ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is now China’s wealthiest person with $49.3 billion to his name, according to a yearly ranking of rich Chinese citizens released Tuesday.
Zhang, who is 41 and stepped down as ByteDance’s CEO in 2021, becomes the 18th person to top the Hurun China Rich List since it began 26 years ago.
He moved ahead of Zhong Shanshan, a bottled water business owner, whose wealth dropped 24% to $47.9 billion, putting him in second place.
Despite ByteDance facing legal challenges over its U.S. operations, the company’s worldwide revenue grew 30% last year to $110 billion, according to Hurun. This growth helped increase Zhang’s personal wealth.
Tencent’s private founder, Pony Ma, ranked third, while PDD Holdings founder Colin Huang dropped to fourth place from third last year, even though his company’s shopping platforms, Pinduoduo and Temu, continue to grow strongly.
The number of billionaires in China fell by 142 to 753, which is more than a third less than its highest point in 2021.
“China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year,” said Hurun Report Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf.
He noted that real estate business owners saw the biggest drops in wealth, while consumer electronics leaders gained wealth, with Xiaomi founder Lei Jun adding $5 billion to his fortune this year.
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