The Wang family controls of one of the world’s largest producers of plastics and petrochemicals, the Formosa Plastics Group. Wang Yung-tsai and his brother, Wang Yung-ching, co-founded the Taiwan-based company in 1954. Formosa Plastics generates annual revenue of over $18 billion.
Yung-Tsai and Yung-ching ran their family’s rice business until securing a loan to produce PVC powder in 1954. Their newly-formed Fu Mao Company would eventually become Formosa Plastics Company.
After building the group into one of Asia’s largest petrochemical manufacturers, with flagship companies that included Nan Ya Plastics, Formosa Plastics and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre, Yung-Tsai retired as vice chairman of the group in 2006 and later died in 2014. His brother Yung-ching famously passed away in 2008 without a will.
Representing the family’s second generation, William Wang and his brother Wilfred Wang succeeded their father Yung-Tsai as the group’s largest stakeholders. William has served as the group’s chairman since 2006, and Wilfred currently heads the group’s petrochemical unit.
William Wang and his brother’s net worth is estimated at over $1.4 billion.
