even more.” Both India and Hong Kong are considered hot markets for colored diamond activity.

Before investing

Predictions for growth and longevity in the colored diamond market are highly optimistic. However, there are a number of things to consider before getting into this game. Foremost, is the forewarning that these investments are not for everyone.

Leibish says colored diamond investing is for people with liquidity and a long term view. According to Dunn, demand allows some people who bought diamonds in 2010 to sell them for decent returns now, something that hasn’t always been done. By his own account Polnauer says, Leibish sold an intense 4 carat yellow diamond about a year ago. The jeweler offered to buy it back at a 20 percent premium and the client refused. It’s all about the stone a person possesses, which is why Polnauer says an investor must study this market.

Dunn further stresses that investing in colored diamonds is a gamble. He also highlights the fact that some stones definitely offer a much higher probability of attractive returns, but, there is never a guarantee. “Generally, smaller stones (a carat or less) are harder to capitalize on. But there are exceptions.” Australian pinks are considered extremely rare and blues also tend to be placed in the rare and desirable categories. These stones may warrant investment at smaller sizes. Another thing, says Dunn, is that investors should avoid stones with undesirable characteristics.

Individuals who want to avoid venturing unguided into this market may want to consider the Novel Diamond Fund. The first of its kind, the newly launched fund specializes almost exclusively in the investment of colored stones. In an interview with Bloomberg, Alan Landau, CEO of Novel Asset Management, explained that the fund will focus on diamonds valued at $1 million or more. Investors will, therefore, be able to enjoy the historically high returns in this type of investment which have thus far been enjoyed mostly by those in the industry.

Instead of the buy and hold strategy common among funds of other types, Landau said this fund is going to exploit a spread created by buying at wholesale prices and selling at retail. Although open to new investors now, the fund is scheduled to close in October. Landau told Bloomberg he expects major institutions to catch on to the diamond investing trend and move into this market. Polnauer told Diamond Investing News, he expects colored diamonds to be like gold… experiencing drastic price increases over the span of a few years.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

MORE INFO >>> admin@acbocallcentre.com

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EBAY TO SLUG SELLERS WITH HIGHER FEES

eBay Australia has revealed plans to more than double its fees on some auction listings, effectively penalising non-professional sellers.

The days of eBay as largely an online garage sale are finished as the company pushes sellers away from second-hand auctions towards listing new items in the fixed price format and on eBay Stores.

But as consumers and mum and dad sellers typically run one-off auctions as opposed to opening their own stores or setting a fixed price, they appear to be left worse off by the upcoming changes.

From September 22, eBay Australia will scrap insertion fees for the first 30 items listed for auction in a month. Insertion fees currently range from $0.30 to $3.50 for most items (excluding vehicles).

However, final value fees will increase from 5.25 per cent to 7.9 per cent, capped at $49.95 for each of the first 30 listings per month. This is now the same as the final value fee paid by professional sellers with eBay Stores.

Today, on a $600 item with a starting price of $400, users pay a $3.50 insertion fee plus an $18.40 final value fee (5.25 per cent of the first $75 then 2.75 per cent of the next $525). This gives a total of nearly $22 in fees.

Under the changes, on a $600 item, there will be no insertion fee but a 7.9 per cent final value fee of $47.40 will be levied.

For lower value listings such as a $20 item with a starting price of $0.99, fees will rise from $1.35 to $1.58.

“In recognition of the changing Australian retail landscape, the fee changes are aimed at encouraging professional and business sellers to list more Buy It Now items in Stores,” eBay said in announcing the changes.

It said online shoppers were predominantly interested in fixed price sales and that it expected future growth in e-commerce would primarily come from fixed price formats such as Buy It Now, which is now the most common format on the site.

eBay said the new fees would be run on a trial basis with a view to making them permanent if they “meet sellers’ needs”.

Angus Kidman, technology writer and blogger at Lifehacker.com.au, said it may be time for sellers to protest.

“This feels a little like unfair exploitation of power to me,” he said.

eBay Australia spokesman Daniel Feiler said the changes were not a revenue raising exercise and would in fact be a zero sum game for eBay considering that the insertion fees had been scrapped.

He said that while the fee increases were pronounced for high value auctions, people who sell stuff from around their homes are generally selling items that are of much lower value.

“We’ve got an issue on eBay and that is simply that most people associate us with auctions and second hand when actually the majority of our business in 2011 is fixed price buy-it-now items from retail or business sellers,” Feiler said.

“On the consumer side the big issue that the consumer has when they sell on eBay, the biggest barrier to them listing, are the insertion fees, so we’re getting rid of the insertion fees.

“But to afford us to do that we have to increase the final value fees. We net out neutral on this one.”

A spokeswoman for consumer group Choice said she did not know whether the changes would be beneficial for consumers on balance because it depended on whether the money they saved on insertion fees was more or less than the increase in the final value fee.

The Australian branch of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance said “changes like these can be difficult to digest” but, from the Alliance’s perspective, eBay changes were generally positive.

PeSA spokesman Shaun O’Brien said eBay “tend to skew their changes to guide sellers to list in formats that buyers want, in this case heavily biased to encourage fixed price, which our sales data agrees with eBay’s in suggesting it’s the most popular format”.

Sydneysider Franco Lagudi, founder of a new eBay competitor The SOC Exchange, said the price changes showed eBay had forgotten about the individual and novice sellers that were the heart or engine room of the site.

He criticised the various fees charged by eBay including insertion fees, final value fees, listing upgrade fees, picture service fees, seller tool fees, optional feature fees and reserve price fees. The company also double dips on fees with extra charges for use of its PayPal service.

Lagudi’s business model is to charge a flat rate membership fee of $10 a year with no added fees.

“eBay’s move to professional sellers appears to be a move to exploit its dominant position and profits in the space and I urge people to fight back,” he said.

There are a number of other eBay competitors in Australia, including Gumtree, Quicksales and Craigslist, but eBay is by far the dominant player.

