Forbes - Asia (September 2018)

A MORNING WITH JEFF BEZOS


SEPTEMBER 2018 • WWW.FORBES.COM



























































MALAYSIAN



METTLE




KOON BROTHERS FORGED

CHINESE ALUMINUM TIES
FOR PRESS METAL BHD.


























CEO Koon Poh Keong





AUSTRALIA...............A $12.00 INDIA............................RS 400 KOREA........................W 9,500 PAKISTAN....................RS 800 TAIWAN......................NT $275
CHINA....................RMB 85.00 INDONESIA............RP 77,000 MALAYSIA...............RM 24.00 PHILIPPINES..................P 260 THAILAND......................B 260
HONG KONG................HK $80 JAPAN.................¥1238 + TAX NEW ZEALAND.......NZ $13.00 SINGAPORE..............S $12.50 UNITED STATES........US $10.00





CONTENTS — SEPTEMBER 2018 VOLUME 14 NUMBER 7






















































S PAGE 42
11 | FACT & COMMENT // STEVE FORBES
“WE GET ALL OUR Time to terminate “assisted dying.”
BIG-TICKET ITEMS— THE FAB 50

RICE, OIL, FLOUR—
38 | THE LIST
FROM HERE” China is squeezing out the world, accounting for 30 of our best, big publicly traded companies.

—Avenue Supermart’s loyal BY JOHN KOPPISCH AND ANDREA MURPHY
customers help launch it onto our 39 | PRESSING FOR SUCCESS
Fab 50 list.
Malaysian aluminum company Press Metal dominates the Southeast Asian market.
BY ANIS SHAKIRAH MOHD MUSLIMIN

42 | SHOPPING SENSATION
India’s Avenue Supermarts earn customer loyalty with their low-priced bulk goods.
BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN
45 | INVESTING MACHINE
There’s a purpose behind Tencent’s frenzied dealmaking: Keep users coming back to its platform.
BY YUE WANG
47 | NEW TO THE CLASS
Notable newcomers to our list. Plus: companies that may soon be Fab 50 members.

COMPANIES, PEOPLE


14 | POLITICAL ROAST
Taiwanese-owned cofee chain draws a VIP who is of-limits on the mainland.
BY RALPH JENNINGS
16 | WHERE E-CASH IS KING
China’s fintech giants are consolidating their gains and using their capital heft.
BY SARA HSU
17 | MAGIC MIRROR
A Chinese virtual fitting room startup boosts retailers’ revenues with big data.
BY JANE HO
COVER PHOTOGRAPH
BY JOSHUA PAUL GILBERT FOR FORBES UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED, ALL TOTALS AND PRICES EXPRESSED IN OUR STORIES ARE IN U.S. DOLLARS.

2 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018



CONTENTS — SEPTEMBER 2018 VOLUME 14 NUMBER 7






18 | SEATS, THEN SERVICES
The founder of co-working startup Kr Space says growth has to come before profits.
BY YUE WANG

22 | MASTER BUILDER
Multibillion-dollar app Procore brings the world’s construction projects onto the cloud.
BY ALEX KONRAD
26 | BEZOS UNBOUND
The richest person of all time tells Forbes that he’s only begun to grow.
BY RANDALL LANE

34 | BITMAIN’S MAIN MAN
The cryptocurrency-mining billionaire nobody has heard of.
BY JASMINE TENG

52 | A REALLY BIG SCORE
Can esports legend Andy Dinh continue to dominate as billionaire moguls enter the arena?
BY MATT PEREZ
54 | BEST UNDER A BILLION: BLS
Shikhar Aggarwal builds a global challenger on dad’s frustration with lengthy visa queues.
S PAGE 92
BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN
“I LIKE 64 | TWEENPRENEURS

RESULTS NOW.” Social gaming unicorn Roblox teaches kids the rudiments of coding.
BY ALEX KNAPP
—HTET MYET OO,
30 Under 30 member (2016) and 68 | BETTER OVER TIME
founder of Rangoon Teahouse and Sincere Watch scion embraces a new idea: sell older models.
other restaurants in Myanmar. BY PAMELA AMBLER

77 | BILLIONAIRES TO BE: CIGARETTE BREAKERS
The cofounders of Juul Labs have cornered the U.S. e-cigarette market.
BY KATHLEEN CHAYKOWSKI

TECHNOLOGY

78 | BREAKING HEARTS
HeartFlow has raised $467 million for a heart-disease test, but it may not make patients better.
T PAGE 84
BY ELLIE KINCAID
WILFRED 80 | GADGETMAN // BEN SIN

UYTENGSU JR. Poker fanatic Xu Ke launches Ono, a social network based on blockchain technology.

—Philippines’ 50 member and Ironman.
THE PHILIPPINES’ 50 RICHEST

84 | THE LIST
It has been a volatile year, with 19 members seeing a net worth shift of 20% or more.
BY GRACE CHUNG

ENTREPRENEURS


90 | HAIR ON FIRE
Nancy Twine went from trading commodities to building a luxury hair-care brand.
BY CHLOE SORVINO

FORBES LIFE

92 | GOOD EATS IN MYANMAR
A hungry 30 Under 30 entrepreneur comes home to feed his people.
BY JANE A. PETERSON
94 | FROM THE EXPERTS
Art, booze and timepieces to buy, hold and sell.
96 | THOUGHTS
On advice.







4 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018



FORBES ASIA

SIDELINES






Editor Tim W. Ferguson
Editorial Director Karl Shmavonian
Rich, Yes. Crazy?
Art Director Charles Brucaliere
Senior Editor John Koppisch
Wealth Lists Editors Luisa Kroll, Kerry A. Dolan
Statistics Editor Andrea Murphy ven many of the favorable
Research Director Sue Radlauer reviewers of the hit movie Crazy
Online Editor Jasmine Smith ERich Asians concede it is familiar
Reporter Grace Chung romantic-comedy fare from Hollywood,

Editorial Bureaus save for the faces. Yet therein lies the
Beijing Yue Wang basis of a cultural moment, as Asian
Shanghai Russell Flannery (Senior Ed.); Maggie Chen characters assume mainstream roles for
India Editor Naazneen Karmali a largely Western audience.
Contributing Editors Of direct interest to Forbes Asia
Bangkok Suzanne Nam readers is the backdrop of the story
Chennai Anuradha Raghunathan (earlier a book by Kevin Kwan): the tussle between traditional and modern mores in
Hong Kong Shu-Ching Jean Chen an extremely wealthy Singaporean Chinese family. Of course this ilm is an entertain-
Melbourne Lucinda Schmidt
ing caricature, although I trust it inspires conjectured likenesses to real clans. Singa-
Perth Tim Treadgold
pore itself appears in several glam cameos. he vast ictional fortune itself, however,
Singapore Jane A. Peterson
popularizes what this magazine has been reporting for years: the Asia-Paciic region’s
Taipei Joyce Huang
extraordinary personal riches.
Vietnam Lan Anh Nguyen
If this cinematic staple is nevertheless a breakthrough on the far side of the Paciic,
Columnist Ben Sin
it is not the only one lately for those of Asian background. Amid the continuing and
Production Manager Michelle Ciulla
ever remarkable rise of immigrants and their ofspring from East and South Asia in
North America, we are seeing their academic, artistic and inancial success extend

gradually into the civic realm. A growing (if belated) presence in public and political
life, through new candidates and constituencies, is rounding out the “cast” of North
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF America’s real-life drama.
Steve Forbes Note two recent cases of similar theme: irst, an attempt by New York City oicials

to soten the admission criteria for its prestigious specialized high schools, where a stan-
FORBES MAGAZINE
dardized-test cutof has resulted in a bulge of ethnic Asian enrollment. And second, a
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Randall Lane
lawsuit aimed at the fuzzy measures by which Harvard University has arguably reduced
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Noer
ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR Robert Mans eld the number of its ethnically Asian matriculants (Harvard being a proxy for elite colleges
generally). In each case, Asians have been unusually outspoken in the debate.
FORBES DIGITAL
To be sure, solidarity is one thing, but tribalism is another, and such a scourge can
VP, INVESTING EDITOR Matt Schifrin
take both let- and right-wing forms. It can cloud legitimate policy considerations.
VP, DIGITAL EDITOR Mark Coatney
VP, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Salah Zalatimo Take the increasing resistance in the West to mainland Chinese economic forays: Is
VP, WOMEN’S DIGITAL NETWORK Christina Vuleta this a bigoted response or an expression of strategic or security concerns? A culture
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS warrior might see the former—ater all, look at China’s great companies on our Fab 50
Frederick E. Allen LEADERSHIP
(p. 38). But what of other Asian nations also recoiling from Beijing’s push?
Loren Feldman ENTREPRENEURS
Janet Novack WASHINGTON he world is getting smaller, and battles for turf are to be expected. Competition
Michael K. Ozanian SPORTSMONEY that is open and objective under the rules will make for happier endings.
DEPARTMENT HEADS
Mark Decker, John Dobosz, Clay Thurmond
Jessica Bohrer VP, EDITORIAL COUNSEL
FOUNDED IN 1917
B.C. Forbes, Editor-in-Chief (1917-54)
Malcolm S. Forbes, Editor-in-Chief (1954-90) Tim Ferguson
James W. Michaels, Editor (1961-99)
William Baldwin, Editor (1999-2010) Editor, forbes asia
globaleditor@forbes.com ALAMY




6 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018



FORBES ASIA

READERS SAY






CEO/ASIA, FORBES MEDIA CONVERSATION
William Adamopoulos
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Tina Wee OUR PROFILE of Myanmar tycoon h ein Tun
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-CONTENT Justin Doebele (“We Have to Worry,” July/August, p. 22) sparked
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS Eugene Wong, Aarin Chan,
Janelle Kuah, James Sundram this quote/comment from @TMclaughlin3: “ ‘In
SALES DIRECTORS Lindsay Williams, Michelle Ong 2014 I did a stupid thing—I bought the Myanmar
DIRECTOR, CIRCULATION Eunice Soo Times.’ A ringing endorsement of the newsroom
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, EVENTS & COMMUNICATIONS from the boss.” Regarding the business climate
Audra Ruyters
that Tun is facing in Myanmar, the International
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CONFERENCES Jolynn Chua
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CIRCULATION Pavan Kumar Campaign for the Rohingya posted this on Face-
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, MARKETING & RESEARCH Joan Low book: “Further proof that genocide is bad for busi-
SENIOR MANAGER, CONFERENCES Quek Xue Wei ness. International condemnation of the Burmese
SENIOR MANAGER, EVENTS & COMMUNICATIONS Melissa Ng
government’s genocide of the Rohingya has led
SENIOR MANAGER, MARKETING & RESEARCH Chow Sin Yee
SENIOR MANAGER, AD SERVICES-DIGITAL Keiko Wong to widespread cancellations by Western tourists.

OFFICE MANAGER/ASSISTANT TO THE CEO/ASIA More ominously, foreign direct investment also remains well of its 2015 highs and
Jennifer Chung property values are down.” Regarding our story about four generations of women in
AD SERVICES MANAGER Fiona Carvalho hailand running a business (“Riverboat Queens,” p. 30), this from “Out & About

CONFERENCE MANAGERS Clarabelle Chaw, Cherie Wong
in Southeast Asia” on Facebook: “It’s really interesting to read about the hard-nosed
ASSISTANT MANAGER, MARKETING & RESEARCH
Gwynneth Chan businesspeople in charge of such a venerable tourist institution—and the fact that
ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES women have led this company for four generations now is an arresting hook.”
Angelia Ang, Sharon Joseph, Sabrina Cheung
CIRCULATION SERVICES CORRECTIONS: In “Riverboat Queens” we incorrectly calculated the number of
Taynmoli Karuppiah Sannassy, Jennifer Yim

passengers carried by Supatra & Chao Phraya Express: he correct number is 1
million a month, not 100,000. Our blurb about John Lim (“Singapore’s 50 richest,”
p. 83) stated that he owns a third of ARA Asset Management; he owns 19.85%.
FORBES MEDIA
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Michael Federle
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Michael York THE INTEREST GRAPH
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Mark Howard
EDITOR-AT-LARGE/GLOBAL FUTURIST Rich Karlgaard Our list of Singapore’s wealthiest ran away with the most Web hits from last issue:
GENERAL COUNSEL MariaRosa Cartolano
Singapore’s Property Moguls Edge Out Facebook Billionaire For Top Spot 51, 141 page views
PRESIDENT, FORBESWOMAN Moira Forbes
September 2018
+(1)!ƫāąƫđƫ 1) !.ƫĈ
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8 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018





FACT & COMMENT


“With all thy getting, get understanding”






TIME TO TERMINATE


“ASSISTED DYING”



BY STEVE FORBES, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF






In 2002 Belgium legalized the murderously to actually kill patients, as is happening in
chilling act of euthanasia, whereby doctors Belgium, Holland and elsewhere.
and nurses kill patients with their supposed Research shows that many euthanasia
consent. Holland had formally done the and assisted-suicide victims are sufering
same the year before. his practice, all too from depression. hey should be treated,
reminiscent of what Nazi Germany did be- not abandoned. As for physical sufering,
fore WWII to the mentally handicapped and it’s hardly beyond the capabilities of mod-
to people with very serious disabilities, is jus- ern medicine to efectively manage pain
tiied these days not by Hitlerian theories of with older, well-established medications,
“purifying the race,” of course, but as a “hu- as well as newer, better drugs.
mane” way to deal with those who are suf- It’s true that in the U.S. we have a seri-
fering mortal illnesses and in extreme pain. ous opioid crisis. Nonetheless, the response
Many thousands of patients have been disposed of since shouldn’t be a diminution in pain management but, alterna-
Holland and Belgium enacted these morally repugnant tively, a focus on reducing and eventually eliminating the abuses.
laws. Belgium now allows euthanasia to be applied even to he temptation to use euthanasia as a solution will only
children, acknowledging recently that between Jan. 1, 2016, increase as populations age and as cash-strapped govern-
and Dec. 31, 2017, two children, ages 9 and 11, who were ments and insurers scramble to ind ways to reduce growing
alicted with a brain tumor and cystic ibrosis, respectively, healthcare costs. It should be axiomatic that life is sacro-
and a 17-year-old, who had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, sanct, whether or not you are religious.
had been put to death. Apologists say these kids gave their In recent times we have seen enormous medical advanc-
consent, as did their parents. Good God! Are we to believe es that not only prolong life but also improve the quality of
that youngsters should be making such decisions? life as we age. he answer to the rising costs of healthcare
Holland has been hit with scandals in which patients were is the creation of genuine free markets, which always turn
administered lethal injections without their consent, in order scarcity into abundance. here is precious little in the way of
to free up “needed” hospital beds. Ater all, the reasoning free markets in healthcare. hird parties, primarily govern-
went, these people were going to die soon, anyway. In Belgium, ments and insurers—not the patients—still dominate. his
according to a news report, a member of the Federal Commis- is beginning to change in the U.S. Rapidly efecting this
sion for Euthanasia Control & Evaluation resigned last year transformation should be our urgent goal, not surrender-
“in protest at the unchecked killings of dementia patients.” ing to rationing or descending into the pit of euthanasia and
What’s happening here is an ugly, slippery slope. Instead “assisted dying.”
of working to alleviate the tribulations of the alicted and Morally and pragmatically, such practices have no place
innovating ever better ways to do this, we simply “put them in a truly civilized and humane society.
out of their misery,” the way we do with household pets.
It’s not only in Belgium and the Netherlands that we’re seeing
this awful phenomenon. A chronically ill man in Canada is suing The End of Work: Why Your
the government because medical personnel allegedly and ille- Passion Can Become Your Job
gally tried to coerce him into going the assisted-suicide route to
save money. “Why force me to end my life?” the plaintif asked. John Tamny (Gateway Editions, $28.99)
It’s one thing for people to declare in writing when they
are in good health and of sound mind that no “heroic” mea- Everyone, regardless of age, income and occupation,
sures are to be taken, that medical staf should “let nature will find this short, pithy and wisdom-rich book inspir-
take its course.” But it’s quite another for medical personnel ing and instructive.


SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 11

FORBES
FACT & COMMENT STEVE FORBES


Its thesis is simple yet pro- have to memorize a playbook the
found: Greater prosperity gives size of the Yellow Pages.” Great
more and more people the oppor- football players—or those great at
tunity to match work with passion, any sport—are intense students of
the kind of work that “has you ex- the game. Athleticism isn’t enough.
cited on Sunday nights.” Critical to In fact, given the hard work and
this “luxury” is a growing econo- the immense physical and cere-
my. “The freer people are to earn bral discipline necessary to master
as much as they can and keep it, high-level college football, the
the more likely it is that everyone sport, says the author, should be a
will have the opportunity to make major.
a living from his own unique skills Tamny entertainingly discusses
and intelligence.” the creation of numerous new
The way the author—a long- kinds of jobs, such as coaches for
time and valued contributor to teams of video game players (one
both Forbes magazine and forbes. competition can attract tens of
com—illustrates this optimistic thousands of fans) and dog walk-
viewpoint is exciting and origi- ers, as well as the rising remu-
nal. Sports is one area that’s been neration (often in six figures) and
expanding as we’ve become more sophistication of traditional, once
affluent, with vastly greater needs seemingly simple tasks such as cad-
at all levels of play for coaches, dying (pro golf caddies are trusted
assistants, training specialists, and crucial advisors to players).
scouts and nerdy number crunch- With affluence, people’s tastes
ers to better evaluate players and for finer things expands. Costco is
prospects (the fascinating subject of vices, playing fields and stadiums. today the biggest importer of French
Moneyball, both the book and the Many people still regard football wine in the world.
movie), as well as for agents, lawyers, as a game of lumbering semi-Nean- Tamny closes his enjoyable work
marketers, publicists and broadcast- derthals. The NFL and serious college with this thought: “In an economy of
ers—not to mention the simultane- football are both tough and cere- individuals, we’re all better off when
ous explosion in infrastructure, such bral. “Few of us have the intelligence each person gets to pursue what most
as ever better and more sophisticated to play football on the professional amplifies his unique skills and intel-
equipment, player-monitoring de- level,” Tamny notes. “Players ligence.”


The Second Coming: A Thriller


John Heubusch (Howard Books, $26)

This fantastic tale of mystery and con- also the nexus of a global conspiracy.
spiracy will have you flipping pages A clone has been created from DNA
at a breakneck pace to find out what contained within the shroud that car-
happens next, with your heart racing ries a plague aptly named “the Devil’s
as if you were running the 400-meter Sweat.” The aim of the conspiracy is
race at the Olympics. the ultimate cataclysm: to wipe out
The novel is a sequel to last year’s humanity via this unholy laboratory
spectacular bestseller The Shroud experiment. The race is on to save the
Conspiracy. In this second install- human race.
ment Heubusch continues the story Does this apocalyptic plot sound
of Jon Bondurant, who, despite being too outlandish? It’s a tribute to Heu-
a skeptic of the legend, found himself busch’s considerable gifts as a compel-
investigating the Shroud of Turin, a ling storyteller that the characters and
relic many believers take to be the events feel all too real.
burial cloth of Christ. I have only one question for the
Bondurant quickly realizes that author: When does the next book
the shroud is not only authentic but come out? F




12 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018



FORBES ASIA
GROUNDS FOR DEBATE






























POLITICAL





ROAST






Taiwanese-owned chain

draws a VIP who is of-limits on

the mainland.



BY RALPH JENNINGS

aiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s summer stop at an
85C bakery cafe in Los Angeles let a bitter atertaste
on both sides of the Straits.
When word of Tsai’s visit reached China, accom-
Tpanied by photos of the president with drink in hand,
netizens on the mainland began calling for a boycott of the chain in
their country because they saw the event as an endorsement of Tai-
wan’s independence. he chain’s parent company, Gourmet Master,
saw its Taipei-listed shares slump nearly 14% in the weeks follow-
ing, wiping out $224 million of its market value.
Gourmet Master appeared on the 2012 iteration of Forbes Asia’s
Best Under A Billion companies list.
he day ater the presidential visit, the bakery-cafe chain an-
nounced its support for the “1992 Consensus,” an agreement be-
tween China and Taiwan to acknowledge that there is only “one
China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that
means. China considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of its territory that
will eventually be reuniied with the mainland. Tsai has not public- But 85C’s attempt to appease its customers in China with the
ly endorsed the consensus since taking oice in 2016, which has re- statement of support for the 1992 Consensus generated resentment
sulted in mainland diplomats cutting of communication with their in Taiwan, with one legislator suggesting that the cafe rebrand it-
Taiwanese counterparts. self as 92C.
“It is a kind of reality that Taiwan companies have to face so A spokeswoman for 85C declined to elaborate further on the
far,” says Wu Chung-li, a political science research fellow at Aca- controversy or discuss any decline in sales at the chain’s China
demia Sinica. “On one hand, they have to face the domestic issue, stores.
but on the other hand they have to also consider the great market he majority of 85C’s business comes from its 600 bakery cafes
of China, so that is why it’s no wonder the 85C cofee shop the next in China; it operates an additional 430 outlets in its homeland of
day declared their support for the 92 Consensus.” Taiwan. he chain’s name stands for 85 degrees Celsius, which is




14 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to cafe and bakery 85C in Los Angeles created a cafeine jag for parent company Gourmet Master.

thought to be the optimal temperature for brewing cofee, according od to accelerate the expansion of it 85C stores in China as well as
to Wu Cheng Hsueh, the company’s founder and chairman. Cus- the U.S.
tomers associate the brand with its budget cofees, sea-salt- avored he company’s reluctance to comment further shows it wants
cofee foam and birthday cakes. Retired people oten gather at its to move on from the ap and get its business back to normal, says
outlets to drink, read newspapers and chat. Liang Kuo-yuan, president of the Taipei-based think tank Polaris
Gourmet Master’s earnings jumped by almost 23% last year Research Institute. “If China doesn’t give it any more pressure, then
to $70.3 million. he company’s revenue came in at $757 million it can get over this diiculty,” Liang says. But, he advises, Chinese
in the same period, with about two thirds of sales coming from oicials may be mulling more “limits on the freedom” of Taiwanese
China. he company had allocated $59 million in the same peri- investors in its territory. F




SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 15

FORBES ASIA
ONLINE FUNDING









Where E-cash Is King






China’s ntech giants are consolidating their gains and using their capital heft.

BY SARA HSU


hina has experienced a intech explosion in recent Yirendai and Lufax have also been successful in illing a demand
years, with top companies dominating the industry. gap. Again, many consumers and small businesses have a hard time
It’s not an accident that Alibaba spinof Ant Financial obtaining loans from China’s formal inancial sector—namely, from
and Tencent rule digital payments, or that Yirendai banks. hey are oten forced to borrow on the curb market at very
C and Lufax are major players in the online lending high interest rates. With the advent of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending
sector. All of these companies have garnered large amounts of in- companies, smaller borrowers with little to no collateral have found
vestment, expanded into areas with high levels of demand and have themselves able to borrow for the irst time. he P2P lending sector
successfully diversiied out of their core business. is going through a regulatory shakedown, as riskier companies
Ant Financial is not yet publicly listed, but it received Series C with Ponzi-like business models are shut down. he larger irms,
funding of $14 billion in June. While Tencent’s WeChat Pay is not like Yirendai and Lufax, have shown their compliance with the new
part of a subsidiary, it continues to reap funding from Tencent inves- regulations, which require opening a custodial account for funds
tors. Tencent (see p. 45) is a juggernaut whose Hong Kong Stock and company registration. he crackdown is likely to drive of some
Exchange shares, even ater a recent dip, have risen 100-fold since lenders associated with the smaller irms, but it would be impossible
its IPO in 2004. Its market cap reached a high of $577 billion in to eliminate the high demand for funds among small borrowers.
January. Creditease’s peer-to-peer lending company Yirendai is also hese borrowers likely will turn to the likes of Yirendai and Lufax.
listed, on Nasdaq with a market cap of $1.2 billion. Ping An-ailiat- Finally, all of these irms have diversiied out of their core busi-
ed Lufax has reportedly postponed a possible listing in Hong Kong nesses into areas that successfully complement and add value to
but was said to be targeting another funding injection of $2 billion. their mainstream activities. Ant Financial has Alipay and also ofers
All of these companies have plenty of capital, even as funding for a wealth-management product called Yu’e Bao, which has become
smaller startups, by some accounts, has already slowed. his means the world’s largest money market fund, drawing customers seek-
that, despite China’s slowing economy, these irms have the means ing better returns than what savings accounts typically ofer. he
to continue growing. combination of Alipay and Yu’e Bao has helped Ant Financial attract
It’s not just about money, however. hese irms have hit the customers to its inancial services that help them both spend and
mark when it comes to meeting pent-up demand for their intech save. Tencent has added digital content and membership subscrip-
services. For Ant Financial’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay, that tions sold through WeChat. Yirendai and Lufax both ofer wealth-
demand for digital payments has proved to be massive, as Chinese management products in addition to loans, giving Chinese investors
consumers require faster and safer transactions. Both applica- more alternatives for where they can park their money. F
tions have other beneicial features. With Alipay, users
can obtain consumer or seller loans, credit that is oten
unavailable via banks. Alipay can be used for oline or
online purchases, particularly on Alibaba’s e-commerce
websites. WeChat Pay ofers WeChat users the ability
to send money to one another even if they don’t have a
bank account. WeChat Pay can also be used oline and
online, such as to purchase goods pushed by WeChat.
Chinese regulators, increasingly concerned about
potential risks to the inancial system, imposed a series
of curbs that will crimp the companies’ revenue streams
and curtail their rapid pace of expansion. For example,
both Alipay and WeChat Pay are now required to process
payments through a central clearing account, and the
payments they receive have to be deposited at commer-
cial banks in accounts that pay no interest. Previously,
they had generated interest income from the payments
they were holding in their own escrow accounts. Demand for digital payments by Chinese consumers has been massive.




16 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

FORBES ASIA
PULSION








Magic Mirror






A Chinese virtual tting room startup boosts retailers’ revenues with big data.


BY JANE HO


t a busy mall in Shang- “An experimental pilot,”
hai, shoppers are lining up as Tu calls it, the store was
to create their own per- opened to test and optimize
sonal avatars to try on new Pulsion’s system. he com-
Aclothes. he store, named pany’s virtual itting rooms
Moda Polso (Italian for “fashion pulse”), are an extension of its gar-
gives customers the chance to see them- ment store management
selves wearing diferent garments without system, which promises to
the hassle of actually changing clothes, al- predict consumer demand
lowing them to make their choices more and allow retailers to in-
quickly and easily. crease sales while reducing
Moda Polso opened in May as a pilot inventory costs.
project of Shanghai’s “new retail” appar- Pulsion’s system does
Pulsion’s fitting library aims to change the retail experience.
el company, Pulsion. New retail, a term this by analyzing shoppers’
coined by Alibaba’s Jack Ma, refers to the buying patterns, enabling retailers to renew Zhongsheng in 2013 under the name Hao-
integration of online and oline resourc- their product lineup in a more timely maiyi, or “easy-buy clothes.” Huang saw
es in order to revolutionize the retail ex- fashion—idle items typically account for an opportunity in virtual itting rooms.
perience. “[Virtual itting rooms] connect roughly half of an oline store’s portfolio. “he sector was gaining popularity at the
consumers, products and stores, providing he system can also predict what is like- time, but no one was able to provide [good
a novel and convenient shopping experi- ly to sell in the future, allowing brands to enough] technology with low cost,” the
ence,” says Zhang Tianbing, a retail analyst make adjustments to reduce excess inven- 33-year-old founder and chairman recalls.
at Deloitte China. tory. “Such prepurchase behavioral data he company spent over three years
Revolutionary or not, the Moda Polso is almost impossible for traditional brick- and more than $10 million investing in re-
outlet certainly doesn’t look like a typical and-mortar stores to collect,” Tu says. search before launching its irst sotware in
apparel store. A third of its space is dedi- According to Pulsion’s research on 40 2016. he same year, Pulsion began pro-
cated to displaying merchandise and ten China-listed apparel irms, their total in- viding sotware services to Alibaba’s Tmall
touchscreens, including one called the ventory value of $4.5 billion is seven times online stores for Chinese brands, such as
“magic mirror” because of its large size. greater than their combined annual earn- Ochirly, a leading women’s garment label,
he rest of the area is reserved for chang- ings. “he apparel sector could be as lu- but the partnership to provide its virtual
ing rooms and a storage room accommo- crative as real estate if you bet on the right try-on service to Tmall lasted only a year.
dating 3,000 pieces of roughly 1,000 de- portfolio,” says Tu. “While our sotware helped consumers
signs. “A typical store is able to at least Once consumers create a proile linked discover what it them better, it resulted in
quadruple its portfolio using Pulsion’s sys- to their cellphone number or WeChat ac- a drop in those stores’ sales, as most people
tem,” says Tu Zhenghui, the company’s count, Pulsion’s system can keep in touch don’t look as good as models,” says Tu.
32-year-old chief executive. It can also be with them ater they’ve let the store to rec- Renaming itself ater ending the vir-
used to save space, reducing rental expens- ommend new arrivals. When they revis- tual try-on partnership, Pulsion changed
es, a major cost for oline stores. it the store and log onto one of the devic- course to target oline businesses. And
Working with the world’s largest data- es, they’ll see customized product displays Huang sought help from Tu, his old college
base of Asian women’s body types (6 mil- based on their behavioral data. friend and former partner in a food deliv-
lion), the sotware uses just 20 parameters Pulsion’s revenue is derived from keep- ery startup. Tu admits that the virtual it-
to generate more accurate 3-D models that ing sales commissions in the low single ting room segment, although growing fast,
showcase how clothing drapes on a per- digits. It expects to generate $550,000 in is unlikely to last long on its own. Many of-
son’s body. As impressive as that sounds, monthly revenue by the end of this year ine stores are using the technology as a
Pulsion’s new store, which carries a dozen and $20 million in 2019. gimmick to attract customers, he says.
Chinese brands, is likely to be its only one. Pulsion was initially set up by Huang A itting result? F




SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 17

FORBES ASIA
COMMUNAL OFFICES


























Seats,









Then Services









Like WeWork, its big Chinese rivals don’t make a pro t from work-share space.

