Goh Cheng Liang, Nippon Paint Billionaire and Richest S'porean, Dies at 98

Founder of Wuthelam Holdings Grew Up in Poverty and Later Became a Philanthropist

- Timothy Goh

Mr Goh Cheng Liang, the richest Singaporean according to Forbes' annual list of global billionaires in 2025, has died at the age of 98.

The founder of paint and coatings company Wuthelam Group "passed away this morning with family members by his side", according to a statement from his family on Aug 12.

Mr Goh held a majority stake in Japan's Nippon Paint Holdings and had an estimated net worth of US$13 billion (S$16.7 billion), according to Forbes.

Growing up in poverty, Mr Goh spent the first 12 years of his life in a shophouse in River Valley Road, squeezing into a $3-a-month rented room with his parents, three sisters and a brother.

When World War II broke out, his parents sent him to Muar in Johor, where he helped his brother-in-law sell fishing nets before returning to Singapore in 1943.

Mr Goh then started a business selling aerated water. It failed, and he found work at a hardware store.

In 1949, when the British army auctioned off war supplies, he bought barrels of paint from them on the cheap. Armed with a Chinese dictionary on chemicals, he got down to mixing colours and adding solvents and created his own Pigeon Brand paints.