Robert Kuok Net Worth

What is Robert Kuok's Net Worth?

Robert Kuok is a Malaysian billionaire business tycoon and investor who has a net worth of $13 billion. That makes him the richest person in Malaysia. Robert Kuok is the founder of the conglomerate PPB Group Berhad, which has interests in such sectors as agriculture, property investment and development, waste management, and film distribution and exhibition. Among his numerous other business interests, Kuok founded the luxury hospitality group Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and has a major stake in the Singaporean agribusiness giant Wilmar International, founded and run by his nephew.

Early Life and Education

Robert Kuok was born Kuok Hock Nien on October 6, 1923 in Johor Bahru in what was then British Malaysia. The youngest of three brothers from an affluent Malaysian Chinese family, his parents were Zheng Ge Ru and Kuok Keng Kang. Kuok grew up speaking both English and his parents' Fuzhou dialect. He attended an English-medium primary school before studying at the English College Johore Bahru. Kuok went on to attend Raffles Institution in Singapore.

Career Beginnings

Kuok began his career as an office boy. Later, during the Japanese occupation of Malaya, he worked in Singapore as a clerk in the rice-trading department of the industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha. Soon enough, Kuok was promoted to the head of the department.

PPB Group Berhad

In the late 1940s, Kuok partnered with his brothers and a cousin to found the company Kuok Brothers, a rice wholesaler in Malaya. The company expanded into sugar and flour milling over the subsequent decades, with Kuok founding Malayan Sugar Manufacturing with a pair of Japanese partners in 1959. In 1962, Kuok Brothers established Federal Flour Mills, and in 1968 Kuok founded Perils Plantations Berhad (PPB) to cultivate and mill sugar cane in the Malaysian state of Perils. Kuok soon became known as the Sugar King for his dominating control of sugar refineries in Malaysia. In 1972, he took PPB public, and in 1976 his Malayan Sugar Manufacturing was folded into the company.

In the 1980s, PPB expanded substantially, branching out into such areas as property development and investment, palm oil production, retail, waste management, and film distribution and exhibition. Partnering with Hong Kong's Golden Harvest, PPB established Golden Screen Cinemas, which became one of Malaysia's largest film distributors and cinema chains. Among its many other holdings, PPB formerly operated the Tops supermarket chain and the retailer Kerry's. Elsewhere, the group is the single largest shareholder in the Singaporean agribusiness giant Wilmar International, which is run by Kuok's nephew Kuok Khoon Hong. Wilmar is the world's largest listed trader of palm oil.

Other Ventures

In 1971, Kuok founded Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, a luxury hospitality company named after the mythical land from James Hilton's classic novel "Lost Horizon." The company's first hotel was the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, which was followed by the Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong. It went on to expand across the world, with over 100 properties in more than 70 destinations. Kuok served as the chairman and CEO of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts from 1984 to 1993. Among his other notable assets, Kuok has interests in the South China Morning Post, the China World Trade Center, CITIC Pacific, and Malaysian Bulk Carriers Berhad. He also owns the Singaporean-based oil services operator PACC Offshore Services Holdings.

Political Activity

In the lead-up to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, Kuok was named a Hong Kong Affairs Adviser. He served a critical role in relaying information and creating meetings between the Malaysian and Chinese governments. Later, in 2018, Kuok was named to the Council of Eminent Persons following that year's Malaysian general election. He served in the position for three months under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Personal Life

Kuok has been married twice, with eight children between the marriages. His first wife was Joyce Cheah, who passed away, and his second is Pauline Ho Poh Lin. Kuok resides in Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong Island. In 2018, he published a memoir. Kuok became a centenarian in 2023.

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