Kr Space founder Liu Chengcheng says growth has to come rst.

BY YUE WANG

yriad charts and igures of the latest real don’t think WeWork really understood all of these in its early
estate transactions in Chinese me- days here, which was why they were expanding slowly.”
tropolises ash across the laptop of Liu Essentially, Kr Space operates along the same lines as
Chengcheng as he talks, but one magazine WeWork. It leases oice space from developers and renovates
Marticle sits conspicuously on his immacu- them before subleasing to freelancers and companies for
late desk, marked up with bold red lines. It tells the story of 1,000 yuan ($147) to 6,000 yuan per seat a month, depending
the co-working giant WeWork. “We pay a lot of attention on the location. he local knowledge he is leveraging against
to data,” Liu said in his high-rise oice in central Beijing. WeWork can include everything from complying with build-
“Especially the data of our competitors.” ing and safety regulations and inding the best contractors to
Liu, 30, is the founder of Chinese co-working startup Kr creating oice designs better suited to China’s work culture.
Space. He’s going all out to defend his home market from Kr Space says the free beer and Ping-Pong tables ofered
WeWork, which is already in 26 countries and ush with by its rival don’t it with the heavy workloads and the gruel-
cash, having just raised $1 billion more from investors. he ing “996” schedule (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) that’s
New York company, valued last year at $20 billion, has built become pervasive among Chinese companies. It has instead
a global brand with its industrial-chic décor, large common opted to provide no-charge add-ons like inancial and legal
areas, inspirational signs and perks like free beer and yoga consulting services.
sessions. But Liu is conident that Kr Space will come out on Kr Space oicially launched in Beijing in 2016 as a spinof
top in China because his team knows the local market better. of the now Alibaba-backed technology news site 36 Kr,
“here are so many China-speciic requirements,” Liu says. “I which Liu founded in 2011 and still chairs today. His latest
venture manages 270,000 square meters of
SPACE WARS
oice space in 11 cities across the country,
LOCATIONS/ TOTAL OFFICE SPACE as of June, while serving 40,000 members
NAME CITIES (SQUARE METERS) MEMBERS VALUATION
(the company calls them “users”), accord-
BIL
WEWORK CHINA 45/3 N/A 20,000 $5 ing to a spokesman.
UCOMMUNE 160/35 558,000 150,000 Investors are also moving in. Kr Space
BIL
1.8
will soon close another funding round
KR SPACE 40/11 270,000 40,000 1 BIL
MYDREAMPLUS 40/5 300,000 N/A N/A that should raise $200 million at a valua-
tion north of $1 billion, according to three
N/A: NOT AVAILABLE. SOURCE: COMPANIES.



18 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

On Asia: “This is a market
we must take,” says founder
Liu Chengcheng.



people with knowledge of the matter. Early talks of an IPO in by the end of the year.
the U.S. have also been taking place. A Kr Space spokesman Talks between Adam Neumann, WeWork’s billionaire
declined to comment on the funding but says there are no cofounder, and Liu in Beijing fell apart because they couldn’t
IPO plans yet. (Liu won’t say what stake he is retaining.) agree on who would have control of the combined entity,
Also very much in the hunt is China’s Ucommune, led by according to one knowledgeable party. A WeWork spokes-
Mao Daqing, a former executive of real estate giant Vanke. woman declined to say whether Neumann had met with Liu.
It was valued at $1.6 billion ater merging with local rival he Chinese market, according to Beijing consultancy
Wujie Space in March. iResearch, reached 5.5 billion yuan and should nearly double
he domestic challenges are also better at controlling by 2019. It beneits from government policies that encour-
costs, according to Jeacy Yan, a partner at investment irm age startup businesses to spur domestic innovation.
IDG Capital. “Oice sharing is a very localized business Like WeWork, which last year reported a loss of $933 mil-
where you have to focus closely on operations,” Yan says. lion on revenues of $886 million, the unicorns Kr Space and
“Local companies have a much bigger chance of becoming Ucommune are well short of proitability. hey plan ulti-
the winner.” mately to monetize advertising and premium services, which
Ken Xu, a partner at investment irm Gobi Partners and can be more lucrative than leasing seats, says iResearch
an investor in Kr, points to Liu himself as one of the key fac- analyst Yu Kexin.
tors in the company’s growth. His experience running 36 Kr For his part, Liu doesn’t see making money as a priority
has enabled him to build a network among local entrepre- because Kr Space is currently focused on expansion. And
neurs and better understand their needs. he is already looking beyond mainland China: In May, Kr
WeWork, meanwhile, still leads in brand awareness, and Space entered Hong Kong, leasing seven oors at the One
domestic irms are working to catch up, according to IDG’s Hennessy building in Wan Chai. It’s also expanding into
Yan. he company recently clinched a separate $500 million Bangkok, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo, with the goal of catch-
funding for its China-focused subsidiary from investors ing up with WeWork in terms of total oice space managed
that included Singapore’s Temasek. WeWork acquired by 2021.
Chinese rival Naked Hub for $400 million in April, and it “WeWork is just entering Asia, so we are at the same page
plans to expand to 40 locations and attract 40,000 members here,” he says. “his is a market we must take.” F




SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 19

PROMOTION





HANDA WATCH WORLD


AMBASSADOR MANNY PACQUIAO




The Filipino boxing legend gives fans a good reason to keep coming back to the ring.






















































Manny Pacquiao (left) and Haruhisa Handa (right)


Manny Pacquiao, the only eight-division world Thai champion Chatchai Sasakul to earn the the world, and past events hosted by Handa’s
champion in the history of boxing has added world flyweight title. He has since gone on company have attracted big names, includ-
a new designation to his major world titles: to win multiple major world championships. ing former New Zealand Prime Minister John
ambassador for luxury watch boutique HANDA In addition to his boxing career, he has also Key and Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan.
Watch World. He joins fellow philanthropist made a name for himself as a basketball For Pacquiao, who grew up in extreme
Haruhisa Handa, president of Japanese trading player and coach, and in 2016 won a six-year poverty, his encounter with Handa had a very
company Misuzu and owner of the boutique, in term in the Philippine senate. special meaning.
envisaging a world without poverty. “We discovered we both share the same
World Class Champion enthusiasm to help the poor. It is truly an
Childhood Memories In April, Pacquiao attended the grand open- honor to be able to envision a plan together

There are countless stories about Manny Pac- ing of HANDA Watch’s Tsukamidori store for such an endeavor,” he said.
quiao. Inside the ring, the 39-year-old Filipino in Osaka. He also had another objective for
boxer defeats his opponent like a ferocious his visit: to meet face to face with Haruhisa Shared Respect
carnivore going after its prey. But outside Handa, the president of Misuzu, which runs The feeling is mutual. “Pacquiao wasn’t fight-
the ropes, his gentle smile is always turned the boutique. ing only for himself,” said Handa. “He grew up
toward the poor and needy, reminding fans Handa, a successful businessman whose in a poor family and as a child shared his food
of the late American boxer and humanitarian portfolio includes a college preparatory with six siblings. He started boxing at age 11;
Mohammed Ali. school, is well known for his philanthropic at age 14 he left home for Manila to receive
Pacquiao, whose real name is Emanuel work, such as building more than 130 schools professional training as a boxer. He grew both
Dapidran Pacquiao, was born in the Philip- in China for disadvantaged children. Handa’s in heart and body, with a pressured determi-
pines in 1978. He started to box profession- projects have won enthusiastic support from nation that he would not be able to feed his
ally at age 15, and just five years later defeated business executives and celebrities around family unless he continued to win. Pacquiao's

PROMOTION





success provides moral support for all those
facing poverty.”


A True Champion
In the world of boxing, merely becoming a
world title holder does not instantly translate
to international fame as it does with other
sports. Only those who win the big matches
are recognized as true champions.
Pacquiao has triumphed against the
sport’s superstars, such as British professional
boxer Ricky Hatton and Puerto Rico’s Miguel
Cotto. He started his career in the light-fly-
weight division, which has a maximum limit
of 112 pounds, and eventually accomplished
the feat of winning major world titles across
six weight divisions, putting on more than 20
kilograms over the years. Handa shared one
of the many unforgettable stories that illus-
trates Pacquiao’s physical prowess.
“Although it was a non-title battle, the
match with Oscar De La Hoya in 2008 was
just awesome. It gave me goose bumps. De
La Hoya was much bigger both in height and
weight, but Pacquiao did not change his style
and was aggressive from the start without
any hesitation. Eventually in the eighth round,
he knocked out De La Hoya with a TKO [tech-
nical knockout]. I was simply amazed with
Pacquiao, who constantly aims high no mat-
ter what,” Handa said.

Setting an Example
Pacquiao’s matches are always extraordi-
nary, but the fight money is also legendary.
When he fought against five-division world
champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas
in 2015, the match was billed as the biggest
fight of the century, and the combined prize
money exceeded US$365 million. In only 36
minutes of fighting, they grossed more than
the annual income of high-earning athletes
such as tennis player Roger Federer and foot-
baller Lionel Messi. He uses his fight money Grand opening celebrations at HANDA Watch World · Shinsaibashi-Tsukamidori store
to continue giving to children in the world (1-12-10 Higashi Shinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka prefecture, 06-6245-8685
suffering from poverty. Opening hours are 10:30-20:00, closed on Wednesdays).
“We have launched several projects so far,
but there are still numerous things we must on July 15. Prior to the fight, Pacquiao com- golden days of boxing, and had the 16,000
do,” Pacquiao said. “Now that I have become mented “it is quite significant that such a big fans on their feet.
the ambassador, I want to promote this watch event is being held in Asia. I am sure it will Handa muses, “Pacquiao will keep coming
as a means to contribute to society.” be an exciting match. In the coming match, back to the ring, representing the feelings of
Pacquiao’s feelings are well understood by I want to do my best for the people of Asia.” Asians, and wishing for peace in Asia. And
Handa, who already has several ideas in mind, From the start, Pacquiao dominated his this is precisely why I want all of us to closely
including a project to build “Manny Pacquiao opponent, World Boxing Association welter- watch his matches, one by one.”
Hospitals” in poor and remote areas, and weight champion Lucas Matthysse. He sent
Handa is prepared to extend his support. his opponent to the canvas three times in Contact information:
Following his visit to Japan, Pacquiao had total, with a seventh-round TKO to reclaim Misuzu Corporation
an opportunity to regain glory once again, his title as world champion. The fight was 81-3-3247-5585
in a match that took place in Kuala Lumpur an overwhelming victory reminiscent of his www.misuzu.com

FORBES ASIA
JOB-SITE TECH


















Master Builder








Tooey Courtemanche has crafted one of tech’s biggest secrets in Procore,

a multibillion-dollar app bringing construction projects onto the cloud.

BY ALEX KONRAD

n a quiet street in Mon- ielding questions from his contractor HR sotware. On the road constant-
tecito, California, a sub- and subcontractors, comparing prog- ly, Courtemanche had received an ulti-
urb of Santa Barba- ress photos to the drawings and ind- matum from his wife four years earlier:
ra, Procore CEO Craig ing out how far over budget he’s going. She and their son were moving south to
O“Tooey” Courte manche Employees are used to catching Courte- Santa Barbara, and he was welcome to
is considering how best to break into manche in meetings or at lunch check- join. She’d picked a home, too—one that
his own house. It was amid the frustra- ing progress on his home via the app. would need a lot of work. At irst ying
tion of renovating this Spanish-mod- “Who else gets bug reporting from their down on weekends, Courte manche
ern-style three-bedroom 18 years ago CEO?” he says. found progress on the house moving at
that he built a simple app to track com- Other CEOs carry on courtside at a glacial pace. So he did what he knew
ings and goings of workers on-site. Now NBA games; Courtemanche is excited best and coded his own program to
he’s using the app to redo the house to have lunch with construction celebri- keep track.
again, this time to beit the CEO of one ties like Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe. But By 2004 Courtemanche had signed
of tech’s fastest-growing companies. he when it comes to ambition, Procore and up contractors for Hollywood stars like
app, called Procore, is the most pop- its CEO it right in with the brashest Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller and Barbra
ular piece of sotware in the $1 tril- high iers in tech. “We believe we’re just Streisand to monitor their home ren-
lion U.S. construction industry, used on in the early days,” Courtemanche says. ovations with Procore. Courtemanche
hundreds of thousands of projects from “I want Procore to be the single source spoke the language of construction u-
sports stadiums to high-rises. Sales are of truth for everything in construction ently. Growing up in the aluent La
approaching $200 million, good for ith worldwide.” Jolla area of San Diego, Courtemanche
place on the 2018 Forbes Cloud 100 was an indiferent student, more in-
list (forbes.com/cloud/100). But on this AT ORIENTATION AT Procore’s terested in girls than schoolwork. But
dusty July day, none of that matters as headquarters, a record batch of 59 new construction was another story. Ater
Courtemanche, 51, squeezes between employees and summer interns glad- school he’d sweep out the oors of a
palm trees and then a gap in his fence. ly take a break from a log-in creden- cabinet shop, and by 17 he’d become a
We’re dropping by unexpectedly so tials lecture to meet their CEO. Courte- journeyman carpenter ater completing
Courtemanche can show me the front manche, oozing beach-dad charm, has a six-month apprenticeship.
steps, which will look like they’re oat- dropped in to tell a few jokes and take A disastrous year at the University
ing in water, and the bay doors to the questions. Procore’s founding legend of Arizona, where he unked out with
new ininity pool, which he’s coded to comes up. Does he still own the house a 0.3 GPA, led to a security guard job
open by voice. Downstairs is the yoga that inspired all of this? “I still have my and then community college, where
studio for his wife, an instructor, and Land Rover from 1998, the same house, Courtemanche got the grades to be ac-
the new guest room, where his 20-year- even the same family,” Courtemanche cepted into a premed program in San
old son, a full-time Procore partner- quips. “hat house is Procore.” Francisco. Once north, he got caught
ships manager, can crash. Back at work In 2002, when he founded Procore, up in the construction boom of the
in nearby Carpinteria, Courtemanche Courtemanche was a moderately suc- early 1990s, “swinging a hammer” for ETHAN PINES FOR FORBES
can watch the house come together on cessful tech executive in Silicon Val- two years. Feeling burned out, he took
Procore, tracking worker schedules and ley, making custom interfaces for online up a family friend’s ofer to learn the




22 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

Procore CEO Tooey Courtemanche:
“We are making the lives of
construction people better.”




SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 23

FORBES ASIA
JOB-SITE TECH




telephony sotware business, then taught manche mortgaged his house and, along mated seven igures a year to keep 2,000
himself HTML. By 1993 he was a sot- with Zahm, cut his salary to zero. All but employees on the app. Landing these big-
ware engineer; by 1996 he’d founded a ive employees were laid of. Investors ex- ger customers has allowed Procore to
tech consultancy. pected to hear that the startup was shut- raise a war chest of $180 million in fund-
When Courte manche built the pro- ting down. ing since 2015, reaching a valuation of
totype for Procore ive years later, he was But Courtemanche was stubborn. He about $1 billion in late 2016.
shocked. Construction made up near- was convinced that construction would Construction tech is now red-hot, and
ly 10% of America’s economy, but even need IT eventually. When it did, Procore Procore has attracted challengers both
as late as 2002 its workers barely used the would be ready. Slowly, trends shited in big and small. Sotware giants Oracle and
internet. “Holy crap, I’ve been given a Procore’s favor. Construction companies Trimble each made $1.2 billion acquisi-
time machine,” he thought. began revisiting their work ows; young- tions in the space in the past six months,
For a edgling sotware business, er workers, who expected sotware to be and VCs who missed out on Procore are
Santa Barbara was no San Francisco. But part of their job, entered the industry. now backing newer startups. And at least
what it did have was plenty of well-heeled In 2010 Apple launched the iPad, bring- one rival quietly bid several billion dollars
refugees from the Bay Area and Los An- ing a sturdier device to worksites, which for Procore in the past and was rebufed,
geles looking for a quieter life. One inves- increasingly had access to Wi-Fi. A de- sources say. Procore declined to comment
tor, Steve Zahm, who had founded and cade into operations, in 2012, Procore on the overture.
then sold the e-learning company Dig- was still small, with sales of just $5 mil- Still, thanks to its years of survival,
Procore’s product looks to have a head
start. “I don’t think there are many com-
“WHO ELSE GETS BUG REPORTING panies challenging Procore that can hold
a candle to their size and strategy,” says
FROM THEIR CEO?” Derrick Woods, an analyst at Cowen.

In a little clifside clearing overlooking
the Paciic on Procore’s campus, the man-
italhink for $120 million, joined Pro- lion, but growth started to hockey stick. agement team, sweating in the July heat,
core as president in 2004 (a role he still Silicon Valley inally took notice: In 2014 forms a half-circle around Courtemanche
holds today). A bigger ish, DoubleClick Bessemer Ventures led a $15 million in- for their morning stand-up meeting. Now
cofounder Kevin O’Connor, wrote Pro- vestment round, then poured in another at 1,200 employees, Procore instituted the
core’s irst institutional check, leading $30 million alongside Iconiq Capital ten meetings companywide several years ago
a $950,000 seed round and joining the months later. as a salve for the chaos of its rapid growth.
startup’s board. Procore’s customers were starting to Later that day Procore will announce a
Procore grew, but more modest- get much bigger. Managers at Wieland, partnership with Sage, an accounting sot-
ly than hoped. here’s a saying in invest- a 61-year-old Michigan contracting irm ware maker and erstwhile rival. Elsewhere,
ing: If you’re early, you’re just as good as that operates $325 million of projects a cross-functional teams are working on ad-
wrong—and Procore was very early. In year, have used Procore since late 2015. ditional versions of Procore’s app for prop-
2006, four years ater Procore was found- At Wieland’s multimillion-dollar paper erty owners, subcontractors and enter-
ed, the iPhone was still one year into the mill project in Wapakoneta, Ohio, team prise-size customers.
future and Wi-Fi was virtually nonex- leaders and managers are equipped with hose releases could be the last touch-
istent. Procore ran on laptops and re- iPad Pros so they can check drawings es Procore needs before iling to go pub-
quired internet connections, still rare on and updates on Procore at all times. Be- lic ahead of an IPO, which insiders say
job sites. Courtemanche and Zahm were cause Procore doesn’t charge by head is likely to come in early 2019. In inter-
known to y across the country to rig up count but by subscription, subcontrac- nal meetings and with customers, Pro-
homemade hot spots for clients at a loss. tors and partners working with custom- core is already acting like a public-com-
When Courte manche brought the app ers like Wieland end up using Procore pany-to-be, battening down the hatches
to Sand Hill Road to meet Silicon Valley for free and then oten spread it to their for Wall Street to get its irst close look at
venture capitalists, he was laughed out of other projects. “We have a motto, and it’s the numbers of an ugly duckling startup
town. At Sequoia Capital, a low-level ana- simple: 100% Procore,” says Rob Krueger, turned cloud leader.
lyst told him that focusing on one indus- Wieland’s CEO. Courtemanche says that ater all these
try vertical was a sucker’s play. “Make it a As Procore has added features to cover years, he’s not planning to hang up his
social network and I’ll write you a check things like safety inspections and inanc- hammer once he rings the market bell. As
right now,” Courtemanche remembers ing, it’s been able to crack some of the in- with his house, the vision for Procore may
him saying. dustry’s biggest players, like Mortenson, grow grander, but it’ll be the same founda-
When the inancial crisis hit in 2008, a $4 billion-in-sales construction giant tion. “I’m a dog on a bone,” Procore’s CEO
home building froze in its tracks. Courte- based in Minnesota, which pays an esti- says. “I won’t be able to walk away.” F




24 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018



FORBES ASIA
JEFF BEZOS








Bezos












Unbound











America’s most innovative—and feared—business leader is coming of a
three-year run that has made him the richest person of all time. Now he tells

Forbes he’s only begun to grow. Corporate America, you’ve been warned.


BY RANDALL LANE

nlike America’s other tech ence: he retail market, Amazon’s original ting out billions—and Bezos has the market
giants, Amazon doesn’t have quarry, is “many trillions,” as is, he says, the credibility to reinvest it in pretty much any
a traditional campus. he cloud market that Amazon Web Ser vices way he wants. Second, the scale that Ama-
45,000 or so employees and (AWS) pioneered. “here are diferent busi- zon needs for growth practically demands
Uexecutives in Seattle, out of nesses where the market is limited,” adds the aggressiveness. And, inally, by dominat-
575,000 worldwide, fan across numerous man whose company should hit $210 billion ing retail and digital business services, both
high-rises downtown and in the South Lake in revenue this year. “But we just don’t have of which touch almost every other indus-
Union neighborhood. Amazon’s “head- that issue.” try, he’s now positioned to move adjacently
quarters” defaults to where Jef Bezos, the If Jef Bezos is already the world’s most into just about any business where he inds
company’s founder and CEO, happens to feared businessperson, the prospect of him added value. He’s playing in the multibillions
be, currently Day 1 Tower. Its name comes “unconstrained” should sober every corpo- in at least four markets—healthcare, enter-
from a perpetual Bezos maxim: that, rel- rate leader. Yes, he’s ruthless and a master of tainment, consumer electronics and adver-
atively, we’re still at “day one” of the inter- the long game, but Bezos’ greatest strength, tising—that constitute many of the compa-
net—and, by extension, that Amazon is just borne out over the past few years, has been nies not already terriied of Amazon. It’s no
getting started. his ability to shape-shit Amazon into adja- coincidence that each of those four either
hat’s getting harder to say with a straight cent businesses—some of which were adja- hits or approaches the “trillions” potential
face, with sales, proits and the stock price all cent only in retrospect—on a massive scale. Bezos alluded to.
soaring, the latter up 270% over three years “What Jef Bezos has done and is likely to While his pioneering peers of the irst
and 103% in the past 12 months. Amazon do is perhaps the most remarkable achieve- dot-com era embraced and popularized the
is closing in on Apple to become the world’s ment I’ve seen,” Warren Bufett told me last “open kimono,” Bezos has always viewed
most valuable company, and Bezos, whose year, ater I asked him, open-ended, to name stealthiness as an asset, masking new initia-
personal net worth approaches $160 billion, the most impressive business mind in his tives inside larger expenditures and feign-
has in the process become the planet’s rich- almost eight decades of market-watching. ing disinterest in burgeoning favorites. As
est person by far. “Because he’s taken two very major indus- Bezos’ public proile has expanded, public
Nevertheless, Bezos talks about Ama- tries, and simultaneously, and sort of under ut ter ances and interviews (despite his own-
zon like it’s a giddy startup that just closed the nose of competitors, he’s become in ef- ership of the Washington Post) have become
its Series A. “For all practical purposes, the fect the leader and is redeining them and increasingly rare. Bezos refuses to discuss
market size is unconstrained,” says Bezos, succeeding at really big businesses.” Donald Trump, who has taken to beating up
his rolled-up sleeves showing of Popeye- hough Bezos and Bufett were referring on him and the Post on Twitter, but he clear-
like forearms, the product of midlife weight to retail and the cloud, Bezos is actually un- ly understands he has a target on his back.
training that has produced buzzed-about re- constrained in far more ways. First, thanks When asked, as the head of an ascendant ad- MICHAEL PRINCE FOR FORBES
sults for the 54-year-old. His growth ratio- to AWS, the company famous for emphasiz- vertising company, whether he took any les-
nale comes from a “super-lucky” con u- ing growth over proitability is inally spit- sons from Facebook’s travails last year, his




26 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

CREDIT TK


SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 27

PROMOTION


PURE DIAMOND FARM:





THE FUTURE OF LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS ENHANCED


WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IS HERE.

AND IT’S VERY BRIGHT INDEED.




Lab-grown, or cultivated, diamonds with the same chemical structure of natural diamonds are
gaining popularity in markets such as the U.S. Now Japanese company Pure Diamond Farm is building on

existing technology and utilizing blockchain technology to create gems unlike any the world has ever seen.
Shigy Ishida, president of Pure Diamond Co., Ltd., and Hideyuki Abe, co-founder of Pure Diamond Lab, Ltd.,
spoke about their plans to bring diamonds made in Japan to the international market.




Please describe the state of the diamond industry they were produced—can be guaranteed, they are also able to
and its growth potential. How do lab-grown offer buyers peace of mind about the ethics of their purchase.
diamonds fit into the picture?
How did the Pure Diamond Farm project begin?
Ishida: Japan is the world’s third-largest diamond market,
at around 680 billion yen (US$6.1 billion). The global market, Abe: I first heard of lab-grown diamonds from Mr. Ishida, who
valued at around 8.8 trillion yen (US$79 billion), with the U.S. knew of their growing popularity in America and approached
accounting for nearly half. It’s been relatively stable these me about expanding into Asia. By coincidence, I discovered that
past few years and is expected to continue along these there was a maker of cultivated diamonds in Japan and wanted
lines. However, there are a lot of people who would like to to introduce Mr. Ishida.
purchase diamonds that haven’t yet, and we want to tap into
that sector, for example by making diamonds more accessible Ishida: Yes, I had originally consulted Mr. Abe about importing
and increasing opportunities to buy engagement or special lab-grown diamonds from the U.S. into Japan but hadn’t consid-
occasion rings. ered domestically produced gems at all. I figured that while the
technology may exist here, the level of quality probably didn’t
Abe: Recently, people have become aware of the adverse compare to those produced in the U.S. However, I was surprised
effects of diamond mining around the world, such as problems when they showed me the Japanese diamonds because they
with the blood-diamond trade, environmental destruction were incredibly beautiful. I knew that we would have no prob-
and child labor. There is a new market of consumers who lem introducing stones of this quality on the international mar-
want diamonds but don’t want to support harmful practices. ket. Throughout history, diamonds have always been imported
Lab-grown diamonds possess the same beauty of natural into this country, so I was excited by the prospect of exporting
diamonds, but because their provenance—when and where Japanese-made diamonds overseas.






























Unlike synthetic gems such as cubic zirconia, lab-grown diamonds are made of pure carbon, with a chemical structure identical
to naturally occurring diamonds. The production process simulates the geological conditions that lead to the formation of
diamonds deep below the earth’s surface, resulting in brilliant stones completely free of impurities. “You can think of it as
similar to growing vegetables in a greenhouse,” observes Pure Diamond Co., Ltd., president, Shigy Ishida.

PROMOTION

How will lab-grown diamonds affect the natural What kind of new products
diamond market? will be possible with this
cultivation technology?
Ishida: Ninety-eight percent of natural diamonds contain What is your business plan
impurities, while lab-grown diamonds are composed entirely going forward?
of pure carbon. There are a lot of inferior-quality diamonds
being sold cheaply, so one effect might be that these stones Ishida: The number of flat gem- According to the Fancy
will disappear from the market, as jewelry made with lab-grown stones that can be convention- Color Diamond Research
diamonds offers a better, reasonably priced alternative. Lab- ally mined are only a few. It’s not Foundation (FCRF), prices
grown diamonds may pose a threat to traders dealing with possible to produce 100 pairs of of blue diamonds rose
natural diamonds, but natural diamonds will still retain their value earrings with natural diamonds 5.5% in 2017, thanks to
as natural products. We’ll have to create different standards of of this shape, but we can make robust demand for colored
value for cultivated diamonds. Actually, lab-grown diamonds may them with lab-grown diamonds diamonds in Asia. Pure
boost the entire market. As we’ve seen in the U.S., shops that because we have the technology Diamond Lab is currently
carry both lab-grown and natural varieties have seen increases to cut diamonds in a way that researching how to produce
in overall sales. reduces carat size while maxi- red, two-toned and rainbow-
mizing surface area. That means colored stones.
Pure Diamond Farm is currently the only company that we will be able to provide
that is combining lab-grown diamond production with more of these kinds of products
blockchain technology. What are the advantages of this? at an affordable price. This is only possible with lab-grown dia-
mond technology.
Abe: With blockchain technology, we’re able to trace the entire
history of a diamond—where it was made, who handled it Abe: It’s the same with colored diamonds. We’re now research-
previously—much like reading the story of a person’s life. In this ing how to produce a rainbow-colored diamond—after all,
way, the product becomes imbued with a different significance. Japan is known for perfecting techniques to bring new, inno-
We were inspired by an IBM project that uses blockchain to trace vative products to market. We already have the technology
natural diamonds in order to ensure that they’re conflict-free, but to produce a pink diamond, so the next step will be to make
we have taken this idea further by using the information to create a red diamond—a naturally occurring object of rarity. Then,
new value beyond the gem’s beauty as an object. We can record we plan to work on a two-toned diamond. The market for
the individual differences of each stone, and this gives consumers fancy-color diamonds is growing, and there is potential for
another reason to buy it. For example, you might wish to purchase further expansion. We will also be able to collaborate with
a diamond that was made on your birthday, or to commemorate designers and make artistic pieces. Really, the possibilities
a special event. are endless.


PROFILES




HIDEYUKI ABE

Born in 1976, Hideyuki Abe is the co-founder of Pure Diamond
Lab, Ltd. He has served as an advisor to Samsung Mpeon
Asia, the Dailan Brothers Record Company and Enterprise
Cruises. In 2015, he became an authorized agent for Chia
Tai Group, a subsidiary of the investment conglomerate
Charoen Pokphand Group. In the same year, he was named
representative director of consulting firm Siam Partners and
continues to wear many hats as the representative director of
Japanese companies Otobotoke and 21Lady.


SHIGY ISHIDA

Born in Tokyo in 1962, Shigy Ishida is the president of Pure
Diamond Co., Ltd. After graduating from Tokai University in
1984, he studied at Tel Aviv University in Israel. In 1986, he
joined the diamond trading company AP, before serving
as a representative for the Antwerp Diamond Exchange in
Belgium. Ishida became the president of AP in 1993. In his
(L-R) Hideyuki Abe, co-founder, Pure Diamond Lab, Ltd; spare time, he enjoys combat sports and became the director
Shigy Ishida, president, Pure Diamond Co., Ltd. of the Japanese Shoot Boxing Association in 2013.

