Trip.com co-founder, Grindr board member among SG’s 50 richest

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The 2024 Forbes list of Singapore’s 50 richest people includes two fresh faces, both expats-turned-citizens.

One is Ji Qi, a China-born hotelier and co-founder of travel booking site Trip.com, who took the 23rd spot with a net worth of US$2.35 billion.

He is also the founder and executive chairman of H World Group, one of China’s largest multibrand hotel groups, which he established in 2005 and grew into a chain of more than 10,000 hotels.

The other person is former hedge fund manager George Raymond Zage III at 48th place, whose US$900 million fortune comes largely from shares of LGBTQ dating app Grindr.

Zage, the founder and CEO of Singapore-based investment firm Tiga Investments, is also on the board of Grindr, which went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2022 after a merger with his special purpose acquisition company.

Retaining the crown as Singapore’s richest man for the second year in a row is Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who first rose to the top spot in 2023.

The longtime Singapore resident grew his fortune by US$13 billion to a record US$29 billion from US$16 billion. This was as shares of Meta, which is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, continued their upward trajectory. Saverin’s gain was the biggest in absolute terms.

The wealth of nearly two-thirds of Forbes listees also climbed from a year ago.

Ranking seventh is a new entrant to the list, the Wee family. They are heirs of the late banking magnate Wee Cho Yaw, who died in late February.

Wee was chairman emeritus of UOB and landed in eighth place in the 2023 list.

Zhang Yong, chairman of Haidilao International Holding, and Shu Ping, who co-founded the hotpot chain, were among the 10 listees whose wealth took a hit as shares of the popular franchise dipped 45% over the year amid weak consumer spending in China.

The husband-and-wife pair, who placed sixth in the 2023 list, moved down four ranks to 10th place as their net worth fell from US$9.7 billion to US$6.5 billion.

The 2024 list had three drop-offs as its minimum net worth for this year hit a record US$870 million, up from last year’s US$750 million.