China’s richest individual now is Zhang Yiming, the 41-year-old co-founder of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
Zhang topped the 2024 Hurun China Rich List, with an estimated wealth of $49.3 billion, according to reports.
This milestone follows ByteDance’s 30% growth in global revenue last year, reaching $110 billion.
Since TikTok’s launch in 2017, it has become a global sensation, especially popular with young users worldwide. However, the app is now facing legal challenges in the United States, where it has about 200 million users. These challenges include lawsuits regarding child protection concerns and legislation that might enforce a nationwide ban if ByteDance does not separate TikTok’s U.S. operations.
The U.S. has long voiced security concerns about TikTok, fearing potential Chinese government access to American data. TikTok has consistently denied these claims, as well as concerns regarding user protection.
Zhang, who co-founded ByteDance in 2012 with college friend Liang Rubo, owns 20% of the company. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 after building ByteDance into one of China’s leading tech firms, which also owns the popular Chinese apps Toutiao and Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese version.
Zhang’s wealth surpasses that of Zhong Shanshan, the “bottled water king,” who held the top spot for three years but now ranks second. Pony Ma, founder of Tencent, is third on the list.
This year, the number of dollar billionaires in China declined by 142 to 753, with the total list shrinking for the third consecutive year to 1,094 individuals, each worth at least 5 billion yuan ($700 million).
China’s economic challenges, such as its real estate crisis and high local debt, are partly to blame. The shift in wealth also reflects a move from traditional sectors like real estate to newer industries such as technology, clean energy, smartphones, cross-border e-commerce, and healthcare, according to Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf.