FORBES ASIA
JEFF BEZOS




answer was succinct, political and incon- ment without some failure,” says Jef Wilke, Sears Roebuck’s Julius Rosenwald.

ceivable. “No,” says this advocate for corpo- the longtime Bezos lieutenant who runs his is where the story should have
rate learning, pausing for a few seconds to Amazon’s consumer and retail operations. ended. But as the Western world’s domi-
underscore that he wasn’t going there. Ditto “hose we sort of celebrate. In fact, we want nant online retailer, Amazon was also solv-

questions about becoming a data company. them to occur all over the place. Jef doesn’t ing huge technological and logistical prob-
“I’ve never really thought of Amazon in that need to review those. I don’t need to review lems, and rather than view those skills
way,” says the man who runs as data-driv- those.” merely as accretive to the core business,
en a company as any, before reverting to his But regarding the larger ideas and verti- Bezos saw them as businesses unto them-
stump speech. When it’s suggested that it’s cals—a.k.a. “one-way doors”—that change selves. An internal need for part-time de-
at least a tool, Bezos quickly interjects: “One the direction of the company, Bezos prides velopers led to Mechanical Turk, one of

of many tools.” himself on playing “chief slowdown of- the world’s irst crowdsourcing gig market-

Nevertheless, during the morning he icer.” He’s looking for three things. First, places. Building a staggeringly eicient de-



spent with Forbes outlining how he chan- originality. “We have to have a diferenti- livery infrastructure led to the Fulillment

nels innovation and chooses where to ex- ated idea. It can’t be a ‘me too’ ofering,” he by Amazon service, and mastering how to

pand, a road map for Amazon’s future says. Second, scale. “We’re gited with some take money for each purchase led to Ama-
emerged. Given Amazon’s size, it moves very large businesses we’ve built over time, zon Pay. Most important, as Amazon began
both vertically and horizontally, each direc- and we can’t af ord to put our energies into building enormous capabilities to store its

tion portending a lot more disruption. Even something that if it works, it’s still going to data in the cloud, Bezos igured out that


ive years ago, Bezos seemed content mere- be small.” And, inally, a Silicon Valley-wor- other businesses might want to store their
ly to try to sell everything to everybody, be- thy ROI. “Even at substantial scale, it has to data there as well. In 2017, AWS had $17.5
coming the bane mostly of retailers and have good returns on capital.” billion in revenue.
wholesalers. But this master innovation art- Ultimately, the ideas that hit that troika, Even those customer-driven concepts
ist now has the ultimate palette: any indus- Bezos says, emanate from one of two mod- create skills-based dividends. Take the Kin-

try he chooses. els. Either by looking backward at custom- dle reader, Amazon’s irst foray into hard-
er needs—as in we’ve noticed people act a ware, back in 2007. Wilke, who came from
FOR THIS UNCONSTRAINED era, the certain way, so let’s try to serve them with AlliedSignal, remembers protesting to the
most important word at Amazon is yes. a product. Or peering forward—we know board. “I spoke up and said, ‘I don’t agree.
Bezos explains, correctly, the traditional how to do something valuable, so let’s ind I think we’re likely to miss our planned de-

corporate hierarchy: “Let’s say a junior ex- customers. livery date. Our yields are gonna be too low.

ecutive comes up with a new idea that they he Amazon juggernaut ultimately We’re gonna underproduce. We’re gonna

want to try. hey have to convince their stems from the latter. Originally a niche frustrate customers. Hardware’s hard. We’re
boss, their boss’s boss, their boss’s boss’s player, Bezos could have easily focused just a sotware company.’

boss and so on—any ‘no’ in that chain can on becoming the world’s digital bookstore, “Jef said, ‘Well, I’m willing to concede

kill the whole idea.” hat’s why nimble start- the way crats belong to Etsy and shoes to that all those things will happen, and I still

ups so easily slaughter hidebound dino- Zappos (now owned by Amazon, natural- think that the right vision for our compa-
saurs: Even if 19 venture capitalists say no, ly). But in mastering selling books, Bezos ny is to be really good at building hardware,
it just takes a 20th to say yes to get a disrup- saw that he could use those tools—from so we need to get started learning.” And so
tive idea into business. inventory management to recommenda- they did. Kindle is a romanticized product

Accordingly, Bezos has structured Am- tion engines—to move adjacently: irst into at Amazon, both because of the hardware
azon around what he calls “multiple paths music and DVDs, then toys and electronics, breakthrough and because it harks back
to yes,” particularly regarding “two-way then pretty much anything that can be sold to the company’s roots in books. It didn’t

doors”: decisions that are oten at retail. And he again leveraged transform the company, though, and other
based on incremental im- that knowledge audaciously (and hardware failures, like the disastrous Fire
provements and can be re- successfully) in opening up Ama- smartphone, followed. But Bezos’ decision
versed if they prove unwise. zon as a platform for independent also eventually led to the Amazon Echo
Hundreds of executives can sellers, who were formerly com- smart speaker, a true game-changer.
green-light an idea, which em- petitors—cementing his legacy as a “We have a lot of hardware experience
ployees can shop around inter- transformative retailer, in the pan- today, but back then we didn’t have those
nally. “He knows and we know theon with the likes of Sam Wal- skills,” says Bezos, laughing. “You have to be
that you can’t invent or experi- ton, Aaron Montgomery Ward and patient. It’s not going to be just time to
$7.8 $8.7
Billion Billion
$4.7 $5.1 $4.3 $4.8 $3.6
Billion Billion Billion
$1.6 $1.2 $1.8 Billion Billion
Billion Billion Billion
YEAR 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Forbes 400 Rank 102 18 48 189 100 32 38 42 70 35

30 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

$158 1
learn a skill. It might take time for the thing and dependability. And it’s another toe in TO Billion
to really ower.” In other words, if you study the healthcare pool.

the skills Amazon is learning, you’ll have a Bezos is also going to school in ad- INFINITY
fair idea of what it will soon be selling. vertising. Amazon’s most recent quarter-
And right now Bezos is learning ly performance revealed a startling num- AND
about healthcare. It’s America’s biggest ber: Amazon is on pace to exceed $8 billion BEYOND
industry—18% of GDP—and one of its in advertising revenue this year—rough-
most ineicient. Last year, Bezos, along ly double last year’s total. And why not? JEFF BEZOS’ NET

with Bufett and JPMorgan Chase CEO Google might know what you’re interest- WORTH AND RANK

Jamie Dimon, announced that their three ed in buying, Facebook might be able to de- ON THE FORBES 400

companies would pool their eforts, hiring duce what you’d be inclined to buy, but Am-

high-proile CEO Atul Gawande to lead a azon knows what you’ve actually bought or

nonproit initiative to deliver better care at even whether you showed intent to buy.

a lower cost for their own employees, with hat raises all sorts of issues. Bezos talks
the idea of creating a scalable, clonable exuberantly about his consumer obsession,

model. It’s no small thing: hose three com- but there are few customers who want to be
panies employ 1.2 million. Add in their de- targeted with more ads. Bezos says the trust
pendents, and it’s like running a pilot proj- that Amazon has built with its customers
ect for everyone in Oregon or Connecticut. will ensure the company doesn’t cross a
Bezos is adamant about Amazon’s in- line—and that customers, in turn, will give
tentions here. “his is a nonproit initiative, him the beneit of the doubt. “It’s very valu-



as you guys know. It’s very diferent,” he in- able, and so you would never do anything

terjects, before even a full question can be to jeopardize it,” he says. “It’s what allows

asked about it. Bufett, for his part, concurs, you to expand the business.” If Bezos can
having explained to me a few months ago: walk that line, it’s easy to envision the Face-

“We were deluged by people ater the an- book-Google advertising “duopoly” gaining
nouncement who said, ‘We want to join in.’ a third major entrant. $81.5
Billion
And we said, ‘You don’t have to join in. Steal
everything we get, if we get anything.’ ” he WHEN YOU WALK AMONG THE Seat-

“if we get anything” is key. “Like Columbus tle high-rises, the most interesting building
leaving, we don’t know where the hell we’re in Amazon’s neighborhood—with apolo-
going exactly,” Bufett added. “But we hope gies to a stunning new biosphere designed $67

Billion
there’s another continent out there and we to serve as something of a company com-
don’t go of a shelf at some point.” mons—is a food store that pokes out from
But even if they do sail of the Earth, the bottom of Day 1 Tower. Amazon’s $13
Bezos wins, as Amazon burnishes its skills billion Whole Foods purchase last year is
accounting for around one ith of the do- only the second-most-interesting grocery



mestic economy. While any breakthroughs initiative at Amazon; the irst is Am-

developed with Bufett and Dimon “would azon Go, an 1,800-square-foot ex- $47
Billion

still be inside that nonproit entity,” Bezos periment in frictionless brick-and-
says, “each of the companies can pursue mortar purchases that opened in
their own initiatives.” Bezos has already January.
started. In June, Amazon agreed to pay al- Go, a food store,
most $1 billion for PillPack, a startup that might be the most Am-
delivers prepackaged daily prescription en- $30.5
Billion
velopes. It’s everything that Amazon $27.2

is good at: fulillment, customization Billion
$23.2
Billion
$19.1
$12.6 Billion
Billion
$8.7 $8.8
Billion Billion





2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
33 28 18 13 11 12 15 4 2 2 1

1 BASED ON 8/27/2018 STOCK PRICE.
SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 31

FORBES ASIA
JEFF BEZOS












APRIL 3, 1995
Books. First sale: APRIL
Fluid Concepts NOVEMBER 2000 22, 2004
and Creative Amazon Market- Jewelry:
$10,000 en-
Analogies: Com- place: Third-
puter Models of party sellers start gagement
rings to
the Fundamental selling everything
Mechanisms of from cameras to $10 charm
bracelets.
Thought. dollhouse furni-
ture on the site.

JUNE 11, 1998 Compact NOVEMBER 2,
discs: more than 125,000 2005 Mechanical
albums in 60 genres. SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 Sporting Turk: micropay-
goods: tennis rackets, electric ments to humans
scooters, team jerseys. performing tasks
computers can’t.











FEBRUARY 2, 2005 Amazon
Prime: initially just free two-
day shipping for $79 a year.




JULY 16, 2002 Amazon Web
Services: renting computing
power, database storage SEPTEMBER 7, 2006 Amazon
and content delivery to Video: thousands of TV
(mostly) small businesses. shows and movies, from
Star Trek to Bu y the Vam-
pire Slayer, to download.
NOVEMBER 10, 1999 Home
improvement (cement
mixers, smoke detectors), NOVEMBER 7, 2002 Apparel: clothing from
software (Microsoft Of-
fice 2000, Photoshop), more than 400 brands, including Gap,
Nordstrom, Ralph Lauren and Eddie Bauer.
video games (Game Boys,
Where in the World Is
Carmen Sandiego).



‘97 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07


azonian thing at Amazon. Bezos has al- and who did the taking; and from Am- lar vein to warehouse clubs like Costco and
ways stressed frugality, and here are his azon Pay, which seamlessly handles the BJ’s Wholesale. But as it grows, it’s surged
employees (and a few Seattle residents and transaction once the company’s app regis- into a way to shower its 100 million-plus
tourists) shopping for their lunches, buy- ters the inputs. Grabbing a chocolate milk subscribers with perks and privileges. And
ing them from Amazon and in doing so here on the way out feels like shopliting— those perks create endless new adjacen-
also providing the company with reams of no checkout lines, no scanning, no swip- cies and business lines. Prime explains why
data to hone its skills. More important, Go ing. If healthcare and advertising represent Amazon has started to encroach on Net ix
demonstrates what’s possible when difer- huge expansion verticals on Amazon’s de and is expected to spend $5 billion on pro-
ent aspects of Amazon’s myriad operations facto vertical campus, Go brings together gramming this year, including the highly
come together. Go en com passes knowl- what’s possible horizontally when Amazon touted Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. In just three
edge gained from purchases at Whole puts all the pieces together. years, “Prime Day”—an annual 36 hours of
Foods; from Amazon’s increasingly sophis- he most important aspect of it all is special deals just for members, with partic-
ticated algorithmic and hardware capabil- Prime. At its core, it’s a marketing tool, ipants spending billions on more than 100
ities, in the form of AI, camera and sensor a way to encourage buying—and gener- million products this July—has become a
technologies, which combine to igure out ate recurring subscription revenue (an es- shopping holiday with a mania surpassed
what’s taken of the shelf (and put back) timated $10 billion in 2017)—in a simi- in the U.S. only by Black Friday and Cyber




32 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

3,000
AUGUST 28, 2017
Whole Foods:
forks over 2,000
$13.6 billion
in cash for
NOVEMBER 16, 2010 grocery chain.
Amazon Studios: film
and TV production. 1,000
Manchester by the Sea
is its first big hit.

500
JANUARY 2018 Amazon Go:
NOVEMBER 19, 2007 new kind of store, with no
Amazon’s Kindle checkout required, opens to
ebook reader. public in Seattle.






THE AGE OF AMAZON 100



IN THE PAST 21 YEARS, AMAZON’S STOCK HAS
RISEN A STAGGERING 98,000%—AS THE COMPANY
JULY 22, 2009 WENT FROM HUMBLE ONLINE BOOKSTORE TO 50
Zappos: buys e- SELLING EVERYTHING FROM APPLES TO VIDEOS.
commerce shoe
retailer for just
under $1 billion
in stock.




JUNE 28, 2018
Pillpack: an-
2013 Amazon Fresh: nounces plans 10
grocery delivery to buy online
service expanded to pharmacy; deal
L.A. and San Francisco. hasn’t closed.
5


NOVEMBER 14, 2011 Kindle Fire:
streaming access to 100,000
movies and TV shows. JUNE 23, 2015 Amazon
Echo: first smart
SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 speaker; uses virtual
Motorcycles and ATVs. assistant Alexa.


1


‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘15 ‘16 ‘17 ‘18


Monday. Access to Prime is how Ama- thing that’s special and new,” Bezos says. lines, from cloud to retail. Take the wildly
zon gets its outside retailers to pay more for “And that’s what you’re seeing if you’re successful Echo, which has made Jef Wil-
Fulillment by Amazon. paying attention to our physical-stores ke’s existential question about Amazon—
Prime also underpins Amazon’s brick- strategy.” is it a hardware or a sotware company?—
and-mortar strategy. Prime’s same-day Prime, in short, has become Amazon’s moot. It’s an efective piece of hardware
deliveries and pickups require more phys- central nervous system, connecting every- empowered by AI-driven sotware, which
ical beachheads, which in turn help un- thing in the company—and giving Am- drives Amazon’s retail sales, leverages
derwrite expansion into all sorts of ields azon a path to expand into new markets Amazon’s content and so on. “he most
Amazon could never have justiied, such while also juicing its core retail business— interesting thing about machine learning
as food, the kind of perishable product without really being it’s own thing. “It can’t as opposed to a lot of other technologies
that doesn’t it into the classic Amazon be a stand-alone business because it’s com- is just how horizontal it’s going to be,”
model. Ater years as a bookstore kill- pletely tied in to our consumer ofering,” Bezos says. “here’s not a single category
er, the company now has 16 permanent Bezos says. of business or government or anything,
Amazon Books locations across 11 states. Similarly, as seen with Go, artiicial in- really, that can’t improve itself.”
And Amazon recently opened a second telligence will increasingly connect what Corporate America, take note—either
Go in Seattle. “hey have to have some- previously seemed like disparate product innovate or Jef Bezos will do it for you. F




SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 33

FORBES ASIA
BITMAIN’S MAIN MAN


























Crypto Boss










The mining billionaire no one has heard of.


