China loses a third of billionaires in economic shock

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The number of China's dollar billionaires has fallen by more than a third over the past three years, according to a “rich list” compiled by research group Hurun, due to government crackdowns, weakness in parts of the economy and depressed equity markets.

Since reaching a peak of 1,185 in 2021, Hurun said the number of dollar billionaires has dropped to 753, a 36 percent decline while the renminbi's value against the dollar has fallen by more than 10 percent over the same period.

In the past year alone, the number of dollar billionaires in China has dropped by 16 percent, while the renminbi has depreciated by just 2.5 percent against the dollar.

The list has gone through rapid churn, Hurun said, with older entrepreneurs such as property developers making way for new members such as ByteDance chief Zhang Yiming.

The 41-year-old founder of the company that owns viral short-video platform TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin has become the nation's richest person for the first time with a fortune of $49 billion, Hurun said, despite the US government targeting his company.

Zhang Deposed “Bottled Water King” Zhang Shanshan. The 70-year-old topped the list for the past three years, but its share price fell 40 percent after its main business Nongfu Spring was accused of being “pro-Japanese” on social media.

The rich list also includes entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

“The list narrowed for an unprecedented third straight year as the Chinese economy and stock market had a difficult year,” said Hurun Report Chair Rupert Hoogewerf.

Fortune's list estimates were made at the end of August and do not account for a sharp stock rally in September after China announced a fiscal stimulus package.

The fall of the old guard of wealthy real estate developers in China's once-booming property market has led to a slowdown in the number of super-rich.

China's ecommerce billionaires have been badly hit by the crackdown but have proved more resilient. Pony Ma, founder of Tencent, the company behind the ubiquitous superapp WeChat, ranked third on the list, and Colin Huang, founder of Pinduduo and Temu, came in fourth.

Chris Xu Yangtian, founder of international clothing platform Xin, ranked 76th with a net worth of $7 billion.

“China's new generation of entrepreneurs is much more international than their predecessors,” Hurun said in the report.

Alibaba's Jack Ma, who topped the list in 2020 but disappeared from public view that year after the government canceled his financial group Alipay's blockbuster initial public offering, ranked 10th this year.

Hurun said 15 percent of the rich list lived outside mainland China, in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, while 30 members lived in the United States and Singapore, the Asian city-state becoming increasingly popular as an offshore haven for Chinese billionaires.

The wealthy also hold political influence, with about 7 percent being members of China's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or its rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress.

Smartphone and new-energy entrepreneurs were more prominent on the list 10 years ago, including lithium battery maker CATL chief Robin Zheng, solar-panel maker Longyi's Li Zhengu, smartphone maker Xiaomi's Lei Jun and drone maker Frank Wang. DJI