The Hurun Research Institute released its annual rich list for 2017. 2,130 individuals in China now have fortunes equivalent to the economy of the U.K.
The latest edition of the Hurun China Rich List 2017 reports 74 individuals joined the group with fortunes of more than $300 million, adding to the 2,056 who made last year’s list.The total combined assets of the group now stand at $2.6 trillion, roughly the same size as the GDP of the United Kingdom.
1184 ultra high net worths (UHNW), of which 348 are new faces, saw their wealth increase. Average wealth rose 12.5 percent to $1.2 billion, with the top 100 shooting up 60 percent year on year.
Real Estate Rules
Property tycoon Xu Jiayin, 59, of Evergrande, saw his wealth all but quadruple to $43 billion, to become the twelfth person to top the list since records began 19 years ago. The wealth of Pony Ma, 46, of Tencent, rose 52 percent to $37 billion, surpassing Jack Ma, 53, of Alibaba into second place. The big two are still from real estate and IT, however this year Xu Jiayin replaced Wang Jianlin, and Pony Ma replaced Jack Ma.
Three new faces made the Top 10, real estate developer Yang Huiyan, 36, of Country Garden, Wang Wei of SF Express, and Li Shufu of car firm Geely.
Jack Ma the Wealth Creator
Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial have 43 shareholders on this year’s list. According to the latest records, Jack Ma’s holdings in Ant Financial have sunk from 35 percent down to 1.2 percent, which is on a par with Ren Zhengfei’s shareholding in Huawei. Had Jack Ma kept his 35 percent, he would have been China’s Number One.
«China’s entrepreneurs have come a long way. Back in 1999, when I put out the first list, I managed to rank 50 people. Today we have almost that number just from Alibaba,» said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher.
