What do Gwyneth Paltrow, Gisele Bundchen and Madonna have in common?They are celebrities involved in natural product businesses, having become major shareholders in or founding their own companies. Their businesses range from natural foods and snacks to baby products and skin care.The Superrich team presents several world-famous celebrities working as natural lifestyle ambassadors.Jessica Alba Jessica Alba.     BloombergHollywood star Jessica Alba is also known for cofounding The Honest Company,

What would happen if the richest families in every country gave all their wealth to the poor? It’s a far-fetched question, but one that has come up. There is even a measurement for it: the Hoover index -- commonly known as the Robin Hood index -- measures the amount of income inequality in a country by hypothetically distributing the wealth of the rich to the poor.To see how this applies in Asian countries with significant wealth inequality, the Superrich Team applied the Robin Hood index for se

The general public is more positive toward the superrich company founders rather than the chaebol heirs in Korea. There is also much less recognition for up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the Internet age and negative attitudes towards the corrupt billionaires have persisted, a recent survey by the Superrich Team found .The survey on “Korean superrich the public respects” was conducted from Sept. 7-21 among 227 respondents. The team would like to clarify that the word “respect” may not necessarily

Korean entrepreneurs in the past were highly regarded as role models of success -- responsible for the nation’s rapid economic growth and a rising middle class -- but today they receive both praise and criticism.As Korean society developed, they were also criticized for causing social inequality such as unequal wealth distribution and passing down of wealth. No longer are the superrich given respect simply because they have accumulated riches.Nevertheless, there are billionaire entrepreneurs who

“Democratizing art” is the aspiration of the 35-year-old Hong Kong business entrepreneur and art collector Adrian Cheng.The Superrich team met Cheng in August at the Gana Art Gallery at Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul, for his first standalone interview with a Korean daily.Adrian Cheng is the third-generation executive of Hong Kong’s New World Group, which owns real estate company New World Development, jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook, as well as department stores, shopping malls, duty-free stores, hotel

Refugees from Africa and the Middle East have been crossing the Mediterranean by boat to escape war and oppression in their home countries, with many risking death in the process, as boats sink in rough waters.According to the International Organization for Migration, around 350,000 refugees have crossed the Mediterranean and landed in Europe this year, and around 2,640 people have died during the journey.In response, several billionaires have stepped in to help the refugees and ease the situati

Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-maan, who openly sought to reshape his company’s portfolio with more focus on heavy industries, appears to have had a rethink -- going back to retail-- as the company announced plans to bid for the lucrative urban duty-free store operations.The country’s 13th-largest business conglomerate said that its main affiliate Doosan Corp. will seek to apply for a special license to run an urban duty-free store in Seoul on the due date of Sept. 25. The bid winner will be an

There is a zeitgeist in every time period. In Korea, the zeitgeist during the Japanese occupation was independence, and after independence it was to live well and reunite the two Koreas.Koreans typically hold in high regard those who have dedicated themselves to one of these causes. They realize that although such ideals are easily relatable, it is more difficult to perfectly ascribe to them.Several of the superrich have also devoted their lives to these causes, donating their riches to realize

More and more high-level “registered” executives at business conglomerates are resigning from their official positions at corporate affiliates, apparently fearing a public backlash following the disclosure of their salaries. Registered executives have the legal power to participate in the overall management of the companies while unregistered executives have less power in the boardroom.According to Chaebul.com, a website devoted to tracing the wealth of the superrich, among the country’s top 30

Masayoshi Son (also known as Son Jeong-ui), chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., is well known among the superrich. Forbes ranked him as the 75th richest person in the world with assets of $13.8 billion, making him the second-richest person in Japan.Son is seen as more than a telecommunications billionaire, however. He is also well known as an investor with incredible acumen.He has been known to financially invest in young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs and also act as their business mentor.

When Donald Trump, the real estate developer and host of reality TV show “The Apprentice,” announced that he was running for the 2016 presidential election, voters initially regarded it as nothing more than a publicity stunt.But despite controversial remarks during the campaign, he has soared in the polls in a crowded field of over a dozen candidates to win more than 20 percent support in less than two months. Trump’s rise and his comments have caught the attention of both American and Korean ci

The “pan-Samsung founding family” gathered at the memorial altar of the late honorary chairman of CJ Group, Lee Maeng-hee, who died last week of lung cancer in China. It was a rare scene of public togetherness for the media-reclusive Lee clan, who have been reported to be rather distant from each other. Some business insiders suggest that the funeral of the eldest of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull’s offspring could be an icebreaker for the family, which runs some of the country’s largest busine

The wage gap between company chief executives and employees is becoming a hot-button topic, with the huge disparity continuing to widen. The salary structures in the United States and Korea show different reward systems for CEOs.At the same time, there has been a heated debate in the U.S. in recent years whether the astronomical remuneration paid to CEOs is appropriate. A CNN article published in August reported that Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon received $19.4 million in rewards last year, while t

The fraternal feud surrounding the managerial rights of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group has made the headlines of every media outlet here for the past week. But this is not the first time the second or third generation of business tycoons have held blood-spat competition over the helm of a business empire. According to Chaebul.com, 18 of the country’s top 40 family-controlled South Korean conglomerates, better known as chaebol, have or are experiencing fraternal disputes in the generationa