China has a new super rich man – Jack Ma – the 49-year-old founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Based on Bloomberg latest compilation, Jack has a net worth of a staggering $21.8 billion (£13 billion; RM68.6 billion), making him the richest man in China instantly, dwarfing his nearest competitor, Pony Ma HuaTeng, who is worth $16.3 billion. Jack is now $5.5 billion richer than Ma, the founder of Tencent.

Jack Ma’s wealth include a 7.3% stake in Alibaba and 48.5% shares in parent Alipay, a separate online-payment service entity. His company, Alibaba is ready for its listing next month and analysts said the company’s post-listing valuation could be as high as $200 billion. Jack’s personal charity organization owns another 1.5% in Alibaba. Naturally, if Alibaba’s valuation skyrocket, Jack’s wealth will goes up as well so it seems Jack Ma could top the chart for quite some time.

The third richest man in China is Robin Li, the founder of Baidu, China’s No.1 internet search engine and the world’s fifth-most visited website. With more than 100 million daily users and close to 600,000 customers selling goods and services on Baidu, it’s not hard to see how Robin’s net worth increased by $2.7 billion (year to date) to a mind-boggling $15.8 billion (£9.5 billion; RM49.7 billion).

 

Interestingly, all the top three richest people in China – Jack Ma, Pony Ma and Robin Li – made their fortunes in the internet and technology sector. The fourth and fifth richest person in China are Wang Jianlin (net worth: $14.7 Billion) and Zong Qinghou (net worth: $11.5 Billion). While Wang derived his wealth from real estate, Zong made his fortunes from food and beverage.

 

{ #1 }  Jack Ma – Net Worth: $21.8 Billion

 

World Ranking: #35	Last Change: +$9.2 Billion
Source: Self-made	YTD Change: +$18.2 Billion
Industry: Technology	Birth Date: Sept 10, 1964

 

Ma is the founder of Alibaba Group, the world’s largest collection of e-commerce websites. The Hangzhou, China-based company operates Taobao, the nation’s biggest shopping site, and Tmall, a platform for brands and retailers. The sites process 11.3 billion orders a year from 231 million active buyers in more than 190 countries. Ma also owns a stake in online-payment service Alipay.

 

The majority of Ma’s wealth is derived from his 7.3% stake in closely held Alibaba Group. The e-commerce company is valued at $154 billion, based on the average calculations of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg in July 2014. Ma controls 206.1 million shares of Alibaba, 35 million of which are held by a non-profit organization called SymAsia Foundation Ltd

 

Milestone:

• 1964 – Jack Ma is born in Hangzhou, China.
• 1976 – Begins to learn English as a tour guide for foreigners.
• 1988 – Graduates from Hangzhou Teachers College and teaches English.
• 1995 – Travels to the U.S. for the first time and works as an interpreter.
• 1995 – Encounters his first computer during a visit to Seattle.
• 1995 – Starts China Yellowpages for small businesses to set up web sites.
• 1997 – Takes job with government and meets Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
• 1999 – Raises $60,000 to start Alibaba.com.
• 2002 – Alibaba.com reaches 1 million users and becomes profitable.
• 2003 – Builds consumer online site Taobao.com.
• 2005 – Yahoo buys a 40% stake in Alibaba Group for $1 billion.
• 2007 – Alibaba.com listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• 2010 – Fails to buy back Alibaba shares from Yahoo.
• 2011 – Spins off Alipay from Alibaba into a closely held company.
• 2012 – Buys 20 percent of Alibaba Group from Yahoo for $7.1 billion.
• 2013 – Agrees to buy 18% stake in Chinese message service Sina Weibo.
• 2013 – Retires as Alibaba Group CEO. Remains chairman.
• 2014 – Alibaba offers $192 million to buy 50% of Evergrande’s soccer club.

