Manny Villar at the sidelines of the Makati Business Club Forum at the Makati, Shangri-La, March 7, 2019. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — Businessman and former Senator Manny Villar is the richest individual in the Philippines, according to the "World's Billionaires List: The Richest in 2025" list released by Forbes. 

Villar, whose diversified empire spans various industries but mostly concentrated in real estate, ranked 117th out of the 3,028 entrepreneurs, investors and heirs. He registered a net worth of $17.2 billion. 

Other Filipinos in the list include tycoons and heirs of the biggest conglomerates in the country such as International Container Terminal Services Inc, San Miguel Corp, SM Investment Corp, Megaworld Corp, Puregold Inc and Jollibee Foods Corp, among others.

Filipino billionaires in Forbes Richest People in the World in 2025 included: 

• Enrique Razon Jr (Rank 227, net worth $10.9 billion)
• Ramon Ang (Rank 979, net worth $3.7 billion)
• Lucio Tan (Rank 1,219, net worth $3 billion)
• Henry Sy Jr (Rank 1,573, net worth $2.3 billion)
• Hans Sy (Rank 1,626, net worth $2.2 billion)
• Herbert Sy (Rank 1,688, net worth $2.1 billion)
• Harley Sy (Rank 1,850, net worth $1.9 billion)
• Teresita Sy-Coson (Rank 1,850, net worth $1.9 billion)
• Elizabeth Sy (Rank 2,019, net worth $1.7 billion)
• Andrew Tan (Rank 2,110, net worth $1.6 billion)
• Lucio Co (Rank 2,356, net worth $1.4 billion)
• Susan Co (Rank 2,479, net worth $1.3 billion)
• Tony Tan Caktiong (Rank 2,479, net worth $1.3 billion) 
• Eusebio Tanco (Rank 2,623, net worth $1.2 billion)

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk is the world's richest billionaire with a net worth of $342 billion. The 53-year old dethroned luxury goods icon Bernard Arnault and his family, who moved to the 5th spot with a net worth of $178 billion.

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg is the world's second richest ($216 billion), followed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon ($215 billion) and Oracle's Larry Ellison ($192 billion).

Forbes said it measures wealth using "stock prices and exchange rates from March 7, 2025."

This year's list is bigger by 247 compared to last year.

The billionaires on the list are “richer than ever, worth $16.1 trillion in total—up nearly $2 trillion over 2024,” Forbes noted. 

It added that the US has a record 902 billionaires, followed by China (516, including Hong Kong), and India (205).