The net worth of China’s ultra-rich surged this year as Evergrande Group (恆大地產) chairman Xu Jiayin’s (許家印) US$43 billion fortune catapulted him to the top, a survey released on Thursday said.
An all-time high of 2,130 people made the annual ranking of China’s richest individuals compiled by Shanghai-based luxury magazine publisher Hurun Report, which lists all those in China with a net worth of US$300 million or more.
An additional 74 people made the list this year, Hurun Report said, adding that the size of the average fortune rose 12.5 percent to US$1.2 billion, while those in the elite 100 saw their values surge 60 percent.
Photo: Reuters
However, not everyone fared so well, with last year’s richest person, Dalian Wanda Group (萬達集團) chairman Wang Jianlin (王健林), tumbling to fifth.
Wang’s estimated wealth was slashed by a third to US$28 billion after authorities began targeting his sprawling business empire over worries of excessive debt from an overseas acquisition binge.
Xu’s net worth nearly tripled over the past year as shares of Evergrande, one of China’s biggest real-estate developers, zoomed around 450 percent. The 59-year-old Xu moved up nine places.
He was followed by Pony Ma (馬化騰), head of communications giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), which owns China’s ubiquitous social networking app WeChat (微信).
Forty-six--year-old Ma’s worth grew 52 percent to US$37 billion after Tencent shares nearly doubled this year, allowing him to overtake last year’s No. 2, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) executive chairman Jack Ma (馬雲).
Jack Ma slipped to third with a worth of US$30 billion, down 2 percent largely due to a major reduction in his ownership share of affiliate Ant Financial Services Group (螞蟻金服), which operates popular Chinese online payment system Alipay (支付寶), Hurun Report said.
Among the biggest movers this year were Wang Wei (王衛), head of delivery firm SF Express (順豐), which has thrived amid China’s e-commerce boom, the report showed.
Wang Wei, 47, was previously not even on the list, but the firm’s initial public offering early this year launched him to No. 6, at US$22 billion.
Moving in the other direction was Jia Yueting (賈躍亭), founder of troubled conglomerate Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp (LeEco, 樂視), which has run into deep supply chain and cash-flow problems after expanding too fast into a range of high-tech industries.
Jia plummeted all the way from 31st down to 1,978th — this year’s biggest fall — to a net worth of US$300 million.
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