TikTok owner jumps to top of China’s rich list

SHANGHAI: ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is China’s richest person, with personal wealth of $49.3 billion, an annual rich list showed on Tuesday, although counterparts in real estate and renewables have fared less well.

Zhang, 41, who stepped down as chief executive of ByteDance in 2021, becomes the 18th individual to be crowned China’s richest person in the 26 years since the Hurun China Rich List was first published.

He overtook bottled water magnate Zhong Shanshan, who slipped to second place as his fortune dropped 24 percent to $47.9 billion. Despite a legal battle over its US assets, ByteDance’s global revenue grew 30 percent last year to $110 billion, Hurun said, helping to propel Zhang’s personal fortune.

Third on the list was Tencent’s 0700.HK low-profile founder, Pony Ma, while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings, PDD.O slipped to fourth place from third last year, even as his firm’s discount-focused e-commerce platforms, Pinduoduo and Temu, continue to show healthy revenue growth.

The number of billionaires on the list dropped by 142 to 753, shrinking more than a third from its 2021 peak. “China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year,” said Hurun Report Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf.