The ever-rising popularity of TikTok has seen the founder of its parent company ByteDance, become China’s richest man as his huge fortune is revealed.
According to an annual rich list produced by the Hurun Research Institute, Zhang Yiming is now worth a staggering £38billion – 43 per cent more than in 2023.
The 41-year-old, who stepped down as the chief executive of ByteDance in 2021, has become the 18th individual to be crowned China’s richest person in the 26 years since the Hurun China Rich List was first published.
Yiming is understood to still own around 20 per cent of the firm, as he overtook bottled water magnate Zhong Shanshan, who slipped to second place as his fortune dropped 24 per cent to£36.8billion
TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with over one billion users, despite concerns in some countries about its ties to the Chinese state.
China’s richest man has been unveiled as Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok
TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with over one billion users, despite concerns in some countries about its ties to the Chinese state
While both companies insist they are independent of the Chinese government, the US is set to ban TikTok in January 2025 unless ByteDance sells it.
Legislation in the US was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year.
If the bill becomes law, the owner of the popular video-sharing app will have nine months to find a buyer, with a possible three-month extension while a sale is in progress, or face a ban.
The FBI has issued a stark warning that ByteDance could share user data, such as search history, location, and biometric finders, with China’s authoritarian government.
TikTok has denied ever doing this.
But despite a legal battle over its US assets, ByteDance’s global revenue grew 30 per cent last year to £84.6billion, Hurun said, helping to propel Zhang’s personal fortune.
‘Zhang Yiming is the 18th new Number One we have had in China in just 26 years,’ said head of Hurun Rupert Hoogewerf.
‘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.’
Zhang stepped down as chairman of ByteDance in 2021 after resigning as CEO earlier that year, reportedly under pressure from the Chinese government.
He started the business in 2012 in a four-bedroom Beijing apartment.
Yiming, who stepped down as the chief executive of ByteDance in 2021, has become the 18th individual to be crowned China’s richest person in the 26 years since the Hurun China Rich List was first published
Third on Hurun’s list was Tencent’s low-profile founder, Pony Ma, while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings, slipped to fourth place from third last year, even as his firm’s discount-focused e-commerce platforms, Pinduoduo and Temu, continue to show healthy revenue growth.
The number of billionaires on the list dropped by 142 to 753, shrinking more than a third from its 2021 peak.
‘China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year,’ said Hurun Report Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf.
The most dramatic falls in fortunes have come from China’s real estate sector, he added, while consumer electronics is clearly rising fast, with Xiaomi founder Lei Jun adding £3.8billion to his wealth this year.
‘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,’ said Hoogewerf, who is also the list’s chief researcher.
‘Solar panel makers saw their wealth down as much as 80 per cent from the 2021 peak, while battery and EV makers were down by half and a quarter respectively.’