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CHINESE PRETTY BABY RORTS RED CROSS CHINA DONATIONS

She calls the white Maserati she drives the “little horse”, and her orange Lamborghini the “little bull”.

Guo Meimei, 20 – who goes by the name “Guo Meimei Baby” – may be just another young woman flaunting her wealth through photographs posted on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, but her link to the Red Cross of China has sparked a national debate around how donations to charities are used.

The Red Cross of China is one of the country’s largest charities and has strong ties to the communist government. And evidence of Ms Guo’s extravagant lifestyle has made the Chinese suspicious in a country where the divide between rich and poor is growing and corruption is rife.

Guo Meimei Baby … accused of taking money that was meant for charity. Photo: AFP 

In her microblog, Ms Guo, whose name “Mei” means “pretty”, has posted photos of herself with the sports cars, a pile of luxury Hermes handbags, sipping drinks in business class on a flight and showing off her luxury villa.

She identified herself as “commercial general manager” at the Red Cross, a position verified by Sina – the company that runs Weibo.

Suspicious Chinese netizens are asking how a young woman such as Ms Guo came into such wealth. Did she or her boyfriend embezzle money from the Red Cross to line their own pockets?

In business class … Guo Meimei Baby. Photo: AFP 

Their suspicions were fuelled by a photo that surfaced on the internet in April, which revealed the Shanghai branch of the Red Cross spent 9859 yuan ($1420) on a meal.

China’s state auditor also announced in recent weeks that it found five discrepancies in its review of the Red Cross’s 2010 budget, prompting a denial of corrupt practices from the organisation, which has often been in the forefront of official fund-raising drives following natural disasters.

Ms Guo later backtracked on her Red Cross job title as China’s online activists swung into action and dug up information about her past and her relationships.

One of her cars … Guo Meimei Baby. Photo: AFP 

But the damage had been done and rumours about Ms Guo and the Red Cross continued to grow.

When she tried to leave the country – purportedly to Australia – to get away from the spotlight, the Australian embassy in Beijing was inundated with calls and emails from people expressing fears that she was going to run away with “their donation money”, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The netizens had alleged Ms Guo was the girlfriend or mistress of a senior official, 42-year-old Wang Jun, who organised charity campaigns for the Red Cross.

Living the high life … Guo Meimei Baby poses on a horse. Photo: AFP 

On Weibo alone, more than 600,000 posts a day were written about Ms Guo, London’s Daily Telegraph reported. It claims more than 140 million users.

Mr Wang was forced to resign from his job as a result of the furore, while the Red Cross vehemently denied any links to Ms Guo.

Ms Guo played down her links with the mega-charity in a special report into the controversy on national broadcaster CCTV.

“The wording ‘Red Cross Society’ is too sensitive,” Malaysia’s The Star newspaper reported her as saying.

“Everybody was saying that I used the organisation to make big bucks.”

The English-language China Daily – another state-run paper – weighed in on the debate.

“The RCSC [Red Cross Society of China], as a non-profit charity organisation, has the obligation to keep all its activities transparent and let the public know how it manages its donations and where it has spent them.

“Yet, its lack of transparency in the use of charity donations has long been a matter of concern to the public.”

The People’s Daily - the mouthpiece of China’s Communist Party – also acknowledged the growing influence of social networking tools on Chinese society and politics in an article titled: How microblogging power shakes reality in China.

“Microblogging was introduced in China in 2009 and has quickly developed into a major channel of public opinions within less than three years. Many hot incidents were first exposed through microblog posts.

“From the forum to microblogging, the people’s enthusiasm and ability to participate in public affairs has greatly risen along with the [i]nternet, which is developing at an unbelievable speed.”

English-language social media sites Facebook and Twitter – which attract millions of users worldwide and through which aspects of the Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa were organised – are banned in China.

Yet local sites Tencent (China’s largest internet service portal), Weibo, Baidu (a search engine) and Renren (sometimes dubbed the Chinese Facebook) have grown in popularity in recent years, and are among the world’s most visited online networking sites.

The ultimate victim of the widespread outrage may be China’s philanthropy drive.

Last year, Chinese citizens donated 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) to charities compared with 54 billion yuan in 2009, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted the official Xinhua news agency.

The country is still new to philanthropy and the China Development Brief, a prominent publication, said local charities’ “lack of transparency and mechanisms to track donations” remained major stumbling blocks, AFP said.

The China Daily said as a result of the uproar over Ms Guo, 90 per cent of people who took part in an online poll the newspaper conducted indicated they would not donate to the Red Cross of China any more.

The Financial Times noted: “There is also a deeper problem in the lack of trust in a society whose wealthiest members often get rich through government connections.

“The idea that people would, out of the goodness of their hearts, give money away is scoffed at.”

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WORLDS WEALTH DISTRIBUTION CHARTS

December 7, 2006 A new study on The World Distribution of Household Wealth by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University was launched earlier this week.

The study shows the richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth. The most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken also reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total.

In contrast, the bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth.

The research finds that assets of US$2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution in the year 2000.

To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world required US$61,000 in assets, and more than US$500,000 was needed to belong to the richest 1%, a group which — with 37 million members worldwide — is far from an exclusive club.

Sourced & published  by Henry Sapiecha

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?THOUSANDS OF WEB SITES DESTROYED BY HACKERS

At least 4800 Australian websites have been lost with no chance of recovery following a break-in at Australian domain registrar and web host Distribute.IT.

The hack attack caused so much damage that four of the company’s servers were “unrecoverable”, the company said, leaving thousands of website owners in the lurch.

“The overall magnitude of the tragedy and the loss of our information and yours is simply incalculable; and we are distressed by the actions of the parties responsible for this reprehensible act,” Distribute.IT said.

As reported by Fairfax Media last week, Distribute.IT was hit with a “deliberate, premeditated and targeted attack” on its servers last Saturday but it is still struggling to work out exactly what happened or how much data was stolen.

