TAIWAN’S 50 RICHEST
FORBES ASIA
SAM YEH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES- Tsai Chi Jui
$1.52 BILLION S
SOURCE: SHOES
AGE: 76. MARRIED, 3 CHILDREN
Tsai’s Pou Chen, which he founded with his
brothers in 1969, now claims to be the largest
branded athletic and casual footwear maker in the
world, producing over 300 million pairs of shoes in
the last year for such customers as Nike and Adidas.
Daughter Pei-Chun became CEO of the Pou Chen
Group in 2012 (see box, p. 73). - Chin Jong Hwa
$1.5 BILLION S
SOURCE: AUTO PARTS
AGE: 58. MARRIED
One of the year’s 2 biggest dollar gainers and
the biggest percentage gainer, Chin saw the
value of his 40% stake in auto parts supplier
Minth increase by a third in the past year and
by 58% in the past 2 years. Chin stepped down
as chairman and executive director in May but
remains honorary chairman. Minth’s CEO, not
a family member, is chairman, while Chin’s
27-year-old daughter, Chin Chien Ya, is now an
executive director (see box, p. 73). - Liu Ko-chen
$1.48 BILLION Ì
SOURCE: MANUFACTURING
AGE: 62
Founded industrial automation equipment and
software supplier Advantec with 2 colleagues
from HP Taiwan. Today the company does
business in 23 countries and has a market
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Built to Last and Blue Ocean Strategy - Liao Long-Shing
$1.45 BILLION T
SOURCE: PETROCHEMICALS
AGE: 63. MARRIED, 2 CHILDREN - Suhon Lin
$1.45 BILLION T
SOURCE: PETROCHEMICALS
AGE: 87. MARRIED, 4 CHILDREN
W
ith an
older-
than-av-
erage age of its rich-
est, Taiwan would
seem like fertile
ground for fam-
ily and inheritance
disputes. Adding
to the potential for
conflict and sibling
rivalry, the island
also has had a num-
ber of powerful ty-
coons with children born to the same
father but different “wives.” The fam-
ily details may seem granular from
the outside, but control of some of
Asia’s largest businesses and billions
of dollars of wealth is on the line in
the transfer of fortunes though the
generational bloodlines.
That potential for family drama has
already been realized this year. Y.F.
Chang, head of global shipping leader
Evergreen Marine who died in Janu-
ary, left his estate to Chang Kuo-wei,
his son with his second partner. That
news quickly brought action by his first
wife’s sons, Kuo-hua, Kuo-ming and
Kuo-cheng, who control much of the
business and apparently forced Chang
out as chairman of EVA Airways.
The generational switch with per-
haps the most money on the line and
impact on Taiwan involves the Formo-
sa Plastics Group, one of Asia’s largest
conglomerates. The
Wang family, which
returns to this year’s
list after a year’s
absence with an
estimated fortune
worth $4.3 billion,
thanks to new finan-
cial information,
had two founders
with children born
to more than one
wife.
Formosa Plastics
cofounder Y.T. died in 2014 before the
family had resolved all disputes aris-
ing from the 2008 death of his more
colorful brother Y.C., who left no will.
Control of the group is a balancing
act, especially between the children
of Y.C.’s second and third partners,
including Formosa Plastics executive
director Susan Wang, and Y.T.’s chil-
dren such as Formosa Plastics Group
Chairman William Wong. Then there
is Y.C.’s son Winston, who has no role
at Formosa but has asked a court in
Bermuda to determine if the company
improperly transferred billions of dol-
lars of funds into offshore accounts.
Lin Rong San, who ranked No. 9
on our Taiwan list last year, died
in November. Though there are no
signs of discord among his three sons
and wife, his fortune is not listed
yet pending more details about the
will.—R.F.FAMILY DRAMA
Fertile For Feuding
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