TikTok’s growing popularity has made the founder of its parent company ByteDance the richest man in China as his enormous fortune is revealed.
According to an annual rich list compiled by the Hurun Research Institute, Zhang Yiming is now worth a staggering £38 billion, up 43 percent from 2023.
The 41-year-old, who stepped down as ByteDance CEO in 2021, has become the 18th person to be crowned China’s richest person in the 26 years since the Hurun China Rich List was first published List
Yiming is understood to still own around 20 per cent of the company as he overtook bottled water tycoon Zhong Shanshan, who fell to second place as his fortune fell 24 per cent to £36.8bn.
TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with more than one billion users, despite concerns in some countries about its ties to the Chinese state.
The richest man in China is Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok
TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with more than one billion users, despite concerns in some countries about its ties to the Chinese state.
While both companies insist they are independent of the Chinese government, the United States will ban TikTok in January 2025 unless ByteDance sells it.
The House of Representatives passed the US legislation earlier this year.
If the bill becomes law, the owner of the popular video-sharing app will have nine months to find a buyer, with a possible three-month extension while the sale is ongoing, or face a ban.
The FBI has issued a stern warning that ByteDance could share user data, such as search history, location and biometric browsers, with China’s authoritarian government.
TikTok has denied doing this.
But despite a legal battle over its US assets, ByteDance’s global revenue grew 30 percent last year to £84.6 billion, Hurun said, helping boost Zhang’s personal fortune.
“Zhang Yiming is the 18th new Number One we have had in China in just 26 years,” said Hurun director Rupert Hoogewerf.
‘The United States, 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 of the Chinese economy.”
Zhang resigned as chairman of ByteDance in 2021 after resigning as CEO earlier that year, reportedly under pressure from the Chinese government.
He started the business in 2012 in a four-room apartment in Beijing.
Yiming, who stepped down as ByteDance CEO in 2021, has become the 18th person to be crowned China’s richest person in the 26 years since the Hurun China Rich List was first published.
Third on Hurun’s list was low-profile Tencent founder Pony Ma, while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings, fell to fourth place from third last year, even as his company’s e-commerce platforms discount-focused companies, Pinduoduo and Temu, continue to show healthy revenue growth.
The number of billionaires on the list fell from 142 to 753, dropping more than a third from its 2021 peak.
“China’s economy and stock markets have had a difficult year,” said Hurun Report Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf.
The most dramatic drops in fortunes are coming from China’s property sector, he added, while consumer electronics is clearly rising rapidly, with Xiaomi founder Lei Jun adding £3.8bn to his wealth this year.
“Manufacturers of solar panels, lithium batteries and electric vehicles have had a challenging year, as competition intensified, leading to a glut, and the threat of tariffs increased uncertainty,” said Hoogewerf, who is also the researcher head of the list.
“Solar panel makers saw their wealth shrink by up to 80 percent from the 2021 peak, while battery and electric vehicle makers shrank by half and a quarter respectively.”