Security experts warned that thousands of websites were vulnerable to being hijacked and extensive private data were at risk of being stolen.

Customers hit the Whirlpool forums to complain that Distribute.IT had not adequately responded with information about the break-in and that the hack “has probably killed my business”.

In a statement published today, Distribute.IT said it had been working around the clock in an attempt to recover data from its affected servers.

“At this time, We regret to inform that the data, sites and emails that were hosted on Drought, Hurricane, Blizzard and Cyclone can be considered by all the experts to be unrecoverable,” it said.

“While every effort will be made to continue to gain access to the lost information from those hosting servers, it seems unlikely that any usable data will can be salvaged from these platforms.

“In assessing the situation, our greatest fears have been confirmed that not only was the production data erased during the attack, but also key backups, snapshots and other information that would allow us to reconstruct these servers from the remaining data.”

The company said 4800 websites were affected and since it did not have the capacity to transfer the domain names to other parts of its platform, Distribute.IT had no choice “but to assist you in any way possible to transfer your hosting and email needs to other hosting providers”.

The significant data loss has raised questions from backup experts as to why Distribute.IT did not appear to have offsite backups of customer data.

Distribute.IT has still not been able to get its website back online and it is using a Google Blogger account to update customers. Its phone lines have been ringing out and its email is down, forcing the company to use a temporary Gmail addresss – distributeit888@gmail.com.

Rob McAdam, CEO of security firm Pure Hacking, said the issue was a “catastrophic problem” for those with websites hosted by Distribute.IT.

“If these clients of Distribute.IT had no other backup other than what was at Distribute.IT, they would then have to rebuild their site – from scratch,” he said.

“From the Distribute.IT blog post, it appears that they have lost all of the content for these web sites and any associated backups that Distribute.IT kept.”

James Turner, security analyst at IBRS, said: “This could be the nightmare scenario that every small/medium businessperson working on the internet has in the back of their minds. If the attack is as described then the malice behind it is appalling.”

On the Whirlpool discussion forums, where there are over 60 pages of posts discussing the Distribute.IT hack, customers were livid at finding out their data was gone forever.

“I think I’m in shock … I have lost everything …. I couldnt possibly replicate all those years of work again … my whole lifes work is gone down the drain,” wrote one.

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Rank	Name	Organization	Age
1	Hu Jintao President Peoples Republic of China	People’s Republic of China	68
2	Barack Obama President United States of America	United States of America	49
3	Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud King	Saudi Arabia	86
4	Vladimir Putin Prime Minister	Russia	58
5	Pope Benedict XVI Pope	Roman Catholic Church	84
6	Angela Merkel Chancellor	Germany	56
7	David Cameron Prime Minister	United Kingdom	44
8	Ben Bernanke Chairman	Federal Reserve	57
9	Sonia Gandhi President	Indian National Congress	64
10	Bill Gates Co-Chair 11   Zhou Xiaochuan Governor People’s Bank of China 63 12   Dmitry Medvedev President Russia 45 13   Rupert Murdoch CEO News Corp. 80 14   Silvio Berlusconi & family Prime Minister Italy 74 15   Jean-Claude Trichet President European Central Bank 68 16   Dilma Rousseff President Brazil 63 17   Steve Jobs CEO Apple 56 18   Manmohan Singh Prime Minister India 78 19   Nicolas Sarkozy President France 56 20   Hillary Clinton Secretary of State 21   Carlos Slim Helu & family Chairman Telmex 71 22   Larry Page Co-Founder Google 38 22   Sergey Brin Co-Founder Google 37 23   Michael Bloomberg Mayor New York City 69 24   Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister Israel 61 25   Michael Duke CEO Wal-Mart 61 26   Ali Hoseini-Khamenei Grand Ayatollah Iran 71 27   Naoto Kan Prime Minister Japan 64 28   Timothy Geithner Secretary of the Treasury United States of America 49 29   Ashfaq Parvez Kayani – Pakistan Chief of Army Staff     30   Lou Jiwei Chairman China Investment Corporation 60 31   Kim Jong-il Supreme Leader North Korea 69 32   Li Changchun Propaganda Chief People’s Republic of China 67 33   Warren Buffett CEO Berkshire Hathaway 80 34   Mukesh Ambani Chairman Reliance Industries 54 35   Jeffrey Immelt CEO General Electric 55 36   Li Ka-shing Chairman Hutchison Whampoa & Chueng Kong Holdings 83 37   Dominique Strauss-Kahn Managing Director International Monetary Fund 62 38   Masaaki Shirakawa Governor Bank of Japan 61 39   Dalai Lama Dalai Lama Tibet 75 47 56 61 42 61 80 55 58 63 Pakistan 59 United States of America 63	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	55

