ByteDance Founder Tops China Rich List as AI Wealth Surges

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming returned to the top of the annual ranking of China’s wealthiest individuals. The Hurun Research Institute released the list on Tuesday, showing that his net worth reached $100 billion. This figure represents a 43% increase from the previous year.

The institute reported a record total of 1,529 individuals with fortunes exceeding 5 billion yuan, or roughly $750 million. This number is up 6.6% from last year. When measured in U.S. dollars, 1,176 people qualify as billionaires. This count is 176 higher than the number of billionaires in the United States, though it remains slightly lower than the 1,185 recorded in 2021.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report, attributed Zhang’s rise primarily to the company's artificial intelligence efforts. He stated that almost all of the wealth increase came from AI. ByteDance operates the short-video platforms Douyin and TikTok, and its AI assistant, Doubao, is the most used in China. Hoogewerf noted that 160 people on the list, or one in ten, now derive their income from the AI sector.

Other sectors experienced different financial results. Zhong Shanshan, a bottled water magnate, dropped to second place with a net worth of $61 billion, a 23% decrease. Robin Zeng, chairman of CATL, the world's largest electric vehicle battery maker, took third place. In the technology sector, Liang Wenfeng, founder of DeepSeek, entered the list at seventh place. Chen Tianshi, chair of AI chipmaker Cambricon, ranked tenth.

Hoogewerf described the economic trend as a two-speed system. Entrepreneurs in AI, semiconductors, and robotics saw their wealth grow, while those in consumer goods, real estate, and traditional manufacturing saw declines. Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi, was the biggest faller, with his wealth halved to $25.1 billion. For the first time, no mainland property developer appears in the top 100. Only Hong Kong landlord families remain in the upper tiers.

China reported that its economy grew 4.5% in the July-September quarter. This performance was driven by strong exports. The government set a full-year growth target of 4.5% to 5%, a slight reduction from the previous year's goal. Small business owners continue to report difficulty as customers reduce spending, a trend linked to the ongoing downturn in the domestic property market.