 

 

{ #2 }  Pony Ma HuaTeng – Net Worth: $16.3 Billion

 

World Ranking: #56	Last Change: -$121.3 Million
Source: Self-made	YTD Change: +$3.7 Billion
Industry: Technology	Birth Date: Oct 29, 1971

 

Ma is the chairman of Tencent Holdings, China’s largest Internet company by market value. The Shenzhen-based business provides Internet, mobile and telecommunications services, including its QQ and WeChat instant messaging platforms that together have more than 1 billion users. The company plans to introduce a wireless payment system to capitalize on the commercial app market.

 

Milestone:

• 1971 – Ma Huateng is born in Shantou, in China’s Guangdong province.
• 1984 – Moves south to Shenzhen with parents.
• 1989 – Ma enrolls at Shenzhen University.
• 1993 – Develops software for beeper at a telecommunications computer.
• 1998 – Co-founds Tencent Holding instant messaging company.
• 1999 – Offers QQ messenger in China, a service similar to AOL’s ICQ.
• 2000 – IDG and PCCW invest $4.4 million in Tencent.
• 2001 – Naspers invests $32 million in Tencent for a 47 percent stake.
• 2004 – Company sells shares in a Hong Kong initial public offering.
• 2007 – Tencent market value exceeds $10 billion for the first time.
• 2008 – China overtakes U.S. as the biggest Internet market by subscribers.
• 2010 – Tencent buys a 10 percent stake in DST for $300 million.
• 2014 – Tencent stock split gives investors five shares for each one they own.

 

 

{ #3 }  Robin Li – Net Worth: $15.8 Billion

 

World Ranking: #62	Last Change: -$45 Million
Source: Self-made	YTD Change: +$2.7 Billion
Industry: Technology	Birth Date: Nov 17, 1968

 

Li was the fourth of five children born to factory workers in Yangquan, China, a two-hour flight from Beijing. After graduated from Peking University, he moved to United States and earned his degree in computer science from State University of New York, Buffalo. He developed and patented his algorithm for internet search engine in 1996, the same year Stanford graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin were developing their PageRank algorithm.

 

Inspired by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, Robin and his friend, Eric Xu, decided to build a Chinese search engine. With various funding from venture capitalists, they licensed their search indexing software to Chinese web giant Sina and Sohu.com. But a dispute forced them to develop their own search engine, Baidu. The company received takeover offers from Yahoo, Microsoft and Google for $1 billion but the board members chose to go public on 2005 instead.

 

Milestone:

• 1968 – Born to factory workers in Yangquan, Shanxi Province.
• 1991 – Graduates from Peking University with bachelor’s degree.
• 1994 – Earns master’s in computer science at SUNY Buffalo.
• 1995 – Works at Dow Jones & Co. developing software.
• 1997 – U.S. grants patent for link analysis, a way to rank search listings.
• 1997 – Works at Infoseek for $45,000 a year as senior engineer.
• 1998 – Friend Eric Xu introduces Li to Yahoo’s Jerry Yang.
• 1999 – Inspired by Yang, Xu and Li build Chinese search engine.
• 2000 – Duo raises $1.2 million from venture capitalists.
• 2001 – Xu, Li move to Beijing from Silicon Valley to form Baidu.
• 2002 – Receives $10 million in funds from IDG, EPlanet Ventures.
• 2003 – Li, Xu license search index to Sina, Sohu.com, China’s top sites.
• 2004 – Sina, Baidu fight over licensing fees. Baidu develops website.
• 2004 – Baidu allows advertisers to pay to appear at top of searches.
• 2004 – Google invests $5 million in Baidu’s third round of financing.
• 2004 – Google founders Sergey Brin, Larry Page visit Baidu.
• 2004 – Xu leaves Baidu to found biotech venture capital firm.
• 2005 – Recording industry sues Baidu to stop MP3 service.
• 2005 – Chinese courts rule for Baidu, saying it only links to music sites.
• 2005 – Softbank, Yahoo, Microsoft make acquisition offers for Baidu.
• 2005 – Google offers $1.6 billion to buy Baidu.
• 2005 – Baidu board votes to stay independent and go public.
• 2005 – Baidu sells shares on Nasdaq, shoots up to $4 billion in value.
• 2008 – Baidu starts Japanese search engine.
• 2008 – CCTV reports Baidu sold ads to unlicensed drugmakers.
• 2010 – Alibaba.com blocks Baidu search on its online marketplace.
• 2010 – Google stops censoring searches in China, redirects to Hong Kong.
• 2011 – Starts Baidu websites in Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic.
• 2011 – Buys 1 percent stake in online retailer 360buy Jingdong Mall.
• 2012 – Plans to build operations in Shenzhen, Singapore.