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		Age
1	#1 Cher Wang & Wenchi Chen Net Worth $8.8 Billion Source HTC Age 53 Marital Status Married, 2 children Taiwan’s richest couple is on an upswing. Shares in smartphone manufacturer HTC have nearly tripled in past year on strong sales, a gain that helped catapult them to the top of this year’s Taiwan rich list. HTC is also expected to enter the market for tablet PCs in April with a model called the Flyer. Wang, one of 9 children of deceased Taiwan management icon Y.C. Wang (see Wang Yung-Tsai, No. 6), was part of an investor group that bought a 26% stake in Hong Kong television broadcaster TVBS earlier this year. Her mother died in March
2	#2 Tsai Wan Tsai Net Worth $7.0 Billion Source finance Age 81 Marital Status Married, 4 children Tsai and sons Daniel and Richard have turned Fubon Financial into one of Taiwan’s most successful financial institutions, expanding from a core in nonlife insurance to a brokerage-to-bank business. The company is looking to expand in Taiwan through acquisitions and is eyeing China growth through a stake in Xiamen International Bank. Major investor in Taipei Mobile and cable stations. Nephews T.Y. Tsai, Tsai Hong-Tu and Tsai Cheng-Da are also on this year’s list.	7,000	81
3	#3 Tsai Eng-Meng Net Worth $6.1 Billion Source food Age 54 Marital Status NA Built a fortune in the snack business on the mainland, using experience gained with the same products back home in Taiwan. Tsai’s Want Want China is also turning itself into a beverage company. Some $1.1 billion, nearly half of the company’s 2010 sales, came from beverages, mostly Hot-Kid milk. Tsai is also in the media, hotel and insurance industries.	6,100	54
4	#4 Wei Ing-Chou Net Worth $5.7 Billion Source food Age 57 Marital Status Married, 3 children This fortune includes stakes held by 4 brothers—Wei Ing-Chou, Wei Ying-Chiao, Wei Yin-Chun and Wei Yin-Heng—who have turned Tingyi into one of the world’s most successful food and beverage companies	5,700	57
5	#5 Terry Gou Net Worth $5.6 Billion Source electronics Age 60 Marital Status Married, 3 children Taiwan’s richest man in 2010, Gou runs electronics contract manufacturer include Apple and HP. A spate of suicides at mainland facilities has ebbed, but subsequent wage increases and rising costs have eroded profits. Gou founded the company in 1974 with $7,500. Reportedly looking to make large investments in Brazil.	5,600	60
6	#6 Wang Yung-Tsa Net Worth $3.9 Billion Source plastics Age 90 Marital Status Married Younger brother of deceased Taiwan business icon Y.C. Wang quietly helped create one of Asia’s largest petrochemical giants, the Formosa Plastics Group. Main businesses include Formosa Plastics, Nan Yan Plastics and Formosa Chemicals. Controversy has followed Y.C.’s death: The empire has run afoul of the Taiwan government in connection with a spate of pollution and safety problems. Formosa Petrochemical said in May it would form a joint venture with Kraton of the U.S. to produce thermoplastic rubber.	3,900	90
7	#7 Barry Lam Net Worth $3.3 Billion Source quanta computer Age 62 Marital Status Married, 2 children Taiwan electronics industry pioneer is holding his own wealthwise at a time when the popularity of smartphones is creating upheaval in the market for his main product, notebook computers. Shares in Lam’s Quanta Computer, one of the world’s biggest notebook makers, are flat for the year. Quanta is a patron of the arts	3,300	62
8	#8 Lin Yu-Lin Barry Lam Luo Jye Net Worth $3 Billion Source real estate Age 75 Marital Status Married, 7 children Lin’s fortune has benefited from the recovery of Taiwan’s real estate market. Owns key commercial property, including Hung Tai Center, and investments in companies such as Hung Sheng Construction, Cooperative Construction and Hung Tai Asset Management, as well as part of En Tie Commercial Bank. Hobby: golf. Brother Lin Rong San, No. 10 on the list, has separate real estate empire.	3,000	75
9	#9 Luo Jye Net Worth $2.9 Billion Source tires Age 85 Marital Status Married, 4 children From early success in Taiwan as a supplier of bicycle tires, Luo-led tiremaker Cheng Shin Rubber has ridden China’s auto industry boom into the ranks of the world’s billionaires. Cheng Shin supplies the China market from a large manufacturing base in Fujian Province, across the Taiwan Strait. Shares have risen 49% in the past year. Customers include GM, Ford. It plans to expand in Taiwan and China.	2,900	85
10	#10 Lin Rong San Net Worth $2.8 Billion Source real estate Age 72 Marital Status Married, 4 children Lin has built one of Taiwan’s largest property fortunes with large holdings in northern Taiwan. Political shaker close to former Taiwan president Lee Teng-Hui is less than loved in China: Lin publishes the Liberty Times, a popular daily that’s skeptical about China. Controls Union Bank, shares of which have climbed more than 40% in the past year. Three sons are actively involved in the business empire. Brother Lin Yu-Lin also on this year’s list.	2,800	72
11	#11 Jason Chang Net Worth $2.3 Billion Source electronics Age 67 Marital Status Married, 3 children Shares of Chang’s semiconductor packaging company, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, surged 20% over the past year. The family, which has listed real estate company Hung Ching Development in Taiwan, has also been accumulating real estate on the mainland, including Shanghai.	2,300	67
12	#12 T.Y. Tsai Net Worth $2.25 Billion Source finance Age NA Marital Status NA One of 3 Tsai family brothers who inherited most of Cathay Financial Holding when their father, Tsai Wan-Lin, died in 2004. T.Y. sold most of his stock to brothers Hong-Tu and Cheng-Da last year, industry sources say. Outgoing sibling is now investing in real estate projects. Sole child, a daughter, is helping in new company. Cathay Financial says it can’t comment on any transfer of shares among the 3 brothers. Collects cars.	2,250	-
		2,200	65
14	#14 Michael Chiang Net Worth $2 Billion Source electronics Age 58 Marital Status Married, 2 children Chiang debuts on the Taiwan rich list after the IPO last year of TPK Holdings, a supplier of touchscreens for Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Based in Taiwan, the company mainly manufactures its products in Xiamen in mainland China. Chiang’s first company, TVM, was a supplier of video monitors. Shares fortune with his wife.	2,000	58
15	#15 Chao Teng-Hsiung Net Worth $1.7 Billion Source real estate Age 67 Marital Status Married, 3 children Chao’s real estate development company, Farglory Land Development, ranks as one of Taiwan’s largest. It is expanding on the mainland through a joint venture with Hong Kong billionaire Hui Wing Mao’s Shimao Group. Last November announced plans to invest as much as $1 billion in a project that will house the stock exchange in Abu Dhabi.	1,700	67
16	#16 Chang Yung Fa Net Worth $1.65 Billion Source transport Age 83 Marital Status 4 children His Evergreen Marine is one of the world’s largest container shipping companies. Other Chang-controlled businesses include carrier EVA Air, Evergreen Transport and Central Insurance. EVA said in December that it would pay $50 million for a 16% stake in China Cargo Airlines, a mainland cargo joint venture between China Eastern Airlines and China Ocean Shipping Group, both of China. Donated $12 million to the Japanese Red Cross after that country’s earthquake in March.	1,650	83
17	#17 Liao Long-Shing Net Worth $1.6 Billion Source petrochemicals Age 58 Marital Status Married, 2 children Liao’s late father, Suhon Lin, cofounded Chang Chun Group with Tseng Shin-Yi in 1949. The 3 families each own a third of what today has become a major plastics and petrochemicals manufacturer with interests in Taiwan and the mainland. Overseas business partners include Bayer and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical.	1,600	58
17	#17 Suhon Lin Net Worth $1.6 Billion Source petrochemicals Age 83 Marital Status Married, 4 children Liao’s late father, Suhon Lin, cofounded Chang Chun Group with Tseng Shin-Yi in 1949. The 3 families each own a third of what today has become a major plastics and petrochemicals manufacturer with interests in Taiwan and the mainland. Overseas business partners include Bayer and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical.	1,600	83
