The TMT, or technology, media and telecom sector has created the most billionaires in China, with 80 from the sector according to business magazine New Fortune’s 500 rich list in 2019.
China’s richest man — Tencent’s Pony Ma — is from that sector, with a personal wealth of 226.04 billion yuan.
Supported by technology, online consumption is generating more wealth. As founder and CEO of online discounter Pinduoduo, Huang Zheng’s personal wealth grew fastest, surging 1,036.3 percent from a year earlier in the latest list to 76.13 billion yuan.
Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of multimedia giant ByteDance, enters the list of top 10 richest Chinese for the first time, moving from the 232 spot last year, and his personal wealth jumped 541.7 percent year-on-year to 77 billion yuan.
Now, let’s take a look at the 10 industries that produced the most hyper-wealthy tycoons.
Pony Ma, CEO of Tencent Holdings Ltd, speaks during the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Forum in Hong Kong on June 20, 2017. (PHOTO / VCG)
No 1 TMT
Billionaire count: 80
Richest man: Pony Ma
Xu Jiayin, left, chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
No 2 Real estate
Billionaire count: 66
Richest man: Hui Ka Yan
Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, poses for a picture at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, on Sept 11, 2013. (PHOTO / VCG)
No 3 Comprehensive business
Billionaire count: 60
Richest man: Wang Jianlin and Wang Sicong
Sun Piaoyang, chairman of Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co Ltd, attends a panel discussion in Beijing on March 4, 2016. (PHOTO / IC)
No 4 Medical biology industry
Billionaire count: 50
Richest men: Sun Piaoyang and Zhong Huijuan
Wang Wei, chairman of SF Holding Co, attends the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Forum in Hong Kong on June 20, 2017. (PHOTO / VCG)
No 5 Commercial services
Billionaire count: 44
Richest man: Wang Wei
He Xiangjian, founder of Midea Group, delivers a speech at the inauguration of the new Midea headquarters in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Oct 29, 2010. (PHOTO / VCG)
No 6 Durable consumer goods industry
Billionaire count: 31
Richest man: He Xiangjian and family
Ma Jianrong, chairman of Shenzhou International, speaks at a conference in Hangzhou on Jan 24, 2016. (PHOTO / IC)
No 7 Daily consumer goods industry
Billionaire count: 30
Richest man: Ma Jianrong and Huang Guanlin
Yao Zhenhua, chairman of Baoneng Group. (PHOTO / IC)
No 8 Financial services
Billionaire count: 28
Richest man: Yao Zhenhua and his family
Workers check batteries at CATL’s automatic production facility in Ningde, Fujian province. Zeng Yuqun is founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, an electric vehicle battery maker. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
No 9 (tie) New energy and environmental protection industry
Billionaire count: 21
Richest man: Zeng Yuqun
Li Shuirong, chairman of Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group Co Ltd, attends a meeting in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province, on Dec 26, 2018. (PHOTO / IC)
No 9 (tie) Chemical industry
Billionaire count: 21
Richest man: Li Shuirong and his family
