7. Iris Fontbona — Antofagasta PLC — $16,100,000,000
Iris Fontbona is one of the richest people living in Chile. When she was just 17 years old, Fontbona met Andronico Luksic Abaroa, who was 20 years older than her. When she turned 18, the two of them got married. Before marrying Fontbona, Luksic had five children with his first wife, who passed away. With Fontbona, Luksic had another three children. Fontbona acquired her fortune after her husband passed away in 2005. Despite being given a scandalous amount of money, the majority of her husband’s fortune went to their three sons, Guillermo, Jean Paul, and Andronico.
Andronico Luksic created his own fortune by founding the Luksic Group, which has investments in sectors such as mining, financial, industrial, and beverage. Despite becoming incredibly wealthy, Luksic dedicated the last years of his life to donating money to charitable causes and spending time with his family. It seems that Fontbona is living her life the same way, as she’s regularly breaking records for how much money she’s donated during the Chilean Telethon, which helps raise money for children with physical disabilities. In 2015, she donated $4.3 million in front of a live television audience. Despite her massive public donations, Fontbona refuses to do interviews with reporters.
6. Yang Huiyan — Country Garden Holdings — $16,400,000,000
As someone who owns 55% of Country Garden Holdings, Yang Huiyan is often reported to be the richest woman in Asia while, at the same time, being one of the youngest billionaires in the world. The company was started by Yang Huiyan’s father, Yang Guoqiang, and is one of the top real-estate companies in Asia. To date, the company employs over 70,000 people and has sold properties to over 1,500,000 homeowners. While she serves as vice chairman on the board’s governance committee and was a crucial player in increasing the company’s stock value, Yang Huiyan acquired her fortune through a clever move by her father.
When a company has an IPO (or initial public offering) it means that shares in the company can be bought and sold by anyone on a stock exchange. This process is essential for a private company to become public and make the owners of the company very rich, depending on how well their stocks sell. Before Country Garden Holdings had its IPO in 2007, Yang Guoqiang, transferred 70% of Country Garden’s share to his daughter, Yang Huiyan. With one transfer, he made his daughter a billionaire… before she even turned 30!
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