Pham Thu Huong overtakes Vietjet's Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao to become Vietnam's richest woman with $4 billion fortune

Pham Thu Huong, vice chairwoman of Vingroup and wife of Vietnam's richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, has become Vietnam's richest woman, with her fortune reaching $4 billion on Forbes' real-time billionaire tracker on August 26 after a single trading session added $162.2 million to her net worth.

The milestone came as VIC shares, Vingroup's listed stock, rose 4.31% to 230,000 Vietnamese dong ($8.80) apiece, extending a winning streak that has seen the stock gain 33.7% since late February. The surge lifted Huong's direct VIC holdings, comprising 341.2 million shares equivalent to 4.4% of Vingroup's charter capital, to approximately 78.48 trillion dong ($3 billion) in market value.

Beyond her Vingroup stake, Huong also holds 148.3 million shares in Fortune Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank, known as LPBank, a 4.965% stake worth approximately 7.356 trillion dong ($282 million) at the August 26 closing price. Vuong separately owns a 4.894% stake in LPBank, giving the couple a combined direct ownership of 9.86% at the bank.

The August 26 gains pushed Huong past Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, chairwoman of budget carrier Vietjet Air, who is also listed at $4 billion but ranks 1,073rd globally against Huong's 1,070th. When Forbes published its annual billionaire list in March, their positions were reversed: Thao had $4.2 billion and ranked 1,011th, while Huong made her debut on the list with $3 billion at 1,406th. In less than six months, Huong's fortune has risen by $1 billion and her global ranking has climbed 336 places.

Vuong remains Vietnam's richest person and Southeast Asia's wealthiest individual with a fortune of $35.6 billion on Forbes' real-time tracker, ranking 61st globally. His fortune was valued at $27.7 billion on Forbes' March annual list, meaning the subsequent surge in Vingroup shares has added approximately $7.9 billion to his net worth in five months. Vingroup's market capitalization currently stands at 1.785 quadrillion dong ($68.4 billion), the highest on Vietnam's stock market.

Huong's younger sister, Pham Thuy Hang, who also serves as a Vingroup vice chairwoman, ranks 1,489th globally with a fortune of $2.8 billion, up $700 million since March and nearly 500 places higher in the global ranking.

The wealth underpinning these figures rests on Vingroup's operational performance. In the first six months of 2026, the group recorded consolidated net revenue of 222.3 trillion dong ($8.5 billion), up 72.5% year on year. After-tax profit reached 20.375 trillion dong ($781.3 million), 4.5 times the figure from the same period a year earlier and equivalent to 58% of the group's full-year target of 35 trillion dong ($1.3 billion).

VinFast, Vingroup's electric vehicle arm, delivered more than 128,660 vehicles globally in the first six months, up 78% year on year, against a full-year target of 300,000 deliveries. VinSpeed has begun construction on two major rail projects, the Ben Thanh–Can Gio high-speed railway in southern Vietnam and the Hanoi–Quang Ninh railway in the north. VinEnergo is building out renewable energy, carbon credits and energy storage capabilities as Vingroup adds infrastructure and green energy as new long-term growth pillars.

The FTSE Russell inclusion of VIC in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series has drawn additional international institutional attention to the stock, with analysts expecting significant passive capital flows when the index is formally restructured.

Huong holds a master's degree in international law from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where she and Vuong began their business careers before returning to Vietnam to build what became the country's largest private conglomerate. She has served as Vingroup's vice chairwoman for many years and co-founded the VinFuture Foundation with Vuong in 2020, an organization that awards millions of dollars annually to researchers whose work addresses global challenges in science, technology, healthcare and sustainable development.

Vietnam currently has eight people on Forbes' billionaire ranking. Beyond Vuong, Huong, Thao and Hang, the other four are Tran Dinh Long, chairman of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, with $2.5 billion; Ho Hung Anh, chairman of Techcombank, with $2.3 billion; Ngo Chi Dung, chairman of VPBank, with $1.1 billion; and Nguyen Dang Quang, chairman of consumer goods firm Masan, with $1 billion. All four have seen their fortunes decline since the March list, with Long recording the largest drop from $2.9 billion to $2.5 billion.