© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Zhang Yiming, founder and world CEO of ByteDance, poses in Palo Alto, California, U.S., March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
By Brenda Goh
(Reuters) – China’s super-rich noticed their wealth tumble by essentially the most in over 20 years this yr, because the Russia-Ukraine warfare, Beijing’s zero-COVID measures and falling mainland and Hong Kong inventory markets pummelled fortunes, an annual wealthy listing stated on Tuesday.
The Hurun Wealthy listing, which ranks China’s wealthiest individuals with a minimal internet price of 5 billion yuan ($692 million), stated only one,305 individuals made the mark this yr, down 11% from final yr. Their complete wealth was $3.5 trillion, down 18%.
In the meantime, the variety of people with $10 billion fell by 29 to 56, and the variety of greenback billionaires dropped by 239 to 946 this yr, it added.
“This yr has seen the largest fall within the Hurun China Wealthy Checklist of the final 24 years,” stated Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of analysis agency Hurun Report which compiles the listing.
The worldwide financial outlook has this yr been closely impacted by the warfare in Ukraine and slowing financial development in China that has in flip been exacerbated by the nation’s ultra-strict COVID insurance policies and a protracted property stoop.
A two-year regulatory crackdown that has hit China’s largest tech names resembling Alibaba (NYSE:) Group and Tencent Holdings (OTC:), and issues that President Xi Jinping will sacrifice development for ideology in his third time period, have additionally weighed on investor confidence, with Hong Kong and mainland inventory markets tumbling in current weeks.
Yang Huiyan, the businesswoman behind Nation Backyard Holdings Co Ltd, which like many different Chinese language builders has been battling debt points, noticed her wealth fall by $15.7 billion, the largest drop on the 2022 listing.
Zhong Shanshan, whose listed firms are water bottler Nongfu Spring and vaccine developer Beijing Wantai Organic Pharmacy Enterprise, took first place on the listing for the second yr working, with a fortune that grew 17% to $65 billion.
The founding father of TikTok proprietor ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, took second place, however noticed his wealth fall 28% to $35 billion on account of a drop in ByteDance’s valuation. In third place was Zeng Yuqun, chairman of battery large CATL.
Tencent founder Pony Ma posted the second largest drop in wealth of $14.6 billion amid sliding tech inventory costs, to take fifth place on the listing. Alibaba founder Jack Ma and his household tumbled 4 locations to be ranked No. 9.
($1 = 7.2215 renminbi)
