PDD Holdings founder Collin Huang Zheng, 44, and ByteDance founder Zhang Yimin, 41, are China’s richest technology entrepreneurs, according to a list published Wednesday by Chinese magazine New Fortune.
Huang, who derives most of his wealth from the popularity of discount e-commerce platforms Pinduoduo and Tianmeng, has a personal fortune of 425 billion yuan ($59 billion), followed by Zhang, who holds a 21% stake in TikTok’s parent company and has a personal net worth of 340 billion yuan.
The two young billionaires are followed on the list by Tencent Holdings Ltd. founder Pony Ma Huateng, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma and NetEase Inc. founder William Ding Lei. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
But the list reveals that China’s richest person is Zhong Ruirui, who runs a traditional mineral water business, with a personal fortune of 456 billion yuan.
ByteDance, China’s most valuable private company, is facing fresh pressure to sell the U.S. business of its flagship short-video app TikTok to American investors or be banned from Chinese app stores, and ByteDance’s Zhang has fallen below Huang on the rich list.
In China, few tech billionaires are celebrating their inclusion on the list, given Beijing’s tightening restrictions on the tech industry in recent years and the ongoing tech war between China and the U.S. Messrs. Huang and Zhang, who retired as chairmen of their respective companies, have deliberately avoided public appearances in recent years.
China’s internet services sector continues to produce billionaires, with Xu Yangtian, founder of fast fashion giant SHEIN, ranking 22nd with a personal fortune of 81 billion yuan, and Cai Haoyu, the 37-year-old co-founder of game studio miHoYo, ranking 26th with a personal fortune of 73.8 billion yuan.
But China’s super-rich dwarf their U.S. tech billionaire counterparts: Tesla founder Elon Musk has a personal net worth of $209.8 billion, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a fortune of $204.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s real-time billionaires list released Thursday.
China’s electric vehicle (EV) and pharmaceutical industries are also making their mark on the billionaire list. Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, which only entered the EV industry this year, has jumped onto the New Fortune list with a family fortune of 10.3 billion yuan, roughly the same as BYD founder Wang Chuanfu. Zeng Shuqun, founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest battery maker, is ranked as China’s seventh richest person with a net worth of 168 billion yuan.
