With the rapid rise of global social media platform TikTok, Zhang Yiming, co-founder of ByteDance, has become China's new richest man. According to the latest rich list released by Hurun Research Institute, Zhang Yiming's wealth has grown significantly in the past year, bringing his net worth to US$49.3 billion (about RMB 350 billion), an increase of 43% from 2023. This achievement not only highlights ByteDance's strong performance in the global market, but also shows the huge influence of China's technology industry on the international stage.

Zhang Yiming's rapid growth in wealth

Zhang Yiming, 41, resigned as the head of ByteDance in 2021, but he still holds about 20% of the company's shares and continues to benefit from the company's success. Zhang Yiming's personal wealth has increased significantly despite ByteDance facing regulatory pressure from multiple countries, especially concerns about potential links between TikTok and the Chinese government.

The US government plans to ban the use of TikTok in January 2025 unless ByteDance sells the app. This policy makes ByteDance's prospects in the global market full of uncertainty. However, even in the face of such severe challenges, ByteDance's profits still achieved a 60% increase in 2023, which also made Zhang Yiming's wealth rise with it.

Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Report, commented: "Zhang Yiming is the 18th person to be the richest man in China in the past 26 years." Unlike the relatively stable structure of the US rich list, the frequent changes in China's richest people show the rapid changes in China's economy and the rise of emerging industries. In contrast, the United States has only had four richest people in recent decades - Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, which is in sharp contrast to China.

Representative figures in China's technology industry

Zhang Yiming's success is not an isolated phenomenon. He is just one of many representatives of the rich in China's technology industry. Tencent's founder Pony Ma ranked third on the list with a personal wealth of US$44.4 billion. Similar to Zhang Yiming, Ma Huateng's wealth growth is due to Tencent's solid position in digital entertainment and social media, despite the overall sluggish performance of China's economy.

However, while the wealth of some technology giants has increased, the assets of most Chinese rich people have shrunk significantly in the past year. Data from the Hurun Research Institute shows that only about 30% of the rich have increased their wealth, while more than 70% of the list have seen varying degrees of decline in their net worth. In 2024, the number of people on this list of China's richest people decreased by 12%, just below 1,100, and decreased by 25% from the peak in 2021.

Wealth polarization under China's economic challenges

The Hurun Rich List report pointed out that 2023 was a year of many challenges for the Chinese economy. The overall economic slowdown, sluggish stock market performance, and uncertainties in international trade have put many industries in trouble. For example, the green energy sector experienced a particularly difficult year in 2023. Intensified competition among solar panel, lithium battery and electric vehicle manufacturers, oversupply in the supply chain and changes in global tariff policies have made the prospects of these industries bleak.

In particular, the wealth of solar panel manufacturers has shrunk the most, with the average wealth of the rich in this field falling by 80% since the peak in 2021. The wealth of lithium battery manufacturers and electric vehicle manufacturers has also fallen by half and a quarter, respectively. Although China has always been a leader in the field of renewable energy, fierce market competition and global economic uncertainty have brought huge challenges to these companies.

A bumper year for technology giants such as Xiaomi

Despite the grim overall economic environment, some Chinese technology companies still achieved remarkable results in 2023. In particular, smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has achieved remarkable growth with its extensive layout in domestic and foreign markets. The success of companies such as Xiaomi highlights the core position of the technology industry in China's economy, especially in the fields of consumer technology and electronics, which still have strong competitiveness.

Looking to the future: wealth fluctuations and the rise of technology

Zhang Yiming's success symbolizes the important position of China's technology industry in the global market, especially in the fields of social media and artificial intelligence. However, the wealth fluctuations on the Chinese rich list also reflect that the Chinese economy is still in a critical period of transformation. Changes in the global market, technological competition between China and the United States, and challenges in the field of green energy may continue to affect the wealth pattern in the coming years.

Nevertheless, Zhang Yiming's rise demonstrates the huge potential of technological innovation in driving personal wealth growth and injects vitality into the Chinese economy. In the future, as ByteDance and other technology giants expand in the global market, more new generations of wealthy people may appear on the Chinese rich list. For the wealthy who are already on the list, how to deal with future global economic uncertainties will become a key challenge for them to maintain their wealth and status.

Zhang Yiming's rise marks the continued expansion of Chinese technology companies around the world and reflects the vitality and changes of the Chinese economy. Although 2023 is a challenging year, the strong performance of the technology industry has brought huge wealth to a few wealthy people. As global technology competition intensifies, the future of China's wealthy people is still full of opportunities and challenges.