PhilStar-Apr 9
Twelve of 15 Filipino billionaires ended up poorer this year than last year as the world’s richest join the rest of the world on reeling from the impact of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, global media firm Forbes said. For the second year, former senator Manuel Villar, whose business empire go from retail to property, topped the list of richest Filipinos with a net worth of $5.6 billion as of April.
Villar was an outlier from a losing pack of billionaires, with his wealth up slightly from $5.5 billion in March last year. Globally, the former legislator ranked 286th out of 2,095 in the list. After Villar, seven Filipino business leaders who suffered a massive blow on their wealth, which Forbes directly attributed to the lingering impact of the COVID-19. “The world’s richest are not immune to the devastating impact of the coronavirus,” said Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editor of Wealth, Forbes. “The drop in the number of billionaires this year reflects the economic impact the pandemic is already having,” he added.
Read more at: https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/04/08/2006320/coronavirus-wipes-out-some-wealth-12-filipino-billionaires
