© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Zhang Yiming, founder and international CEO of ByteDance, poses in Palo Alto, California, U.S., March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon StapletonBy Brenda Goh
(Reuters) – China’s super-rich noticed their wealth tumble by essentially the most in over twenty years this yr, because the Russia-Ukraine struggle, Beijing’s zero-COVID measures and falling mainland and Hong Kong inventory markets pummelled fortunes, an annual wealthy record mentioned on Tuesday.
The Hurun Wealthy record, which ranks China’s wealthiest folks with a minimal internet price of 5 billion yuan ($692 million), mentioned only one,305 folks made the mark this yr, down 11% from final yr. Their whole wealth was $3.5 trillion, down 18%.
In the meantime, the variety of people with $10 billion fell by 29 to 56, and the variety of greenback billionaires dropped by 239 to 946 this yr, it added.
“This yr has seen the largest fall within the Hurun China Wealthy Record of the final 24 years,” mentioned Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of analysis agency Hurun Report which compiles the record.
The worldwide financial outlook has this yr been closely impacted by the struggle in Ukraine and slowing financial development in China that has in flip been exacerbated by the nation’s ultra-strict COVID insurance policies and a protracted property droop.
A two-year regulatory crackdown that has hit China’s greatest tech names corresponding to Alibaba (NYSE:) Group and Tencent Holdings (OTC:), and issues that President Xi Jinping will sacrifice development for ideology in his third time period, have additionally weighed on investor confidence, with Hong Kong and mainland inventory markets tumbling in current weeks.
Yang Huiyan, the businesswoman behind Nation Backyard Holdings Co Ltd, which like many different Chinese language builders has been battling debt points, noticed her wealth fall by $15.7 billion, the largest drop on the 2022 record.
Zhong Shanshan, whose listed corporations are water bottler Nongfu Spring and vaccine developer Beijing Wantai Organic Pharmacy Enterprise, took first place on the record for the second yr operating, with a fortune that grew 17% to $65 billion.
The founding father of TikTok proprietor ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, took second place, however noticed his wealth fall 28% to $35 billion resulting from a drop in ByteDance’s valuation. In third place was Zeng Yuqun, chairman of battery large CATL.
Tencent founder Pony Ma posted the second largest drop in wealth of $14.6 billion amid sliding tech inventory costs, to take fifth place on the record. Alibaba founder Jack Ma and his household tumbled 4 locations to be ranked No. 9.
($1 = 7.2215 renminbi)
