What does Hurun China Rich List 2024 tell us?
“Half of the entrants were not on the list just five years ago, and 80 percent were absent a decade ago. This reflects the profound transformations occurring within China’s wealth creation landscape.”
In 2022, I published an article introducing the Hurun China Rich List for that year. While preparing today's piece, I realized I hadn’t covered the 2023 edition. I can’t recall the exact reason—perhaps I simply forgot. The rich list offers valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges faced by various industries in China, which is why I’ve chosen to introduce the Hurun China Rich List 2024 today.
On Oct. 29, 2024, the Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun China Rich List 2024. This is the 26th edition of the list since 1999 when British businessman Rupert Hoogewerf -- whose Chinese name is 胡润 Hu Run -- first started compiling a ranking of China's richest individuals.
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, 41, topped the list for the first time with 350 billion yuan (about 49.3 billion U.S. dollars) in wealth, followed by Zhong Shanshan, founder of bottled water giant Nongfu Spring (09633.HK), and Pony Ma, founder of Chinese internet giant Tencent (00700.HK).
Industrial products, consumer products, healthcare, real estate, and food & beverages were the top five contributors to the wealth of the entrants on the list. By wealth shares, consumer products replaced real estate as the top-performing sector.
“Half of the entrants were not on the list just five years ago, and 80 percent were absent a decade ago. This reflects the profound transformations occurring within China’s wealth creation landscape,” according to Rupert Hoogewerf.
Below are the highlights of the list, according to Hurun Research Institute.
Hurun Research found 1,094 individuals with more than CNY 5 billion (equivalent to US$700 million), down 12 percent or 147 individuals from last year. The total wealth of entrepreneurs on the list was US$3tn, down 10 percent from last year.
Number of dollar billionaires down 142 to 753. This means China has lost 432 or just over a third of its billionaires since the high water mark of 1185 in 2021. There are 132 or 21 percent more billionaires than five years ago, when there were only 621.
‘Short Video King’ Zhang Yiming, 41, topped the Hurun China Rich List for the first time with US$49.3bn and becoming the 18(th) Number One in China in 26 years. ByteDance's global revenue grew 30 percent last year to US$110 billion, with users in the US of its TikTok app closing in on 200 million.
‘Bottled Water King’ Zhong Shanshan, 70, lost his top spot for the first time in three years, dropping down to second with US$47.9bn, down 24 percent or US$15.5bn, the biggest drop of the year, after a backlash in February against his bottled water business Nongfu Spring. Zhong’s other main source of wealth, infectious disease diagnostics business Wantai BioPharm had a good year.
Pony Ma Huateng, 53, down one place to third with US$44.4bn, up 13 percent. Tencent’s revenues rose 9.8 percent, while profits rose 36 percent on the back of a growth in its overseas games. By the end of last year, WeChat had 1.3 billion users.
54 new faces, the lowest in 20 years. The biggest number came from Taiwan, on the back of a good stock market performance and the boom in computing power. Others included Charlwin Mao Wenchao, 39, and Miranda Qu Fang, 39, of popular social media app Xiaohongshu with US$2.5bn and US$1.7bn, as well as Zhou Shengfu, 46, of freight logistics platform Huolala, with US$2.4bn.
201 dropped off this year, bringing the total number of drop-offs since the 2021 peak to 673 individuals.
Industrial Products and Consumer Products led with 13 percent and 11 percent of the Hurun China Rich List, showing China’s manufacturing strength, followed by Healthcare with 9.7 percent.
127 were 40 or under, up 26, of which 32 were self-made, down 7.
30 were born in the 1990s, 11 more than last year, of which 3 were self-made. Seattle-based Wang Shuo of HR services platform Deel overtook Nie Yunchen of bubble tea brand Heytea to become the richest self-made Under30 with US$990mn.
The average age is 61, two years older than last year.
Shanghai overtook Shenzhen for the first time since 2013 to become the city with the highest concentration of entrepreneurs on the list after Beijing. Beijing was still top, but by the smallest margin since records began, only three ahead of second-placed Shanghai. Taipei jumped to 6(th) place.
153 live in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan, up 11, accounting for 14 percent of the list. Of those, 97 reside in Taiwan, 15 more than last year, and 56 in Hong Kong, 4 fewer than last year. 30 live overseas, led by the US and Singapore. Singapore jumped 6 places to 14(th) most popular city to live in for the Hurun China Rich List.
23.5 percent are women, similar to last year, of which 70 percent are self-made. Kelly Zong Fuli, 42, overtook Kwong Siu-ching to become China's richest woman for the first time.