BY JASMINE TENG

ith rumors, controversy and news buzz- Research noted that Bitmain should be viewed as an early-
ing about its upcoming IPO, Chinese stage version of Cisco, when there was plenty of uncertainty
cryptocurrency-mining chip irm Bit- in the future of IP.
main has been thrust into the spotlight Despite his role as the technical backbone behind
Win recent months. Jihan Wu, Bitmain’s Bitmain, little is known about Zhan, an engineer who de-
cofounder and co-CEO, has gotten most of the media cover- veloped the custom application-speciic integrated circuit
age, largely because of his prominent online social presence. (ASIC) chips that have propelled the global growth of the
Meanwhile, Micree Zhan, Bitmain’s other cofounder and largest crypto-mining chip producer. Even his LinkedIn pro-
co-CEO, has kept a much lower proile but owns a much ile is stark, listing only “CEO at Bitmain” and nothing about
bigger stake in Bitmain than Wu does. Zhan is Bitmain’s prior jobs or education.
technical mastermind and owns 36.58% of the company, Here’s what we know so far. Ater graduating from
while Wu’s stake is 20.5%, according to the leaked pre-IPO Shandong University with a degree in electrical engineering
investor decks. he Beijing-based company is conident that in 2001, Zhan received a master’s in engineering from the
it will achieve a $14 billion market capitalization once it Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microelectron-
ofers shares to the public, according to its pre-IPO investor ics in 2004. He went to work at Tsinghua University as a
materials. hat would make Zhan’s stake worth at least $5.1 research and development engineer at the Research Institute
billion and Wu’s stake worth nearly $2.9 billion. of Information Technology.
Forbes isn’t so bullish. Ater talking with analysts, we esti- In 2006 he began a new job as the head of research and
mate Zhan’s net worth at around $4 billion and Wu’s at close development and manager of the integrated circuit depart-
to $2.3 billion. Forbes valued Bitmain by applying price-to- ment at Chinese company Unitend Technologies, which
sales ratios from comparable companies including Nvidia, specializes in circuit design. At Unitend, Zhan oversaw the
AMD, Qualcomm, Mediatek and Cisco. design and development of speciic chips for digital televi-
It is important to note that there are no directly compa- sion; the shipment volume of these chips exceeded one
rable companies given the unique nature of Bitmain. We million during his time there. He’s also published numerous
picked these companies because they are also fabless chip papers and patents about circuit chips and helped write the
makers, companies that design and sell chips and hardware national standard for universal transport interfaces, a proto-
but outsource production to other manufacturers, according col used in digital television devices. In 2010 Zhan founded
to Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Rick Hsu’s guidance. Bit- DivaIP Technologies, a Beijing-based startup to develop TV
main is not purely a semiconductor company; a portion of its set-top boxes. He met Wu by chance when the startup was
revenue is also derived from its mining pools, BTC.com and canvassing the streets of Beijing, and Zhan sought advice
Antpool. And given the novelty and volatility of the current from Wu regarding funding, Quartz reports. hough Wu was
cryptocurrency industry, the application of these mining unable to help in that speciic regard, the two would meet up
chips is uncertain, according to Mark Li, a senior technology again three years later.
analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Brett Simpson of Arete he younger of the duo, Wu graduated from Peking




34 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS


































































University in 2009 with a dual degree in economics and
Jihan Wu is the public
psychology. According to his LinkedIn proile, he worked as
face of Bitmain, but his
an investment manager at private equity irm China Grand low-profile cofounder,
Prosperity Investment from 2010 to 2013 before he cofound- Micree Zhan, has a
ed Bitmain. A cofounder of 8BTC, a China-based Bitcoin much bigger stake.
forum launched in 2011, Wu is reportedly the irst person to
translate the bitcoin white paper—the original report written
by Satoshi Nakamoto that explained the fundamentals of
bitcoin—into Mandarin. He also drew attention to himself in
2016 when he tweeted a vitriolic response to someone who
criticized his support for Bitcoin Cash.
In 2013, Wu approached Zhan about founding Bitmain to-
gether. Wu sought Zhan’s expertise in chip design to develop
the mining chips needed for virtual currency mining. Mining
bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies requires brute force that
these ASIC chips provide, in order to solve the complex math
problems that verify transactions on a blockchain. he morn-
ing ater their meeting, Zhan spent two hours poring through
the Wikipedia page about bitcoin and promptly agreed to join known thus far. his could be a monumental step not just
the venture, Bloomberg reports. for Bitmain but also for the larger cryptocurrency commu-
Four years later, in 2017, Bitmain brought in $2.5 billion nity. he industry has been attempting to nudge its way back
in revenue, predominantly from sales of its cryptocurrency- into the spotlight ater a brief frenzy over cryptocurrencies
mining equipment, according to the investor decks. In the that began at the end of 2017. Ater the investor decks were
irst quarter of 2018 alone, Bitmain had $1.9 billion in rev- leaked, however, uncertainty over mining-rig sales in 2018
enue. he company hopes to complete its IPO on the Hong have raised doubts over the feasibility of a $14 billion-size
Kong Stock Exchange before the end of the year, but little is IPO. So watch this space. F
SEONGJOON CHO/BLOOMBERG (TOP)



SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 35

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PROMOTION


DSM IN MOTION:





DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY


Sustainability is a core platform for the Netherlands-based group as it transforms its businesses to capture growth

opportunities in health, nutrition and materials, according to management board member Dimitri de Vreeze.

















































DSM is developing fortified rice as part of an integrated approach to optimal nutrition.


In recent years, worldwide concerns over managing board and oversees operations DSM has published a fully integrated
greenhouse gas emissions and their criti- in Asia. “We will deliver on performance annual report for the past five years as
cal impact on the environment have picked to earn the right to be a purpose-led the firm believes its finances, its impact
up pace. Anticipating the growing need to business,” underscoring DSM’s earnings on society and the planet’s sustainability
address climate change, Royal DSM, the growth over past years. are mutualistic.
world’s largest maker of vitamins by volume, “Ten years ago, people were saying The group’s strong earnings growth
has stayed ahead of the curve. It decided either you want to help the world or you underpins the strength of its revised cor-
nearly a decade ago that corporate profit want to make money and decide [between porate strategy, which focuses on inno-
cannot come at the expense of society or the two],” said de Vreeze. “That is, either vative solutions across its nutrition and
the environment, rather, sustainability is syn- you are a NGO [nongovernmental orga- materials business units: nutrition and
onymous with driving profitability. nization wanting to help the world] or a health, climate and energy, and resources
The global chemicals company is trans- private company wanting to make money.” and circularity.
forming its health and material-based “But we said no—that goes hand in hand Its first-quarter net profit for 2018
businesses by focusing on developing sus- as over time, customers won’t accept the more than doubled year on year to €331
tainable, innovative solutions that address products and services of companies who million (US$388 million) as sales rose 13%
nutrition and health, climate and energy, ignore their impact on society,” he said. to €2.4 billion (US$2.8 billion), prompt-
and resources and circularity, where the Most for-profit businesses are aware ing the company to raise its full-year
life cycle of materials is maximized, and that their operations have a significant earnings expectations. The firm set two
products are regenerated. impact on others. While balancing the financial targets for 2019-2021: a high
“DSM’s strategy is to be a purpose- need to perform competitively, shifting single-digit annual percentage increase
led, science-based company in nutri- expectations have led businesses to pub- in adjusted Ebitda, and an about 10%
tion, health and sustainable living,” said lish separate sustainability and annual average annual increase in adjusted net
Dimitri de Vreeze, who sits on the group’s financial reports. operating cash flow.

PROMOTION


with personalized health goals. The result-
ing data recommend prepared drinks
needed to meet nutrition requirements
throughout the day.
Beyond human nutrition, DSM also
produces animal feed—but with a differ-
ence. Targeted at markets with high dairy
production, it is developing a safe animal
feed additive to reduce methane emis-
sions from cow eructation (burps) by as
much as 30%.
As part of the sustainability initiative
around climate change and renewable
energy, DSM’s efforts toward reducing
the world’s carbon footprint involves low-
ering greenhouse gas emissions across
its value chain.
The company’s focus on using renewable
energy can be seen in several investments
with wind farms and solar plants. In India,
DSM will utilize a solar plant to meet a quar-
ter of its Pune plastics facility’s electricity
upkeep. This aligns with the country’s exist-
ing plans to have renewable power account
for 40% of its total installed capacity by
2030, up from the present 20%.
DSM project Clean Cow is focused on developing a safe animal feed additive that China is even further ahead in sustain-
reduces methane emissions created through the digestive process of cattle. ability efforts as the nation harnesses solar
power. The country was accountable for
DSM’s evolution into a nutrition, health to nutrition becoming a key sustainability almost half of the world’s investments in
and sustainable living company contin- focus area for DSM. renewable energy last year, according to
ues to keep the 116-year old organization About 500 million people in Asia suffer Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance forecast.
ahead of the competition. The company from malnutrition, which poses a severe The company also produces Dyneema
started off as a small, coal-mining outfit threat to global health. At the other —a fiber several times stronger than steel
before moving onto petrochemicals. When extreme, there has been a worldwide surge with a low carbon footprint. Dyneema is
it was privatized in 1985, DSM shifted from in obesity-linked diseases such as cardio- a core material in manufacturing electric
chemicals to specialty chemicals. Over the vascular conditions and cancers, which vehicles, playing a significant role toward
past 15 years, the Euronext-listed group have been linked to processed food with reducing global emissions.
expanded its scope, adding nutrition low nutritional value. The third pillar of its sustainability
and life sciences businesses to its market ‘’Among the solutions DSM has devel- focuses on a circular economy, aiming to
line-up. oped to address malnutrition is fortified reduce new waste creation through smarter
De Vreeze has been part of that jour- rice. While rice is a staple food across many product design, and reusing and recycling
ney for 27 years, having worked across the regions, when consumed by itself, it tends of base materials.
world in countries that included Italy, Swit- to have insufficient nutritional value,” said Carpets are a major source of landfill
zerland and Hong Kong in addition to the de Vreeze. DSM provided the technology around the world, but new technology
Netherlands, as DSM embarked on new to fortify rice kernels, where rice is blended from DSM-Niaga allows for recycling, de
challenges every two to three years. with essential nutrients, as a solution to Vreeze said. The product and technology
He is a firm believer in transforming DSM meet nutritional requirements, and have behind DSM-Niaga produces carpets that
into a purpose-led business, or a company seen improvements in the health of migrant are recyclable, in part by reducing the
where corporate decisions are based on workers in Singapore. One serving of forti- number of materials used.
a purpose beyond profit and are aimed fied rice is estimated to have 10 times the With several, intricate steps taken to
at improving the world, through the three nutritional value of regular rice. ensure sustainability today and tomor-
focus areas of sustainability: nutrition, cli- DSM is also working on introducing for- row, the company’s future looks bright. At
mate change and renewable energy, and tified rice to other parts of Asia, plugging the same time Asia is leading the way in
the circular economy. These, according nutritional gaps in school-age children advocating for sustainability for firms and
to de Vreeze, are the critical points where in China, India and Cambodia as well end-users through planet-friendly initia-
DSM can make a difference. as Indonesia. tives. DSM hopes to create further signifi-
With its unique science-based compe- cant value for its partners and end-users
Future-Proofing tencies, DSM is working with its associate through organic growth, with a coherent
Much of the world’s population suffers from firm, digital health company Mixfit, on a set of business activities toward sustain-
too much or too little food, which has led device that analyzes an individual’s diet able living.

FORBES ASIA





















































FORBES ASIA’S

LIST OF THE BEST
PUBLICLY TRADED
BIG COMPANIES.

he companies joining the list for
Asia- the irst time, 9 come from outside
Pacific China (see pp. 47–49).

region often feels Once again India puts the second-largest
Tdominated by China. number of companies on the list—seven, down one
That’s certainly true when it comes to our an- from last year. Five Japanese outits crack the lineup, the most since 2007.
nual list of the best big listed companies from hree of them are newcomers, starting up only since 1997. Vietnam never had
Japan to Australia to India. Once again China a company make the Fab 50 before 2016, but now it’s had three, including a
grabs the most spots—a record 30 of the 50 newbie this year.
companies hail from the mainland, up from Capitalist churn means some companies can’t keep up. his year four regulars
28 last year. failed to make the cut: India’s HDFC Bank ater a record 11 appearances, South
And once again, the corporate stars that shine Korea’s Naver ater 8, and China’s Baidu and Great Wall Motor ater 6 apiece.
the brightest are Tencent (see story, p. 45) and To arrive at the Fab 50, we start with a pool of 1,744 publicly traded
Alibaba. he two Chinese internet giants boast companies that have at least $2 billion in annual revenue and have been listed
vastly greater market capitalizations and enjoy for at least a year. We then knock out companies that are losing money or
far higher proits than any of whose revenue is less than it was ive years ago. Next we toss
the other companies on the list. out companies carrying long-term debt that’s equal to more
BY JOHN KOPPISCH
Tencent’s net proit soared 71% last than half their total capital, or that have more than 50% state
AND ANDREA MURPHY
year, to $10.6 billion, while Ali- ownership. he goal is to highlight well-run entrepreneurial
baba’s climbed 49%, to $9.7 billion. outits. Companies that are more than 50%-owned by listed
China’s hold on the list is squeezing out other parents are also culled. Finally we run the remaining contenders through a
countries. Only 7 placed companies on the list; battery of more than a dozen inancial measures. he goal is an honor roll of
12 did in 2016. Taiwan has none for the irst time high-performing blue chips, the region’s best of the best. F
since the Fab 50 started in 2005. But of the 17 Reporting by Grace Chung, Rebecca Feng and Anuradha Raghunathan




38 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

The Fab 50


THERE ARE 17 NEW MEMBERS
PRESS METAL ON OUR LIST, AND CHINA LEADS
THE WAY AGAIN WITH
30 ENTRIES.
Pressing for C H I N A



AAC Technologies
YEARS ON LIST: 3
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 3
Success INDUSTRY: ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
SALES: $3.1 BIL
MARKET CAP: $13.8 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: KOH BOON HWEE
Alibaba Group
In 1986 Koon Poh Keong and his six brothers decided to YEARS ON LIST: 3
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 3
start an aluminum company. Smart move. Today Malaysia’s INDUSTRY: INTERNET RETAILING
Press Metal dominates the Southeast Asian market. SALES: $37.8 BIL
MARKET CAP: $462.7 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: JACK MA
BY ANIS SHAKIRAH MOHD MUSLIMIN
Anta Sports Products Ì
INDUSTRY: SPORTS APPAREL
SALES: $2.5 BIL
MARKET CAP: $14.7 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: DING SHI-ZHONG
China Aoyuan Property Ì
INDUSTRY: PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
SALES: $2.8 BIL
MARKET CAP: $2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVES: GUO ZIWEN,
GUO ZINING

