A total of 315 business leaders in China are now worth 10billion yuan (£1.14billion) or more, according to a new wealth list.
Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, tops the chart with a net worth of over 300billion yuan (£34.4billion).
The founder of Zoom Video, Eric Yuan, takes the 121st place with 22billion yuan (£2.52billion).
A new wealth ranking has revealed today that 315 business leaders in China are now worth over one billion yuan (£114million). FILE: A broker looking at a stock market screen in China
Jack Ma, the founder of the e-commerce enterprise Alibaba Group, topped the chart with a net worth of over 300billion yuan (£34.4billion). FILE: Founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma gives a speech at the ‘Ma Yun Rural Teachers and Headmasters Prize’ on January 7
Among the 500 affluent figures, nearly one-fifth of them amassed their wealth from the telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) industry.
The New Fortune 500 is an annual list published by a Chinese finance magazine since 2003, ranking the top 500 wealthiest Chinese of the year.
‘Fifteen years ago, there was no billionaires in China. Fifteen years later, the number of billionaires has reached 315,’ Sina Finance commented on the wealth list today.
The combined fortune of China’s richest 500 people totals more than 10trillion yuan (£1.14trillion), according to the wealth list announced on Tuesday.
The Chinese business magnate Jack Ma is ranked as the richest man in the country, who is reportedly worth of 302billion yuan (£34.4billion), an increase of 80billion yuan (£9.17billion) compared to the previous year.
This means that the 56-year-old Chinese billionaire has earned 9.13million yuan (£1.05million) every hour in the past year.
The second place is taken by Ma Huateng (pictured), 49, CEO of Chinese internet giant Tencent, which created the country’s most popular messaging app WeChat. He is worth 276billion yuan (£31.65billion)
Jack Ma, who was in the second place of last year’s list, overtook Ma Huateng and became the richest Chinese of 2020. The file picture taken on November 9, 2018, shows Alibaba workers preparing items ahead of the ‘Singles Day’ shopping festival
The second place is taken by Ma Huateng, 49, CEO of Chinese internet giant Tencent, which created the country’s most popular messaging app WeChat. He is worth 276billion yuan (£31.65billion).
Jack Ma, who was in the second place of last year’s list, has overtaken Ma Huateng and become the richest Chinese of 2020.
Real estate developer, Xu Jiayin, 62, grabbed the third chair with a net worth of 198billion yuan (£22.7billion).
Ren Zhengfei, CEO of telecom giant Huawei, is ranked as the 150th with 18billion yuan (£2.06billion) worth of assets.
Ninety-six of the listed tycoons work in the TMT industry, which replaced the real estate as the sector with the largest group of the richest Chinese.
The new phenomenon was noted by Chinese media which predicted that more wealthy individuals will emerge from the TMT industry in the future as China’s 5G era draws closer.
The founder of Zoom Video, Eric Yuan, took the 121th place with 22billion yuan (£2.52billion), according to the list. FILE: Eric Yuan takes part in a bell ringing ceremony at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York on April 18, 2019
Ren Zhengfei, CEO of telecom giant Huawei, is ranked as the 150th with 18billion yuan (£2.06billion) worth of assets. FILE: Ren Zhengfei leaves after a panel discussion on technology, markets and enterprise in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on June 17, 2019
The booming industrial development in sections such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robots and blockchain is expected to attract more entrepreneurs and in turn create a new wave of wealth, according to news site Sina.
The wealth chart also found that 37 of the listed individuals – who appeared on the ranking previously – has expanded their wealth 20 times more than when they were nominated by the annual list for the first time.
The internet magnate Ma Huateng increased his wealth by 790 times, compared to when he was first included by the list as one of the richest Chinese in 2004 with a net worth of 350million yuan (£40million).
The annual ranking has been compiled and published by New Fortune magazine since 2003, listing the top 500 richest Chinese of the year.