This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Thailand’s Richest 2025. See the full list here.

Once the face of Thailand’s renewable energy sector and a fixture in the ranks of the country’s richest since 2013, Som­phote Ahunai is notably absent from the list this year after shares of his Energy Absolute nosedived nearly 80% since for­tunes were last measured.

The company swung to a net loss of 4.6 billion baht in 2024 from a net profit of 7.6 billion baht a year earlier, due mainly to asset write-downs and weaker performance across most of its businesses, including renewables and EV batteries.

The firm faced a cash crunch and sought to delay debt repayments to bond holders. Between September and Janu­ary, Somphote, a former securities trader who founded the company in 2006, provided short-term loans of 900 million baht from his own funds to Energy Absolute, which subsequently raised 7.4 billion baht in a rights issue.

Last year, Somphote resigned as CEO after the securities watchdog accused him and two others of fraud in connection with equipment and software purchases between 2013 and 2015. Somphote denied the accusation and said he was ready to cooperate with the relevant state agencies.