Vietnamese American on Forbes 400 rich list
HANOI - Vietnamese American billionaire Hoang Kieu has been named on a list of the 400 wealthiest people in the United States by Forbes magazine.
Kieu ranked 149th with a net worth of US$3.8 billion, and is the richest newcomer on the list.
According to Forbes, the bulk of Kieu's wealth came from his stake in the publicly traded Shanghai RAAS, which he founded in 1992, after partnering with the Shanghai Blood Centre in 1987. With $214 million in sales earnings and an eye-popping $17.7 billion market capitalisation, the company ranked 20th on Forbes Most Innovative Companies list and appeared on Forbes' Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion list in 2015. Kieu owns 35 per cent of the Shezhen-listed company, and his wealth has more than tripled in the past year along with the company's rise in value.
The rest of Kieu's wealth is in Agoura Hills, in the California-based Rare Antibody Antigen Supply (RAAS), which he founded in 1985, and the winery he purchased and opened last year.
In September 2014, Kieu climbed to 628th on the Forbes' World's Billionaires list, with the value of his assets reaching $2.8 billion.
Born in the central Quang Tri Province in 1944, Kieu moved to the United States with his wife and five children in 1975. He holds American citizenship and lives in Los Angeles, California.
Kieu became well known in Viet Nam when he tried to organise the Miss World 2010 contest in the southern Tien Giang Province. But he failed to bring the contest to Viet Nam, and it was held in China.
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