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Jack Ma of Alibaba, with a fortune of $25 billion, has been crowned the richest in the Hurun China Rich List for 2014 released today.
He relegated Wang Jianlin of Wandain ($24.2 billion) to the second place.
Despite the scale of Alibaba’s IPO, only Jack Ma and one other shareholder make the list, Xie Shihuang.
Alibaba Holdings
A 38 per cent rise in Alibaba’s stock on the first day of trading rocketed Jack Ma into the number one, up five times on last year.
Ma’s fortune is mainly made up of his six per cent holding in Alibaba and 46 per cent share in Alipay.
“Having achieved the world’s largest IPO raising $25bn, more is expected of Alibaba on the international stage,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher.
There are 354 dollar billionaires in China as per the Hurun China Rich list 2014.. Ten years ago there were only three.
‘Renewable Energy King’ Li Hejun, of Hanergy makes the top three for the first time, with $20.8 billion.
Three of the top six speak fluent English: Jack Ma, Li Hejun and Robin Li, demonstrating the globalisation of the Chinese private sector.
Biggest Gainer – IT
IT has seen the biggest boom. Five of the top 10 are in IT. It has been a good year for entertainment, investments, cars, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing.
But it has been a bad year for steel and shipping. Manufacturing and real estate are the primary source of wealth for almost half the list.
Seven of the top 10 on the Hurun Rich List are amongst the most popular social media bloggers, showing the huge impact these individuals are having in China.
Real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi is the newly-crowned ‘social media king’ with 27 million followers, followed by actor and investor Jet Li.
At least 12 per cent are self-made women, led by Chen Lihua, 73, the most successful businesswoman in the world.
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