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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/16/oxfam-wealth-inequality-davos/ The world could have its first trillionaire within 10 years if current inequality trends continue, antipoverty group Oxfam International said in a report published Monday, reflecting the increasing gap between the world’s wealthy and poor. The report, titled “Inequality Inc.,” was released the same day as the start of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Its authors say the world is living through a “decade of division,” pointing out that since 2019, the world’s five wealthiest people have almost doubled their wealth, while nearly 5 billion people have become poorer. Using data from Forbes, the report’s authors calculated that the combined wealth of those five men — Tesla CEO Elon Musk; Bernard Arnault and his family, who own luxury goods group LVMH; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Oracle founder Larry Ellison; and investor Warren Buffett — increased from $453 billion in 2019 to $869 billion as of November 2023. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) In their methodology, the authors wrote that if that growth trajectory continues, Musk — the world’s richest person, according to Forbes — is projected to become a trillionaire in fewer than nine years, though they noted that the estimate is subject to uncertainty. “If each of the five wealthiest men were to spend a million dollars daily, they would take 476 years to exhaust their combined wealth,” Oxfam’s authors wrote. Representatives for these individuals could not immediately be reached late Monday. But, Oxfam said, for the world’s poorest people — who are more likely to be women and marginalized groups in every society — “daily life has become more brutal” since 2019. It pointed to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as “escalating conflict, the acceleration of the climate crisis and surging costs of living.” The report also said that globally, men own $105 trillion more than women — a difference in wealth equivalent to more than four times the size of the U.S. economy. Oxfam urged governments worldwide to adopt caps on CEO salaries, along with permanent taxes on wealth and excess profits.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Thailand-s-billionaire-boom-the-rise-of-Sarath-Ratanavadi?del_type=1&pub_date=20211110190000&seq_num=2 Sarath Ratanavadi, Thailand's new energy king, built his fortune via his power company, Gulf Energy. A man of mystery, he is rarely photographed and keeps his affairs private. © Illustration by Hiroko Oshima Thailand's billionaire boom: the rise of Sarath Ratanavadi How the energy tycoon shot to fortune in Asia's most unequal country MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondentNovember 10, 2021 06:00 JST BANGKOK -- Thailand's richest billionaires and their wives filled an ornate hall in Bangkok's sprawling Dusit Palace complex. In the front row of the gaggle, 20 people: The men dressed in white, military-style uniforms used for royal audiences, their wives in Thai-style, powder-blue long-sleeved blouses and wraps of Thai silk that shimmered in the brightly lit gilded room. A hush came over the group as King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida entered. The group had gathered in honor of the king's birthday the previous month; it included the wealthiest patriarchs of the country's Sino-Thai clans who have been the country's unofficial oligarchy for years, each bearing two envelopes as gifts. The attendees were well known to each other; the same family names figure on the invite list year in and year out as old fortunes pass from generation to generation. Held last year in August, the gathering included one new face: Sarath Ratanavadi, who in a few short years had vaulted to prominence as Thailand's energy king. The then 55-year-old Sarath stood with his wife, Nalinee, on the far side of the group, the youngest face amid the aging tycoons and barons. Sarath was marked by his trim figure, medium height, thick eyebrows and penetrating eyes. Sarath's elevation to this ultimate circle of privilege came blindingly quick in a semifeudal society where wealth is mainly inherited and political connections count as much as business acumen. There was no public trace of Sarath's wealth before he mounted the Forbes list in 2018, a year after his company, Gulf Energy Development, the kingdom's largest private power producer by market value, made its initial public offering. This year he is the country's fifth-richest, worth $8.9 billion, according to the 2021 Forbes rich list. By February, he had been awarded his first royal decoration, the Knight Grand Cross (First class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, further cementing his place among the country's uber-wealthy business elite. Thailand’s richest billionaires and their wives, including Sarath Ratanavadi and his wife Nalinee, pictured far right in front of the window, met with King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Royal Household Bureau) "Wow! That's a bolt from the blue. Who is he?" blurted Kevin Hewison, a veteran Australian academic who specializes in Thai politics, when he spotted Sarath's name on the Forbes list for the first time in 2018. Hewison at the time had just completed a paper, titled, "Crazy Rich Thais: Thailand's Capitalist Class, 1980-2019." "I was also surprised to see someone move up so rapidly into the top five, which had remained pretty stable over the period 2006 to 2019," he said. Sarath is not just another run-of-the-mill billionaire, of which Thailand now has more than 50. His presence among the invitees to the palace "put [him] into a different layer, a different class by being in that exclusive group," Chris Baker, a respected scholar of Thai politics, history and wealth, told Nikkei Asia. "It has clearly made Sarath more public, and he has outed himself by the message it conveys." The billionaire's club Scaling the heights of wealth and privilege so quickly is remarkable in any society but especially so in one that is, by many measures, the world's most unequal. Thailand's political structure -- a succession of 13 military juntas since 1932 and an enduring monarchy -- makes social mobility especially tricky. Before Sarath joined the conclave at the king's birthday, no new family names had been featured since the monarch ascended the throne after his father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in 2016. Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has straddled economic and social fault lines that pit the majority in the rural heartlands and urban pockets against a smaller, influential and well-heeled affluent class in Bangkok and other large cities. According to a study by the Bank of Thailand, the central bank, the average monthly household income went from 17,000 baht in 2014 to about 22,000 baht ($671) by 2020. At the other end of the spectrum, Thailand's 40 richest this year are worth $151.7 billion, or 28% of gross domestic product, according to Duangmanee Laovakul, an assistant professor at the Center for Research on Inequality and Social Policy at Thammasat University. Thailand's income gap in 2018 was the widest in the world, according to statistics published in the yearly Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook. The top 1% controlled 66.9% of the country's wealth that year. Although the indicator in 2020 contracted to 40%, in line with most countries during the pandemic, Thailand was still the world's fifth-most unequal out of 40 nations rated by Credit Suisse. The top tier's rapid consolidation of their country's wealth has made Thailand the high net worth capital of Southeast Asia, with 52 billionaires (worth at least $1 billion) last year, according to the Hurun Global Rich List -- 10th in the world, while the economy counted in nominal GDP was the 22nd largest. Reaching the top might be hard, but once one arrives, the atmosphere is collegial, according to Baker. "The Thai oligarchs help one another," the political scholar said. "There is a camaraderie to help each other if one of them is in trouble. There have been times when there has been competition, yet they feel a greater need to stick together." Building an energy empire To be tagged as an insider in Thailand's power circles confirms the long distance Sarath has traveled since the early 1990s, when Thailand's economic growth was galloping along at 8.2% per year. Armed with two engineering degrees, one from Bangkok's prestigious Chulalongkorn University and the other from the University of Southern California, a young Sarath found opportunities as new energy policies were being rolled out. The government had decided to end state control of the power supply and open the market to private independent utilities. The shift, made to meet growing energy demand, resulted in a "gold rush," as some describe. "By going into energy [Sarath] did not join the rest of his generation," a longtime acquaintance recalled. Most of the newly minted graduates from Bangkok's elite universities were drawn to the booming world of finance. A power plant operated by GSRC, a Gulf Energy subsidiary, in Chonburi Province, Thailand. The plant has a power generation capacity of 2,650 MW. (Photo courtesy of Gulf Energy) In a country where generals hold sway, Sarath has benefited from his military pedigree. His father, Gen. Thaworn Ratanavadi, was considered close to Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon, the strongman who in 1991 staged a coup to overthrow an elected government. His grandfather, Sode Ratanavadi, also a military officer, was involved in a political party that overthrew the monarch in 1932, ending then-Siam's absolute monarchy. His wife, Nalinee, hails from a wealthy Thai-Chinese political dynasty in Tak, a northwestern province along the Thai-Myanmar border. "[Sarath's] wife has been key, and his father-in-law owns a business empire in Tak, so Sarath had money and strong connections when he came back from the U.S.," said Suwat Sinsadok, managing director of FSS International Investment Advisory Securities, a Bangkok business consultancy. Sarath consults Suwat before making business decisions. "But he was very focused even then," Suwat added. "From 1994, Sarath saw power as the future." Sarath built his energy empire under the Gulf brand name. His first foray, in 1994, was with Gulf Electric, which won a bid to build a coal-fired power plant south of Bangkok. These were heady days; economic reforms invited private companies into the power production sector, ending a decadeslong state monopoly. But Sarath ran into stiff grassroots environmental protests, and his project stalled. A decade later, with Thailand being governed by a billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, Sarath again invested in power, this time in the central province of Saraburi and this time gas-fired plants rather than coal. By then, Sarath had the backing of J-Power, a Japanese utility that had a 49% stake in Gulf Electric. More money, more problems But Sarath's business model -- winning state concessions to produce power -- veered back into controversy in 2013, when Thaksin's sister, Yingluck, was serving as prime minister. A Gulf-affiliated company won bids to build gas turbines in Chonburi and Rayong provinces that could generate a total of 5,300 megawatts. But by scooping up the entire concession, the company raised eyebrows as four other companies who had vied for shares were left in the cold. Independent Power Development, the winning Gulf subsidiary, was 30% owned by Japan's Mitsui & Co. Its chairman at the time of the tender was Viset Choopiban, an energy minister under Thaksin and a former president of PTT, Thailand's state-owned oil and gas company. The concession was thrown into question a year later following the most recent coup in 2014, staged by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, then the powerful chief of Thailand's army. The junta was determined to pry open any favorable deals that benefited Thaksin-aligned business leaders during his sister's time in office. "One of the reasons his competitors hated Sarath was because of him winning this deal 100%," a Thai energy industry insider said. "They cheered the coup, welcomed the inquiry and expected the military regime to strike down the Gulf deal." Police officers and soldiers stand guard during a protest against military rule at Victory Monument in central Bangkok on May 26, 2014, after a coup led by current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. © Reuters Preliminary inquiries by the energy ministry pushed for the deal to be renegotiated, citing irregularities, and in the early post-putsch days, Sarath was summoned by the military regime. But Thai media at the time paid little heed to the still unknown power broker, whose name was misspelled on the summons. Their coverage instead centered on Thailand's better-known billionaires, many from the real estate and construction sectors, who were among 400 prominent people taken to military bases and interrogated. However, following extended negotiations, the cloud hanging over the deal lifted. In December 2016, Prayuth issued an order that countermanded a previous order targeting the concession. The outcome also pleased Pichai Naripthaphan, who was energy minister when Yingluck was in power and the concession was granted. "Gulf won that