Thailand’s economy is not growing as fast as expected due to trade tensions and political uncertainty. Although the stock market fell by 14% compared to last year, the stronger Thai baht helped balance the loss. At the same time, the top three richest people in the country saw big gains, which led to an overall 11% increase in total wealth, reaching $170.5 billion.
Nearly half of the people on the rich list saw their wealth increase. The biggest jump was by the Red Bull family, led by Chalerm Yoovidhya, whose net worth went up by $8.5 billion, reaching $44.5 billion. Red Bull had a strong year in 2024, with sales of nearly 13 billion cans and revenue of €11.2 billion ($12.9 billion). This kept the family in the No. 1 position for the second year in a row.
The Chearavanont brothers, who run the Charoen Pokphand Group, remained in second place with their wealth growing by 23% to $35.7 billion. They’re investing heavily in technology, including a $1 billion data center project with BlackRock. Their fintech company, Ascend Money, also got permission to launch a virtual bank.
In third place is Sarath Ratanavadi, a businessman in energy and telecom. His wealth rose to $12 billion after he merged his companies, Gulf Energy Development and Intouch Holdings, and listed the new business, Gulf Development, on the stock market in April.
Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, known for his beverage business, dropped to fourth place. His net worth stayed about the same at $10.5 billion. He recently transferred some shares to his five children, but since he founded the company, the fortune is still under his name.
The Chirathivat family, who run the Central Group (known for retail and malls), saw their wealth drop by 13% to $8.6 billion due to weak consumer spending. Last October, they sold 40% of Selfridges to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund but kept 60% ownership.
A total of 19 people on the list saw their wealth fall. One of them is Prayudh Mahagitsiri, a coffee business owner, who lost wealth after ending a long-running partnership with Nestlé.
Sadly, two well-known business leaders passed away:
- Vanich Chaiyawan, of Thai Life Insurance.
- Pongsak Viddayakorn, co-founder of Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, who later created his own healthcare business, Principal Capital.
Their wealth is now under their families’ names.
The minimum net worth needed to make it onto the list dropped from $550 million to $420 million. Four people dropped off the list this year. One noticeable absence is Somphote Ahunai, a renewable energy businessman, whose company Energy Absolute is facing financial trouble.
