Initially known as Tholec Limited, a private limited company in the plantation business formed in 1965, it was converted into a public company in 1967 and was listed in the Malaysia and Singapore Stock Exchange. In 1971, it became known as Worldwide Holdings Berhad.

In 1989 Worldwide Holdings Berhad took a restructuring exercise with a relisting on the Bursa Malaysia Securities. Having injected assets from three companies under the Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor (Holiday Inn Centre, Perangsang Tin Consolidated and Perangsang Rio Tinto) into Worldwide Holdings, the company is now under the wings of Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor.

Since then, Worldwide Holdings has been involved in diverse industries such as property development and investment, timber trading, infrastructure development, television news broadcasting, solid waste management, overseas investment and investment holding. A consolidation exercise during the Asian financial crisis enabled Worldwide to diverse its infrastructure projects as well as its non-performing assets and investments.

In 2008, Worldwide Holdings Berhad was privatized and was officially delisted from Bursa Malaysia and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor.

Today, Worldwide Holdings Berhad focuses on five main businesses: property, environmental management services, medical device manufacturing, energy, and project management and green technology.