bid fair and square," Pichai told Nikkei. "It offered the lowest price." (In Thailand, when companies bid for power-producing projects, the bidders offer to produce power at the lowest cost per unit to be sold to the state utility.) That turnaround paved the way for Gulf Energy's IPO in 2017, by which time the group had 13 gas-fired power stations in operation and installed generation capacity was over 4,771 MW. Like that, Sarath found himself as the CEO and largest shareholder of a company that made for Thailand's biggest corporate listing in over a decade, raising $733 million. But there was nothing sudden about it. "He prepared for that listing for more than 10 years," Suwat, the business analyst, said. "He waited for the right time." What stood out was Sarath's ability to win the blessings of the Prayuth regime. He managed this despite being close to the Shinawatras. "Given his closeness to the former government, no one who has migrated to the other side and managed to cultivate allies in the new regime has done as well as Sarath," said an investment banker who has followed the energy tycoon's rise. A power industry insider concurred: "He not only survived the post-coup purge but he springboarded, and he reportedly is still on good terms with Thaksin." Thaksin, whose government was ousted by a coup in 2006 while the prime minister was in New York for a United Nations General Assembly gathering, now lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai. Since the listing, Sarath has used legal threats to deal with critics of his extraordinarily lucrative deals. In February, Gulf Energy filed a lawsuit accusing Bencha Saenchantra, a female opposition parliamentarian, of libel after she alleged that some of the state's policies had favored Gulf and Sarath during a censure motion in parliament against Prayuth early this year. "That was the first time I spoke in public about Gulf," she told Nikkei. She queried the conditions under which Gulf won bids as part of a consortium for two power-related megaprojects. Under Thai law, lawmakers have legal protections for what they say in parliament, though they can be charged with libel if their comments are broadcast to a wider audience. The company had previously sued Sirichai Mai-Ngam, the former president of one of the country's largest trade unions, at the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, a state utility, after he raised questions in a Thai newspaper about the 5,300 MW concession won while Yingluck was in power. The case was settled out of court. That Sarath and Gulf remain sensitive about the 5,300 MW deal is reflected in the company's latest annual report, filed last December. Toward the end of the report is a summary under the subhead "litigation." It begins by noting that the deal came under scrutiny following the 2014 coup. It also notes efforts during the military regime to undo the deal, the move by the state for the Board of Investment to delay the bidding process, and Gulf's mixed results to win favorable rulings on issues it raised in the courts. The report says that the company in 2020 made no provision related to the litigation because "the Group's management believes that there will be no significant liability from the result of the above lawsuit cases." Friends in high places The legal campaign does little to change the perceptions that successful companies like Gulf face in Thailand, particularly when fortunes have flowed from government concessions. "Gulf's main revenues stem from long-term state concessions, usually 25-year contracts" linked to the state power utility, said Veerayooth Kanchoochat, a Thai political economist at the Tokyo-based National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. In other words, the government is Gulf's main customer, and the customer has guaranteed sales for the next 25 years. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Sarath has been able to strike energy deals under the governments of each, despite tensions between Thaksin and Prayuth. (Source photos by Reuters and Getty Images) Sarinee Achavanuntakul, head of Sal Forest, a Thai research company, considers Gulf Energy as one of 57 "political stocks" traded in Thailand. There are three such categories, she says. First, there are stocks of listed state-owned enterprises and government-owned companies. There are also stocks of companies whose main income is from government concessions. Finally, there are stocks whose owners have close family or friendly ties with powerful politicians. "Gulf fits squarely [within the second category]," she said, "and I think many Thai people would regard [it] to fit [into the third] category as well." Sarath's tale is not exactly rags to riches, more like rich to insanely rich. Arriving at the summit of Thai society, he immediately benefited from a new billionaire-centric economic model being pioneered by Prayuth's regime. It has acted to cement the fortunes of the oligarchy in a new social compact called Pracha Rath Rak Samakee (people of the state love harmony). This Orwellian-sounding 2016 initiative offered incentives, including generous tax breaks, to persuade big businesses to rub shoulders with the generals and support the junta's economic solution for rampant inequality. "In doing so, the Prayuth regime changed the relationship between the Thai state and big business in a way we had not witnessed before," said Prajak Kongkirati, a political scientist at Bangkok's Thammasat University and co-author of a paper, "The Prayuth Regime: Embedded Military and Hierarchical Capitalism in Thailand." Prajak added, "They matched the bureaucracy with the top 20 businesses, and the businesses ended up gaining more as they penetrated into the [small and medium sector] markets to strengthen their monopolies." Sarath's proximity to Prayuth, now the prime minister of a pro-military government that succeeded the junta after general elections in 2019, was laid bare after COVID-19 struck Thailand last year. In April, Prayuth sent a letter to the country's 20 richest people his government was close to, seeking their help to revive an economy that was sinking after the first wave of the pandemic began to bite. The Thai media listed the names of the likely recipients of Prayuth's missive. Sarath's name appeared high on the list. Dhanin Chearavanont was also on the list. The 82-year-old presides over the CP Group, an agribusiness conglomerate. He heads Thailand's richest clan and is said to be worth $30.2 billion, making him Thailand's richest billionaire. Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi made the list as well. The 77-year-old heads Thai Beverage, the beer and liquor conglomerate, and is the country's third-richest tycoon. His wealth is estimated at $12.7 billion. Camera shy In the rarefied world of Thai high-rollers, Sarath stamped his new reputation by often traveling in his new, private (Gulfstream) plane, reportedly worth $70 million. Sarath is known as a good golfer with a single handicap, and a lover of fine wines. But to many associates, even close ones, he is a cipher, obsessed with privacy. Finding a photograph of him is difficult; the only one that is public is on Gulf Energy's annual report. Dhanin Chearavanont, left, Sarath Ratanavadi and Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi are believed to be among the 20 richest people close to Prime Minister Prayuth. The Sarath photo, from Gulf Energy, is one of the few of Sarath available. (Source photos by Kosaku Mimura, Gulf Energy, and Getty Images) He rarely gives media interviews, and acquaintances affirm he is fiercely private. Gulf Energy declined to make Sarath or any other senior executive available to Nikkei for an interview. Sarath "is known as a private person," confided a former cabinet minister who has moved in the same social circles as Sarath. Consequently, there is an air of mystery about his wealth and the size, scale and speed of his company's growth -- the recipe for his success in Thailand. Bangkok-based diplomats say they consider Gulf as a company to watch. Hitherto, they paid most of their attention to the "Big 5." The shorthand refers to the five Sino-Thai conglomerates: the CP Group, Thai Bev, the duty-free monopoly King Power International Group, dominant high-end retail trader Central Group and Singha beer maker Boonrawd Brewery. "The same way we pay attention to the Big 5, we have begun to pay attention to Gulf as the next tier of influence," a diplomat from a Western embassy revealed to Nikkei. Another diplomat said Thailand is a country where "often the big families are very influential and have a lot of sway over politics, policies and positions." But while the other families have been more accessible and even attend occasional embassy events, Sarath, he noted, is an enigma who has remained quiet and below the news radar as his wealth has surged. Gulf Energy's JP UT power plant, in Thailand's Ayutthaya Province, has a generation capacity of 1,600 MW. The plant was backed by several Japanese banks, including Mitsui. (Photo courtesy of Gulf Energy) Only a trusted few appear to have penetrated this air of mystery hovering over Bangkok's newly minted billionaire. Suwat, the analyst, is one of them. In February, he met Sarath for lunch in the private room of an elegant Italian restaurant on the ground floor of a 43-story tower on Bangkok's embassy row. It was to discuss Sarath's groundbreaking multibillion-baht deal that was poised to shake up Thailand's telecoms sector. The lunch of salad and spaghetti lasted for three hours, Suwat recalled, as Sarath rolled out Gulf's bid to invest in InTouch Holdings, which controls Advanced Info Service, Thailand's largest mobile phone operator. "Other [Thai] power companies are different," Suwat said. "They grow as the market grows, more organic. Gulf is very different. [Its] empire is much bigger and more aggressive. ... You cannot find a company like this in Thailand." Additional reporting by Akane Okutsu in Tokyo.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/billionaire-peter-lim-pays-for-1m-worth-of-meals-for-frontline-healthcare-workers?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=STFB&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1588934773 Billionaire Peter Lim is picking up the tab for $1 million worth of meals hospital staff can enjoy in a show of appreciation and support for their work. At least 20,000 workers will receive food vouchers which can be used at more than 160 participating food outlets, including Kopitiam, Foodfare and Fei Siong. Priority will be given to, among others, housekeeping staff, patient care assistants and ambulance drivers, people Mr Lim described as unsung heroes. In a statement his private office released on Friday (May 8), he said their work is often less visible, but no less important to the front-line response. "He hopes that these meals will boost the morale of these front-line healthcare workers and bring them some comfort in this difficult period," the statement read. They can redeem meals at their own convenience. Beneficiaries are staff at Alexandra Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital, Singapore General Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. The owner of Spanish football club Valencia is one of a number of moneyed people here who have extended a helping hand to others during the coronavirus crisis. His daughter, socialite Kim Lim, has been delivering food to front-line healthcare workers in hospitals and foreign worker dormitories.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-23/how-bikini-airline-helped-to-create-vietnam-s-first-woman-billionaire First Vietnamese Billiionaire....and a dragon lady more billionaires to come hope have chance go Vietnam for "biz" trip with bikini clad stewardess

Chinese billionaire hires porn star Rola Misaki Japanese porn star Takizawa Rola (Rola Misaki) and the mystery businessman (Picture: Getty) Pretty Woman never got paid this much. A rich businessman has reportedly offered a porn star £5million to be ‘exclusive’ to him for the next 15 years, in a move that would have made Richard Gere’s eyes water in the hit 90s movie. We could only remember Edward (Gere) offering Vivian (Julia Roberts) a shopping spree and a couple of thousand dollars (and, of course, his love) but one incognito Chinese millionaire has gone a step further. The porn star in question is 22-year-old Rola Misaki – also known as Takizawa Rola – who is half Russian and half Japanese. Japanese porn star Rola Misaki (Picture: CEN) The pair have recently attended events together in the Chinese capital Beijing, with the man wearing a mask to hide his identity according to reports in the China Record and the Tokyo Reporter. She won’t be seen in films anytime soon (Picture: CEN) The announcement hasn’t gone down well with her fans, who will be sad to see her go. ‘Nooo! She can’t leave us like this,’ said GuangY, one of her 4.8million followers on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Mai86 added: ‘She’s one of the best, a natural. I can’t believe she’s gone off with this man.’ Misaki made her debut in the adult video industry in 2012 with the Prestige Label. And although not finding many fans in Japan she has become a hit in China. Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/15/businessman-offers-porn-star-5million-to-be-exclusive-to-him-for-15-years-5198964/#ixzz3aSACV2hq