17	#17 Tseng Shin-Yi Net Worth $1.6 Billion Source petrochemicals Age 83 Marital Status Married, 2 children Liao’s late father, Suhon Lin, cofounded Chang Chun Group with Tseng Shin-Yi in 1949. The 3 families each own a third of what today has become a major plastics and petrochemicals manufacturer with interests in Taiwan and the mainland. Overseas business partners include Bayer and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical	1,600	83
20	#20 Tsai Cheng-Da Net Worth $1.55 Billion Source finance Age NA Marital Status Married Two of 3 Tsai brothers who inherited large stakes in Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holding when their father, Tsai Wan-Lin, died in 2004. With brother Cheng-Da, Hong-Tu bought most of younger sibling T.Y.’s shares at the end of last year, say industry sources. Cheng-Da remains chairman. Cathay says it can’t comment on any transfer of shares among the 3 brothers.	1,550	-
20	#20 Tsai Hong-Tu Net Worth $1.55 Billion Source finance Age 69 Marital Status Married, 3 children Two of 3 Tsai brothers who inherited large stakes in Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holding when their father, Tsai Wan-Lin, died in 2004. With brother Cheng-Da, Hong-Tu bought most of younger sibling T.Y.’s shares at the end of last year, say industry sources. Cheng-Da remains chairman. Cathay says it can’t comment on any transfer of shares among the 3 brothers.	1,550	69
22	#22 Lin Yu-Chia Net Worth $1.5 Billion Source glass Age NA Marital Status NA Shares of glass manufacturer Taiwan Glass soared 72% over the past year, nearly doubling the family’s fortune. Revenues last year rose by 25% to $1.4 billion.	1,500	-
23	#23 Leslie Koo Net Worth $1.45 Billion Source cement Age 57 Marital Status Married, 2 children Taiwan Cement, founded by Koo’s father, is thriving in China. The company has been expanding production of new facilities at a time when the Chinese government is looking to retire in-efficient older ones. Profit at Taiwan Cement’s Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, TCC International Holdings, quintupled to $100 million in 2010.	1,450	57
24	#24 Samuel Yin Net Worth $1.43 Billion Source diversified Age NA Marital Status NA Heads Reuntex Group, with interests in real estate and retail. Looking to team up with Pou Chen Corp. (see Tsai Chi Jui, No. 31) to purchase AIG’s Taiwan operation, Nan Shan Life Insurance. Long-awaited listing of Yin’s China hypermarket chain, RT-Mart China, on track for 2011. Founded the Guanghua Education Foundation on the mainland, which has provided support to 100,000 graduate students.	1,430	-
25	#25 Hsu Chen Net Worth $1.41 Billion Source food Age 59 Marital Status Married, 1 child Cofounder and chairman of Hsu Fu Chi International, which produces and sells cookies and sweets in China. Singapore-listed company is based in mainland China’s Guangdong Province. Sales in the 12 months to June 2010 rose 14% to $662 million. New product: Mobao, a muffin cake. Brothers Hsu Hang and Hsu Pu serve on the company’s board.	1,410	59
26	#26 Chen Yung-Tai Net Worth $1.4 Billion Source real estate Age 75 Marital Status NA Chen parlayed success selling office equipment in Taiwan early in his career into a cross-Strait distribution and real estate empire. Aurora Telecom distributes telecommunications products in nearly 300 stores in Taiwan. Aurora Corp. sells office equipment. Chen has choice property across from the Bund in Shanghai and in the Hsinyi District in Taipei.	1,400	75
27	#27 Douglas Hsu Net Worth $1.38 Billion Source diversified Age 68 Marital Status Married, 3 children Far Eastern Group, founded by Hsu’s father, has business in textiles, mobile phones, transportation, retailing and banking, among other businesses. Its polyester unit has seen rising demand in the face of higher prices for cotton in the past year. Shares in flagship Far Eastern Century have gained by more than a third in the past year. A Taiwan court last September cleared Hsu of all wrongdoing in connection with a department store takeover.	1,380	68
28	#28 Tsai Ming-Kai Net Worth $1.35 Billion Source semiconductors Age 61 Marital Status NA Leads Mediatek, a semiconductor design company specializing in chips for TVs, DVDs and wireless communications. Sales in the first quarter plunged by 39% from a year earlier; profit margins were off as well. Looking to expand its customers, MediaB-tek in March acquired Wi-Fi chip supplier Ralink in an all-stock transaction. Tsai holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University and the University of Cincinnati, respectively.	1,350	61
29	#29 Jeffrey Koo Net Worth $1.3 Billion Source finance Age 77 Marital Status Married, 4 children Financial industry tycoon’s wealth picks up this year as earnings at his flagship bank, Chinatrust, improved. Family-controlled brokerage KGI hopes to expand in China following the signing of a cross-Strait economic agreement last year. Son Andre privatized Singapore-listed Finance One. Leslie Koo (No. 23) is his nephew.	1,300	77
30	#30 Kenneth Yen Net Worth $1.29 Billion Source autos Age 46 Marital Status Married, 1 child Yen chairs Yulon Motor, Taiwan’s largest automaker and a joint venture partner of Nissan in Taiwan. Inroads in China have helped boost the company’s stock price 90% in the past year.	1,290	46
31	#31 Tsai Chi Jui Net Worth $1.28 Billion Source shoes Age 71 Marital Status Married, 3 children The family’s Taiwan-listed Pou Chen Corp. is one of the world’s largest shoe and sportswear producers. A supplier to Nike, Adidas and Reebok, it operates factories in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico, producing 284 million pairs of shoes in the year ending September 2010. Retail flagship Pou Sheng International handles sales in China for some of its manufacturing customers. One problem on the horizon: rising commodity costs.	1,280	71
32	#32 Allen Horng Net Worth $1.26 Billion Source electronics Age NA Marital Status NA Horng’s Catcher Technology is a tech standout. Shares in the supplier of computer cases to Apple, Dell and others have soared 138% in the past year, making Horng a returnee to this year’s list. Catcher was founded in 1984. Horng began his career as an ear, nose and throat doctor.	1,260	-
33	#33 Tsai Yung-Lung Net Worth $1.25 Billion Source manufacturing Age 55 Marital Status Married, 1 child Chairs Gem-Year Industrial, producer of bolts, nuts, screws and other fasteners. Sales in 2010 grew an impressive 77% to $462 million. Gem-Year went public in Shanghai in 2007.	1,250	55
34	#34 Lin Ming-Cheng Net Worth $1.2 Billion Source finance Age 68 Marital Status Married, 3 children President of Hua Nan Bank hails from one of Taiwan’s multigenerational fortunes. Shares in Hua Nan’s parent rose by a third in the past year. Another investment: Ta Yung Hsing Yeh real estate company.	1,200	68
35	#35 Chen Chao Chuan Net Worth $1.15 Billion Source shipping Age 82 Marital Status Married, 7 children Runs Wan Hai Lines, one of the largest Asian shipping companies. Shares have climbed nearly 30% since last year. Teamed up with No. 16 Chang Yung Fa’s Evergreen and Interasia Lines of Japan to launch a service to Madras, India in April.	1,150	82
36	#36 Steven Pan Net Worth $1.1 Billion Source hotels Age 46 Marital Status NA Family-owned hotel company Formosa International Hotels is digesting its 2010 acquisition of Regent International, which has 5-star hotels in Beijing, Berlin, Bordeaux, Singapore, Taipei and other cites.	1,100	46
37	#37 Wu Chung-Yi Net Worth $1 Billion Source manufacturing Age 55 Marital Status NA Chairman of Fine Blanking, a manufacturer of auto parts. Made most of his money through a stake in Tingyi before he sold his stake in 2007. Member of the board of directors at Wei Chuan, a food company that is partly owned by Tingyi.	1,000	55
38	#38 Lin Ming-Hsiung Net Worth $980 Million Source retailing Age 62 Marital Status Married, 3 children Controls PX Mart, a low-cost department store chain with 574 stores in Taiwan that benefited from economic recovery last year: Sales rose 16% last year to $2 billion.	980	62
39	#39 Bruce Cheng Net Worth $950 Million Source electronics Age 75 Marital Status Married, 2 children Founder of Delta Electronics, one of Asia’s largest makers of power supplies, with plants in Taiwan, China, Mexico. Invested $15 million in a fourth plant in India this year.	950	75
40	#40 Shi Wen Long Net Worth $930 Million Source plastics Age 82 Marital Status Married Shi made his early money in plastics through Chi Mei Corp. Now a late career fling in tech is losing money. Chimei Innolux, a flat-panel business in which Shi holds a minority stake, lost $475 million in the first quarter of 2011.	930	82

