The richest man in China has just been revealed.
TikTok’s co-founder, Zhang Yiming, has now climbed to the top of China’s wealthiest, thanks to the massive success of the video-sharing app.
According to the Hurun Research Institute, Zhang’s net worth has reached $49.3 billion (£38 billion). This is a 43% increase from last year.
Although the 41-year-old stepped down as head of the company in 2021, he still owns about 20% of it.
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We all know TikTok as one of the world’s most-used social media apps for short form videos, however, the international version of TikTok isn't available in mainland China. Instead, users there can only access Douyin, a similar video-sharing app that is heavily censored by the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, also owns Douyin. While TikTok and its parent company ByteDance insist they operate independently from the Chinese government, the US is threatening to ban TikTok in January 2025 unless ByteDance agrees to sell it.
Despite these pressures, ByteDance’s profits surged by 60% last year and this further boosted Zhang’s wealth.
“Zhang Yiming is the 18th new Number One we have had in China in just 26 years," said Rupert Hoogewerf, head of Hurun.
"The US, by comparison, has only four Number Ones: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
"This gives an indication of some of the dynamism in the Chinese economy."
China’s tech sector is well-represented among its richest.
Pony Ma, boss of the tech conglomerate, Tencent, is third on the list with an estimated personal wealth amounting to £44.4bn, while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings, slipped to fourth place from third last year.
But the financial growth isn't fully reflective of the country. China’s economy and stock markets have faced challenges, hitting some industries pretty hard.
“The Hurun China Rich List has shrunk for an unprecedented third year running, as China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year," said Hoogewerf.
"The number of individuals on the list was down by 12% in the past year to just under 1100 individuals and 25% from the high point of 2021."
The data showed it had been a good year for smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, gaining founder Lei Jun $5 billion in wealth this year, while the green energy market had struggled.
Hoogewerf added that the sharpest drops in wealth have also hit China’s real estate sector.
Elon Musk remains the world's richest man, with an estimated wealth of around $268.2 billion, but it seems the TikTok CEO isn't slowing down any time soon.