China is losing a third of its billionaires as the economy stalls

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The number of dollar billionaires in China has fallen by more than a third in the past three years, according to a “rich list” compiled by the Hurun research group, due to government crackdowns, weakness in parts of the economy and weak Stock markets take their toll.

Since Hurun reached a peak of 1,185 in 2021, the number of dollar billionaires has fallen to 753, with the 36 percent decline outpacing a 10 percent decline in the renminbi's value against the dollar over the same period.

Last year alone, the number of dollar billionaires in China fell by 16 percent, while the renminbi depreciated against the dollar by only 2.5 percent.

The list has also undergone rapid change, Hurun said, as older entrepreneurs such as real estate developers gave way to newer members such as Zhang Yiming, the head of ByteDance.

The 41-year-old founder of the company, which owns viral short-video platform TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, has become the country's richest person for the first time with a fortune of $49 billion, Hurun said, even as his company has been targeted the US government.

Zhang deposed the “King of Bottled Water” Zhong Shanshan. The 70-year-old has been at the top of the list for the past three years, but the share price of his main company, Nongfu Spring, fell 40 percent after he was accused of being “pro-Japan” on social media.

The rich list also included entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

“The list has shrunk for the third consecutive year as China's economy and stock markets had a difficult year,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report.

The list's wealth estimates were made in late August and do not take into account a strong stock rally in September after China announced a monetary stimulus package.

The decline in the number of super-rich comes as the old guard of wealthy property developers has been decimated by a collapse in China's once-booming property market.

China's e-commerce billionaires have been hit hard by the crackdowns but have proven more resilient. Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent, the company behind the ubiquitous super app WeChat, took third place on the list, and Colin Huang, the founder of Pinduoduo and Temu, took fourth place.

Chris Xu Yangtian, founder of international clothing platform Shein, ranked 76th with a fortune of $7 billion.

“The new generation of entrepreneurs in China is much more international than their predecessors,” Hurun said in the report.

Alibaba's Jack Ma, who topped the list in 2020 but disappeared from the public eye this year after the government canceled the blockbuster initial public offering of his financial group Alipay, was ranked 10th this year.

Hurun said 15 percent of the rich lived outside mainland China, in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, while 30 of the members lived in the United States and Singapore, with the Asian city-state becoming increasingly popular as an offshore haven for China's billionaires.

The rich lists also retained political influence, with about 7 percent serving as members of China's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or its chartered parliament, the National People's Congress.

Smartphones and entrepreneurs in the new energy sector were also more prominent on the list than ten years ago, including Robin Zeng, boss of lithium battery maker CATL, Li Zhenguo of solar panel maker Longi, Lei Jun of smartphone maker Xiaomi and Frank Wang of drone maker DJI.