Chairman Vuong's Assets Halved Amid VinFast Plunge

Chairman Bueong's Assets Shrink to $21.2 Billion

Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vingroup, known as the "Samsung of Vietnam" and the richest person in Vietnam, saw his assets halved in just three days. This was due to the stock valuation evaporating as the share price of VinFast, an electric vehicle manufacturer that debuted on the Nasdaq this week, experienced a rollercoaster ride.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on the 18th (local time), Vuong's assets stood at $21.2 billion (approximately 28.5 trillion KRW) at the close of the day, a 52% drop compared to three days ago when it peaked at $44.5 billion.

Vuong, who holds 99% (about 2.277 billion shares) of VinFast's 2.3 billion common shares, saw the stock valuation of VinFast increase by $39 billion on its Nasdaq debut day. This was the largest single-day asset increase among the billionaires tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The evaporation of Vuong's assets was due to the decline in VinFast's stock price. The stock price fell 23% in a single day. After soaring 68% on the closing price of its debut day, the stock price experienced a three-day consecutive decline as profit-taking sales poured in. As a result, the stock price, which had surged to $37.06 on the debut day, has now dropped to $15.40. The market capitalization also shrank from $85 billion to $36 billion.

VinFast belongs to Vingroup, known as the Samsung of Vietnam, but it is a newcomer that has only been in the electric vehicle market for two years. Vingroup first entered the automobile industry in 2017, producing internal combustion engine cars and motorcycles at its Haiphong factory in Vietnam, but has been focusing solely on electric vehicles since last year.

Although it posted a loss of $2.2 billion last year, backed by the financial strength of its parent company, it is aggressively expanding its business into the U.S. and European markets. As the Tesla-led price-cutting competition intensifies in the U.S. and Europe, which VinFast has designated as its main markets, whether it can secure competitiveness will be a key factor in the future direction of its stock price.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.