Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao
- Net worth $1.9 billion
- Birthday June 7, 1970
- Status -
- Country Vietnam
- Source(-s) of wealth Businesswoman, Entrepreneur
How much is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao Worth? Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao Net Worth in 2026
Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao’s net worth is estimated at $1.9 billion as of November 2026. She was a millionaire by 21, selling fax machines, plastic and rubber in the Soviet Union while still a student in Moscow. Today about three quarters of her fortune rides on one budget airline, Vietjet.
| Net worth | $1.9 billion (our estimate, range $1.5 billion to $2.3 billion) |
|---|---|
| Born | June 7, 1970, Hanoi, Vietnam (age 56) |
| Country | Vietnam |
| Known for | Founder and chairwoman of Vietjet; Sovico Group; HDBank |
| Main income sources | Vietjet and HDBank shares, held directly and through private companies |
How much is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao worth in 2026?
About $1.9 billion, by our estimate. Her money sits in two listed companies, Vietjet and HDBank, partly in her own name and partly through two private holding companies whose own ownership is only partly public. We took her last detailed stakes, from August and November 2025, applied them to each company’s current share count and valued them at the November 10, 2026 close. Dong figures are converted at 25,568.54 to the dollar, the XE mid-market rate that day.
Four blocks of shares
| Source | Our estimate | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Vietjet shares in her name | $329 million | 8.02% in August 2025. Applied to today’s 769.09 million shares: about 61.7 million at 136,400 dong, or 8.41 trillion dong. |
| Vietjet shares through Huong Duong Sunny | $1.07 billion | The company she chairs held 26.16%: about 201.2 million shares today, or 27.44 trillion dong. We credit all of it to her, our assumption, as its owners are not published. |
| HDBank shares in her name | $194 million | 3.38% in November 2025, Stockbiz reported. Applied to about 6.51 billion shares today: 219.9 million at 22,500 dong, or 4.95 trillion dong. |
| HDBank shares through Sovico | $295 million | Sovico cut its stake to 9.9% in November 2025 to meet the legal cap on owning a bank: about 644.2 million shares today, or 14.49 trillion dong. A 2018 ch-aviation report put her stake in Sovico at 52%. Our assumption is that it still stands, so we count 52% of that: 7.54 trillion dong. |
| Total | $1.891 billion | Rounded to $1.9 billion. |
The Vietjet stakes come from Mekong ASEAN, which listed each block on the day both stocks hit their daily limit. Our assumption is that her percentages held through the stock dividends since, which is why we give a range. Prices are from market data for November 10.
An airline worth three quarters of the fortune
Our calculation: the two Vietjet blocks add up to $1.40 billion, or 74% of the $1.89 billion. Her combined 34.18% of Vietjet is worth about 35.86 trillion dong.
The airline itself earns far less than that stake might suggest. In the first nine months of 2026 Vietjet reported consolidated revenue of 74.385 trillion dong and net profit after tax of 1.721 trillion dong, VietnamPlus reported on November 3. Her 34.18% of that profit is about 588 billion dong, or $23 million, by our math. The third quarter alone brought 7.3 million passengers and revenue of 22.849 trillion dong, up 35% on a year earlier, with net profit of 348 billion dong.
Fax machines to airplanes
Thao studied at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and later earned a doctorate in economic management from the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, her biography says. The trading business she ran from Moscow, importing goods from Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, made her a millionaire by 21.
She took Vietjet public in February 2017, which made her Vietnam’s first self-made woman billionaire. She is standing vice chair of both HDBank and Sovico, Stockbiz reported, and Sovico holds 90% of the Dragon City development in Ho Chi Minh City. She is married to Nguyen Thanh Hung, and in 2021 she signed a memorandum with Linacre College, Oxford, for a donation of 155 million pounds.
Why other estimates disagree
Public estimates for Thao run about twice ours. The usual reasons: they credit all of Sovico’s bank shares to her rather than her reported 52%, they may give a value to Sovico’s property and other private holdings, which we leave out because nothing about their worth is published, and some were made when HDBank shares were higher, or before Sovico sold HDBank shares in 2025 to meet the cap on bank ownership. Dragon City alone could add to her figure if a value for it were ever disclosed.
What would move the figure
Vietjet’s share price, above all: every 10,000 dong move on her roughly 262.9 million shares changes her wealth by about 2.63 trillion dong, or $103 million. A filing that shows who owns Huong Duong Sunny or Sovico today would also shift it in either direction.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao net worth FAQ
What is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao’s net worth?
We estimate $1.9 billion as of November 2026, with about $1.4 billion of it in Vietjet shares she holds directly and through Huong Duong Sunny.
How much did Vietjet earn in the first nine months of 2026?
Vietjet reported consolidated revenue of 74.385 trillion dong and net profit after tax of 1.721 trillion dong, about $66.7 million.
How much of Vietjet does Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao own?
In August 2025 she held 8.02% directly and the company she chairs, Huong Duong Sunny, held 26.16%, a combined 34.18%.
How old is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao?
She was born on June 7, 1970 in Hanoi, so she is 56.
How did Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao get rich?
She traded fax machines, plastic and rubber in the Soviet Union as a student, then built Sovico, invested in HDBank and launched Vietjet, listed in 2017.
How is her net worth estimated?
We value her direct and indirect Vietjet and HDBank shares at the November 10, 2026 close and count 52% of Sovico’s bank shares.
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How we estimate net worth
Our estimates are based on public reporting, company valuations, and deal and earnings figures all compiled in an internal valuation model. They are approximate, and figures change over time as new information emerges.
Last updated: November 2026.