Forbes Top 10 Richest Men in China 2022

Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma is the third richest man in China, according to Forbes and the Chief Executive Officer of Tencent, a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate which is considered the largest company in the video game industry in the world.

The Chinese business magnate who presently has a net worth of  $37.2 Billion, is the 34th richest person in the world, according to the Forbes billionaire list. In 2017, he was the first Chinese citizen to enter Forbes’ top 10 richest list ranking no 9 on the list.

Ma co-founded Tencent in November 1998. The company’s first product was instant messaging software called OICQ which was later changed to QQ a few years later, due to its similarity with American Online’s ICQ chat.  By 2004, Tencent became the largest Chinese instant messaging service.

The company also launched  WeChat in January 2011. WeChat is presently one of the largest instant messaging platforms in the world, with over 1.3 billion active users worldwide. The  Company also provide other diverse services such as web portals, e-commerce, and multiplayer online games.

4. He Xiangjian

He Xiangjian is the co-founder of Midea, one of China’s largest appliance makers. His net worth was estimated to be $28.3 billion by Bloomberg Billionaires Index, positioning him in 4th place on the list.

He began his business in 1968 with a group of 23 residents from the town of Beijiao in Guangdong Province to form a lid production workshop. In the next decade, Midea built a more diversified product line, including refrigerators and microwave ovens, which gained popularity among Chinese households.

The business went public in September 2013  and now has more than 200 subsidiaries, including Germany-based robotics firm Kuka.  Xiangjian derived the majority of his wealth from his 30% stake in the company, he also owns a 79% stake in Midea Real Estate Holding, a property management firm publicly traded in Hong Kong since October 2018.

5. William Lei Ding

William Lei Ding with a net worth of $25.2 Billion takes fifth place among the Forbes top richest men in China in 2022.  He is the 55th richest person in the world, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of NetEase, a Chinese Internet technology company providing online services centred on content, community, communications, and commerce.

Net Ease was founded in 1997 and it develops and operates online PC and mobile games, advertising services, email services and e-commerce platforms in China. It is one of the largest Internet and video game companies in the world.

William derived the majority of his fortune from his 42% stake when the company went public in 2000. He however shifted his business focus to sectors outside the Internet in 2011, including a business raising pigs that he started in an effort to allay fears about food safety in China He also owns the shares through British Virgin Islands-based Shining Globe International, according to the 2020 annual report.

6. Wang Wei

Wang Wei is the founder of S.F. Holding, the owner of China’s largest parcel delivery company. S.F. Express has more than 19,000 service outlets and delivers goods to 225 countries. He takes sixth place on the 2020 Forbes list of the richest men in China due to his estimated net worth of $24.3 Billion.

He founded the parcel delivery company in the Chinese port city of Shunde in 1993, using money borrowed from his father. The company started by offering a one-day delivery service between Hong Kong and neighbouring Shenzhen. Due to the rising demand for cross-border shipments, Wang was able to expand his business to the rest of southern China.

The company added cargo aircraft to its fleet of delivery vehicles as it began to increase its long-distance services. With more than 16,000 vehicles and 30 aircraft. The majority of Wang’s fortune is derived from a 59% stake in S.F. Holding, after it went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange through a reverse merger with Maanshan Dingtai Rare Earth & New Material in January 2017.

7. Qin Yinglin

Qin Yinglin with an estimated net worth of 24.2Billion takes 7th place on the Forbes list of the richest men in China in 2022. The  Chinese agriculture tycoon, who is often referred to as the richest farmer In the World,  is the founder and president of the pig farming company Muyuan Foodstuff.

He founded the company in 1992 with just 22 pigs, the operation grew rapidly. By 1994 they had 2,000 pigs, and by 1997 they had 10,000.  In 2010, the company received an International Finance Corporation loan and investment and by 2013, the company had developed had two wholly-owned subsidiaries and one participating company, and was raising more than one million pigs for slaughter per year.

The majority of Qin’s wealth is derived from a 54% stake in Muyuan Foodstuff after the company was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2014. 

8. Liu Shufu

The Chinese automobile billionaire Liu Shufu takes the 8th on the 2022 Forbes list of the richest men in china. He founded the  Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in November 1986. The company has however grown to be the second-largest private automobile manufacturer in China.

He founded Geely as a refrigerator parts company in 1986. They however began producing motorcycles eight years later, after Li acquired a bankrupt state-owned manufacturer. Geely became the first Chinese private carmaker in 1997. The company’s first model, the Haoqing SRV, rolled off its production line a year later. Geely expanded rapidly in the years that followed, selling more than 600,000 motorcycles and 150,000 cars by 2000.

In 2010 Geely signed a deal worth US$1.8 billion to buy Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo Cars from American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company. It was the largest foreign purchase by a Chinese car manufacturer. Along with $900m of working capital from Geely and a commitment to build a Volvo factory in China

9. Jack ma

The Chinese business Magnate Jack ma is still one of the richest men in China in 2022 despite the recent government crackdown on his company.  He is the co-founder and the former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate, with an estimated net worth of $22.8 Billion.

Jack who was once the richest man in China began his entrepreneurship career by building websites for Chinese companies with the help of friends in the US. He however founded Alibaba, one of the world’s largest retailer and e-commerce companies in his apartment in  1999 with 500,000 yuan.

In September 2014 it was reported Alibaba was raising over $25 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. Alibaba became one of the most valuable technology companies in the world after raising the full $25 billion, the largest initial public offering in US financial history.

10. Huang Shilin

Huang Shilin, the vice-chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest battery supplier for the electric vehicle industry, concludes the list with a net worth of 20.3 Billion.

CATL was founded as a spin-off of Amperex Technology Limited (ATL), a previous business founded by Robin Zeng in 1999. ATL initially manufactured lithium-polymer batteries based on licensed technology, but later developed more reliable battery designs themselves.

In 2005 ATL was acquired by Japan’s TDK company, but  Huang Shilin spun off the EV battery operations of ATL into the new company CATL.  The majority of Huang’s fortune is derived from his 11.2% stake in CATL