How Bikini Airline Helped to Create Vietnam's First Woman Billionaire

Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao made her first million at 21 trading fax machines and latex rubber. Almost a quarter of a century later, she’s poised to become Southeast Asia’s first self-made woman billionaire known for putting bikini-clad models on her VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co. planes and calendars.

With the initial public offering of Vietnam’s only privately-owned airline, Thao is set to have a net worth exceeding $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making her the country’s first woman billionaire. The majority of her wealth is derived from her stake in VietJet and her holdings in Dragon City, a 65-hectare real estate development in Ho Chi Minh City.