Alibaba figurehead Jack Ma dropped from first place on China’s rich list
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China has a new wealthiest person, with Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) (HK: 9988) (HK: 9988) figurehead Jack Ma slipping through the ranks of the Hurun China Rich List for 2021.
Nongfu Spring (HK: 9633) bottled water tycoon Zhong Shanshan tops the charts for the first time, with a net worth of $ 60.5 billion. This is despite the actions of Nongfu Spring, the mineral water with illustrated “prestige” frosted glass bottles that are popular at political and corporate meetings, down 40.5% from a peak on January 8. . Parent Yangshengtang or YST, which also owns a pharmaceutical company. , listed on Nongfu Spring in Hong Kong in September 2020, an IPO that I covered at the time by saying “don’t buy this stock”. I still stand by this advice.
TikTok co-founder Zhang Yiming has tripled in value over the past year to rank second, with a fortune of $ 52.8 billion. Zhang announced in May that he would step down as CEO of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, at the age of 38, conceding that he doesn’t like managing people and would rather focus on strategy.
Still, Zhang is likely No. 1 going forward, Hurun says, especially if ByteDance sells shares to the public. He explored options for a listing in Hong Kong, possibly next year for the Chinese version of TikTok Douyin, with his interest in selling stocks in Shanghai or New York.
The woes of the real estate industry are also clearly reflected in the rankings. There is, for the first time, no mainland property magnate among the 10 richest Chinese. Hong Kong’s richest person Li Ka-shing is in eighth place with $ 33.4 billion, a fortune of the Cheung Kong conglomerate based partly on real estate and partly on infrastructure such as ports and telecommunications.
China Evergrande Group (EGRNY) (HK: 3333) founder Hui Ka-yan, known as Xu Jiayin in Mandarin Chinese, saw his fortune drop by the highest amount, his total shrinking by $ 25 billion . Once the richest person in Asia, he now has a net worth of $ 11.3 billion, dropping from fifth place to 70th place in the rankings.
Jack Ma was next among the âbiggest losers,â his total down to $ 23 billion. The drop in Alibaba’s share price hurt, with the company’s 46.4% year-on-year drop helping to halve its fortune to $ 22.6 billion. This placed him in fifth place, having dominated the three previous rankings.
Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent Holdings (TCTZF) (HK: 0700), moved from second to fourth place, although Tencent remains the largest Chinese company in terms of market capitalization. Ma – no connection to Jack Ma – saw his fortune drop 19% to $ 49.2 billion, mimicking the 19.0% year-over-year decline in Tencent shares. Tencent, which operates the ubiquitous WeChat superapplication and manufactures and distributes video games, including bestsellerss Honor of kings and League of Legends, is subject to Chinese repression against Big Tech. Additionally, China has limited the time minors can spend playing video games to three hours on weekends.
Education entrepreneurs have seen their fortunes devastated by the movements of the Chinese Communist Party to essentially ban for-profit tutoring. Lu Zhongfang, an early investor in the test preparation training company Offcn Education Technology (SZ: 002607), saw his fortune drop by $ 14.3 billion when combined with his son, Li Yongxin, who is now Chairman of Offcn.
Zhang Bangxin, president of New York-listed extracurricular tutoring company TAL Education Group (TAL), saw his fortune shrink from $ 14.0 billion to $ 890 million. The company’s shares have fallen 93.6% this year as they have been hit hard by a private tutoring ban intended to level the playing field for tiger moms and dads.
The growing relevance of new energy generators and alternative energy vehicles propelled their founders up the rankings.
The third richest person in China is Zeng Yuqun, a $ 49.7 billion fortune from lithium-ion battery maker CATL, or Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (SZ: 300750).
Electric vehicle makers Great Wall Motor (GWLLY) (HK: 2333) (Wei Jianjun and Han Xuejuan) and BYD (BYDDY) (HK: 1211) (Wang Chuanfu) also made some of the biggest gains, alongside by solar entrepreneur Liu Hanyuan. and Hoshine Silicon miner (SH: 603260) Luo Liguo.
Hurun compiles a series of such rankings, also counting billionaires in the world and in India. It was founded in 1999 by Arthur Andersen’s former accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, whose Chinese name is Hu Run.
The China Rich List includes anyone worth more than 2 billion yen (US $ 313 million). The ranks of the rich have swelled 22% in China over the past year, to reach 2,918 people. This is three times more than ten years ago.
China has added one billionaire in US dollars per day over the past 12 months. This brings the rank of billionaires to 1,185, five times more in a decade, says Hurun.
Until recently, China celebrated its entrepreneurs and tycoons, seen as the fulfillment of the Chinese dream. But with Chinese President Xi Jinping recently championing “common prosperity” and suggesting the need to redistribute wealth, his billionaires are now keeping a low profile.
Jack Ma has always created the greatest wealth for others, Hurun calculates, at $ 528 billion. Pony May is second there at $ 500 billion, with Zhang Yiming at ByteDance third at $ 298 billion. There are 26 people connected to Alibaba on the Hurun China list, surpassing any other company. Only the Haitian industrial machinery manufacturer comes close, having cloned 24 people on the list.
Large-scale philanthropic and social giving are now the order of the day at China’s largest private sector companies. Hoogewerf notes that a “small percentage” of China’s wealthiest are making “extraordinary efforts” to hide their wealth. Hurun can miss up to 4,000 rich Chinese who are very discreet, he says.
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