- The co-founder of ByteDance is now the richest person in China following growth in Tiktok
- Zhang Yiming's net wealth has increased by 43% since 2023 to $49.3 billion (£38 billion)
- TikTok has grown to become one of the most widely used social media apps worldwide over the years
Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
The co-founder of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has become the richest person in China as a result of the app's growing worldwide popularity, according to the BBC.
Zhang Yiming is currently worth $49.3 billion (£38 billion), which is 43% higher than he was in 2023, according to a rich list created by the Hurun Research Institute.
Although the 41-year-old resigned his position as the company's CEO in 2021, it is believed that he still owns about 20% of the business.
Despite serious worries about its connections to the Chinese government in some nations, TikTok has grown to become one of the most widely used social media apps worldwide.
BBC reported that although both businesses maintain that they are not influenced by the Chinese government, the US plans to outlaw
Zhang Yiming's personal wealth soared last year as ByteDance's worldwide profit rose by 60% despite the company's severe US criticism.
“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 is not the only representative of China’s huge tech sector on the list.
Pony Ma, boss of the tech conglomerate, Tencent, is third on the list with an estimated personal wealth amounting to £44.4bn.
But their fortunes are not just explained by their company’s successes – their rivals have made less in a year in which China’s economy has sputtered.
Only approximately 30 per cent of the people on the list had an increase in their net worth – the rest saw a decline.
“The Hurun China Rich List has shrunk for an unprecedented third year running, as China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year,” said Mr Hoogewerf.“The number of individuals on the list was down by 12 per cent in the past year to just under 1100 individuals and 25 per cent from the high point of 2021.”He said the data showed it had been a good year for smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, while the green energy market had stumbled.
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Source: Legit.ng