Ma Yun's Wealth Ranking Falls to 4th Amid Chinese Government Disfavor

Source: WSJ

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 2nd (local time), Ma Yun, chairman of Alibaba Group, which is under comprehensive regulation by Chinese authorities, has lost his title as China’s richest person.

According to Hurun Report, a research company headquartered in Shanghai, China, the Ma family’s wealth is 360 billion yuan, dropping from 1st to 4th place in China’s rich list within a year. The reduction in Ma Yun’s wealth is due to a sharp decline in stock value caused by comprehensive regulatory pressure from Chinese authorities.

WSJ analyzed that Ma Yun’s criticism of outdated regulations applied to fintech companies caused him to fall out of favor with government authorities, leading to this situation.

Last October, at the Shanghai Waitan Financial Summit attended by Vice President Wang Qishan and People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang, Ma Yun pointed out problems in China’s financial system as a “lack of functionality” and criticized the government directly by saying that large state-owned banks have not escaped the “pawnshop business” practices.

Following this, the planned IPO of Ant Group, Alibaba Group’s fintech affiliate expected to become the world’s largest, was abruptly canceled, and the company’s value plummeted under antitrust regulations imposed by authorities.

The top spot previously held by Ma Yun was taken by Zhong Shanshan, founder of Nongfu Spring, China’s bottled water tycoon. Zhong Shanshan’s wealth reached 550 billion yuan. This increase is attributed to the successful IPOs of vaccine manufacturer Wantai Bio and Nongfu Spring this year, significantly boosting his assets.

2nd and 3rd places were occupied by Tencent’s Ma Huateng and Pinduoduo founder Colin Huang, who benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic. Ma Huateng and Colin Huang, both considered leaders in China’s information and communication technology (IT) industry alongside Ma Yun, surpassed Ma Yun with wealth of 480 billion yuan and 450 billion yuan respectively.

Tencent, focusing on gaming, messaging, and cloud businesses, saw a surge in stock price due to the COVID-19 boom, sharply increasing the assets of Ma Huateng, who holds an 8% stake. Colin Huang, a former Google engineer, rapidly grew Pinduoduo into China’s third-largest e-commerce company after Alibaba and JD.com, greatly increasing his wealth.

Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of ByteDance, which operates the mobile messenger TikTok, ranked 5th with 350 billion yuan.

Hurun Report also found that despite the impact of COVID-19, the number of billionaires worldwide increased by 412 to 3,228 within a year. Of these 412, more than half, 259, came from China.