Starting out in Ukraine
Phạm Nhật Vượng was born on August 5, 1968 in Hanoi, with family roots in Hà Tĩnh. After graduating from the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology and studying in Russia, he moved to Kharkov, Ukraine in 1993 to start a business. Recognizing the food shortages of the post-Soviet period, he founded Technocom, producing instant noodles under the Mivina brand, which quickly became popular across Ukraine and expanded into other instant food products. Before selling the food business to Nestlé in 2010, the Mivina brand was valued at over $1 billion.
Building Vingroup in Vietnam
Using capital accumulated in Ukraine, he returned to Vietnam to invest in real estate, founding Vinpearl (2000) and then Vincom (2002), the predecessor of today's Vingroup. Vingroup listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in 2007 and quickly grew into one of Vietnam's largest private multi-sector conglomerates.
Vingroup today
From real estate (Vinhomes) and retail, Vingroup expanded into healthcare (Vinmec), education (Vinschool, VinUni), and from 2017 into electric vehicles under the VinFast brand. In August 2023, VinFast listed on Nasdaq, a rare milestone for a Vietnamese company on international capital markets. He has consistently ranked as Vietnam's wealthiest person and among the world's top billionaires per Forbes, though his net worth fluctuates significantly with VinFast's share price.
Ecosystem expansion and VinFast restructuring (2024-2026)
Beyond Vingroup's core businesses, he continued expanding into new technology ventures. In July 2024, he founded FGF (For Green Future) Co., Ltd., an electric-vehicle trading and self-drive rental company with charter capital of 200 billion VND, of which he personally holds a 90% stake; the company later rebranded as Green Future (GF). In November 2024, he and Vingroup founded VinRobotics, a robotics research, development, and application company with charter capital of 1 trillion VND (Vingroup holding 51%, Vượng 39%, and his sons Phạm Nhật Quân Anh and Phạm Nhật Minh Hoàng 5% each), focused on industrial robotics and artificial intelligence as part of the group's high-tech industrial pillar.
In June 2026, VinFast underwent a major restructuring: its Vietnam manufacturing operations were spun off into VinFast Vietnam (VFVN, handling R&D, intellectual property, and sales), with charter capital of about 5,184 billion VND, while the remaining manufacturing entity (charter capital about 85,609 billion VND) was transferred, in a transaction valued at roughly 13,309.6 billion VND (about $530 million), to an investor group led by Future Investment Research and Development JSC, in which Vượng participates as a minority investor. On June 22, 2026, he stepped down as CEO of VinFast's Vietnam manufacturing company, succeeded by Trịnh Văn Ngân, while remaining CEO of VinFast Global, overseeing international production, sales, and market strategy.
Billionaire status (2026 update)
Per Forbes' real-time billionaire tracker, as of early September 2026 Phạm Nhật Vượng's net worth stood at approximately $39.3 billion, ranking 54th richest person in the world. He remains Vietnam's and Southeast Asia's wealthiest individual, surpassing Asian tech billionaires such as Samsung's Lee Jae-yong, Alibaba's Jack Ma, and Xiaomi's Lei Jun. His fortune fluctuates significantly with the share prices of VIC (Vingroup) and VHM (Vinhomes), as well as VinFast's global growth prospects.