First Vietnamese woman makes it to Forbes' 2017 billionaires list Vietnam has two representatives in Forbes 2017 billionaires list including VietJet Air CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, a newcomer, and Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong who has been listed on five occasions.   VietJet Air CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (left), and Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong were in Forbes' 2017 billionaires list Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao who took her budget airline VietJet Air, public in February 2017, is the first Vietnamese woman to be selected to the list. Thao, 47, who is also deputy chairman and general director of HD Bank and founding shareholder of Sovico Holdings, ranks 1,678 with total assets of  USD1.2 billion. Chairman of Vingroup Pham Nhat Vuong has made a big jump of 144 places in Forbes' list this year, ranking 867 with total assets of USD 2.4 billion. It was a record year for the richest people on Earth, as the number of billionaires jumped 13% to 2,043 from 1,810 last year, the first time ever that Forbes has pinned down more than 2,000 10-figure-fortunes.  Their total net worth rose by 18% to USD7.67 trillion, also a record. The change in the number of billionaires — up 233 since the 2016 list — was the biggest in the 31 years that Forbes has been tracking billionaires globally.  Gainers since last year’s list outnumbered losers by more than three to one. Bill Gates is the number one richest for the fourth year in a row, and the richest person in the world for 18 out of the past 23 years. He has a fortune of USD86 billion, up from USD75 billion last year. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos had the best year of any person on the planet, adding USD27.6 billion to his fortune; now worth USD72.8 billion, he moved into the top three in the world for the first time, up from number five a year ago.  There were 195 newcomers. Mainland China had the most new 10-figure fortunes with 76. The U.S. was second with 25. Seventy-eight people fell off the list, including 33 from China, 7 Americans and 9 who are still super wealthy but share their wealth among extended family members and therefore are not eligible for these ranks.  Additionally, 20 billionaires died in the past year, including Enterprise car rental founder Jack Taylor and Michael Ilitch, who launched Little Caesar’s pizza with his wife, Marian.   Dtinews/Forbes