Vietnamese-born tycoons make a name for themselves in other countries Many Vietnamese have made fortunes in other countries. Some of the more notable ones that have appeared in international media? The French business tycoon Chuc Hoang, a Vietnamese-born billionaire, was reportedly negotiating to purchase Société de la Tour Eiffel, the company established by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 to manage the tower, reported by Le Monde. However, another newspaper said that Société de la Tour Eiffel, the company Chuc Hoang plans to buy, has no connection with Eiffel Tower, and that it is Tour Eiffel (SETE) which is managing Eiffel tower. A French newspaper published a story about the billionaire, reporting that Chuc Hoang is from Thai Binh, a province in the north of Vietnam. Challenges, a French journal, discovered that Chuc Hoang’s assets are valued at 290 million euros, putting him to the 176th position on a list of the 200 richest French businessmen. The man who bought a town in the US   Mr. Pham Dinh Nguyen. In 2012, a businessman from Vietnam bought a small town, Bufford, in Wyoming state in the US. US newspapers then reported that Pham Dinh Nguyen, who was then CEO of IDS, a distribution service company, paid $900,000 to buy the town. Another 25 people from other countries had bid for the town also. The news was reported in newspaper and by the BBC, CNN and Telegraph newspaper. In 2013, the name “Pham Dinh Nguyen” re-appeared in international media when Nguyen announced the renaming of Buford to Phin Deli and the debut of Phin Deli, a Vietnamese coffee brand. The billionaire who tried to buy Dell Dell, a US leading computing corporation, has been taken over by a “big shark”. However, it is not well known that Chinh Chu, a Vietnamese-born businessman, 45, played a very important role in the affair. In fact, Chinh Chu did not buy Dell with his own money. He and a senior executive of the US-based Blackstone finance investment group were assigned to negotiate the deal. However, the deal failed. In mid-April 2013, Blackstone unexpectedly stopped the plan to take over Dell after hearing that the personal computer sales dropped dramatically all over the world. The name Chinh Chu, anyway, still became well-known as a result. According to TheRichest, Chinh Chu’s assets are now valued at $1.1 billion. In Vietnam, he is known as the husband of Ha Phuong, a singer. The billionaire supported by the Lao government In 2013, the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group and its founder Doan Nguyen Duc, one of Vietnam’s billionaires, became unwillingly “famous” when a foreign non-government organization accused the group of ravaging forests and appropriating land in Laos and Cambodia. Many Lao newspapers then published articles praising the Hoang Anh Gia Lai group, which they said had made great contributions to the development of the country’s economy through its agriculture projects. Lao and Cambodian officials also defended Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Doan Nguyen Duc. VTC