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Joshua Fagbemi
Guest
TikTok and ByteDance founder, Zhang Yiming has become China’s richest person with a personal wealth of $49.3 billion. This is according to the country’s annual rich list released on Tuesday.
Zhang, who stepped down as ByteDance’s CEO in 2021, has now become the 18th China individual to be crowned the country’s richest person in 26 years. This follows the launch of the Hurun China Rich List twenty-six years ago.
Despite a legal battle over its U.S. assets in March, ByteDance’s global revenue increased by 30% last year to $110 billion. This was instrumental in propelling Zhang’s fortune.
Pony Ma, Tencent‘s low-profile founder came third on the list while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings slipped to fourth place from third last year. Through its discount-focused commercial platforms, PDD Holdings continues to show promising growth.
Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance in August 2012 following the struggles of Chinese smartphone users to find information in mobile apps. His vision was to push relevant content to users using AI’s AI-generated recommendations.
Within two years of its launch, ByteDance attracted more than 13 million daily users. After an initial rejection, Sequoia Capital led a US$100 million investment in the company in 2014.
Zhang Yiming
Zhang Yiming focused on expanding ByteDance globally, as opposed to other Chinese tech CEOs who focused on the domestic growth of their companies. In September 2015, ByteDance launched its video-sharing app TikTok with little fanfare. The product was an instant hit with millennials and became popular worldwide.
At that time, ByteDance was valued at US$75 billion and surpassed Uber as the world’s most valuable privately held startup. Zhang will later step down as the CEO in March 2012 after he announced Liang Rubo as his successor.
Zhang Yiming, rising from the far end, is now China’s richest person with a personal wealth of $49.3 billion.
Meanwhile, the number of billionaires on the list has dropped from 895 to 753, shrinking more than a third from its 2021 peak.
This year, the China Rich List had just 54 new names representing the lowest figure in over 20 years. New additions include Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu Fang, the founders of Xiaohongshu, a social media and lifestyle platform popular with young users.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s economy has struggled with a real estate crisis and a volatile stock market. Also, the country’s consumption and spending has declined in 2024. China’s policymakers are now expected to unveil major stimulus measures to encourage consumption and spending, which has drastically declined in recent months.
While expressing comments on the list, Hurun Report Chairman, Rupert Hoogewerf said the country’s economy had experienced a tough period this year. “China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year. The most dramatic falls in fortunes have come from China’s real estate sector, he added, while consumer electronics is rising fast.”
As proof of Hoogewerf’s statement, Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder, added $5 billion to his wealth this year. Xiaomi is a Chinese designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and related software, home appliances, automobiles, and household hardware.
Hoogewerf, who is also the list’s Chief researcher, pointed out that firms in Solar panels and batteries had a difficult year after suffering from glut and tariff issues.
“Solar panel, lithium battery, and EV makers have had a challenging year, as competition intensified, leading to a glut, and the threat of tariffs added to uncertainties. Solar panel makers saw their wealth down as much as 80% from the 2021 peak, while battery and EV makers were down by half and a quarter respectively,” he said.
Also Read: TikTok removed 2.1 million videos in Nigeria in Q2 2024- safety report
The post TikTok’s Zhang Yiming becomes China’s richest person, now valued $49.3 billion first appeared on Technext.
Zhang, who stepped down as ByteDance’s CEO in 2021, has now become the 18th China individual to be crowned the country’s richest person in 26 years. This follows the launch of the Hurun China Rich List twenty-six years ago.
Despite a legal battle over its U.S. assets in March, ByteDance’s global revenue increased by 30% last year to $110 billion. This was instrumental in propelling Zhang’s fortune.
Pony Ma, Tencent‘s low-profile founder came third on the list while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings slipped to fourth place from third last year. Through its discount-focused commercial platforms, PDD Holdings continues to show promising growth.
The Rising Formula for Zhang Yiming
Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance in August 2012 following the struggles of Chinese smartphone users to find information in mobile apps. His vision was to push relevant content to users using AI’s AI-generated recommendations.
Within two years of its launch, ByteDance attracted more than 13 million daily users. After an initial rejection, Sequoia Capital led a US$100 million investment in the company in 2014.
Zhang Yiming
Zhang Yiming focused on expanding ByteDance globally, as opposed to other Chinese tech CEOs who focused on the domestic growth of their companies. In September 2015, ByteDance launched its video-sharing app TikTok with little fanfare. The product was an instant hit with millennials and became popular worldwide.
At that time, ByteDance was valued at US$75 billion and surpassed Uber as the world’s most valuable privately held startup. Zhang will later step down as the CEO in March 2012 after he announced Liang Rubo as his successor.
Zhang Yiming, rising from the far end, is now China’s richest person with a personal wealth of $49.3 billion.
China Rich List: The Turns
Meanwhile, the number of billionaires on the list has dropped from 895 to 753, shrinking more than a third from its 2021 peak.
This year, the China Rich List had just 54 new names representing the lowest figure in over 20 years. New additions include Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu Fang, the founders of Xiaohongshu, a social media and lifestyle platform popular with young users.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s economy has struggled with a real estate crisis and a volatile stock market. Also, the country’s consumption and spending has declined in 2024. China’s policymakers are now expected to unveil major stimulus measures to encourage consumption and spending, which has drastically declined in recent months.
While expressing comments on the list, Hurun Report Chairman, Rupert Hoogewerf said the country’s economy had experienced a tough period this year. “China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year. The most dramatic falls in fortunes have come from China’s real estate sector, he added, while consumer electronics is rising fast.”
As proof of Hoogewerf’s statement, Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder, added $5 billion to his wealth this year. Xiaomi is a Chinese designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and related software, home appliances, automobiles, and household hardware.
Hoogewerf, who is also the list’s Chief researcher, pointed out that firms in Solar panels and batteries had a difficult year after suffering from glut and tariff issues.
“Solar panel, lithium battery, and EV makers have had a challenging year, as competition intensified, leading to a glut, and the threat of tariffs added to uncertainties. Solar panel makers saw their wealth down as much as 80% from the 2021 peak, while battery and EV makers were down by half and a quarter respectively,” he said.
Also Read: TikTok removed 2.1 million videos in Nigeria in Q2 2024- safety report
The post TikTok’s Zhang Yiming becomes China’s richest person, now valued $49.3 billion first appeared on Technext.