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/french-massive-tour-group-china-vip-treatment-183740515.html This is pretty cool. :) French give massive tour group from China the VIP treatment By Anne Chaon | AFP News – Sun, May 10, 2015 RELATED CONTENT View PhotoEmployees of Chinese company Tiens attend a parade on May 8, 2015 in Nice, France, … View PhotoThis photo from Image Trans shows Tiens employees arranging themselves in the phrase … View PhotoCEO of Tiens Li Jinyuan © waves to his employees on May 8, 2015 in Nice, Franc … The biggest-ever tour group to visit France, 6,400 mainly Chinese visitors invited by their company boss, received a VIP welcome Saturday in the southern resort town of Nice. In the morning the luxury department store Galeries Lafayette closed its doors to all other shoppers so that the visitors could browse the aisles, and queue at the till, in relative peace. Later, the group, 5,400 of whom arrived in France from China on Tuesday aboard 84 commercial planes, filled up the Palais Nikaia to watch the Moulin Rouge cabaret show. They are all employees of the Chinese conglomerate Tiens, which is celebrating its 20th birthday. Christian Mantel, head of the French tourism development agency Atout France said the authorities were pulling out all the stops to accommodate the wishes of the group, who are paying 13 million euros ($14.5 million) for the 5-13 May visit. "And that's without counting the shopping," added Mantel. With an average of 1,500 euros in purchases, Chinese tourists are among the world's biggest holiday spenders. The Tiens directors have relaxed in the most luxurious hotel rooms. Less elevated employees have been treated to three- or four-star accommodation. In the capital Paris, the group had the famous Louvre museum to themselves for a private visit on May 6 before heading south to Nice. "We have mobilised public services as well as tourism professionals, hotels, restaurants, shops and designer brands," said Mantel. "So far everything has gone smoothly, the feedback has been extremely positive." The whole adventure began back in December when Atout France got wind that the Tiens boss group Li Jinyuan wanted to celebrate in style the 20th birthday of his company which operates in tourism, trade and cosmetics among other sectors. Mantel said French authorities worked hard to narrow down his destination short-list, which had originally also included London and Rome. Along with the Chinese visitors, there were also Russians and Kenyans in the Tiens tour group. While in Nice, the group entered the Guinness World Records book after forming the longest ever "human phrase," positioning themselves in groups that read "Tiens' dream is Nice in the Cote d'Azur" in letters visible from the air. Tiens CEO Li Jinyuan even took part in a parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Standing in an American jeep he smiled and saluted towards his massed co-workers in the crowd. While the group have been getting the VIP treatment, the Tiens top dogs have gone one better with the VVIP treatment lavished on them. On Wednesday they met up with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Fabius, who hopes France will welcome 100 million tourists this year, is well aware that "the reservoir for tourists is mainly in the Far East, particularly in China," a member of his team said.

I saw this article on forbes and what this company is pursuing very interesting, could literally revolutionize the medical testing industry. What makes it more interesting is the CEO apparently got the idea while doing an intern in Singapore on a project to find Sars in patients. http://www.mercurynews.com/michelle-quinn/ci_26147649/quinn-meet-elizabeth-holmes-silicon-valleys-latest-phenom Quinn: Meet Elizabeth Holmes, Silicon Valley's latest phenom By Michelle Quinn [email protected] POSTED: 07/15/2014 06:11:39 AM PDT6 COMMENTS| UPDATED: 5 MONTHS AGO Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford in 2003 as a 19-year-old to start Theranos, a company now poised to disrupt the medical diagnostic test market. She spoke about the company's vision at their headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Thursday afternoon July 3, 2014. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) ( Karl Mondon ) Silicon Valley, much like baseball, has its share of phenoms, those up-and-comers who demonstrate extraordinary promise. Meet the latest: Elizabeth Holmes. The 30-year-old Stanford dropout turned paper multibillionaire has quietly worked for 11 years on her startup, which aims to give all of us better information about our bodies in a quest to revolutionize how we manage our health. "If people can really begin to understand their bodies, that can help them change their lives," she said during a recent interview at the Palo Alto headquarters of Theranos, a mix of the words "therapy" and "diagnosis." Over the past year, Holmes has embraced a more public profile, recently snagging the cover of Fortune magazine in what bore all the hallmarks of a carefully orchestrated media push. Her board includes a Who's Who of American political influence -- former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Defense Secretary Bill Perry, a couple of former U.S. senators, a Marine general. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is one of her investors. FAMILIAR QUALITIES Holmes' drive to change the world has a familiar ring here. She may actually do it -- or not. It's always hard to know in Silicon Valley whether the hype matches the reality. Advertisement The tech industry has seen phenoms before. They are typically young, bold and single-minded with boundless ambition. Think Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg. What often distinguishes great leaders are qualities like determination and persistence, but something else too, said Bob Sutton, a Stanford engineering school professor and co-author of "Scaling Up Excellence." "They believe they are destined to do something special," he said. Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford in 2003 as a 19-year-old to start Theranos, a company now poised to disrupt the medical diagnostic test market. She spoke about the company's vision at their headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Thursday afternoon July 3, 2014. