Asia's New Wealth Club

"Throughout the different economies of Asia, the wheels of commerce run on power, prestige, influence, favors given and received, family fortune, and what the Chinese call guanxi, or connections."

"Rank, Name, Country, Net Worth in US$ "

"The internationally aware Son is always on the lookout for alliances and attuned to the power of converging technology."

"One of Yoshiaki's talents was undoubtedly political networking. He called his political relationships 'broad and shallow,' but they nontheless served him well when it came to making the most of the Winter Olympics and their connection to Nagano."

"Adaptability and a willingness to change have been the secrets of Hong Kong's steady rise to a position where it has the highest per capita income in Asia after Japan."

"There are clouds on Ho's horizon that have made him think twice about retiring. In 2001, the year he turns 80, his casino monopoly expires."

"While much of the family's fortune has been built on financial services and heavy industry, the Koos have also seen the value of getting connected in the world of telecommunications."

"India's declared goal is to be an IT superpower by 2008."

"Ratan Tata and Adi Godrej are very much the face of established corporate India. Behind them, a host of lesser lights are poised to cross the billionaire threshold in the next decade."

"At its peak in 1998-99, Daewoo had 100,000 employees worldwide and sales figures of more than US$60 billion."

"That the Chearavanont family was able to make the transition from seeds to satellites in the space of 75 years is indicative of the entrepreneurial spirit that pervades Asia's business milieu."

"In 1998, Mahathir launched with great fanfare his ambitious Multimedia Super Corridor, designed to link Kuala Lampur with the new international airport at Sepang, and to create an information-rich work environment called Cyberjaya."

"In the hothouse world of Philippine business, politics, and society, everything is connected."

"Luxury is something that Singaporeans can well afford: the latest projections by a Japanese research institute, the Japan Centre for Economic Research, suggest that it may be the world's wealthiest country by 2020."

"To ensure that consumption continues to come naturally to Bruneians long after the oil runs out, the Sultan has been pursuing a diversification program that relies heavily on offshore investments."

"Despite the secrecy that veiled much of the Suhartos' accumulation of assets, it is clear that they represented possibly the single biggest concentration of family wealth in Asia before the economic collapse that culminated in Suharto's ousting."