 

 

{ #4 }  Wang Jianlin – Net Worth: $14.7 Billion

 

World Ranking: #75	Last Change: -$19.6 Million
Source: Self-made	YTD Change: +$2.2 Billion
Industry: Real Estate	Birth Date: Oct 24, 1954

 

Borned into a military family in western China’s Sichuan, Wang Jianlin himself served the People’s Liberation Army for 16 years before started working as a government clerk in Xigang district in the northern port city of Dalian. Later he worked at Dalian Wanda and developed and diversified the company into commercial property development. In order to expand into the U.S., he bought AMC Entertainment Holdings for $2.6 billion in May 2012.

 

Milestone:

• 1954 – Wang Jianlin is born in Mianyang, Sichuan in western China.
• 1970 – Joins People’s Liberation Army of China.
• 1986 – Works for the local government in Dalian after college.
• 1992 – Promoted to general manager of homebuilder Dalian Wanda.
• 1997 – Forms a professional soccer team in Dalian.
• 2001 – Wang goes into commercial property development.
• 2005 – Enters entertainment industry by starting a movie company.
• 2007 – Opens first department store in Chengdu.
• 2007 – Becomes a delegate to the Chinese Communist Party’s congress.
• 2007 – Starts hotel construction business.
• 2011 – Sponsors China’s professional soccer league.
• 2012 – Pays $2.6 billion to acquire AMC Entertainment.

 

 

{ #5 }  Zong Qinghou – Net Worth: $11.5 Billion

 

World Ranking: #106	Last Change: 0 Million
Source: Self-made	YTD Change: -$529.7 Million
Industry: Food & Beverage	Birth Date: Oct 12, 1945

 

Zong Qinghou founded a grocery store with two retired teachers and a $22,048 loan in 1987, selling popsicles, sodas and stationery to nearby school students. Four years later, the company changed its name to Wahaha after buying a money-losing, state-owned food company with 2,000 workers for $12.6 million. China’s economy skyrocket and his company expanded to 60 factories in 29 provinces.

 

Together with his wife Shi Yozhen and daughter Kelly Zong Fuli (his only child), the family owns more than 80% of the company. In spite of his wealth, Zong Qinghou called himself “China’s poorest chairman” in an interview with Bloomberg in Mar 2011. Wahaha involved in a two-years legal battle with French Groupe Danone after their joint venture in 1996 went sour.

 

Milestone:

• 1945 – Zong born in Suqian, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province.
• 1962 – Family moves to Hangzhou, where Wahaha is based now.
• 1963 – Gets first job collecting brine at a salt farm in Zhoushan.
• 1978 – Works in sales at a paper box factory in Hangzhou.
• 1987 – Starts a grocery shop attached to a primary school.
• 1989 – Changes the company’s name to Wahaha.
• 1991 – Zong becomes chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha.
• 1996 – Forms a joint venture with Groupe Danone SA.
• 1998 – Creates “Future Coke” soda to take on Coca-Cola.
• 2002 – Introduces children’s apparel.
• 2003 – Becomes a delegate to the National People’s Congress.
• 2009 – Wahaha buys Danone out of their joint venture.

 

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August 28th, 2014 by financetwitter

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