The founder of Viet Nam’s largest steelmaker Tran Dinh Long has been knocked off the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires after shares in Hoa Phat tumbled 30 per cent from the peak recorded in March.

According to Forbes’s real-time rankings, Viet Nam now had three billionaires, including Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vingroup, with a net worth of US$6.7 billion (ranking 220th), Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, chairwoman of low-cost carrier Vietjet with a net worth of $2.6 billion (ranking 879th) and Tran Ba Duong, founder of Truong Hai Auto, with a net worth of $1.7 billion (ranking 1,332nd).

Long was included in Forbes list of the world’s billionaires in March when shares in Hoa Phat peaked at VND48,000 ($2.1) per share. At that time, Long had a net worth $1.3 billion.

Since then, shares have fallen to VND34,000 as of December 3.

Long founded Hoa Phat in 1992 in Ha Noi as an equipment and parts distributor. Hoa Phat is now the biggest steelmaker in Viet Nam and make office equipment, steel pipes and construction steel. — VNS