Tencent’s Pony Ma remains China’s richest man, according to new Forbes billionaire list
He is worth $45.3 billion, good for #17 in the world
Another week, another list of the richest people in the world featuring a real horse race for that coveted top spot in China.
The proverbial dark horse in this contest, Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, the founder and CEO of internet giant Tencent, has once again bested his better known rival, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, with whom he shares an equestrian surname but no relation, in the latest Forbes Billionaires list.
According to Forbes, Pony Ma is worth $45.3 billion, making him the richest man not only in China, but in all of Asia. Trailing him by more than $6 billion is Jack Ma, the 20th richest man in the world.
Next comes Xu Jiayin (Hui Ka Yan), the chairman of Guangzhou-based property giant Evergrande, who has had himself quite the year. Xu is followed by none other than Wang Jianlin, China’s former top dog who has recently fallen on hard times and is now worth a mere $30 billion.
Breaking up this boys’ club is Yang Huiyan, the 36-year-old vice-chairman and majority shareholder of Chinese property developer Country Garden, who ranks as the 5th richest person in China and the 5th wealthiest woman in the world.
Here’s China’s top 20:
Meanwhile, Li Ka-shing, the former richest man in Asia, has to settle for only the title of Hong Kong’s richest man — obviously he’s been spending too much on watches.
Over in Taiwan, Foxconn’s Terry Gou tops the list:
While Macau’s only entry comes in at #1650.
Earlier this month, China’s Hurun Report released its own annual rich list, which also ranked Pony Ma at the top. The list found that China was speeding ahead of the United States in terms of the number of billionaires each country produces, with China adding about four new ones a week.
Finally, in case you thought you had a successful year, check out this paragraph from CNN’s report on the Forbes list:
“Amazon (AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos topped the list for the first time this year, according to Forbes. He’s currently worth an estimated $112 billion, up $39.2 billion from 2017. Forbes said that jump amounts to the biggest one-year gain ever — and that he’s the first person to top the list with a net worth of more than $100 billion.”
