At the top of our list is Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose $35 billion estimated net worth is up sevenfold as a result of increased transparency of his Crown Property Holdings. He takes the top spot from the only other Asian monarch on the list, the Sultan of Brunei, worth $20 billion, one of only two rulers worth less than they were last year. The sultan, who inherited the riches of an unbroken 600-year-old Muslim dynasty, has had to cut back on his country's oil production because of depleting reserves.
In the individual article, it says:
The world's longest-reigning monarch is revered as a deity. His Crown Property Bureau, through which he holds wealth, granted unprecedented access this year, revealing vast landholdings, including 3,493 acres in Bangkok. He also owns stakes in the publicly listed Siam Cement and Siam Commercial Bank. He recently increased investment in Deves Insurance in order to take it private. While the crown remains technically separate from state, the king exerts enormous influence and is thought to have given his implicit blessing to the 2006 coup that overthrew former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra
BP: Increased transparency? Unprecedented access? I very much doubt the Crown Property Bureau, who keep their figures closely to the chest, would grant access to Forbes to write about how rich the Royal Family was. Isn't the Forbes figure really because of that academic article whose educated guess was about the USD35 billion mark? If they don't grant access to a Thai academic who writes a lengthy paper on the topic, why Forbes?
btw, thanks to a long-term reader for the pointer.
So can we stop talking about how Thaksin's vast wealth allows him to dominate Thailand?
Whichever way you look at it, $35 billion is simply extraordinary.
Lesson for today: the sufficient economy also works for a billionaire.
Have you ever met a sufficiency economy advocate who was poor?
More than the Sultan, which country have oil? Interesting...
The Sheikhs and Sultans are building vast cities and miracles in the desert.
Has the CPB even expanded the sois in their landholdings? Langsuan? Ratchadamri? Anyone in the know? Or is it a part of sufficiency economy?
Editors of all publications must be huddled up tonight to discuss how to present/treat this unexpected Forbes disclosure.
FYI:
The same list from last year.
Forbes The World's Richest Royals 2007
Sounds like your instincts were right on this one BP.
Surprisingly, the CPB has gone out of its way to deny the claims made in Forbes:
A Thailand rebuffs Forbes' claims
If we look at the new Forbes article on king's wealth:
http://www.forbes.com/magazines/global/2008/0901/032.html
From there we can see that the CPB's real estate holdings in Bangkok are worth at $31 billion, while the shareholdings amount to around $3 billion.
So, I think the important point is that the figure of $35 billion is mostly assets. The shares invested long-term (providing stability to the economy), and the real estate is being mostly leased at low-priced rent to state agencies and low-income tenants. Bangkokpost cited a figure of 7% of CPB's land being leased at commercial rates.
So not surprisingly, the research for 2005 done by Porphant and cited in the new Forbes article shows that the income that CPB got from its $31 billion-valued real estate holdings is only $80 million and that from company shareholdings is $200 million, making total annual income at $280 million (figures already adjusted to current exchange rate).
So the new Forbes article has said that the goal of the CPB is "to aid the country's development by investing in key industries and providing below-market-rate housing for low-income citizens."
Passer-by
I'm not surprised by the 35 billion numbers, if the CPB is counted in. IIRC, CPB is the investment arm of the monarch, i.e. the institution of the monarchy, while there's also another separate wealth that belongs to the person of the king himself. It will be interesting to know the breakdown between these two piles of wealth.
Also, what exactly is the mission of CPB? I think it has not been discussed or thought about much (or at least openly). Is it to maximize return on investment, i.e. adding more money to the pile? They have been donating for charity a bit, as far as I'm aware of. But my impression is that their chairty work is nothing extraordinary beyond what most big corporations do.
My impression is that so far CPB has been conservatively managed, by conservatives with a very statist outlook. They never take initiatives, they just react. It's a lot of money they have, and tax free too, if they invest those wealth smartly..like set up venture capital funds to incubate hi-tech companies during the high-risk startup stage, Thailand would have been going going places now..
The fact is that they did grant Porphant access and they did answer questions from Forbes. I have been in touch with both. Obviously it is not open all books, but they did allow more access than in the past. Porphant's estimate is not a guess it is an estimate based on extensive research.