Forbes Asia

forbes asia

CEO William Adamopoulos Senior Vice President Tina Wee Executive Directors Eugene Wong, Aarin Chan, Janelle Kuah, James Sundram Director, Circulation Eunice Soo Sales Directors Michelle Ong, Lindsay Williams, Janice Ang Deputy Director, Marketing & Research Joan Low Deputy Director, Circulation Pavan Kumar Deputy Director, Events & Communications Audra Ruyters Deputy Director, Conferences Jolynn Chua Senior Manager/Assistant to the CEO Jennifer Chung Senior Manager, Events & Communications Melissa Ng Senior Manager, Ad Services – Digital Keiko Wong Ad Services Manager Fiona Carvalho Conference Managers Clarabelle Chaw Assistant Manager, Marketing & Research Gwynneth Chan Assistant Manager, Conferences Peh Ying Si Office Manager – Hong Kong Megan Cheung Advertising Executive Sharon Joseph Advertising Coordinator Hazel Liu Circulation Services Taynmoli Karuppiah Sannassy, Jennifer Yim CHAIRMAN/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Steve Forbes FORBES MEDIA Chief Executive Officer Michael Federle Chief Financial Officer Michael York Chief Revenue Officer Mark Howard Chief Digital Officer Salah Zalatimo Chief Sales Officer Jessica Sibley Chief Growth Officer Tom Davis Editor-at-Large/Global Futurist Rich…

resilience in turbulence

This month’s featured list, the China Rich List, has some lessons for all of us. Despite the turbulence of the U.S.-China trade war, wealth continues to be created in China at a remarkable pace. To be sure, China’s growth rate is slowing, but as Forbes Asia Chief Economics Commentator Yuwa Hendrick-Wong notes in his essay in this issue, that slowdown might have occurred in any event. As any economy matures, it cannot maintain the growth rates of its “emerging” phase. Plenty of opportunities remain for entrepreneurs in China to find new ways to build businesses and create wealth inside this everlarger economy. The U.S. remains among the best places in the world to become a billionaire. Yet the playing field is being leveled. If one uses the last five years of…

with libra, zuck is a hero

MARK ZUCKERBERG TOOK a verbal beating over Libra (among other things), Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency and payments system, when he recently testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. Well aware of the low repute in which Facebook and other high-tech giants are held these days, most of the committee’s politicians couldn’t resist the temptation to scold and harangue Zuckerberg. Actually, issues such as privacy and money laundering are addressable. Facebook is already working with regulators on such concerns. Nonetheless, regulatory pressures have forced a number of companies that were partnering with Facebook on this project to drop out. And this gets to the real reason the idea of Libra is so troubling to so many politicians, government bureaucrats, banks and economists the world over: Libra could do to central banks what Uber…

digital magic

Science fiction novelist Arthur C. Clarke postulated in 1973 that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Known now as Clarke’s “third law,” it was by no means fiction. In 1971, Intel sold the 4004, the world’s first microprocessor, with 2,300 transistors. It would launch today’s digital Digital Magic Rich Karlgaard is editor at large at Forbes. As an author and global futurist, he has published several books, the latest of which is Late Bloomers, a groundbreaking exploration of what it means to be a late bloomer in a culture obsessed with SAT scores and early success. For his past columns and blogs visit our website at www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard. TECH CONNECTOR economy. When Apple introduced its Macintosh computer in 1984, it had the Motorola 68000, named for its 68,000 transistors. The…

domestic warfare

U.S. President Donald Trump’s narrative on the trade war is that he is taking strong action against unfair trade practices by countries—China in particular—that harm American interests. In reality, he is waging war on corporate America. Trump is attacking on three fronts: He is hurting many publicly listed U.S. companies by roiling financial markets and destabilizing their valuations. He is eroding corporate America’s competitiveness at home and abroad by making its inputs more expensive. Third, he is threatening to force U.S. companies to leave China, all in the name of making America great again, only to produce the opposite result. U.S. companies with significant exposure to U.S.-China trade have already been hammered in financial markets. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, each escalation of the trade war hits not…

booming business

Satyanarayan Nuwal has accomplished many things in his long career, among them creating India’s largest maker of explosives (by revenue) and the first private supplier of explosives for warheads. He has also hit another milestone, as the 73% stake that he and his family hold in Solar Industries India, the company he founded in 1983, rose to be worth $1 billion. Solar Industries’ shares have been a strong performer on the Bombay Stock Exchange for the last five years, up fivefold to a recent price around 1,000 rupees. The company now sports a market capitalization of $1.4 billion. The company also featured in Forbes Asia’s list of 200 Best Under A Billion companies in 2019 and previously in 2010. Solar sells its products in 51 countries and has four overseas factories…