Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, left, and his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the current premier, are having to perform a delicate balancing act as she leads the government and the family seeks to preserve its considerable wealth. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Adryel Talamantes and Yuki Kohara)

Old missteps haunt Thailand's billionaire Shinawatras

Family's travails highlight fraught relationship between money and power

FRANCESCA REGALADO, Nikkei staff writer

October 15, 2024 06:00 JST

BANGKOK -- The fall and rise of Thailand's two latest prime ministers can be traced in the share prices of their family companies in the fateful August week when Srettha Thavisin was ousted and Paetongtarn Shinawatra elected to succeed him.

Before the Constitutional Court could finish reading its verdict against Srettha, shares in Sansiri, his Bangkok-listed property development company, began falling and ended the day down 3%. But another property developer, SC Asset, was up 7.8% by the end of the week.