BUSINESS tycoon Manuel Villar is the only Filipino listed on Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s top 500 richest people.
As of January 13, the self-made billionaire ranked 381st richest in the world based on the market value of his publicly-listed businesses.
Villar’s businesses in real estate, retail, and utilities are estimated to be worth $6.75 billion.
Tesla’s Elon Musk, meanwhile, emerged as the world’s richest person with a total net worth of $202 billion. He is followed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with $183 billion, and Bill Gates with $133 billion.
Villar, 71, is the founder and chairman of Vista Land and Lifescapes, the largest home builder in the Philippines. The firm has built about 300,000 homes in more than 140 cities.
He also owns stakes in Golden Bria Holdings, a property and death care company, as well as Vistamalls, a shopping mall operator.
According to Manila Bulletin, Villar owns 89 percent of Golden Bria through Fine Properties, Cambridge Group, and directly. He also controls about 75 percent of Vista Land through Fine Properties, Althorp Holdings, Manuela Corporation, and directly.
The Filipino billionaire is also calculated to own 68 percent of AllHome Corp.
Villar was born in Manila on December 13, 1949. He was a former seafood vendor in Tondo who made an empire on property development. He was one of the candidates for Philippine president in 2010, garnering more than 5.5 million votes and placing third behind Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
He was also the former speaker of the House and Senate president.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a dynamic measure of personal wealth based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net worth figure is updated every business day after the close of trading in New York. Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share’s most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.