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) ( Karl Mondon ) In that respect, Holmes is cast from the same mold as Jobs et al. She launched the company, she told me, after "thinking about what is the greatest change I could make in the world." Holmes, who hates needles, zeroed in on blood tests as a starting point. If blood tests were easier, cheaper and more convenient -- Theranos aims to put a lab within a mile of any city dweller -- people could take multiple tests over time and see signs of a disease or condition before it's too late, Holmes argues. She recalled the death of her uncle, whose skin cancer progressed rapidly to brain cancer. "You look at something like that and it doesn't make sense," she said softly. "If it was caught in time, it's a completely manageable condition." To that end, Theranos has devised software and hardware so that with just one pinprick of blood, critical medical tests can be run more cheaply and more conveniently. In September, Theranos and Walgreens announced a deal to open Theranos "wellness centers" at one Walgreens in Palo Alto as well as 20 stores in Phoenix. The goal is to expand to all 8,200 Walgreens stores nationwide. Theranos' main revenue stream is payment from customers or their insurance providers for lab tests. The company has other revenue streams through its long-term strategic partners, which it declined to discuss. With Theranos, Holmes is taking on the $70 billion U.S. blood-testing industry dominated by companies such as Quest and LabCorp. But she says her aim is something bigger, creating a new market called "consumer health technology," which Holmes describes as engaging and empowering people about their health. "Here in California, I can go and buy a gun and shoot myself but I can't order a vitamin D test because I might do something quote 'clinically dangerous,' " she said. "We feel strongly over time that this has to change." Shultz, who meets weekly with Holmes to discuss the business, described Theranos as "on the cusp of a real movement in preventive medicine." "What Elizabeth is doing is important in diagnostics, that the more you are able to spot something before it occurs, the more you can do something about it," he said. 'CRITICAL PIECE' Theranos faces numerous regulatory, logistical and market challenges, said Eric Lakin, an analyst with DeciBio Consulting, a market research firm. Still, the potential is great. "With current efforts to realize the dream of personalized medicine, Theranos may play a critical piece in this puzzle," he said. "But as with all puzzles, it often takes time to collect these pieces and put them together in a meaningful way." Holmes' background is right out of the phenom playbook. Growing up in Texas, Holmes taught herself Mandarin and launched a business in high school selling C++ compilers to Chinese universities. She applied for her first patent while at Stanford, where she majored in chemical engineering. In the summer before her sophomore year, she went to Singapore to work at the Genome Institute on the SARS virus. Then she dropped out of Stanford to begin working on Theranos, using the money her parents had saved for college for the business. "She may be the female Mark Zuckerberg that Silicon Valley has been waiting for," said Vivek Wadhwa, a professor and researcher at Stanford and Duke and a lecturer on entrepreneurship. "She started when she was young, defied the odds and built a great technology, and is doing good for the world." Tim Draper, the venture capitalist, said Holmes, who was friends with his daughter growing up, is the first entrepreneur he knows who kept quiet about her business for so long "so that the competition wouldn't get a chance to start." "She had a winner and knew it," he said. His firm DFJ Venture was the first to invest. In recent years, Theranos' head count has mushroomed to about 500 employees, up from 100 in 2010. It took over the former offices of Facebook at the Stanford Research Park. Holmes has raised $400 million, valuing the entire company at $9 billion. She has a 50 percent stake, leading Forbes to call her "the youngest woman to become a self-made billionaire." As for her gender, Holmes, who wears all black suits and heels and speaks in a deep, soft voice, has never allowed herself to think of it as an issue, she says. But she knows people are paying attention. "If I can show that in this country, a 19-year-old girl can drop out of school and build something like this," she said, "then other women should be doing it."

OMG, the 3-day work week sounds so nice; but 11 hour days, hmm http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11339918&ref=nzh_tw MEX Billionaire urges three-day work week Mexican billionaire also says people should work 11 hour days until they turn 75. The world's richest man is calling for a radical overhaul of our work-life balance that would see people at their jobs for just three days a week. Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom tycoon worth over US$80 billion ($101 billion), also believes people the typical working day should last 11 hours instead of eight and that the retirement age should be increased to 75. "You should have more time for you during all of your life - not when you're 65 and retired," he told CNNMoney. The 74-year-old billionaire first raised the idea at a conference in Paraguay during the summer when he called for "a radical overhaul" in people's working lives. He believes the concept would not only re-invigorate how we live, but be positive for the economy and financial markets. "With three work days a week, we would have more time to relax; for quality of life," he said. "Having four days [off] would be very important to generate new entertainment activities and other ways of being occupied," he told the conference. While machines should operate 24 hours a day and services should work as much as possible, Slim said people deserve more time for entertainment, family and to train for better jobs. "It's a society of knowledge and experience. You have better experience and knowledge when you are 60, 65 and 70," he said. Slim wasn't clear if wages should stay the same or decrease to reflect less time on the job. He declined to throw his weight behind recent calls for workers to get paid higher wages though. He conceded prices may have grown faster than wages, but he believes salaries will rise along with stronger growth, increased productivity and technological advances. "I am sure it will happen," said Slim, although he conceded he's not exactly sure when. To a certain degree, Slim has been applying this train of thought to his own businesses for years. Slim's phone company Telmex has implemented a system where workers on a collective labour contract who joined the company in their late teens can retire before they reach 50, and can continue to work for full pay four days per week. Slim also applies this philosophy to his own work life and is still active as a businessman at 74. He also maintains a life full of hobbies, such as art collecting. He opened the Museo Soumaya, an art museum dedicated to both his love for art and religious relics as well as the memory of his late wife, Soumaya Domit.

