Lee Thiam Wah Net Worth: $5.9B on Forbes' Tracker, Nearly Double a Year Ago
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Lee Thiam Wah's net worth was $5.9 billion per Forbes' real-time tracker on 2 November 2026, ranking him 709th in the world. A year earlier, Forbes' Malaysia's 50 Richest list (April 2025) had the 99 Speed Mart founder at $3.5 billion. Forbes' April 2026 list put him at $6.7 billion, sixth in Malaysia. All of these are Forbes figures, so they can be compared directly.
Forbes lists his source of wealth as retailing. He is founder and chief executive of 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings, which Forbes calls Malaysia's largest operator of mini-marts by number of stores. According to Forbes' profile, he opened his first shop in Klang in 1987, set up the Pasar Mini 99 chain in 1992, and brought his stores under the 99 Speedmart brand in 2000.
| Publisher | Date | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forbes, World's Billionaires 2025 | April 2025 list | $3.7 billion | Ranked 979th in the world |
| Forbes, Malaysia's 50 Richest | April 2025 list | $3.5 billion | 8th in Malaysia |
| Forbes, World's Billionaires 2026 | March 2026 list | $6.8 billion | Ranked 595th in the world |
| Forbes, Malaysia's 50 Richest | April 2026 list (The Star, 16 April 2026) | $6.7 billion | 6th in Malaysia, "nearly double" |
| Forbes, Real-Time Net Worth | 2 November 2026 | $5.9 billion | Ranked 709th in the world |
Every row is Forbes and every row is under his own name, so unlike some Malaysian entries there is no family grouping to untangle. On the Malaysia list, $3.5 billion to $6.7 billion is a rise of about 91%. On the world list, $3.7 billion to $6.8 billion is about 84%. We did not find a Bloomberg Billionaires Index figure for him that we could read and date, so none appears here.
The Forbes lists are snapshots taken at a pricing date, while the real-time tracker moves with the share price. The tracker figure of $5.9 billion is about $0.9 billion below the March 2026 list figure of $6.8 billion. We did not find a sourced explanation for that gap, so we do not offer one.
99 Speed Mart is listed on Bursa Malaysia. It went public in September 2024, and Forbes says the offering raised $532 million. The Edge Malaysia reported his holding around the listing as roughly 79.7%, made up of a 28.2% direct stake and 51.5% through his wholly owned Lee LYG Holdings. We did not find a newer disclosure of the exact percentage, so treat that as the listing-era figure.
That makes this a single listed-stock fortune, comparable in structure to Koon Poh Keong and Press Metal, and unlike a privately held group such as the one in Robert Kuok's profile. Forbes does not publish its full working, so a reader cannot rebuild the number exactly. His wife Ng Lee Tieng and son Lee Yan Zhong sit on the board, per Forbes' profile.
Two dated facts sit next to the rise. No publisher we read ties either to Forbes' exact figure.
The company said second-quarter profit fell from the first quarter's RM188.56 million mainly because supplier promotional rebates were higher in the first quarter after the Chinese New Year and Hari Raya campaigns. On 18 May 2026 the shares closed at RM3.28, giving a market value of RM27.6 billion, per The Star. We did not find a later closing price we could date, so we print none.
Mostly. The main asset is a listed company with a disclosed controlling stake, so the direction of the figure follows a price anyone can look up. What a reader cannot see is how Forbes treats cash from dividends, from share sales at listing, or from other holdings. 99 Speed Mart is not in NetWort's curated asset list, so we do not link a price page, but the market overview shows how listed stocks have moved.
For another fortune built on a retail chain, see Djoko Susanto's profile, where Forbes and Bloomberg disagree. For Malaysian fortunes in the same Forbes series, see Quek Leng Chan.
Stay inside one series. Forbes' list figures ($3.5 billion to $6.7 billion) and the real-time tracker ($5.9 billion) are all Forbes, but a list is a snapshot on one pricing date and the tracker moves daily.
A listed fortune follows the share price. The operating numbers (stores, profit) and the wealth figure are related, but no publisher we read gives a formula linking them.
Nothing in the public record we reviewed for this article suggests anything other than a business reported openly by Forbes and the Malaysian press.