China-born Forrest Li becomes Singapore’s richest person as Sea Ltd shares surge

Forrest Li, Sea Ltd’s billionaire co-founder, chairman and CEO, has become Singapore’s richest person as shares of his company surged.

Li, who was born in China and later became a Singapore citizen, is now worth US$19.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after Sea’s American depositary receipts rose 67 per cent this year. The city state’s second-richest person, paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, has a net worth of US$17.7 billion.

It is another example of how tech billionaires are climbing up the wealth rankings in countries across Asia. Earlier this year, Brian Kim, the founder of messaging giant Kakao Corporation, became South Korea’s richest person.

Sea, Southeast Asia’s most valuable company, has been turning to fintech for further growth beyond gaming and e-commerce, while also expanding beyond the region. It won a digital-banking licence in Singapore in December and acquired Indonesia’s PT Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi, better known as Bank BKE, people familiar with the matter said in January.