MICHAEL BAMBANG HARTONO
BIOGRAPHY
Michael Bambang Hartono (born 2 October 1939 in Kudus, Central Java), also known as Oei
Gwie Siong, is a Chinese Indonesian
billionaire heir and businessman (1). Michael and his brother Robert Budi are the owners of kretek (clove
cigarette) manufacturer Djarum, which they inherited from their father Oei Wie Gwan upon
his death in 1963. Growing the business to a large conglomerate including Bank Central
Asia, electronics, plantations and various properties, they became the richest in the
country with Michael himself having a net worth in excess of $10 billion (2)
He lives in Kudus,
Indonesia and is married to Widowati Hartono. The couple has four children. Bambang
is a bridge player. In an interview, he said
that "bridge is how you train yourself in making good decisions and
risk-taking" and that his uncle introduced him to the game during
the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. A
major supporter of the sport in the country and president of the South East
Asia Bridge Federation, he received an award from the World Bridge Federation in 2017 for
his support in making bridge a category in the Asian Games.
He represented Indonesia at the Asian Games 2018 in bridge,
winning a bronze medal with his team at the Supermixed
team event hence making him the oldest Indonesian Asian Games
medal winner. He was the oldest athlete in the Indonesian contingent,
though several other non-Indonesian bridge players were older. He had also
participated in other competitions abroad, in one case self-admittedly falling asleep during a finals
match due to drinking wine beforehand (3).
The
cigarette company grew under the two brothers, making its first export in 1972
and introducing new products (4). Today, the cigarette brand is
one of the largest in Indonesia, with a 19 percent market share in 2012. As the
cigarette business continued to grow, the group began expanding to other
fields, founding an electronics brand Polytron in
1975. The group also expanded into businesses like palm oil, papermaking
and communication towers.
Starting their entry into the
banking business through Haga Bank and Hagakita Bank, the brothers under
the Mauritius-registered
corporation FarIndo Investments in a consortium with Farallon
Capital took over 51.15% of Bank Central
Asia in 2002, defeating other bidders despite making a lower offer (5). While
initially only holding less than 10% stake in the consortium, Djarum held a
92.18% stake in the consortium by 2006, though the Haga and Hagakita Banks were
sold to Rabobank. After
a Rp 3.45 trillion deal with UBS in 2010, the brothers controlled a majority of the
company's shares.
The shares were transferred to an Indonesian holding company PT Dwimuria
Investama Andalan in 2016 during a tax amnesty program. As of September
2017, the company was jointly held by Michael and Robert, and possessed a
54.94% stake in BCA.
Aside from the aforementioned businesses, the Djarum group also controls
several shopping malls and buildings in Jakarta, including Grand
Indonesia, Hotel
Indonesia and BCA Tower.
According to Forbes, Hartono has a net worth of $10.7 billion, as of
October 2018, making him the 75th richest person in the world. He and his
brother – who was also listed slightly above him at 69th – were named as
the richest Indonesians in 2017, the 9th year in a row they were listed as such.
His company is also active in internet ventures, controlling e-commerce
website Blibli.com and one of Indonesia's largest
online communities Kaskus.
Note :
(1)Past Tenses
(2)Reflexive Pronouns
(3)Gerund
(4)Personal Pronouns
(5)Gerund
Explanations :
1.Mostly tenses that are used in this article is Past Tense
because this tense usually use to express/shows the experiences or event that
happen on the past.
2.Gerund is a word
formed from a verb that is added to -ing and functions as a noun. Ex: I
remember dancing with him last week. +Infinitive is a verbal
consisting of the particle -to (usually used to express purpose). Ex: He locked
the door to keep everyone out.
3.Reflexive pronoun is
an activity where subject and object are the same person or the same object.
Ex: She went to school by herself.
