Guangzhou tops China’s unicorn newcomers – Rupert Hoogewerf

 

Rupert Hoogewerf

Guangzhou added in the first six months of 2022 nine new global unicorns, a privately held startup company valued at over US$1 billion – taking its total to 19, according to a new list from the Hurun List, writes the China Daily. “These unicorns are leading a new generation of disruptive technology,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

 

China Daily:

“These unicorns are leading a new generation of disruptive technology. With fintech, e-commerce, business management solutions, health tech and AI, industries are now attracting the world’s top young talent and smart capital,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

Hurun has been tracking global unicorns since 2017. The index ranking the world’s startups was introduced in the 2000s. It is worth at least $1 billion but not yet listed on a public exchange.

The world’s unicorns came from 48 countries and regions, with the United States leading with 625 companies, followed by China with 312 in the first half of this year, the report said.

Beijing-based Douyin, with 1.2 billion monthly active users for its flagship TikTok, is the world’s most valuable unicorn for the second year running.

The half-year index was released on the occasion of the Global Unicorn CEO Conference, which was also held in Guangzhou on Tuesday. It invited the world’s unicorns, investors and advisers to discuss innovation and entrepreneurship, new technologies and business models.

“Unicorns are a benchmark of a world-class startup ecosystem. The more unicorns a country has, the better the startup ecosystem,” Hoogewerf said.

There has been a massive surge in unicorns since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 369 new unicorns being found in the first six months of 2022 — or two a day — according to Hoogewerf.

“The 1,200 new unicorns minted in the last two years are disrupting financial services, business management solutions, healthcare and retail,” he said.

More at the China Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more experts on innovation at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

How the metaverse will change the industry – Rupert Hoogewerf

 

Rupert Hoogewerf

The metaverse will change the industry dramatically, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chief researcher at the Hurun Rich List. Earlier he released a China company list with the highest metaverse potential. He now zooms into the Guangzhou Metaverse Innovation Alliance, writes the China Daily.

The China Daily:

“The cutting-edge field of the metaverse is the next important development direction for the internet industry, which will profoundly change production and lifestyle in the future, and promote future industrial development,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

The Guangzhou Metaverse Innovation Alliance, which was inaugurated in Nansha in March, is expected to help inject new vitality into Guangzhou’s construction of a global digital economy benchmark and an international consumer-oriented city, according to Hoogewerf.

“With the release of the list of metaverse companies with the greatest potential, it is expected that more businesses in the metaverse industry will move to the district and develop there,” he said.

Nansha has developed a good business environment for metaverse-related companies since it enacted competitive policies to support the industry, according to Hoogewerf.

“From technology research and development, industrial agglomeration and application scenarios to financial support, special policies from the local government will help build Nansha into a prominent location for the innovation and development of the metaverse industry,” he said.

Although many companies, including some of China’s largest by market capacity, have not had a specific team dedicated to the metaverse industry, they have already applied relevant technologies in some particular fields, according to Hoogewerf.

“Media and entertainment companies are at the forefront of the metaverse, using existing technologies to explore the application possibilities of the industry,” he said.

More at the China Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more innovation experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

Why Guangzhou has most women billionaires – Rupert Hoogewerf

 

Rupert Hoogewerf

Compared to the rest of the world, China has the most female billionaires, while Guangzhou tops the list. Rupert Hoogewerf, the Hurun Rich list chief researcher, explains why China and especially Guangzhou is doing better than other countries in Money Control. 

Money Control:

Guangdong in South China is the cradle of the world when it comes to self-made women billionaires, the report added.

Interestingly, New York, the city with the most billionaires outside of China, has only a single self-made woman billionaire.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report explains why the numbers are so high in China as compared to other countries.

“The self-made women billionaires in the world tell the story of the most successful women in business and these stories start with China. Why does China have two thirds of the world’s self-made women billionaires, more than double the rest of the world combined? There are historical, political, social and economic dynamics at play here,” he explained.

Japan, Germany, France, Canada and South Korea are the world’s largest economies without a single self-made woman billionaire. The 124 known self-made women billionaires come from just 16 countries, meaning that 180 countries still do not have a single one.

