Five dollar billionaires were recognized in 2019. Vingroup’s president Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietjet Air’s CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao and Thaco’s president Tran Ba Duong were the familiar names, while Masan’s president Nguyen Dang Quang and Techcombank’s president Ho Hung Anh for the first time joined the list of the world’s billionaires.

The great ambition of the female billionaire

Vietjet Air continued to hold the largest market share, 41.7 percent, in 2019. However, Thao cherishes a greater ambition of providing international flights.

“Our strategy is to expand to markets within the radius of 2,500 kilometers,” she told Vietjet’s shareholders.

By the end of Q3 2019, Vietjet was exploiting 127 air routes, or 24 more than the same period 2018, mostly international routes. Not only targeting the destinations in Asia, Vietjet Air also plans to fly non-stop from HCM City Melbourne and Australia, slated for Q2.

Thaco rescues Hoang Anh Gia Lai, exports cars

One year after signing the strategic cooperation agreement, Thaco billionaire Tran Ba Duong has fulfilled his commitments, pouring $1 billion to Hoang Anh Gia Lai to help the group overcome its difficulties.

After sending representatives to Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico, Thaco set up Thadi, an agriculture company, in March 2019 to support Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Thaco took over three rubber companies from Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico and received all the three real estate projects in Myanmar from the group. With the deals, Thaco’s ownership ratio in Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico has increased to 35 percent.

Regarding its core business field ofautomobile manufacturing, Thaco made a breakthrough when exporting 120 Kia cars assembled at its factory in Quang Nam province to Myanmar.

Masan expands, Techcombank still leader

Masan Group owned by billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang became one of the most mentioned brands in December 2019 thanks to the admission of VinCommerce and VinEco, which belonged to VIngroup.

With the deal, Masan’s leadership confirmed its ambition to form up a leading consumer goods –retail group in Vietnam.

Also in December, Masan MEATLife, a subsidiary of Masan, listed shares on UpCom.

While Masan was seeking a new driving force for growth, the other business in the ecosystem of the ‘billionaire duo’ Nguyen Dang Quang and Ho Hung Anh, Techcombank, continued to be No 1 among private banks.

In the first nine months of the year, Techcombank reported pre-tax profit of VND8.86 trillion, an increase of 14 percent compared with the same period last year.

Kim Chi 

2019: Pham Nhat Vuong is richest Vietnamese billionaire

Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet Air and vice president of Hdbank, top the 2019 list of Vietnamese stock billionaires.

Dollar billionaires and hot competition in the banking sector in 2019

Two dollar billionaires in the banking sector emerged in 2019, which also witnessed competition that led to big changes in the economy.