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IS AUSTRALIA A SICK COUNTRY?

BOAT PEOPLE COME HERE AND

SUE US FOR GETTING STRESSED

AND WE PAY THEM

COMPENSATION.

LEGAL SYSTEM GONE MAD

Asylum compo bill tops $16m

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Europe’s 25 Richest

Ingvar Kamprad & family

Sweden
$23 billion
Source: Ikea

Ikea’s reputation under fire. In Russia company fired two top managers for allowing bribes to a power supplier. In France firm is facing an extended workers’ strike. A former managing director has published a book exposing questionable ethics.

Stefan Persson

Sweden
$22.4 billion
Source: Hennes & Mauritz

“Cheap chic” mogul is chairman of Hennes & Mauritz (H&M); promoted son, Karl-Johan, 34, to chief executive in July. Retailer is known for bringing on big names, like Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, to design affordable collections for its 1,900 stores.

Liliane Bettencourt

France
$20 billion
Source: L’Oreal

Makeup heiress’ fortune rebounding with L’Oreal shares. Company, founded by her father, celebrated its 100th birthday in 2009. Last year only daughter and heir, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, petitioned courts to investigate reported $1.4 billion worth of cash and gifts her mother allegedly gave to Francois-Marie Banier, 61, a well-known photographer, writer and painter she befriended. Daughter claims Banier took advantage of her mother, who became a widow in 2007. Liliane denies it.

Michael Otto & family

Germany
$18.7 billion
Source: retail

Father Werner Otto, who turned 100 last August, started out with a 14-page shoe catalog in 1949. Michael joined in 1971, expanded operations overseas and moved company into Internet sales; now world’s second biggest Internet retailer after Amazon.

Michele Ferrero & family

Italy
$17 billion
Source: chocolates

Secretive chocolate chief mulled bidding for British rival Cadbury; backed off this January. Richest man in Italy owns privately held Ferrero, chocolatier that makes such brands as Ferrero Rocher, Nutella, Tic Tac and Kinder Eggs. 2008 Sales: $8.4 billion.

