China’s 2024 Rich List Sees Slowest Growth in Two Decades Amid Economic Challenges

China’s 2024 rich list, detailing individuals with net worths exceeding 5 billion yuan ($700 million), saw its slowest expansion in 20 years, reflecting economic headwinds and a deceleration in fundraising activities, according to a Hurun Research Institute report released Tuesday.

Only 54 new faces joined the list of 1,094 billionaires compiled since 1999, a 12% decline from last year. Notably, the wealth of 88% of individuals on the list either decreased or remained unchanged. Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report, noted, “The [list] has shrunk for an unprecedented third year running, as China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year.”

For the first time, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming topped the list, with his wealth rising $14.8 billion to $49.3 billion, propelled by ByteDance’s global revenue surge of 30%, reaching $110 billion. Zhang represents a new generation of “international” Chinese entrepreneurs, alongside figures like Colin Huang of Pinduoduo, operator of Temu, and Chris Xu of Shein.

China’s economic shifts are now fostering wealth in sectors like cross-border e-commerce, consumer goods, and healthcare, diverging from the real estate-driven fortunes of previous years. However, industries like solar panels, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles face fresh challenges from oversupply and trade tariffs, impacting individuals such as CATL’s Robin Zeng, whose wealth dropped $7 billion, and Geely Auto’s Li Shufu.

Zhong Shanshan of Nongfu Spring experienced the largest wealth drop, down 24% or $15.5 billion, moving him to second place. Meanwhile, blockchain entrepreneur Zhao Changpeng of Binance saw a wealth increase of $12.6 billion to $19 billion, buoyed by cryptocurrency gains.

Newcomers to the list include Taiwan’s Hsu Bang-Fu of Fortune Electric, Mao Wenchao and Qu Fang of Xiaohongshu, and Yu Kai of Horizon Robotics, whose recent IPO raised $700 million. The Hurun Report values nonlisted companies based on comparable listed companies to calculate wealth estimations.