This confirms the 100-year-old tycoon’s status as Malaysia’s richest man, followed by Hong Leong’s Quek Leng Chan (ranked 287 with a net worth of US$8.8 billion) and entrepreneur Ananda Krishnan (ranked 624, US$4.9 billion).

Forbes data showed that Hong Kong-based Kuok lost US$400 million and slipped down the rankings of the billionaires list over the past 12 months.

His fate was shared by a number of East Asian billionaires, who generally trended down.

There are now more billionaires than ever: 2,781 in all, 141 more than last year and 26 more than the record set in 2021, according to Forbes.

They are also richer than ever, worth US$14.2 trillion in aggregate, up by US$2 trillion from 2023 and US$1.1 trillion above the previous record, also set in 2021.

The top of the list is still dominated by the tech giants, such as Elon Musk (US$195 billion), Jeff Bezos (US$194 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg (US$177 billion), but the title of this year’s wealthiest goes to LVMH’s French owner Bernard Arnaut and family with a combined net worth of a whopping US$233 billion.