Delegates to the NPC or CPPCC up from 6.5 percent of the list last year to 7 percent this year. 39 were delegates to the CPPCC, down 3, and 36 delegates to the NPC, down 3.
7 from last year’s list passed away: Tang Xiao’ou of SenseTime in December at the age of 55; Xu Gang of LB in May at the age of 61; Cai Hongzhu of Hubei Daohuaxiang in December at the age of 73; Shen Wenrong of Suzhou-based Sha Steel in June at the age of 78; former Number One Zong Qinghou of Hangzhou-based Wahaha in February at the age of 79; Hui Man-Long of Chi Mei in November at the age of 96.
Those born in the Year of the Rabbit continue to be the best wealth creators, with the most individuals on the list for an unprecedented 13(th) year. Dragons and Snakes were second and third. Those born in the Year of the Horse had a good year, whilst those born in the Year of the Rooster dropped down the most.
In 1997, Hoogewerf moved to Shanghai to work as an accountant. Two years later, Hoogewerf, founder and chief researcher of Hurun Report, released China’s first rich list, aiming to showcase to the world the economic transformations unfolding in the country.
The year after the list’s debut, he reached out to Southern Weekly and received his first interview in Chinese within China. Now, more than two decades later, Southern Weekly once again sat down with Hoogewerf to delve into the latest economic dynamics of China through the lens of his list. Below is the interview translated by GRR.
1. Significant changes in China’s wealth creation landscape
Southern Weekly: Looking back on the previous editions of the Rich List, what do you think are the key stages in China’s economic development over the past two decades?
Rupert Hoogewerf: China’s economy experienced rapid growth concurrent with its urbanization process when numerous real estate enterprises developed. That marked the first stage.
In the second stage, the internet boomed, evolving from emails and search engines to gaming and e-commerce. Today, China has entered a more advanced phase in the internet industry, marked by the rise of short video platforms.
Zhang Yiming, China’s wealthiest individual this year, epitomizes the transformative era of short videos. As the first person born after the 1980s to top the list and an entrepreneur who started from scratch, his influence is comparable to Microsoft’s in the computer sector. Short videos have fundamentally changed the way people access information and communicate. They have even influenced the presidential election in the United States.
In the third stage, the focus shifted to new energy. Zeng Yuqun, founder of lithium battery provider CATL (300750.SZ), claimed sixth place on the 2024 Rich List.
Southern Weekly: If the internet has indeed evolved to a more advanced stage, what new era might we be entering next?
Rupert Hoogewerf: We are entering a phase of emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, which feature extensive and interwoven industrial chains. For instance, AI large language models and computing power, robotics and LiDAR technology, as well as the low-altitude economy and drones are all industries that are expected to develop in tandem.
What struck me most about this year’s list is that half of the entrants were not present on the list just five years ago, and 80 percent were absent a decade prior. This reflects the profound transformations occurring within China’s wealth creation landscape. On one hand, traditional sectors such as real estate have seen a slowdown, while on the other hand, emerging industries are experiencing rapid growth.
Those changes are particularly evident in our start-up series. In addition to the Hurun Rich List and the Hurun 500, we also publish start-up series, including the Hurun Global Unicorn List, the Hurun China Under30s, the Hurun China Under35s, and the Hurun China Under40s.
The Hurun China Under35s, for example, is largely made up of individuals born in the 1990s. This year, a significant portion of entrants engage in industries like software services, healthcare, and consumer goods, with a particular focus on emerging areas such as AI, laser radar, surgical robots, and pet consumption.
It’s been just two years since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, yet the AI chatbot has already had a significant impact on various industries. Looking ahead 30 or 40 years from now, could AI exponentially improve business efficiency across all sectors? Might brain-machine interface technology reach a high level of sophistication? And could nanotechnology achieve near-perfection?
I find the possibilities both exciting and daunting. It raises the question: In such a future, what roles will humans play?
Southern Weekly: What sets entrepreneurs from different eras apart?
Rupert Hoogewerf: First-generation entrepreneurs, like Li Ka-shing, often started by setting up a stall or running a small business. Due to limited access to capital, they built their wealth gradually and steadily.
Second-generation entrepreneurs began to attract some investment as capital markets grew gradually, albeit not as mature as they are today.
By the time third-generation entrepreneurs emerged, capital had become a more prominent factor, with greater access to funding. At first, foreign investment might be a significant source, but now China has developed its own stock exchanges.
