Billionaires Forbes list 2020: these are the richest Chinese
Despite the global mood of crisis, China has 65 new billionaires compared to the previous year. In 2020, the US business magazine Forbes will have around 389 list places for the People’s Republic on its billionaire list. In international comparison, this is the largest percentage of billionaires in a country. Compared to previous years, the value for 2020 also exceeds the previous record of 382 list places in 2018.
In total, China’s billionaires have a collective net worth of 1.2 trillion. U.S. dollar. The richest ten alone account for $ 224 billion. Billionaires from Hong Kong and Macao are not yet included, Forbes lists them separately.
Among the ten wealthiest billionaires in China, some candidates swapped places in the ranking over the past year.
Those are the wealthiest Chinese in 2020
# 10 Wang Wei
Wang Wei, founder and owner of the Shun Feng Express parcel delivery service, opened the top ten with assets of $ 15.2 billion. Wang founded the delivery service, which is now a Chinese counterpart to Fedex, in 1993. Today, he owns more than 60 percent of the shares. In 2019, SF Express had sales of 112.19 billion yuan.
# 9 Zhang Yiming
In 2019, Zhang Yiming ranked 13th among the richest people in China in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. With assets of $ 16.2 billion, the head of software company Bytedance is China’s ninth richest billionaire in the 2020 Forbes ranking. His technology company includes the video app Tiktok, which had around 800 million active users in early January. Bytedance is valued at $ 75 billion.
Eighth place in China’s richest billionaires ranking goes to Pinduoduo CEO Colin Huang. Since its inception, the e-commerce platform has been pointing to growth. Huang founded the online discounter in 2015. Three years later, Pinduoduo went public – making Huang a billionaire overnight with a $ 13.8 billion share gain. Around 481.5 million people used the platform at the end of 2019. Many already consider the online discounter to be a competitor to e-commerce giant Alibaba.
# 7 William Lei Ding
In 2003, William Ding was the richest man in China and the first internet and gaming billionaire. With a fortune of $ 17 billion, it is enough for seventh place in the current ranking. The reason for the early success is his software company Netease, which he founded in 1997. Netease develops and operates online games, advertising and email services. The company recently expanded its offer to include films, music and e-commerce. However, the lion’s share of sales recently came from the gaming business.
With a net worth of $ 18.5 billion, Qin Yinglin, chief executive of Muyuan Foodstuff, comes sixth in the ranking. In 1992, with his wife Qian Ying, he founded the pig breeding company, which is now the largest in all of China. While many entrepreneurs suffered losses in the Corona crisis, the couple’s wealth has increased. According to the Hurun research institute in Shanghai, Qin Yinglin and Qian Ying posted growth of $ 3 billion.
Yang Huiyan was twice among the top ten in a Forbes ranking in 2020. While she is listed as the sixth richest woman in the world with her assets of € 20.3 billion, she ranks fifth among the richest citizens in China. The 38-year-old holds 57 percent of the shares in the property development company Country Garden. She has been co-chair since December 2018 and manages the business together with her father Yeung Kwok Keung. Yang Huiyan is also on the board of the educational company Bright Scholar Education.
# 4 Hey Xiangjian
In China, He Xiangjian, co-founder of the Midea Group, is best known for household appliances and air conditioning systems. Starting with electric fans, Midea is now one of the largest electrical device manufacturers worldwide. The Midea Group also has around 200 subsidiaries. This also includes the robot manufacturer Kuka, in which Midea holds the majority of the shares. He Xianjian has been withdrawing from the Group’s operating business since 2012. However, he still holds shares in the company. With a fortune of $ 21.6 billion, he is also the fourth richest Chinese citizen.
In 2017, real estate entrepreneur Xu Jiayin (Cantonese: Hui Ka Yan) was considered the richest man in China. In the 2020 Forbes ranking, however, he came in third place – with assets of $ 21.8 billion. His Evergrande Group is one of the largest real estate companies in the country – and ranked 151st among the largest companies worldwide. The group has also been opening up the electric vehicle market since 2019. In November, According to Forbes, Xu Jiayin therefore announced billions in investments in vehicle and battery production.
# 2 Ma Huateng
In 1998, Ma Huateng was a co-founder of Tencent. The Chinese Internet company holds shares in well-known game manufacturers such as Activision (“Call of Duty”, “World of Warcraft”), as well as shares in several billion start-ups. This includes the messenger app WeChat and a minority stake in Spotify and Snap Inc. Huateng’s fortune was $ 38.1 billion. He is the second richest man in China – and falls back one place compared to the previous year.
# 1 Jack Ma
The ranking of the richest Chinese citizens is led by former Alibaba boss Jack Ma. His fortune was $ 38.8 billion – by far the highest in the ranking and in the People’s Republic. In contrast, it ranks 17th worldwide among the richest people in the world. Jack Ma was a co-founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba and remained CEO until 2019, when he retired from the top of the company to work for charitable causes. Mas’ assets also include holdings in fintech companies Ant Financial and entertainment companies Huayi Brothers and Beijing Enlight Media.
