TikTok's ByteDance founder is now the richest in China, Xiaomi's Lei Jun is also doing extremely well

China's richest person is valued at almost $50 billion; that's the ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, age 41. To be precise, he has $49.3 billion and tops the Hurun China Rich List for the first time ever. Despite TikTok's legal problems in the US, ByteDance's global revenue grew 30% last year to $110 billion.

The Hurun Research Institute releases Hurun China Rich List 2024, a ranking of the richest individuals in China. Zhang, (who stepped down as ByteDance's chief executive in 2021) has become the 18th person to earn the title of China's richest individual since the Hurun China Rich List began 26 years ago. The Hurun 2024 list's cut off is $700 million.

In November 2021, Zhang Yiming officially stepped down as chair of the board. This move followed Zhang’s earlier decision in May to step down as ByteDance’s CEO, citing a preference for strategy over daily operations. ByteDance’s new CEO and co-founder, Liang Rubo, assumed the chair role on the five-member board.

The wealth of China’s richest individuals took a significant hit over the past year, driven by economic challenges and slumping stock markets, as the report indicates. As of August 30, 1,094 people from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau held personal fortunes of at least 5 billion yuan (about $700 million), marking a 12% decrease from last year’s count of 1,241. Their combined wealth fell by 10% to $2.97 trillion USD.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun, noted that 2024 marks the third consecutive year of decline for China’s "super-rich" as economic pressures and a cooling stock market persist. China’s GDP growth remained under 5% in the first three quarters of the year, below Beijing’s target, with additional stress from a sluggish property market and low consumer demand.

Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun (age 55) is also doing well. He added $5 billion to his wealth for a total of $18.3 billion. The report states that's both thanks to a boost in Xiaomi phone sales, as well as Xiaomi's launch of its electric car.

Also, the annual report notes that the top people at Oppo and Vivo are also on the list, stating that "smartphones and semiconductors had a good year".