Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance — the parent company of TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin — ranked second with 470 billion yuan, followed by Tencent chairman Pony Ma Huateng with 465 billion yuan. Their fortunes increased by 120 billion yuan and 150 billion yuan respectively compared with last year.
Entrepreneurs in technology and new energy sectors saw notable gains. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun recorded one of the biggest increases in wealth, rising by 196 billion yuan thanks to strong sales of Xiaomi’s electric vehicles and its smartphone upgrade strategy. Wang Ning, the 38-year-old founder of toy retailer Pop Mart, added 154.5 billion yuan as the company’s Labubu character gained global popularity and boosted its market valuation. Chen Tianshi, founder of AI chipmaker Cambricon, saw his fortune grow by 148 billion yuan amid accelerating demand for artificial intelligence semiconductors.
Among the newcomers, Xu Gaoming and his son Xu Dongbo of gold retailer Laopu Gold topped the new-entrant list with 69.5 billion yuan. They were followed by card game maker Kayou’s founders, Li Qibin and his wife Qi Yan, whose combined wealth reached 60 billion yuan.
This year, 1,434 entrepreneurs made the Hurun list, 340 more than last year, representing a 31 percent increase. The threshold to enter the ranking remained unchanged at a minimum personal net worth of 5 billion yuan.
Of those listed, 1,210 are based in mainland China across 138 cities. Another 194 entrepreneurs came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan—99 from Hong Kong and 95 from Taiwan—while 30 live overseas, mainly in the United States and Singapore, with 13 from each.
The combined wealth of those on the list reached nearly 30 trillion yuan, an increase of 9 trillion yuan from last year, or 42 percent growth. A total of 1,198 entrepreneurs recorded gains in wealth, including 376 first-time entrants, while 276 saw their fortunes stagnate or decline, and 38 dropped off the list entirely.
