Indonesia’s second-richest man among world’s biggest wealth losers

Indonesian energy tycoon James Pangestu, the second-richest man in the country, experienced a significant drop in his wealth as he became one of the world's biggest wealth losers. Forbes reported that Pangestu's net worth declined by US$1.3 billion, a 10% reduction that brought his wealth down to $11.3 billion. This decline was primarily due to a 6.8% drop in the shares of his holding company, Barito Pacific, which had already seen a 61% decrease in value year-to-date.

Additionally, Chandra Asri Pacific, another of Pangestu's companies, saw a 4.4% decline in its shares, with an even more substantial 82% plunge this year.

Indonesia took action against trading violations involving three companies linked to the Pangestu and Widjaja families, imposing record fines totalling US$116 million. These fines were part of capital market reforms following a warning from Morgan Stanley Capital International, which threatened to demote Indonesian equities from emerging to standalone market status due to insufficient efforts to combat coordinated trading practices in the country's stock market.

The wealth decline of Indonesian tycoons intensified amid these regulatory measures, with five of the richest tycoons and their family members experiencing a combined loss of nearly US$57 billion since January. The world's biggest wealth loser on Wednesday morning was Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth fell by US$3.5 billion to $213.1 billion.

Warren Buffett and Chinese beverage tycoon Zhong Shanshan followed closely, suffering $2.2 billion and $1.5 billion declines, respectively. Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu also experienced a $1.4 billion decrease in net worth.