Three Thai families – Chearavanont, Chirathivat and Yoovidhya – are now included in the Asia’s richest families of 2017 list published by Forbes magazine.
Two of the richest Thai families are in the top ten of Forbes, claiming fourth and tenth spot.
For the first time The Yoovidhya family, the maker and marketer of Krating Daeng and gold Red Bull energy drinks in Asia, has made the 2017 Forbes list of Asia’s richest families, trailing two other notable Thai clans: the Chearavanonts and the Chirathivats.
The Chearavanont family, took the fourth spot on the list with a net worth of $36.6 billion.
The family behind Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, one of the world’s largest purveyors of animal feed and livestock, got a nearly $9-billion boost to its wealth, partly due to a surge in the value of its holding in Chinese insurer Ping An.
Samsung’s Lee family lose No. 1 spot
No family highlights this surge better than the Ambanis of India, this year’s biggest gainer in dollar and percentage terms. Their net worth rose by $19 billion, to $44.8 billion, superseding the Lees of the Samsung empire to claim the No. 1 spot
| Family | Net Worth | Country | |
| 1 | Ambani | $44.8 billion | India |
| 2 | Lee (Byung-Chull) | $40.8 billion | South Korea |
| 3 | Kwok | $40.4 billion | Hong Kong |
| 4 | Chearavanont | $36.6 billion | Thailand |
| 5 | Hartono | $32 billion | Indonesia |
| 6 | Lee (Shau Kee) | $29 billion | Hong Kong |
| 7 | Kwek / Quek | $23.3 billion | Malaysia |
| 8 | Cheng Family | $22.5 billion | Hong Kong |
| 9 | Sy | $20.1 billion | Philippines |
| 10 | Chirathivat family | $19.3 billion | Thailand |
| 11 | Premji | $19.2 billion | India |
| 12 | Hinduja | $18.8 billion | India |
| 13 | Tsai (Wan-Tsai & Wan-Lin) | $17.7 billion | Taiwan |
| 14 | Mittal | $17.2 billion | India |
| 15 | Kuok | $16.6 billion | Singapore |
| 16 | Mistry | $16.1 billion | India |
| 17 | Chung | $14.8 billion | South Korea |
| 18 | Saji | $14.2 billion | Japan |
| 19 | Birla | $14.1 billion | India |
| 20 | Godrej | $14 billion | India |
| 21 | Pao | $13.4 billion | Hong Kong |
| 22 | Yoovidhya family | $13.1 billion | Thailand |
The list of Asia’s 50 Richest Families is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of markets on November 3, 2017. Private companies were valued by using financial ratios and other comparisons with similar publicly traded companies. To qualify, a family’s wealth must be rooted in Asia and participation in building that fortune has to extend at least three generations.
Nearly half of the richest families in Asia are in China, yet none of 50 we ranked this year are based in the mainland, where conglomerates are young, run by first and second generations who were able to muster billions of dollars in wealth in an open economy.