New York - American business magnate Warren Buffett's earnings of US$37 million (S$47 million) a day has made him the billionaire who made the most money in 2013, according to research company Wealth-X. The legendary investor raked in a gain of US$12.7 billion during the year and his net worth currently stands at US$59.1 billion. Even though he made the most gains in 2013, Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates still holds the title of the wealthiest billionaire in the world. In 2013, Gates' personal fortune increased by US$11.5 billion, with his assets totalling up to US$72.6 billion, said Wealth-X. Followed (Following) closely behind in the third spot is American casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson who made a profit of US$11.4 billion from his gambling properties in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore. Wealth-X reported that his personal net worth is estimated to be more than US$35 billion. The Asians who made it in the list include Japanese Masayoshi Son from SoftBank and Hong Kong casino magnate Lui Chee Woo, with financial gains of US$10.3 billion and US$8.3 billion respectively. Son was named sixth in the list, and Lui came in at ninth. On average, Wealth-X said the billionaires in the list made approximately US$29 million per day in 2013 and increased their wealth by 41.6 per cent. The 10 individuals collectively gained US$101.8 billion in 2013, bringing their combined wealth to US$347 billion, an increase from US$245 billion in January 2013, reported Wealth-X. Even though Warren Buffett made the most gains in 2013, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates still holds the title of the wealthiest billionaire in the world. Here's the full list, ranked by billions made from Jan. 1 to Dec. 11, 2013: 10. Carl Icahn made $7.2 billion The corporate raider had a big year after bets on Netflix and Herbalife (HLF) yielded Icahn Capital Management $800 million and $500 million profits, respectively. He tweeted his thanks to Netflix (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings and Kevin Spacey, star of the streaming service's hit show, "House of Cards." 9. Lui Chee Woo made $8.3 billion The founder of Galaxy Entertainment Group became Asia's second-richest man in 2013 as gambling revenue grew at a record pace in Macau. Lui is looking to expand his flagship casino in the city's Cotai area, which is known by many as the Asian version of the Las Vegas Strip. 8. Larry Page made $9.3 billion Google's co-founder and CEO made $3 billion in 24 hours when Google (GOOG) stocks hit an all-time high in October, breaking $1,000 for the first time. Android became the world's most popular operating system, running on 43 percent of the globe's smartphones. 7. Sergey Brin made $9.3 billion Brin, Google co-founder and head of special projects with Google X, made $2.9 billion in the October stock surge. As of Dec. 11, Brin is worth an estimated $30 billion, a 4.8 percent percent increase over the year. 6. Masayoshi Son made $10.3 billion The founder of Softbank, Asia's top Internet and telecommunications corporation, lost $70 billion in the dot-com crash, but he's surging back in a big way. The purchase of Sprint (S) and a large investment in Finnish game-maker Supercell are highlights in a year that saw Son's personal net worth more than double, growing from $8.8 billion to $19.1 billion. 5. Mark Zuckerberg made $10.5 billion Facebook (FB) stock hit an all-time high in October, and revenue continues to grow despite questions about the longevity of the product. 4. Jeff Bezos made $11.3 billion The founder and CEO of Amazon (AMZN), which made $17.1 billion in net sales in the third quarter, raised some eyebrows when he bought the Washington Post for $250 million this summer. 3. Sheldon Adelson made $11.4 billion According to Wealth-X, the casino mogul's personal net worth grew to an estimated $35.3 billion this year thanks to profits from his gambling properties in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore. 2. Bill Gates made $11.5 billion The world's wealthiest man ended the year with a personal net worth of $72.6 billion, up nearly 19 percent from $61.1 billion in 2012. 1. Warren Buffett made $12.7 billion Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK-A) (BRK-B) CEO personally made about $37 million a day in 2013, a year that saw the company's acquisition of Heinz and Nevada's NV Energy.

