Founder of TikTok owner ByteDance jumps to top of China's rich list as number of billionaires shrinks
Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, is China’s richest person, with personal wealth of $49.3 billion, an annual rich list showed Tuesday.
SHANGHAI — ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is China’s richest person, with personal wealth of $49.3 billion, an annual rich list showed Tuesday, although counterparts in real estate and renewables have fared less well.
Zhang, 41, who stepped down in 2021 as chief executive of ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, 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%, to $47.9 billion.
Despite a legal battle over its U.S. assets, ByteDance’s global revenue grew 30% last year to $110 billion, Hurun said, helping to propel Zhang’s personal fortune.
Third on the list was Tencent’s low-profile founder, Pony Ma, while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings, slipped to fourth place from third last year, even as his company’s discount-focused e-commerce platforms, Pinduoduo and Temu, continue to show healthy revenue growth.
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