Chinese tycoons feature on FORTUNE list

Richard Li, younger son of Asia's richest businessman, Li Ka-shing, made it to the top 10 despite the flagging fortunes of his company

HONG KONG, China -- Communist China has the highest number of the world's richest people under the age of 40 outside America, a list compiled by U.S. business magazine FORTUNE shows.

Thirteen Asians, eight from China, made it into FORTUNE'S "40 richest under 40 outside the United States," with billionaires from Japan, India, and Hong Kong figuring in the top ten.

Hong Kong's Richard Li, chairman of conglomerate Pacific Century Group and son of Asia's richest man Li Ki-shing, came in at number 10, worth $1.6 billion, despite the flagging fortunes of his telecoms company.

Tailing close behind was mainland Chinese tycoon Yang Bin, who ranked 15th on the list, but who recently saw the share price of his orchid company Euro-Asia Agriculture flounder.

Yang, 39, has riches amounting to some US$900 million, according to FORTUNE.

Also featuring on the list were Wang Wenjing, who turned a $6,000 software startup loan into $328 million, and Liu Hanyuan, who owns China's largest aquatic feed producers, and is worth $320 million, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Last on the list, to be published in the magazine's September 16 issue, was Wang Yusuo of China's Xinao Gas, boasting a cool $138 million at the age of 38.

India and Japan star too

Taiwan-born Jerry Yang, co-founder of Internet content provider Yahoo, is worth $514 million

Outside of China, Japan's Hiroshi Mikitani of online shopping mall Rakuten was sixth with $2.2 billion. Indian entrepreneur Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group was eighth with $2.1 billion.

It was the first time FORTUNE had put together a list of some of the richest people under the age of 40 outside of the United States, and some candidates did not make the cut because the magazine could not place a value on their assets, the magazine said.

"So while we cannot claim to have the 40 wealthiest people in the world outside the U.S. under the age of 40, we do have 40 of the richest," FORTUNE said.

Outside of Asia, Russian oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky, with a fortune of $7.2 billion, took the top spot. The 40 billionaires netted between $7.2 billion to $136 million.

Four people on the list were from Britain, the third most prolific country for producing rich young people.

Self-made Americans

Some Asians also managed to make the magazine's separate list of "America's 40 richest under 40," sharing the bright spot with the country's wealthiest, including Hollywood performers and top athletes.

Among them was 39-year-old Nav Sooch from India. Sooch, chairman of Texas-based semiconductor-maker Silicon Laboratories, is worth $186 million and ranks number 18.

Next in rank was Pantas Sutardja from Indonesia, director and co-founder of computer hardware-maker Marvell Technology Group based in Silicon Valley.

A representative of Sutardja described the 39 year-old as one who has seventy-hour workweeks, and "has no hobbies and hasn't vacationed since 1995."

Number 29 on the list is Jen-Hsun Huang, 39, president of Silicon Valley-based computer hardware-make Nvidia.

Taiwan-born Huang, who is worth $139 million, admitted that his company has learned a lot about accounting after an SEC inquiry prompted Nvidia to restate profits in 2000.

Indian-born Sudhakar Ravi, 37, CTO and co-founder of Sonic Wall, another Silicon Valley-based computer hardware-maker, ranked 36 on the list.

Ravi, and his brother Sreekanth who is 37th on the list, cashed out $87 million each before the stock of their Internet security company fell 77% over the past year. They are each worth $119 million.

Top notchers

But the only Asian who made it to the top 10 of the "America's 40 richest under 40" list is Taiwan-born Jerry Yang. The 33 year-old Yang, co-founder of Internet content provider Yahoo is worth $514 million and came in eighth.

He shares the sweet spot along with America's wealthiest celebrities including Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Sean Puffy Combs, and with athletes Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

But none of them was anywhere near American computer magnate Michael Dell, 37, who topped FORTUNE's list of the United States' richest 40 people under 40, with a wealth of $16.49 billion.

Reuters contributed to this report.