Heir to 5.4 billion pound fortune is a drug addict and met his also drug addict wife in rehab. Now the wife supposedly died from OD and he is arrested by Polis. LINK Happy reading

Respect!! Ananda Krishnan makes time for son By TAN SIN CHOW [email protected] GEORGE TOWN: Billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan took time off from his busy schedule to meet up with his Buddhist monk son Ven Ajahn Siripanyo, who is at a meditation retreat in Penang Hill here. Clad in T-shirt and jeans, the 74-year-old tycoon was spotted arriving at the foot of the popular tourist attraction in a BMW with several bodyguards at about 9am yesterday. He was whisked off to an undisclosed location deep inside the forest in Penang Hill, where his son was having a retreat with 60 others. Hot news: This picture showing the front page of

Why need to be so greedy. 1 Million more than enuff for most of us but this guy suicide cos he lost the game? German billionaire commits suicide Tuesday January 6, 2009, 12:17 pm EST Yahoo! Buzz Print German billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the richest men in the world, committed suicide on Monday after his business empire got into trouble in the wake of the international financial crisis, Merckle's family said Tuesday in a statement. Merckle, 74, was hit by a train in the southwestern town of Ulm, police said. His family said the economic crisis had "broken" Merckle. He was number 94 on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, with a business empire that included interests as diverse as cement-maker HeidelbergCement and generic drug-maker Ratiopharm. But he lost hundreds of millions of dollars, including company capital, betting against Volkswagen stock last year. The state government of Baden-Wuerttemberg rejected his petition for financial assistance, and he entered bailout talks with several German banks. "The financial troubles of his companies, induced by the international financial crisis and the uncertainty and powerlessness to act independently which the financial problems brought about, broke the passionate family business man, and he took his own life," his family wrote in a press release. An employee of Germany's railroad company found the body on the tracks at about 7 p.m. Monday night and notified authorities. Merckle's family had already reported him missing earlier in the day after he walked out of the house and did not return. Authorities are currently conducting DNA tests to confirm his identity

1SGD gets you approximately 13,824,368,089.52 ZWD (Zimbabwe Dollars)... http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/0...otes/index.html At their hyperinflation rate, the trillion dollar note will be out very soon...

CNA report : Golf: Woods will become world's first billionaire athlete by 2010 Posted: 10 July 2008 0907 hrs NEW YORK - Tiger Woods is on pace to pass one billion US dollars in career earnings by 2010, becoming the world's first billionaire to accumulate his fortune by playing sports, says Forbes Magazine. The 14-time major championship winner earned 115 million US dollars in 2007 alone, said the American magazine which annually ranks the world's richest people with its Forbes' Celebrity 100 list. English footballer David Beckham was the No. 2 sportsman on the list with earnings of 65 million US dollars."It will be an unprecedented occurrence," the magazine said. "There are plenty of billionaires who have excelled at sports like Switzerland's richest man and champion sailor Ernesto Bertarelli. But there are no billionaires who accumulated their fortune by playing sports." The magazine goes on to say in its Wednesday edition that while tycoons like Bill Gates accumulated his wealth by holding a stake in a company with soaring profits, Woods is unique because his massive fortune was earned through pay cheques. Woods is a sports marketers' dream, having earned more than 750 million US dollars in endorsement deals to date in his career. At 32, Woods has won 50 tournaments faster than any player and is closing in on Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championship wins. I want to play golf......

For those who dont subscribe to BT here is a good article to share with you Happy reading It's not easy being a billionaire The rich don't know how much is enough and are plagued by insecurities By MICHAEL JOHNSON Email this article Print article Feedback (BORDEAUX, France) A Seattle billionaire I once worked for ran into money trouble a couple of years ago when his business went sour. He had to sell his private island and get rid of his yacht (one of the world's largest) as he slid into relative poverty. My former employer, a cell-phone magnate, has now dropped off the bottom of the most recent Forbes magazine list of billionaires as he struggles to get by. He has only a few hundreds of millions left and he is not a happy man. Despite the extraordinary wealth of this entrepreneur and others in his league, it never seems to bring them serenity. They know how fast it can be lost, and that makes them ask, 'Why isn't enough really enough?' Even custodians of old fortunes are plagued by this question. A consultant friend of mine who once advised Nelson Rockefeller remembers hearing him complain of his recurring bouts of insecurity. Mr Rockefeller's personal net worth was about US$3 billion. Asked how much he would need in order to relax, Rocky paused briefly and took a stab: 'Four billion ought to do it,' he said. The Rothschild dynasty had similar problems. On assignment for BusinessWeek, I once met separately the French, British and Swiss branches of the family. I was struck by the family bickering over how they had turned their large fortune into small fortunes. A member of the Swiss branch of the family confided to me his utter disgust over his French relatives, who managed to lose money in French real estate. 'To do this,' he said, 'you really have to try.' I suspect there is no such thing as having enough money. In fact, many of the super-rich agree that the more you have the more you worry about it. Their stories emerge in a great book, Richistan, by Robert Frank. Mr Frank quotes one American entrepreneur identified only as George as saying he and the other billionaires (1,125 of them at last count by Forbes) are afflicted by a combination of greed and fear. 'If people stay worried, it's part of what motivates them,' George is quoted as saying. 'We're always worried.' With great riches can come great unease, according to people who have studied the psychology of wealth. The overriding problem is 'affluenza' - nagging guilt about the chasm between the very rich and everybody else. A second pitfall is a compulsion to continue to accumulate even more. Paul Wachtel examined this problem in his landmark paper, 'Full Pockets, Empty Lives', in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 'The pursuit of money and material goods as a central aim in life comes at a rather high price,' he writes. Studies have shown that money plays 'a strikingly small role' in a person's real happiness or well-being. In fact, intimacy and family life are often sacrificed in the name of providing for one's family. And envy feeds the greed impulse, argues Dr Wachtel: 'We may want not just what others have but more than others have, or more for more's sake.' People in the six-figure income range have trouble controlling the quest for more, Dr Wachtel told me. 'They become slaves to supporting the material level they have gotten themselves into. It becomes a pleasureless treadmill.' He had some advice for the unhappy rich. 'If the upper 5 per cent of earners would work two-thirds as much, and earn two-thirds as much, their lives would be immeasurably richer,' he said. 'Time, they would find, is a much more valuable commodity than money.' - NYT