Meet Indonesia’s richest woman whose wealth declined from Rs 29900 crore to half in just 72 hours due to...

Money can be unpredictable, and the recent story of Indonesia’s richest woman, Marina Budiman, shows just how quickly fortunes can change. Marina Budiman, co-founder and president of DCI Indonesia, was once making headlines for her massive earnings. According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), she was making up to USD 350 million a day and had a net worth of around USD 7.5 billion. But in a shocking turn of events, she lost USD 3.6 billion in just three days after her company’s shares crashed. Within three weeks, she lost nearly half of her total wealth.

DCI Indonesia, a major data center company, ended trading on March 18 with a market capitalization of nearly USD 17 billion. However, despite such a large valuation, the company’s revenue last year was only USD 112 million, with a profit of USD 49 million. This raised many questions about the company's stock value and stability.

Other co-founders and billionaires associated with the company, such as Otto Toto Sugiri and Han Arming Hanafia, also suffered massive losses in their net worth due to the sharp drop in stock prices.

One of the biggest reasons for this sudden collapse was the unpredictable nature of the Indonesian stock market, which is known for extreme ups and downs. Many Indonesian companies have shares that are not traded frequently. This means that even small buy or sell orders can cause the stock price to swing wildly.

Additionally, DCI Indonesia’s stock situation was made even more fragile by the fact that around 78% of its shares are owned by just four individuals. This leaves a very small percentage of shares for public trading, making the stock highly sensitive to market movements.

Fund manager Mohit Mirpuri from SGMC Capital Pte in Singapore explained that the price swings are mainly due to this “tight free float.” He mentioned that while bid-offer spreads appear narrow, any large trade or position can easily push the stock price up or down in a big way.

This incident highlights how volatile the stock market can be, and how even the wealthiest people are not immune to sudden financial losses.