The surging international reputation of TikTok has seen the co-founder of its father or mother firm, ByteDance, grow to be China’s richest particular person.
In response to a wealthy record produced by the Hurun Research Institute, Zhang Yiming is now price $49.3bn (£38bn) – 43% greater than in 2023.
The 41-year-old stepped down from his role in charge of the company in 2021, however is known to personal round 20% of the agency.
TikTok has grow to be one of the fashionable social media apps on the planet, regardless of deep issues in some nations about its ties to the Chinese language state.
Whereas each corporations insist they’re unbiased of the Chinese language authorities, the US intends to ban TikTok in January 2025 except ByteDance sells it.
Regardless of dealing with that intense stress within the US, ByteDance’s global profit increased by 60% last year, driving up Zhang Yiming’s private fortune.
“Zhang Yiming is the 18th new Quantity One we have now had in China in simply 26 years,” stated head of Hurun Rupert Hoogewerf.
“The US, by comparability, has solely 4 Quantity Ones: Invoice Gates, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
“This provides a sign of among the dynamism within the Chinese language financial system.”
Mr Zhang shouldn’t be the one consultant of China’s big tech sector on the record.
Pony Ma, boss of the tech conglomerate, Tencent, is third on the record with an estimated private wealth amounting to £44.4bn.
However their fortunes aren’t simply defined by their corporations successes – their rivals have made much less in a 12 months by which China’s economy has sputtered.
The truth is, solely roughly 30% of the folks on the record had a rise of their internet price – the remaining noticed a decline.
“The Hurun China Wealthy Listing has shrunk for an unprecedented third 12 months working, as China’s financial system and inventory markets had a tough 12 months,” stated Mr Hoogewerf.
“The variety of people on the record was down by 12% previously 12 months to simply beneath 1100 people and 25% from the excessive level of 2021.”
He stated the information confirmed it had been an excellent 12 months for smartphone producers comparable to Xiaomi, whereas the inexperienced power market had stumbled.
“Photo voltaic panel, lithium battery and EV makers have had a difficult 12 months, as competitors intensified, resulting in a glut, and the specter of tariffs added to uncertainties,” he stated.
“Photo voltaic panel makers noticed their wealth down as a lot as 80% from the 2021 peak, while battery and EV makers have been down by half and 1 / 4 respectively.”
