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Gloria Fung

With Chinese tech companies such as Tencent and ByteDance – TikTok’s parent company – making their mark at home and around the world, their founders have consistently appeared on the country’s rich list. But despite the rapid growth of the Chinese technology scene, Forbes’ 2024 list reveals that the world’s richest Chinese person found his fortune capitalising on one of the most crucial commodities: water.
Here, we look at the business leaders topping China’s rich list and which industries continue to thrive in the country’s shifting economic climate.
5. Robin Zeng
Net worth: US$37.1 billion

Capitalising on the shift towards clean energy and the growing demand for electric vehicles, Robin Zeng, founder, chairman and CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), has become the fifth richest person in China little more than a decade after starting the company. CATL supplies batteries to car makers BMW, Tesla and Volkswagen, as well as Chinese firm Geely.
Despite the company’s revenue falling last year, it managed to raise net profits by 15 per cent thanks to a drop in raw material prices, per the Hurun Report. And with close to a 40 per cent market share in the power-battery industry, Zeng, 57, shows no sign of stopping. In a recent interview with Reuters, he revealed continuing plans to build plants on US soil if Donald Trump agrees to Chinese investment in the American EV industry.
4. Colin Huang
Net worth: US$43.9 billion

In only two decades since beginning his career at Google in 2004, 44-year-old Colin Huang has become the fourth richest person in China.
When software engineer Huang founded Pindoudou in 2015, the online retail market was already saturated with the likes of Alibaba and JD.com, per China Business Knowledge. Huang would expand his e-commerce platform – renamed PDD Holdings in 2023 – making it one of the largest in the country. The company also launched shopping site Temu in 2022, going head-to-head with mass online retailer Shein, per Forbes.
Huang stepped down as chairman of the company in 2021, while remaining a major shareholder. He once held the title of China’s richest person, but with stock prices plunging almost 29 per cent last August, he lost US$14 billion, per Bloomberg.
3. Zhang Yiming
Net worth: US$45.6 billion

Zhang Yiming’s video-sharing app TikTok has taken over the world less than a decade since he started parent company ByteDance in a Beijing apartment, changing the cyber landscape for an entire generation of internet users.
The company has amassed more than a billion users worldwide and operates a separate platform, Douyin, for users in China. It made headlines this year when it failed to overturn an American law that would force the US version of the app to be controlled by American interests or face being banned in the country. TikTok was briefly suspended in the US in January but went back online in less than a day. Trump signed an executive order halting the ban for 75 days and it reappeared for download in app stores.
Zhang, 41, quit as CEO and chairman in 2021 amid rumours of pressure from the Chinese government and now calls Singapore home. In an open letter announcing his decision, Zhang said he felt he lacked “some of the skills that make an ideal manager”.
2. Ma Huateng
Net worth: US$46.8 billion

Ma Huateng’s stake in multimedia conglomerate Tencent Holdings makes him one of the wealthiest people in China. Tencent began in 1999 as online messaging platform QQ, said to have been “inspired” by ICQ, one of the first messaging apps. Ma’s Tencent has developed online games and payment systems and in 2011 came out with the WeChat mobile app, which now logs more than a billion monthly users.
Besides propelling him towards immense wealth, QQ helped Ma, 53 – also known by his English nickname, Pony – find true love. Ma reportedly met his wife, Wang Danting, in a chat room after the online messaging platform was launched.
1. Zhong Shanshan
Net worth: US$50.8 billion

According to Forbes, Zhong Shanshan’s story is an archetypal one of rags to riches. An elementary school dropout, Zhong was a jack of all trades, working in construction, journalism and beverage sales before starting his own company, Nongfu Spring – China’s largest bottled-water supplier. Zhong’s wealth also comes from his stake in medical supplies company Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, which manufactures medical testing kits and vaccines, reports Bloomberg.
Being China’s richest man means Zhong, 70, is not afraid to voice his opinions. At a public event last November he called out tech giants PDD and ByteDance – the former for facilitating price wars he said harmed Chinese brands, the latter for not putting a stop to social media campaigns attacking Nongfu Spring. Zhong publicly asked for an apology from ByteDance’s Zhang Yiming for the harm he said Douyin and ByteDance news platform Toutiao had done him.


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Robin Zeng, CEO of Chinese battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology. Photo: Getty Images

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Arielle Hill, singer Ne-Yo, Phoenix Feather and Bella travel the world together. Photo: @ariellehill/Instagram 

Ne-Yo with the three women he calls his “wives” – Bella, Phoenix Feather and Arielle Hill. Photo: @daddys_pretty_baby__/Instagram

Bella, Phoenix Feather and Arielle Hill on a night out in December 2024. Photo: @phoenixx__feather/Instagram 

Ne-Yo and his girlfriend Phoenix Feather, who has defended their unconventional relationship on Instagram. Photo: @phoenixx__feather/Instagram

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Zhang Yiming started ByteDance in a Beijing apartment, while Colin Huang’s PDD is now one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms – here are the 5 who top the rich list, according to Forbes


Zhang Yiming started ByteDance in a Beijing apartment, while Colin Huang’s PDD is now one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms – here are the 5 who top the rich list, according to Forbes.


5 of China’s richest men in 2025 – net worths, ranked: from the founder of TikTok’s parent company to Tencent’s Pony Ma and the CEO of Tesla’s battery supplier … but No 1 isn’t a tech entrepreneur

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Net worth: US$37.1 billion

5. Robin Zeng