Theo Albrecht

Germany
$16.7 billion
Source: Aldi, Trader Joe’s

Owns discount supermarket group Aldi Nord. With estimated sales of $34 billion, still a sector leader, but lost ground this year as flat sales and strong rivals in some of its European markets pushed down profits. Has been more successful with his U.S. holding: discount food chain Trader Joe’s 340 stores have attracted cost-conscious customers during the recession.

Vladimir Lisin

Russia
$15.8 billion
Source: steel

Russia’s richest is a proletarian success story. First job was as a mechanic in a coal mine. After college in Siberia got job as steelworker. In 1991, when his boss was appointed minister of metallurgy, Lisin came with him to Moscow.

Mikhail Prokhorov

Russian
$13.4 billion
Source: cash, investments

Bachelor billionaire making moves in the U.S. Last fall his Onexim signed an agreement to buy 45% of the Atlantic Yards development project, a stadium and apartment complex in New York, for $200 million; he will also get an 80% stake in the New Jersey Nets basketball team.

Birgit Rausing & family

Sweden
$13 billion
Source: packaging

After death of her husband Gad Rausing in 2000, she and her three children inherited packaging giant Tetra Laval. It was her father-in-law who founded the company, which revolutionized the packaging of liquids such as juices and milk, in 1944. Today sales are $15.3 billion.

Mikhail Fridman

Russia
$12.7 billion
Source: oil, banking, telecom

His Alfa Group, which he shares with fellow billionaires German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, buoyed by rising oil prices; stake in TNK-BP doubled over the past year. Interest in Alfa Bank also up; the bank recovered most of its money from borrowers like fellow billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor

& family

U.K.
$12 billion
Source: real estate

The sixth Duke of Westminster is the U.K.’s wealthiest land owner. His Grosvenor property group has valuable holdings on 5 continents: posh Mayfair and Belgravia neighborhoods of London; additional land in London via private family trusts; farmland in northern England and Scotland.

Roman Abramovich

Russia
$11.2 billion
Source: steel, investments

Fortune up on steel price recovery; value of stake in steel giant Evraz increased nearly threefold. Celebrating birth of son with girlfriend and art enthusiast Dasha Zhukova. Threw New Year’s bash for his friends and partners on St. Barts, which cost a reported $5 million; Beyoncé, Prince and Gwen Stefani performed.

Susanne Klatten

Gemany
$11.1 billion
Source: BMW, drugs

Inherited stake in automaker BMW from late father Herbert Quandt, who rescued it from bankruptcy decades ago. A trained economist with an MBA also inherited a 50% stake in chemical manufacturer Altana and sits on supervisory board. Now controls over 95% of Altana; seeking to acquire remaining shares and delist the firm.

Oleg Deripaska

Russia
$10.7 billion
Source: aluminum

Metals magnate back from the brink. Facing margin calls and $20 billion in total debt, he removed the heads of his two largest companies and personally negotiated with the Russian government, banks and other creditors to restructure his loan obligations. This year his Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, raised $2.2 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

Vagit Alekperov

Russia
$10.6 billion
Source: Lukoil

Former Caspian Sea oil rig worker later became a deputy minister in the Soviet oil industry. In 1991 took three large ministry-controlled oil fields and set up Lukoil. Now president of Lukoil, Russia’s largest independent energy company, with a 20% stake. The firm’s reserves are second only to ExxonMobil

Leonardo Del Vecchio

Italy
$10.5 billion
Source: eyewear

Sent to an orphanage at age 7. Worked as an apprentice at a factory that made molds for auto parts, eyeglass frames. Founded Luxottica in 1961 and started making his own eyeglasses. Still chairs Luxottica, ($6.8 billion fiscal year 2008 sales) world’s largest manufacturer of sunglasses and prescription eyewear and also largest eyewear retailer.

Vladimir Potanin

Russia
$10.3 billion
Source: metals

In January became the first Russian billionaire to announce he would transfer his fortune to charity and not his children. Plans to list Russia’s largest media group, Prof-Media, which owns magazines, radio stations, movie theaters and broadcasts Russian versions of MTV and VH-1, this year.

Ernesto Bertarelli & family

Italy
$10 billion
Source: biotech

Inherited biotech firm Serono when father died in 1998. Ran for years; grew revenues to $2.4 billion in 2006. Blockbuster drug: $1.4 billion (annual sales) multiple sclerosis therapy Rebif. Sold company to Germany’s Merck 2007. With his sister, took home $9 billion. Lost America’s Cup to yachting rival Larry Ellison in February.

Hans Rausing

Sweden
$10 billion
Source: packaging

Father founded packaging giant Tetra Laval in 1944. Hans and brother Gad inherited the business. Hans sold his share to Gad for estimated $7 billion in 1995. Moved to U.K. in early 1980s to avoid punitive Swedish taxes. Resides on a 900-acre estate in village of Wadhurst in East Sussex.

Alexei Mordashov

Russia
$9.9 billion
Souce: steel

Chief executive and controlling shareholder of steelmaker Severstal relieved by steel price recovery; stock price up nearly threefold from last year’s lows. Recently announced the company’s gold unit will buy up foreign assets to expand production of the high-flying metal.

Viktor Rashnikov

Russia
$9.8 billion
Source: steel

In January reaffirmed partnership with billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky’s TMK, one of the largest customers of his iron and steel producer, MMK. Began career at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel mill (MMK) in 1967 as a mechanic, becoming its general director.

Silvio Berlusconi & family

Italy
$9 billion
Source: media

Suffering from more than just a bruised reputation; in December 2009, man broke the billionaire’s nose and teeth with a statue of Milan’s cathedral. Politico with 9 lives became Italy’s prime minister for a third time in April 2008 after his predecessor lost a confidence vote and new elections were held

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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Asia’s 25 Richest

Kwok family

$17 billion

Hong Kong

Family behind one of Hong Kong’s most storied real estate firms has benefited from rebound in property prices. Eldest brother Walter, who stepped down from 18-year chairmanship of Sun Hung Kai Properties in May 2008 after disputing with his 2 younger siblings, Raymond and Thomas, dropped his lawsuit alleging improper dismissal; he is now a nonexecutive director

Azim Premji

$17 billion

India

Software czar chairs $5.5 billion (revenues) Wipro, country’s third-largest software exporter. Reported jump in net profits in last 2 quarters, signaling a rebound for U.S.-dependent outsourcing giant.

