China's rich control US$2.6 trillion - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

China's growth might have reduced, and investing abroad more difficult, but China's annual Hurun rich list has been growing faster than ever, says its chief researcher and founder Rupert Hoogewerf to the South China Morning Post. China's rich now control US$2.6 trillion, he adds.

The South China Morning Post:

There was also substantial change at the top of the rich list. 

Xu Jiayin, chairman of real estate developer Evergrande Group, has emerged as China’s richest man with assets worth US$43 billion. 

Last year’s leader, Wang Jianlin, dropped to fifth after declines in the share price of his embattled Wanda Group saw his family’s net worth slump 28 per cent to US$23 billion. 

“Overall, the Hurun Rich List has grown faster than any year since 2007, with the possible exception of 2015,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher. 

Evergrande is China’s largest property group by sales, and since the start of this year, the price of its shares in Hong Kong has risen by 465 per cent. 

Pony Ma Huateng, founder and chief executive of Tencent took the No 2 spot on the rich list with a net worth of US$37 billion, overtaking Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma at US$30 billion, who ranked third. 

Fourth on the list, and also China’s richest woman, Yang Huiyan, vice-chairman and the largest shareholder of real estate developer Country Garden, saw her wealth triple to US$24 billion. 

Aside from real estate, technology names continued to dominate the wealth rankings with Baidu’s Robin Li, and NetEase’s Ding Lei both making the top 10. 

“China’s entrepreneurs have come a long way. Back in 1999, when I put out the first list, I managed to rank 50 people. Today we have almost that number just from Alibaba,” said Hoogewerf. 

Of the 2,130 individuals with assets above US$300 million, 43 came from Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial.

More in the South China Morning Post.

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