Robert Kuok

Robert Kuok Hock Nien (; Foochow Romanized: Guóh Hŏk-nièng; born 6 October 1923) is a Malaysian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Since 1973, Kuok has lived in Hong Kong. According to Forbes, his net worth is estimated at $11.8 billion as of April 2023, making him the wealthiest Malaysian citizen and 96th wealthiest person in the world. As of April 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index 2023, Kuok has an estimated net worth of $17.7 billion, making him the 97th richest person in the world. Kuok is media-shy and maintains a low public profile, with most of his businesses are privately held by him or his family. Apart presiding the ownership over a multitude of businesses in Malaysia, his companies have investments in many countries throughout Continental Asia. His business interests (collectively known as the Kuok Group of Companies) range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis Plantations Bhd), sugar refineries, flour milling, animal feed, oil, mining, finance, hotel (Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts), property (Kerry Properties), trading, freight (Kerry Logistics) and publishing. His biggest source of wealth is a stake in Wilmar International, the world's largest listed palm oil trader company. In 2018, Kuok was appointed to the Council of Eminent Persons to advise Ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Early life and education Kuok was born on 6 October 1923 in Johor Bahru to a wealthy Malaysian Chinese family and was named after Robert the Bruce when he enrolled at an English primary school by his father’s English-speaking clerk. Kuok's father Kuok Keng Kang arrived in Malaya from Fuzhou, China, at the beginning of the 20th century, and Robert was the youngest of three brothers born to Kuok Keng Kang and Robert's mother Zheng Ge Ru. He grew up speaking his parents' Fuzhou dialect, English and Japanese during Japan's wartime occupation of Malaya. He studied at Raffles Institution where he was classmate with the founding Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and English College Johore Bahru.