Robert Kuok

$14.5 billion

Malaysia

Onetime rice and sugar trader heads multinational Kuok Group, with interests ranging from shipping to real estate to media. In 2007 merged extensive Malaysian, Indonesian palm oil interests with Singapore’s Wilmar International, run by his nephew; now his most valuable holding.

Anil Ambani

$13.7 billion

India

Estranged brother of Asia’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, oversees Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which has interests in telecom, infrastructure and entertainment. His Reliance Power plans to build 13 power plants for $25 billion by 2014. Infrastructure arm is investing $5 billion in new roads and metro systems to be completed by 2012. His entertainment unit has committed $825 million to Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios to co-produce films.

Shashi & Ravi Ruia

$13 billion

India

Brothers’ $15 billion (revenues) Essar Group has weathered downturn and embarked on an expansion drive in all its businesses, including steel, oil and power. As part of global push, refiner Essar Oil bought 50% in Kenya Petroleum Refineries and is negotiating with Royal Dutch Shell to acquire 3 refineries with a total capacity of 25 million tons.

Savitri Jindal

$12.2 billion

India

Nonexecutive chair of the O.P. Jindal Group, a steel and power conglomerate founded by her late husband, Om Prakash Jindal, in 1952. Took over as group head after he died in a helicopter crash in 2005. In his lifetime, patriarch had handed down operations to their 4 sons, Prithviraj, Sajjan, Ratan and Naveen, who today run their independent units

Kushal Pal Singh

$9 billion

India

Chairman of DLF, India’s most valuable property company; its stock rebounded in 2009, reflecting the revival in the real estate market but still lagging the Sensex’s 76% rise. Run by his son Rajiv, who is DLF’s vice chairman. To lure buyers the developer cut prices at some projects.

Kumar Birla

$7.9 billion

India

Head of $29 billion (revenues) commodities conglomerate Aditya Birla Group restructuring group’s cement business, which is to be spun off from flagship Grasim Industries and merged into subsidiary UltraTech Cement.

Sunil Mittal

$7.8 billion

India

His flagship Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator with 120 million customers, is looking to establish global footprint. After two failed attempts to buy Africa’s MTN, is negotiating a $10.7 billion deal to buy the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain Group, partly owned by billionaire Nasser Al-Kharafi’s Kharafi Group.

Ananda Krishnan

$7.6 billion

Malaysia

A Tamil Malaysian of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, also referred to as TAK, he graduated from Harvard Business School and started his career as an oil trader. His biggest holding is Maxis Communications, Malaysia’s largest cellphone service provider, with over 11 million subscribers, which went public in November in Malaysia’s largest ever IPO, raising $3.4 billion.

Tadashi Yanai & family

$7.6 billion

Japan

Has vowed to turn his discount clothing chain, Fast Retailing, into world’s leading apparel retailer. Already has stores in New York, Paris; opening in Shanghai and Moscow this year. Hired renowned German minimalist designer Jil Sander to come up with new clothes for his utilitarian brand

Nobutada Saji & family

$7.5 billion

Japan

Plans to merge his family’s drink firm, Suntory, with rival Kirin Holdings fell apart in February, 7 months after discussions began, apparently over valuation. The deal would have created one of the world’s largest food makers and helped the Japanese firms to better compete with internationally

Lee Kun-Hee

$7.2 billion

South Korea

Stepped down as chairman of Samsung Group in April 2008 after 2 decades at helm amid allegations of tax evasion. The group’s biggest company, Samsung Electronics, has seen its stock price soar in last 12 months, boosting Lee’s wealth. South Korea’s largest insurer, Samsung Life Insurance, in which Lee holds 20% stake, expected to go public this year.

Zong Qinghou

$7 billion

China

Mainland China’s richest person. Started a beverage business in a mini-grocery in a school in Hangzhou in 1986; now China’s biggest beverage maker selling bottled water, tea drinks, juice and coffee. Wahaha’s 2009 revenues are estimated to be $6.3 billion

Cheng Yu-tung

$6.8 billion

Hong Kong

Heads conglomerate New World Development, with interests in property, infrastructure, transport, retail, hotel, casino, brokerage and telecom across China and Hong Kong. Wealth has rebounded along with property markets.

Anil Agarwal

$6.4 billion

India

Metals, mining magnate, is facing flak over his business practices. The Church of England recently sold its holding in his London-listed Vedanta Resources on grounds that it wasn’t satisfied by company’s level of respect for human rights, specifically its treatment of tribal people in Eastern India who would be displaced by a proposed mining project.

Akira Mori & family

$6.3 billion

Japan

He and brother Minoru, also a billionaire, inherited initial fortune from father but went their separate ways unable to agree on a business strategy. With his part has continued to build his Mori Trust, owner of office buildings, apartment blocks and hotels in high-rent districts of Tokyo.

Masayoshi Son

$5.9 billion

Japan

Controls Internet and telecom firm SoftBank. Its mobile phone unit, which sells popular iPhones in Japan, outpacing rivals for new subscribers. Sold $2 billion worth of bonds to pay off some of its $21 billion in debt

Joseph Lau

$5.8 billion

Hong Kong

One of Hong Kong’s biggest landlords kept occupancy rates above 90% at his Chinese Estates despite downturn; doing even better amid property rebound. Launched first development in Chengdu.

Terry Gou

$5.5 billion

Taiwan

Chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry, one of world’s largest contract electronics manufacturers. Started company with $7,500 in 1974

Kunio Busujima & family

$5.4 billion

Japan

Founder of Sankyo, the pachinko gambling-machine maker, now run by his son Hideyuki. Newest units feature comic book characters and pop diva Kumi Koda.

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