TikTok founder Zhang Yiming becomes China's richest person amid app's uncertain future
Zhang Yiming is the founder and former global CEO of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company.
In short:
Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, in a Beijing apartment in 2012.
He is now China's richest person, despite TikTok facing a potential forced sale or ban in the US due to data security concerns.
What's next?
TikTok is approaching 200 million users in the US and is fighting the possible ban in court.
TikTok founder Zhang Yiming has become China's richest person, amassing a personal wealth of $75 billion.
Mr Zhang, 41, topped the Hurun China Rich List with a fortune that is higher than the GDPs of around 90 countries.
Labelled the "short video king", Mr Zhang's ascension comes at a time when TikTok is facing a legal battle in the United States.
It also comes amid a broader economic downturn for the country — according to the list, China has lost a third of its billionaires since its peak in 2021.
"The Hurun China Rich List has shrunk for an unprecedented third year running, as China's economy and stock markets had a difficult year," said Hurun Report chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf.
Experts say the rich list paints a picture of the Chinese economy — from the financial hit caused by a nationalist social media pile-on, to dynamic new industries "disrupting" the old guard.
'I'm not very social': Who is Zhang Yiming?
Mr Zhang resigned from his roles as CEO and chairman of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, in 2021.
He did so at a time when other founders were stepping down due to Chinese regulators clamping down on the tech economy.
At the time, Mr Zhang said he left because the daily challenges of the CEO role were a barrier to research and innovation.
"I'm not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and contemplating what may be possible," he said in a memo, according to Reuters.
TikTok is fighting against a potential ban in the US from January 2025.
"I'm more interested in analysing organisational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people."
His wealth has swelled 10-fold in six years, with Forbes listing his worth as around $6 billion in 2018.
What about TikTok's legal woes?
The number of US users on TikTok is approaching 200 million, and ByteDance's revenue grew by 30 per cent last year to $168 billion.
But the future of TikTok is uncertain, and it could be banned in the US from January 2025 unless it divorces from ByteDance.
President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that could force TikTok's sale or see it blocked, amid concerns the app could share user data with the Chinese government.
TikTok has always denied that claim and last month launched a legal challenge to the law.
Wei Li, a senior lecturer in international business at the University of Sydney, said there was a global anxiety about how tech companies should be governed and regulated, particularly with the rise of generative AI.
"In the case of TikTok, there is an extra level of complexity there, which is related to concerns about geopolitical tensions … between the US and China, but also there are concerns related to security," she said.
What happened to China's previous richest man?
Mr Zhang toppled bottled water magnate Zhong Shanshan to claim the title of China's richest person, after Mr Zhong's fortune dropped by almost a quarter to $73 billion.
His steep drop in worth came on the heels of a social media backlash against his company Nongfu Spring.
The beverage giant lost a whopping $6 billion in market cap in March amid an internet storm.
China's EV industry is growing, despite a challenging year for the renewables economy.
Nationalists on Chinese social media platform Weibo slammed Mr Zhong, 70, as an "ungrateful profit-oriented businessman" — an unflattering contrast to his "patriotic", rags-to-riches counterpart at a rival beverage company — and accused Nongfu Spring of being "pro-Japan", according to Nikkei Asia.
Social media users posted videos of themselves pouring Nongfu Spring water down the toilet, Nikkei said.
Mr Zhong is now second on the list.
The Forbes real-time billionaires list highlighted Mr Zhang surpassed Mr Zhong, the chairman of Nongfu Spring beverages, last month, before the release of the Hurun China Rich List.
Rich list tells the story of China
Dr Li from Sydney University pointed out China's rich list has been constantly changing, compared to other countries like Australia where mining magnates dominate for years.
"China is a country that is constantly disrupting itself," she said.
"When you look into China's economy, the economy is going through a very big restructuring and really trying to find new sources of growth.
"Technology is being seen as one of the very core areas for growth in China now."
Dr Wei Li says China wants to become self-reliant in the tech sector.
She said in the past, industries like infrastructure, manufacturing and real estate dominated, but the momentum has shifted to a growth in technology and the environmental renewables sector.
She said she expected to see future rich-listers come from both the tech sector, where China seeks to be self-reliant, as well as the renewable energy sector, in line with the Chinese government's aspirations towards a carbon-neutral economy.
Mr Hoogewerf said the individuals on the Hurun China Rich List "tell the story of the Chinese economy" — for example, the heads of lithium battery and solar panel companies didn't appear on the list 10 years ago, but now they do.
Solar panel makers saw their wealth drop by 80 per cent from the 2021 peak, according to the list.
Despite that, he said it was a challenging year for solar panel, lithium battery and EV makers, "as competition intensified, leading to a glut, and the threat of tariffs added to uncertainties".
"Solar panel makers saw their wealth down as much as 80 per cent from the 2021 peak, whilst battery and EV makers were down by half and a quarter respectively."
He added that half of the entrepreneurs on the 2024 list were not on the list five years ago, and eight out of 10 were not on it 10 years ago.
"The old guard, represented by real estate developers, have given way to a new guard of tech, new energy, consumer electronics, especially smart phones, ecommerce, especially cross-border ecommerce, consumer products and healthcare."
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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