Gudang Garam owners make 'Forbes' list

Gudang Garam owners make 'Forbes' list

NEW YORK (Agencies): The Wonowidjojo family, owner of PT
Gudang Garam, was one of three Indonesians listed among the
world's billionaires by Forbes Magazine.

In the July edition of the magazine, the Wonowidjojo family's
net worth is put at $6.7 billion, Reuters reported yesterday.

Two other Indonesian names in Forbes' list were Eka Tjipta
Widjaja and his family, with a net worth of $5.1 billion, and
Liem Sioe Liong and his family, with $4.5 billion.

Eka Tjipta's business interests include plantation, edible
oils, pulp and paper and forestry and banking (Bank Internasional
Indonesia). Liem's diversified Salim Group includes stakes in
Bank Central Asia, PT Indocement, PT Bogasari and PT Indofood.

Two Americans, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, topped Forbes
Magazines' ranking of the world's billionaires for the second
year in a row,

The magazine said in its July 15 issue that Gates, the founder
of software giant Microsoft Corp., has seen his company's stock
rise about 40 percent this year, boosting his estimated net worth
to $18 billion.

For investor Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha," the stock of his
Berkshire Hathaway has risen 43 percent, giving him a net worth
of about $15.3 billion.

Third on Forbes' top 10 list is Paul Sacher, a Swiss whose
fortune of $13.1 billion is linked to pharmaceutical giant Roche.

Lee Shau Kee, No. 4., is a Hong Kong-based real estate tycoon,
with a net worth of about $12.7 billion.

The remaining billionaires in the top 10 are: Tsai Wan-Lin,
$12.2 billion, the founder of a Taiwanese insurance empire; Lia
Ka-shing, $10.6 billion, another Hong Kong-based real estate
mogul; Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, $9.2 billion, a Japanese property
baron; Paul Allen, $7.5 billion, co-founder of Microsoft, Kenneth
Thomson, $7.4 billion, Canadian media mogul; and Tan Yu, $7
billion, real estate titan from the Philippines.

Forbes said that there are at least 447 families or
individuals in the world with a net worth of at least $1 billion,
up from 388 last year. They have a combined net worth of more
than $1 trillion.

The family and heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton lead the
Forbes list of family and individual billionaires, with a net
worth of $22.9 billion.

The Mars family of the M & M Mars Co. candy empire has a net
worth of $12 billion, placing them second.

The Kwok Brothers, involved in Hong Kong real estate, are No.
3 with a net worth of $11.2 billion and the DuPont family is No.
4 at $10 billion, Forbes says.

The United States is home to one-third of the world's
billionaires with 149. There are now 41 Japanese billionaire
fortunes and 82 non-Japanese Asian billionaire fortunes,
including 20 from Hong Kong.

Other countries with billionaires include Germany with 52,
Mexico with 15, France with 14, Switzerland with 12, Malaysia
with 11, Indonesia with 10, Thailand with 10, Philippines with
nine and Canada with eight.

World Super 50

The magazine also published the Forbes World Super 50, ranking
of the world's most powerful public firms, which this year is
topped by the Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell Group.

Shell replaced General Motors Corp. as leader.

The ranking is based on the best three out of four criteria --
rank in sales, profits, assets and market value.

Last year, General Motors was top ranked.

In the third slot this year is Exxon Corp., followed in order
by General Electric, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Toyota Motor,
Phillip Morris Cos. Inc., Ford Motor Co., International Business
Machines Corp. and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.

Of the top 50 firms, 22 are Americans. Japan had 12 firms on
the World Super 50, including Hitachi (36) and Matsushita
Electric Industrial (44).

Among other well known companies, Nestle was 19, Unilever was
27, Barclay's was 42, Siemens Group was 44 and British
Telecommunications was 50.

Forbes also ranked the 500 largest foreign public firms,
listing companies outside the United States.

Japan is headquarters for 207 of the Forbes Foreign 500, the
largest of which is Mitsubishi. Britain ranks second with 63
companies, France has 46, German 39, Netherlands 18, Switzerland
17, Canada 16, South Korea 15, Italy 14, Australia 12 and Belgium
12.

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