The Hurun Research Institute released the richest self-made women in the world on Wednesday. Topping that list from China is Beijing-based property developer Wu Yajun. The 58-year-old has an estimated worth of $17 billion. Yajun and her ex-husband Cai Kui cofounded Longfor in 1993 cofounder.

More in Money Control.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more financial experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

Less wealthy Chinese families - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

For the first time in five years' time, the number of rich Chinese families has dropped, says this year's Hurun Wealth Report, according to the China Daily. Both a dropping economy and the trade war triggered off the effect, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report, now in its 11th year.

The China Daily:

Economic slowdown and the trade tensions between China and the United States have resulted in a minor slide in the number of affluent families in China, said the Hurun Wealth Report 2019 released on Tuesday. 

As of Dec 31 last year, the number of high–net-worth Chinese families with household assets of 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) dropped 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.98 million, according to the report. The number of ultra-high-net-worth Chinese families with household assets of 100 million yuan also contracted by 4.5 percent to 127,000. 

Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said it is the first time in five years that a drop has been recorded in the number of high–net-worth Chinese families. China's economic slowdown and restructuring, the trade conflict between China and the United States, combined with the 20 percent slide in the major A-share indexes last year, have resulted in the contraction, he said. 

Beijing is still home to the largest number of high–net-worth families, with 288,000 households in the city owning assets of at least 10 million yuan. Guangdong comes second, followed by Shanghai. 

The majority of 65 percent of these 10-million-yuan asset families own their own businesses. Company executives, property market investors and professional stock market investors are the less commonly found occupations in this category. 

However, the number of wealthy Chinese families with household assets of 6 million yuan reached 4.94 million by the end of 2018, up 1.2 percent year-on-year, according to the report.

More in the China Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more stories by Rupert Hoogewerf? Do check out this list.

The battle between censors and editors - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn

The ongoing public tussle between government censors and editors of the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly is a rare breakdown of the otherwise mostly hidden ways to manage China's state-owned media. Media watcher Jeremy Goldkorn explains for the BBC why the censors went too far in this case. 

The BBC:

So what happened at the Southern Weekly to spur its beleaguered journalists to finally walk off the job? 

This time, it seems that Tuo Zhen, the propaganda chief overseeing the paper, was the one who crossed the line. 

"Tuo Zhen did not stick to the protocol that people are used to," said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei, a firm that researches Chinese media and the internet. 

The unwritten rules governing the Chinese media vary from outlet to outlet, but all journalists and editors follow the same basic system. 

Sometimes, censorship instructions come in phone calls directly from Beijing, ordering editors how to deal with sensitive stories. 

However, on a daily basis, individual journalists submit content to their editors, who are then tasked with tweaking the content to meet the needs of the local propaganda department. 

Mr Goldkorn explains that the relationship between editorial staff and propaganda officials is an important one because newspapers must stay in the good graces of the censors so that their annual licences can be renewed. Without a licence, the paper must shut down... 

"In the past, they have stopped the presses or they have pre-censored things before it has got to the stage of going to press, or there has been trouble after something has gotten printed," Mr Goldkorn said. 

He added that exact details of Mr Tuo's transgressions have yet to emerge, "but it seems unusual when the person in charge of propaganda for the province actually goes to the newspaper office and actually is in charge of ensuring the change before it goes to print"... 

Mr Goldkorn believes that even if Mr Tuo remains in his position, Southern Weekly will also continue to soldier on. 

"I don't think there's a single person in the Chinese government committed to media liberalisation, but I think there are people who recognise that there are some voices... that are useful to have around for society. It would be extreme of them to completely crush it."

More at the BBC

Jeremy Goldkorn is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

The China Weekly Hangout discussed at the end of 2012 another media struggle, the efforts of the internet censors to stifle VPN's. Attending are Sam Xu, John R. Otto, Gabriel Rueck and Fons Tuinstra

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• Censorship anger a test for China (edition.cnn.com)
• Southern Weekly negotiates with government amid protests - South China Morning Post (scmp.com)