Country Garden
YEARS ON LIST: 4
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 3
INDUSTRY: PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
SALES: $33.6 BIL
MARKET CAP: $32.6 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: YEUNG KWOK-KEUNG
Dali Foods Ì
INDUSTRY: FOOD & DRINK
SALES: $2.9 BIL
MARKET CAP: $9.8 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: XU SHIHUI
Foshan Haitian Flavouring
& Food
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: CONDIMENTS
SALES: $2.1 BIL
MARKET CAP: $27.5 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: PANG KANG
Geely Automobile
YEARS ON LIST: 5
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 3
INDUSTRY: MOTOR VEHICLES
SALES: $13.7 BIL
MARKET CAP: $19.9 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: LI SHU-FU
HLA 3
YEARS ON LIST: 3
INDUSTRY: APPAREL
SALES: $2.7 BIL
MARKET CAP: $6.8 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: ZHOU JIAN-PING






CEO Koon says his company “cannot continue to be restrained to just a family-run operation.”
JOSHUA PAUL GILBERT FOR FORBES
ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE

SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 39

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FORBES ASIA
FAB 50 — PRESS METAL




oon Poh Keong knew what $425 million; the other brothers hold out to Australia, for example, is a lot easier.
he had to do, but the risks smaller stakes. “We started from ground Customers are happy to get products from
were immense. He was zero without much expertise, but we are China, but from an international company.”
betting his entire company able to learn quickly,” says the CEO. What’s more, the Chinese market taught
Kon a bold plan to build a Seven years ater it started, Press Metal Koon a lot about how to build a company
factory in China and invade the mainland moved into its own factory in the West quickly and about the aluminum business
aluminum market. But Chinese competitors Malaysia city of Kapar. hen in 1999 it listed as he traveled to almost every province in
were killing his Malaysian outit, leaving on the main board of the Malaysian Stock China. “he ‘China speed’ is very exciting,”
him little choice. “We couldn’t compete with Exchange. “hat gave us good access to the he says. “If we didn’t choose to go to China,
them,” he says. market and publicity to grow further,” says we would have grown as a company but

So Koon spent $24 million to buy land Koon. “We attracted more support from certainly not at this pace. It’s about the pace.
and build a plant outside Foshan, Guang- inancial institutions—banks are more likely If you are slow, the market does not wait for
dong. It was 2005, and that sum equaled to support you if you’re a public company.” you. he market wants you to be there when
the entire value of his listed company, Press hat same year the company began export- they need you.”
Metal. But the bet paid of. From $113 ing to Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Until this point Press
million in annual revenue back then, the becoming the irst Malaysian company to Metal was largely in the
company now generates $2 billion, with a sell aluminum products outside the country. aluminum extrusion busi-
net proit of $138 million last year. And the And it opened a subsidiary in the U.K. and ness—making aluminum
market capitalization tops $4.7 billion. hat became a major supplier there. products for diferent uses
track record puts it on the Fab 50 list for Six years later Koon landed in the rural from aluminum alloy. But in
the irst time. “China is the best thing that outskirts of Foshan. he area lacked any 2009 it set up Malaysia’s irst
ever happened to Press Metal,” says Koon. proper infrastructure so “the big question aluminum smelting plant,
“China transformed us.” [people] ask is, ‘Why did you choose a place producing billets and ingots
Koon, 58, may be the face of Press like this?’ ” he laughs, recalling the plant’s in the coastal town of Mukah
Metal, as well as the chief executive, but the opening ceremony. “hey say you are mad in Sarawak. he rationale?
company has always been a family afair. to come to a place like this.” But nearby “he business of extrusion
In 1986 he was fresh out of college with a Guangzhou was the hometown of Koon’s has low barriers to entry,
degree in electrical engineering from the parents, which made it an easy choice when and there are many players,”
University of Oklahoma and was returning looking for a cheap location. he brothers says Koon. “But upstream

home to Malaysia during a recession. Unable also speak Cantonese, the local language. requires a lot of capital and
to ind a job, he started Press Metal with his Now Press Metal had to switly get the players are consolidated.
six brothers (he’s the youngest of seven). He operation up and running. It bought a local From a business perspective,
knew hardly anything about aluminum, but aluminum smelter and hundreds of acres that’s where you want to be.”
he had worked at his family’s small hardware of industrial land to put up its irst factory he local government
business, which traded aluminum bars. “We overseas. “We needed to get it started to spurred the company’s
thought that since we’re trading these bars, demonstrate to the banks and the govern- move when it was seeking
why not make them?” he says. he brothers ment that our outit [was] successful,” recalls industrial companies to buy
pooled $50,000 and began an aluminum-ex- Koon, meaning there was no room for trial electricity generated by the
truding company in a rickety rented factory, and error. hat also meant spending a large Bakun Dam—the largest in
equipped with secondhand machines. chunk of his time in China. “Part and parcel Southeast Asia—ater plans
Today, Koon, who has been at the helm of doing business is you have to put in your to send the electricity to peninsular Malay-
since the beginning, runs the business with efort,” he says. “If you put your money sia through undersea cables were cancelled
four brothers (the other two have died). He there, you better put yourself there.” because of the high cost and the uncertain
calls the shots, but big decisions always go China changed Press Metal in many feasibility. “Sarawak itself does not need all
to the board. “Our families are quite united; ways. It adopted Chinese technology for its this energy,” says Koon. “So the government
every person plays their [part],” he says. “I smelters, allowing it to lower its production decided to make it into a manufacturing
get a lot of support from all of them.” To- costs and give it an upper hand against hub. hat’s how we became a bigger outit.”
gether the Koons own 60% of Press Metal, Western rivals. And its unusual status as an Press Metal got lucky again in 2012,
with Koon being the largest shareholder, international outit in China made it more when a rival, mining giant Rio Tinto,
with a 40% stake, giving him an estimated attractive to customers. “Many Chinese scrapped plans to build an aluminum JOSHUA PAUL GILBERT FOR FORBES
net worth of nearly $2 billion. One brother, companies try to export, but there’s a lan- smelter in Samalaju that would have also
Koon Poh Ming, the executive vice chair- guage barrier,” says Koon. “We are Western- gotten its electricity from the Bakun Dam.
man, holds a 9% stake, worth around educated, so for us to bring the product Instead, Press Metal opened its second




40 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

The Fab 50


Huadong Medicine
YEARS ON LIST: 4
smelter at that site later that year. Altogether “It’s all about the size of the battery,” he says. CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 4
it’s spent $1.2 billion on its smelting plants in “Aluminum is the key to [lighter batteries].” INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS
SALES: $4.1 BIL
Sarawak, and their capacity of 760,000 tons By 2030 electric vehicles are expected to use MARKET CAP: $9.9 BIL
a year is the largest in Southeast Asia. Koon nearly 10 million tons of aluminum, a tenfold TOP EXECUTIVE: LI BANG-LIANG
says the location in Mukah makes Press Metal increase from last year, according to a report Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial 3
YEARS ON LIST: 3
one of only two aluminum producers facing by U.K.-based metal consultants CRU. hat
INDUSTRY: DAIRY PRODUCTS
the South China Sea, helping it secure a nearly will help Press Metal: It’s expected to produce SALES: $10 BIL
MARKET CAP: $23.6 BIL
15% market share in Japan, South Korea, $2.3 billion in revenue in 2020, with net proits
TOP EXECUTIVE: PAN GANG
Taiwan and Southeast Asia. nearly doubling to $270 million, according to
Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Ì
But inding the right workers for its analysts polled by Bloomberg. INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS
smelters is “always a challenge,” says Koon. Koon has no immediate plans to retire, but SALES: $2 BIL
MARKET CAP: $37.5 BIL
“We worked with the government, uni- he has mulled over the question of whether TOP EXECUTIVE: SUN PIAO-YANG
versities and technical schools to develop the company should be led by family members
Logan Property 3
skilled workers. Sarawak is not known to be indeinitely, hinting at bringing in outside YEARS ON LIST: 2
INDUSTRY: PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
SALES: $4.1 BIL
MARKET CAP: $7.0 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: KEI HOI PANG
Longi Green Energy
Technology Ì
INDUSTRY: SEMICONDUCTORS
SALES: $2.4 BIL
MARKET CAP: $5.3 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: LI ZHENGUO
Luxshare Precision Industry
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY
SALES: $3.4 BIL
MARKET CAP: $11.2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: WANG LAICHUN
Midea Group
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES
SALES: $35.6 BIL
MARKET CAP: $41.2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: PAUL FANG
NetEase
YEARS ON LIST: 4
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 4
“IF WE DIDN’T CHOOSE TO GO TO CHINA, INDUSTRY: INTERNET SERVICES
SALES: $8 BIL
WE WOULD HAVE GROWN AS A COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE: WILLIAM DING LEI
MARKET CAP: $27.5 BIL
BUT CERTAINLY NOT AT THIS PACE.” Rongsheng Petrochemical Ì
INDUSTRY: CHEMICALS
SALES: $10.4 BIL
MARKET CAP: $10.7 BIL
a manufacturing place, and we needed to leadership in the future. “We have been, TOP EXECUTIVE: LI SHUIRONG
develop a lot of these skills.” traditionally, a family-run business, but this
S.F. Holding
One issue that hasn’t afected Press Metal, business has to be professionally run, so we YEARS ON LIST: 2
however, is U.S. President Donald Trump’s are hoping that we have this young breed of CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: COURIER SERVICES
10% tarifs on aluminum imports. “We don’t talent who can bring us new perspectives on SALES: $10.5 BIL
sell a lot to the U.S. because it’s very far,” he how to grow the company,” he says. “It cannot MARKET CAP: $26.6 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: WANG WEI
says. “Logistics costs in America are very high continue to be restrained just to a family-run
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical
so it hasn’t been our major market. So the operation.”
YEARS ON LIST: 2
trade war doesn’t afect us directly.” In any event, he’s expecting the demand CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
he transportation industry is the biggest for aluminum to only grow: “Over the INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS
SALES: $2.7 BIL
driver of aluminum demand, along with last few years, we see aluminum replacing MARKET CAP: $11.4 BIL
construction, and Koon expects aluminum to other materials. To be greener, aluminum TOP EXECUTIVE: GUO GUANGCHANG
play a major role in the rise of electric vehicles. is the way.” F

ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE

SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 41

FORBES ASIA






















































































Shopping Sensation







Thanks to its “everyday low prices” model, Avenue Supermarts storms into the Fab 50.

BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN


t didn’t take long for Indian Thanks to a 31% increase in revenue billion and making Avenue one of the
retailer Avenue Supermarts to and a 75% jump in net profit over its world’s most valuable hypermarket
break into the Fab 50. It listed previous fiscal year, Avenue had no companies. It runs supermarket chain
its shares in March of last year, trouble joining the elite ranks. DMart, which sells everything from
I so it’s eligible for the list for Investors agree—they’ve bid up the groceries and apparel to toys and games
the first time because companies must stock by 66% in the past year, push- and generated $2.3 billion in revenue
be publicly traded for at least a year. ing the market capitalization to $14.1 for the year ended March 31. “DMart




42 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

The Fab 50



Shenzhou International
Group 3
YEARS ON LIST: 2
INDUSTRY: APPAREL
SALES: $2.7 BIL
MARKET CAP: $19.7 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: MA JIAN-RONG
Sunny Optical Technology
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY
SALES: $3.3 BIL
MARKET CAP: $14.2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: YE LIAONING
Tencent Holdings
YEARS ON LIST: 10
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 10
INDUSTRY: INTERNET SERVICES
SALES: $35.2 BIL
MARKET CAP: $434.5 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: MA HUA-TENG
Tianneng Power
International Ì
INDUSTRY: BATTERY MANUFACTURING
SALES: $4 BIL
MARKET CAP: $1.4 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: ZHANG TIANREN
Unisplendour Ì
INDUSTRY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SALES: $5.8 BIL
MARKET CAP: $10.1 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: YU YING-TAO
Vipshop Holdings
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: INTERNET RETAILING
SALES: $10.8 BIL
MARKET CAP: $4.1 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: ERIC SHEN YA
Yonghui Superstores
YEARS ON LIST: 3
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: RETAILING
SALES: $8.6 BIL
MARKET CAP: $10.6 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: ZHANG XUAN-SONG
YTO Express
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: COURIER SERVICES
SALES: $2.9 BIL
MARKET CAP: $5.1 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: YU HUI-JIAO
Zhejiang Chint Electrics 3
YEARS ON LIST: 2
INDUSTRY: ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
SALES: $3.4 BIL
MARKET CAP: $7.2 BIL
Rice and easy does it: shoppers at a DMart
TOP EXECUTIVE: NAN CUN-HUI
supermarket in Thane.
Zhejiang Dahua Technology
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
is way ahead of most competitors,” says have executed year after year.” INDUSTRY: SECURITY EQUIPMENT &
SERVICES
Abneesh Roy, senior vice president at DMart operates on an “everyday low SALES: $2.8 BIL
Mumbai’s Edelweiss Securities. “Their cost, everyday low prices” model, similar MARKET CAP: $6.7 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: FU LI-QUAN
debt levels are negligible. Their position- to U.S. chain Walmart’s. Shoppers get
ing is watertight and the management is hooked on the low prices and become
really focused. Retail is all about execu- loyal customers. Take Ashish Sood, a soft-
tion. Anyone can talk strategy, but they ware manager who shopped at DMarts
DHIRAJ SINGH/BLOOMBERG
ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE

SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 43

FORBES ASIA
FAB 50 — AVENUE




see merchants as critical
customer-fulfillment points
who will share a beneficial
relationship with us,” said
Reliance Industries chair-
man Mukesh Ambani at the
company’s annual meeting
in July.
As companies scramble
to build their e-commerce
operations, DMart launched
its own click-and-pick of-
fering, called DMart Ready.

