John Robinson L.

Gokongwei, Jr.
is a Filipino business magnate, investor, and
philanthropist. He has holdings in
telecommunications, financial services,
petrochemicals, power generation, aviation
and live stock farming. As of September
2014, Gokongwei is the fifth richest
entrepreneur in the Philippines, with a net
worth of over $5 billion, ranking behind only
to Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Enrique Razon and
Andrew Tan. But this 2015 he became the 2nd
richest entrepreneur in the Philippines.
He is the chairman of JG Summit Holdings,
one of the largest conglomerates in the
Philippines. In 2010, his company signed a $3billion order with Airbus for
refloating of his airline, Cebu Pacific Air. From 2003 his telecom
company Digital Telecommunications Philippines spent nearly $800 million for
its mobile carrier, Sun Cellular which is the 3rd largest mobile operator in the
Philippines at that time before selling to the PLDT group for $1.7 billion. He
attempted a $1 billion takeover of UIC, a property giant from Singapore of
which he owned in excess of 30%. UIC controls Singapore Land, one of the
biggest property landlord in Singapore. Gokongwei also owns Universal Robina
Corporation, one of the largest manufacturer of snacks in Southeast Asia. URC
acquired Griffins foods in July 2014, a New Zealand food company for $609
million. In 2013 his company bought the stake of San Miguel Corporation in
MERALCO, the largest power distributor in the country, for close to $1.8 billion.
He also controls Robinsons Land, one of the biggest property developers in the
Philippines, which also operates a chain of malls. The Gokongwei Family
controls over $20 billion of combined market capitalization for all the
companies they own.

John Gokongwei was born into a wealthy Cebu-based family, originally from
China's Fujian province. The family fortune was lost when his affluent father died.
John was 13 years old at this time. He initially supported his family by peddling
items along the streets of Cebu from his bicycle. From the age of 17 to 19, he
traded using a wooden boat, taking items to Lucena by sea, and then to Manila by
truck. After the Second World War, he started his own company called Amasia,
which imported textile remnants, fruit, old newspapers, magazines, and used
clothing from the US. During this time, he courted a young girl, Elizabeth, who
would later become his wife. In the early 1950s, along with his brothers and
sisters who returned from China, he started to import cigarettes and whiskey too.
In 1957, seeing that trading would always have low margins and would always be
dependent on government policies, the family concern entered the era of
manufacturing. With a loan of 500,000 pesos from Dr. Albino Sycip, the chairman
of China Bank, and DK Chiong, he started a corn milling plant producing glucose
and corn starch. The company was named Universal corn products and later

expanded into Universal Robina Corporation. San Miguel Corporation was a

big customer of theirs.
In 1961, as his company started to launch brands such as Blend 45 (an instant
coffee brand, to compete with Nestle's Nescafe), John returned to school to study
and obtain an MBA at the De La Salle University. A decade later, he underwent a
14-week advanced management program at Harvard.
He is married to Elizabeth, and has six children (1 son and 5 daughters) - Lisa,
Robina, Lance, Faith, Hope and Marcia.All his children play an active role in the
Gokongwei empire and companies owned by JG Holdings. His only son, Lance
Gokongwei, is now in charge of the Gokongwei Empire, serving as president and
CEO while John serves as chairman emeritus.
On August 29, 2007, at the Ateneo de Manila University, Gokongweis
biography, John L. Gokongwei Jr.: The Path of Entrepreneurship, by the
Universitys Dr. Marites A. Khanser, was launched, and it narrated the "riches-torags-to-riches" story of the tai-pan. Gokongwei stated that entrepreneurship is a
way out of poverty. Khanser's book also enumerated the Nine Rules of business
success that Gokongwei followed since he was still a young businessman. In 2002
Gokongwei donated P200-million to the undergraduate school of management. He
also gave donations to University of San Carlos, Xavier School, De La Salle
University, Sacred Heart School and Immaculate Conception Academy.
On February, 2008, Forbes Asia magazines first Heroes of Philanthropy list
included 4 Filipinos Jaime Zobel de Ayala, John Gokongwei, Ramn del Rosario Jr.,
and scar Lpez.The list is composed of 4 philanthropists each from 13 selected
countries and territories in Asia.
John Gokongwei and fellow businessman Andrew Gotianun are cousins.
The Gokongweis flagship company had originally focused on food, clothing and
shelter, but today it has become the most diversified conglomerate in the
Philippines. It controls the biggest snack food producer, Universal Robina
Corporation, the URC branded Consumer Foods Group, and the URC AgroIndustrial Group. Robinsons Land Corporation, developer of residential and office
condominiums, shopping malls and housing projects, boasts the largest number of
hotel rooms (1,140) in the country. The successful Robinsons malls have built over
half a million square meters of total leasing space nationwide.
Cebu Pacific Air, which entered the market in 1996 on a strategy of offering low
fare, great value, has grown to become the second largest domestic carrier in
the Philippines.

JG Summit Holdings
Current Businesses
Cebu Pacific
JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation
Meralco (27.1% stake)

PLDT (minority stake)

Robinsons Bank
Robinsons Land Corporation (Robinsons Malls)
Robinsons Retail Holdings
United Industrial Corporation Limited (a Singapore listed company)
Universal Robina Corporation

Former Businesses
Digital Telecommunications Philippines1 (Digitel and Sun Cellular)