South Korea's 40 Richest in 2009 and Korean crazy Pinoys

If you check out my sidebar, a few Koreans visit my blog! (lol!) Most visitors are Filipinos or Americans, next are Canadians, and then Koreans! I wonder if they come here by accident or are really looking around Filipino blogs. If you're a Korean reading this, please leave a comment!

A lot of Filipinos have become Korean crazy, from the soap operas, to the clothes, to their hairstyles and even Korean food (kimchi anyone?). I even know a few people who work part time as English tutors for Koreans! They say Koreans go here to learn English because it's cheaper here than anywhere else. I think they like it here because people are not rude to them, and even treat them as special most of the time.

Because of the tremendous increase in Korean tourists in the country, almost all the tourist destinations now have Korean signs, Korean restaurants, Korean spas, Korean everything. The net effect, give it a decade or so, you'll now have a generation of Filipino-Koreans (like Filipino-Chinese are called "Chinoys" or Filipino-Americans are "Fil-Ams", maybe they will be called "Korenoys" or "Fil-Kors").

Anyway, as a welcome mat to my Korean visitors, I've found this for you! Forbes Magazine released on May 1, 2009, their list of 40 richest people in South Korea...

Here is the first 10 richest in South Korea:
1. Lee Kun-Hee - former Samsung Group Chairman
2. Chung Mong-Koo - Hyundai MOtor Chairman
3. Chung Mong-Joon - Korea's richest politician
4. Lee Myung-Hee - heads retailer Shinsegae (sister of #1)
5. Shin Dong-Bin - vice chairman of Lotte Group in Korea
6. Shin Dong-Joo - vice president of Lotte in Japan
7. Jay Y. Lee - senior vice president developing Samsung's global business
8. Chang Pyung-Soon - owns Kyowon Group, an education company
9. Koo Bon-Moo - Chairman of LG Group
10. Shin Chang-Jae - Chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance

See the complete list at Forbes here! Leave a comment!

Forbes' The World's Billionaires 2009

On my birthday (hehe) Forbes' published this year's list of wealthiest people in the world: The World's Billionaires. You can find the full article on the Forbes' website.

According to the article, there are less Billionaires this year than in 2008, largely because of the economic recession. For 2009, there are only 793 billionaires. From Wiki, the current estimated population of the world is 6.76 billion, which makes the billionaires oh, about 0.00000012% of the population. Haha.

The Top 3 are still #1 Bill Gates (up from #3 last year), #2 Warren Buffet (down from #1 last year), and Mexican telecon titan #3 Carlos Slim Helú (down from #2).


Without further delay, here the list of Billionaires, top 10 only...

#1 William Gates III $40 billion Microsoft/U.S.
#2 Warren Buffet $37 billion Investments/U.S.
#3 Carlos Slim Helú $35 billion Telecom/Mexico
#4 Lawrence Ellison $22.5 billion Oracle/U.S.
#5 Ingvar Kamprad $22 billion Ikea/Sweden
#6 Karl Albrecht $21.5 billion Supermarkets/Germany
#7 Mukesh Ambani $19.5 billion Petrochemicals/India
#8 Lakshmi Mittal $19.3 billion Steel/India
#9 Theo Albrecht $18.8 billion Supermarkets/Germany
#10 Amancio Ortega $18.3 billion Fashion/Spain

Other notable Billionaires, the Waltons (owners of the Walmart franchise) are at numbers 11 to 14 (yes, they are billionaires - EACH ONE of them). New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is at #17. Filipinos Henry Sy and Lucio Tan still make the list at #234 and #522 respectively. Celebrity Billionaire George Lucas and Steven Spielberg tie with others at #205, and of course, Oprah Winfrey is at #234.

See the FULL LIST HERE.