Customers order online and
then pick up their groceries
from smaller DMart Ready
stores in their neighbor-
hood or have them delivered
at a small cost. But DMart
Ready ofers fresh vegetables
on only a limited scale,
and that’s expected to hurt
DMart’s loyal customers become hooked on the low prices, like Walmart shoppers in the U.S.
growth.
in Hyderabad and Bangalore. After he rising concerns that Avenue is over- What might help DMart is the
moved to Chennai he kept looking for valued. “Everything but the stock is Indian government’s proposed e-
an outlet until one opened up in the on discount,” says a research report commerce policy. That would give
suburb of Virugambakkam. The store from Mumbai’s Ambit Capital. “Even brick-and-mortar stores—especially
sports black-and-white signs saying Walmart never enjoyed such rich mom-and-pops—a boost by curbing
some products are 6% cheaper than valuations.” Brokerage houses are also the deep discounts that e-commerce
the maximum retail price set by the concerned that if the company ex- players thrive on. It also calls for
manufacturer, whether cereal, butter pands with leased stores as opposed tighter scrutiny of mergers and the
or shampoo. “We get all our big-ticket to company-owned stores, it could appointment of an e-commerce regu-

items—rice, oil, flour—from here,” he hurt its profit margins. lator to shield domestic e-commerce
says while shopping with his wife to And while DMart seems to have players from foreign competition.
stock up on a three-month supply. mastered o ine retailing, online Meena Ganesh, a BigBasket.com
“We are able to save a lot on the bill.” retailing is rabidly competitive. cofounder, says some elements of the
DMart can hold down costs be- “[As in] many countries, concerns government’s plan are not acceptable.
cause it owns most of the real estate. of disruption for brick-and-mortar “Companies need to do disruptive
Also, it buys directly from manufac- retail businesses longer-term can’t be things in order to change consumer
turers. “DMart’s product mix has ruled out,” says an equity report from behavior,” she says. “This could be free
been almost the same in the last five Mumbai’s Citi Research in May. The delivery, deep discounting, subscrip-
years,” adds Roy. “This has helped it e-grocery segment alone is expected tion packages or financing. The govern-
retain lower prices, compared with to more than quadruple by 2020, to at ment should not be in the business of
other retailers.” least $4 billion. Large players include defining what is deep discounting or
Based in Mumbai, DMart opened the Walmart-Flipkart combination, how bulk purchases should be done.
its first store in 2002 and only nine online grocery major BigBasket.com, This is clear interference.”
more over its first eight years. The Amazon and Reliance. No matter what the government
founder, Radhakishan Damani, who In June, Reliance Retail an- decides, Avenue should continue
shares a $12.2 billion fortune, wanted to nounced an ambitious e-commerce to post gaudy results. Sales in the ANIRUDDHA CHOWDHURY/MINT VIA GETTY IMAGES
understand the nuances of the business plan that would involve online sales organized brick-and-mortar retail
before ramping up. DMart now counts and an o ine system for delivery segment are expected to more than
157 stores across the country. through millions of mom-and-pop double in the four years ending in
Along with the soaring stock are grocery stores across India. “We 2020, to $115 billion. F




44 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

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FORBES ASIA


The Fab 50


H O N G KO N G
TENCENT
China Gas Holdings
YEARS ON LIST: 4
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
Investing TOP EXECUTIVE: LIU MING-HUI
INDUSTRY: GAS UTILITIES
SALES: $6.8 BIL
MARKET CAP: $16.6 BIL


Sino Biopharmaceutical
Machine INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS
YEARS ON LIST: 3
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 3
SALES: $2.2 BIL
MARKET CAP: $16.6 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVES: THERESA TSE, TSE PING
There’s a purpose behind Tencent’s frenzy of dealmaking: I N D I A

Keep users coming back to its platform. Ashok Leyland Ì
INDUSTRY: BUSES & TRUCKS
BY YUE WANG
SALES: $4.6 BIL
MARKET CAP: $5.5 BIL
hinese Web giant Tencent year, has quietly become a very active tech- TOP EXECUTIVE: DHEERAJ HINDUJA
has long relied on its online nology investor. So far this year it has par-
Avenue Supermarts Ì
games and the WeChat social ticipated in 68 deals with a combined value INDUSTRY: RETAILING
media application to attract of $54.7 billion—already surpassing its SALES: $2.3 BIL
MARKET CAP: $14.1 BIL
Cusers. But it has another $31.1 billion in 72 deals last year, accord- TOP EXECUTIVE: IGNATIUS NAVIL NORONHA
growth strategy that is increasingly taking ing to Dealogic. he number also eclipses InterGlobe Aviation
center stage: investing in startups to hatch its archrival, Alibaba, which this year has YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
new services for its core business. taken part in 52 deals that are worth $25.6
INDUSTRY: TRANSPORTATION
he Shenzhen company, which appears billion. Globally, Tencent’s rapid investment SALES: $3.6 BIL
MARKET CAP: $5.3 BIL
on the Fabulous 50 list for the tenth straight pace puts it in the realm of the acquisitive
TOP EXECUTIVES: RAHUL BHATIA,
RAKESH GANGWAL
Motherson Sumi Systems
YEARS ON LIST: 6
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 6
INDUSTRY: AUTO PARTS
SALES: $8.7 BIL
MARKET CAP: $9.3 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: VIVEK CHAAND SEHGAL
Sun Pharmaceutical
Industries 3
YEARS ON LIST: 6
INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS
SALES: $4.1 BIL
MARKET CAP: $21.1 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: DILIP SHANGHVI

Tech Mahindra 3
YEARS ON LIST: 4
INDUSTRY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SALES: $4.8 BIL
MARKET CAP: $10.2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: C.P. GURNANI
TVS Motor Ì
INDUSTRY: MOTOR VEHICLES
SALES: $2.5 BIL
MARKET CAP: $3.8 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: VENU SRINIVASAN
JA PA N

CyberAgent
YEARS ON LIST: 3
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 3
INDUSTRY: INTERNET SERVICES
VCG/GETTY IMAGES Tencent is the top shareholder of Pinduoduo, which celebrated its listing in late July. TOP EXECUTIVE: SUSUMU FUJITA
SALES: $3.3 BIL
MARKET CAP: $6.9 BIL




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FORBES ASIA
FAB 50 — TENCENT












































Wired: Workers setting up Pinduoduo’s new o ce in Shanghai. PDD uses WeChat’s digital payment function to process sales.

Sotbank: he Japanese conglomerate has is getting a boost from the company’s pipeline. Recently, three Tencent-backed
participated in 97 deals with a combined investment in the budget-shopping companies—China’s local-services site
value of $62.5 billion this year, Dealogic service Pinduoduo, or PDD, according to Meituan Dianping, news-aggregation
data shows. Nomura analyst Shi Jialong. he Nasdaq- platform Qutoutiao and electric-car
Tencent is investing to ind products listed PDD operates under a group- maker Nio—iled to go public.
that can help it wring more revenue buying model similar to Groupon’s. But he investment spree, however, isn’t
out if its big user base, says Ken Xu, a PDD bases this on WeChat, allowing its without a downside. Some of the recent
partner at venture capital irm Gobi 3 million active users across the social- initial public oferings have tanked,

Partners, which has invested alongside media platform to form purchase groups suggesting that Tencent’s support by no
the company. It is casting a wide net in and get more discounts. means guarantees success. And there is
sectors such as video game broadcasting, his, in turn, has led to more frequent also concern that Tencent’s free-spend-
inancial services and online shopping. It usage of WeChat’s payment function ing ways are diluting its focus. “he
usually begins with a 10% to 20% stake as users pay for PDD purchases with company has evolved into a sort of VC
in either early-stage startups or more ma- the app. “Many of PDD’s customers are irm, with gaming and social network-
ture outits. he company encourages its in remote areas, and they weren’t very ing sidelines,” says Brock Silvers, man-
portfolio companies to compete against familiar with digital payment to begin aging director of advisory irm Kaiyuan
each other and lends support only to the with,” said Shi in a recent conference Capital. “his resulted from a cocktail
last ones standing. call. “But as this site took of, it is helping of massive access to capital, government
Alibaba, by comparison, is more WeChat recruit more users for its digital encouragement and perhaps a dash of
focused on retail and e-commerce. wallet.” corporate hubris.”
The Hangzhou company is also more Tencent is also reaping huge rewards But Gobi Partner’s Xu says it makes
involved in the startups it invests in, when it cashes in its investments. Since sense for Tencent to keep investing.
sometimes with the goal of eventu- the beginning of last year, 12 of its port- WeChat, for one, has more than 1 billion
ally acquiring them. “Alibaba usually folio companies have gone public—more users, but Tencent doesn’t have ways to
hopes for some degree of control in than any investment irm or corporate make money of them beyond advertis-
the companies it invests in,” says Xu, investment arm worldwide, accord- ing and linking them to its online games.
who has worked with the e-commerce ing to CB Insights. At the time of those It must explore outside services that can
giant as well. “What Tencent wants are exits, Tencent’s stakes in the companies, be brought onto its platform so users can
partners that can leverage the com- such as China Literature and the gaming become more engaged and stay for longer
pany’s resources and bring additional platform Sea, was worth more than $20 periods. “Tencent can’t do everything on QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG
services.” billion. its own,” he says. “So it now sees a lot of
For example, Tencent’s WeChat app And it has plenty of listings in the value in investing.” F




46 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018

FORBES ASIA


The Fab 50


Nidec 3
Group, it’s chaired by Dheeraj Hinduja, YEARS ON LIST: 3
a third-generation scion of the clan. It INDUSTRY: MOTOR MANUFACTURER
SALES: $13.4 BIL
turns 70 this month, but the Hindujas MARKET CAP: $42.5 BIL
bought a stake only in 1987. TOP EXECUTIVE: SHIGENOBU NAGAMORI
Open House Ì
CHINA AOYUAN INDUSTRY: REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE
PROPERTY GROUP SALES: $2.7 BIL
Making CHINA TOP EXECUTIVE: MASAAKI ARAI
MARKET CAP: $3.1 BIL

Their Debut Headquartered in Guangzhou, the INDUSTRY: RECRUITING SERVICES
Outsourcing Ì
company develops high-end residential
SALES: $2.1 BIL
THESE COMPANIES ARE JOINING THE and commercial properties. Guo Ziwen MARKET CAP: $2 BIL
ELITE 50 FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER started it in 1996 to tap the Hong Kong TOP EXECUTIVE: HARUHIKO DOI
OUTPERFORMING THEIR RIVALS IN market. He later moved the company to Welcia Holdings Ì
INDUSTRIES RANGING FROM MOBILE the mainland and switched to developing INDUSTRY: DRUGSTORES
SALES: $6.2 BIL
GAMING TO MOPEDS. sports properties. It now boasts proper- MARKET CAP: $4.8 BIL
ties in 80 cities in China, Australia and TOP EXECUTIVES: TAKAMITSU IKENO,
ASHOK LEYLAND Canada. Guo and his brother, Guo Zining, HIDEHARU MIZUNO

INDIA own 54.1%. M A L AYS I A
The Chennai vehicle maker is India’s Batu Kawan
second-largest producer of commercial DALI FOODS GROUP YEARS ON LIST: 4
vehicles and ranks No. 4 globally in CHINA CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 4
INDUSTRY: CHEMICALS
buses. Notching a 34% jump in revenue Headquartered in Fujian, the company SALES: $5 BIL
MARKET CAP: $1.7 BIL
in its last fiscal year, the company boasts makes and sells snacks and beverages.
TOP EXECUTIVES: LEE OI HIAN,
nine manufacturing plants—seven in Founded in 1989 and listed in 2015, it LEE HAU HIAN
India, one in the Middle East and one operates 30 production bases. Its three Press Metal Aluminium Ì
in the U.K. The flagship of the Hinduja most famous brands—Daliyuan baked INDUSTRY: ALUMINUM PRODUCTION
SALES: $2 BIL
MARKET CAP: $4.7 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: KOON POH KEONG

S O U T H KO R E A

Amorepaci c 3
YEARS ON LIST: 3
INDUSTRY: COSMETICS
SALES: $4.5 BIL
MARKET CAP: $16.2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: SUH KYUNG-BAE
Netmarble Ì
INDUSTRY: MOBILE GAMING
SALES: $2.1 BIL
MARKET CAP: $9.2 BIL
TOP EXECUTIVE: BANG JUN-HYUK
V I E T N A M

Mobile World Investment
YEARS ON LIST: 2
CONSECUTIVE YEARS: 2
INDUSTRY: ELECTRONICS & APPLIANCES
RETAILING
ANTA SPORTS PRODUCTS SALES: $2.9 BIL
MARKET CAP: $1.7 BIL
CHINA TOP EXECUTIVE: NGUYEN DUC TAI
The Fujian company was the first Chinese sportswear outfit to reach 10 billion yuan
Vingroup Joint Stock Co. Ì
in annual sales. Started in 1991 as a shoemaker, the company now boasts 11,316 stores INDUSTRY: PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
across China, its revenue split between footwear and apparel. It designed outfits for SALES: $3.9 BIL
MARKET CAP: $14.1 BIL
Chinese athletes in the Winter Olympics in South Korea this year and will be the of- TOP EXECUTIVE: PHAM NHAT VUONG
ficial sportswear partner for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Its roster of super-
star endorsers includes Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao; Kevin Garnett, once the NBA’s
highest-paid player; and former World No. 1 women’s tennis player Jelena Janković.


SEAN GARDNER/GETTY IMAGES
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SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 47

FORBES ASIA









LONGI GREEN ENERGY OPEN HOUSE
TECHNOLOGY JAPAN

CHINA Founded in 1997 in Tokyo by Masaaki
his Xi’an company makes solar cells and Arai, who is now a billionaire, this real

pastry, Haochidian biscuits and Copico modules. Started in 2000 and listed in 2012, estate broker also develops single-family
chips—led the company into markets It counts 17,700 employees and branches on homes in the country’s biggest cities.
that imports had previously dominated. four continents. Its net proit grew by 126% Its motto: “Let’s ind a house in Tokyo.”
Last year it branched into healthy and last year. Founder Li Zhenguo, his wife, Li Listed in 2013, it has served more than
organic food and introduced a soy milk Xiyan, and a schoolmate from Lanzhou 13,000 people in and around Tokyo and
brand, Dou Ben Dou (“soybean itself”). University, Li Chun’an, together own 31.3%. has sold more than 5,000 properties.
Its founder and chairman, Xu Shihui, is Despite the 30% tarif on Chinese solar
now a billionaire and owns 85% with his panels shipped to the U.S. since February, the OUTSOURCING INC.
wife and daughter. he company has close company signed a $600 million contract in JAPAN
to zero debt. July to sell solar modules there. Haruhiko Doi started this Tokyo staf-
ing company in 1997; he remains the
chairman and chief executive. It targets
companies in the manufacturing, engi-
neering and service industries and now
lists 88 subsidiaries in 17 countries on
four continents. In April it bought 56%
of OTTO Holding, which supplies staf in
the Netherlands and Germany through its
recruitment network in eastern Europe.
Sales grew 71.4% last year, thanks to the
increasing mobility of workers across
borders.


RONGSHENG
PETROCHEMICAL

CHINA
Li Shuirong started making polyester cloth
in a Hangzhou factory in 1989. Today the
company produces polyester products and
chemicals from coal with 7,900 employees,
and Li is a billionaire. Recently the govern-
ment gave Rongsheng’s state-backed joint
venture the green light to import 5 million
tons of crude oil, paving the way to build
an oil-reining complex on the island of
Zhoushan, near Shanghai.


TIANNENG POWER
INTERNATIONAL
NETMARBLE CHINA
SOUTH KOREA
China’s largest electric vehicle battery sup-
The country’s largest mobile gaming company saw net profit jump 83% last year
plier started in 1986 and listed in Hong
to nearly $275 million. Its fantasy-based Lineage 2: Revolution has become a hit
Kong in 2007. Based in Zhejiang Province,
around the world, but especially in nearby markets such as Taiwan and Japan. In
the company employs more than 19,000
April the Seoul outfit invested $190 million in K-Pop sensation BTS and says it will
people and operates nine production cen-
release a game based on the seven-member boy band this year. Bang Jun-Hyuk, a
ters. Most of its revenue comes from sales
high school dropout, started the company in 2000; it now employs more than 3,000 SEONGJOON CHO/BLOOMBERG
of batteries for electric bikes and cars.
people and attracts players from 155 countries.
Chairman and founder Zhang Tianren
owns 36.5% of the company with his wife.



48 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018