Chinese coffee behemoth Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ: LKNCY) is the most typical example of start-ups at this stage. It made history by achieving the world’s fastest initial public offering (IPO). Similarly, Moonshot AI, founded in March 2023, saw its valuation surpass 20 billion yuan within its first year. Their rapid growth reflects the mindset of investors eager to pour significant capital into the latest trends。
Sometimes bubbles may form, but I tend to have a relatively positive view of them. Take the electric vehicle sector, for instance. While it has faced its share of bubbles that led to the bankruptcy of many companies, there's an upside: bubbles often signal which industries are at the forefront of current trends.
The second difference is that first-generation entrepreneurs focused on the Chinese market in the early stage, whereas entrepreneurs born in the 1980s and 1990s quickly embraced globalization after starting their own businesses. Notable examples include ByteDance, Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD), and international fashion e-commerce platform SHEIN, which does not even consider China its primary market.
The swift globalization of these companies can be attributed to the strategic decisions made by their founders, their talent team, and of course, the funding support they’ve received.
Another difference lies in educational backgrounds. First-generation entrepreneurs often lacked formal education, achieving success through their courage and the opportunities they seized. Today, however, many young entrepreneurs are graduates of prestigious universities.
Our start-up lists demonstrate this trend. The majority of the entrants under 35 are graduates from Tsinghua University, followed closely by Peking University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. This is not entirely accidental, I believe.
Yang Zhilin, founder of Moonshot AI, is an alumnus of Tsinghua University. While entrepreneurs from Shantou, like Li Ka-shing, are often associated with traditional industries, this 31-year-old entrepreneur from Shantou has broken the mold by venturing into the field of AI.
2. A golden era of entrepreneurship
Southern Weekly: For the first time, the number of entrepreneurs with wealth of over 5 billion yuan declined for three straight years. What’s your view on this change?
Rupert Hoogewerf: One factor to consider is the publication date of our list, which included data by the end of August, right before China’s A-share market skyrocketed. Following the stock market rally, some businesses saw their market capitalization surge back.
People often ask me, “What’s your view on the Chinese economy?” My response is this: I’m uncertain about its short-term prospects over the next one or two years, but over the long term -- say, 10 or 20 years -- I have full confidence that it will continue to thrive. I am confident in the overall development of China’s economy.
At present, China is investing heavily in industries that are the most promising ones in the world, like consumer electronics and new energy. And China also encourages the development of robotics, AI, and other emerging industries.
Without a doubt, these industries belong to the future. Some may point to the chip problem which could be challenging to address in the next year or two. However, will things improve in the long run, say in 10 years? I believe they will.
Southern Weekly: Are we still in the golden era of entrepreneurship?
Rupert Hoogewerf: Some may say no, as China’s challenging economic climate and slowing growth have dampened consumer confidence and led to consumption downgrading. However, I hold a different perspective. I believe we are currently in a golden era of entrepreneurship -- perhaps even the most opportune period ever -- for starting new ventures.
In fact, the ongoing economic slowdown, combined with technologies that are fundamentally changing our lives and consumption habits, provides unique opportunities. Bitcoin, for example, was born during the 2008 global financial crisis. Was its emergence an accident? I don’t believe so.
Today we may have doubts about the outlook of traditional industries, but at the same time we recognize that emerging industries will thrive and create numerous opportunities.
Following the introduction of ChatGPT, Chinese businesses quickly entered the field to offer chatbot-based AI solutions. Interestingly, it’s start-ups like Moonshot AI -- rather than tech giants like Tencent and ByteDance -- that have seized the opportunity to shine. In the large AI model sector, entrepreneurs under 35 are particularly prevalent.
Southern Weekly: Why did start-ups get the chance?
Rupert Hoogewerf: On average, unicorns are only nine years old. Entrepreneurs at various stages of their business focus on different sectors, depending on the stage they are in, the maturity of an industry, and the areas investors are watching closely.
Unicorns embody the vitality of the future economy. If a country lacks global conglomerates, it may experience a gradual decline. An economy is truly vibrant only when both large and small firms flourish. A country with a greater number of unicorns will enjoy sounder economic development and have brighter prospects.
Globally, the U.S. produces the most unicorns and China comes second. Together, the two countries account for 60 to 70 percent of the world’s unicorn companies.
For entrepreneurs, the key to success lies in seizing the opportunity. AI and humanoid robots, for example, exhibit promising future trends. While every entrepreneur is aware of these trends, not everyone understands how to harness them for personal success.
After the launch of ChatGPT, you may just get surprised and say, “Wow!” But what did Yang Zhilin say? “Wow! I’m going to develop the Chinese version of ChatGPT.” That’s the difference. When you have a super good idea and someone—whether it’s a friend or a friend of a friend— is willing to invest in your idea, you just might become the next richest person.
It’s been more than 25 years since our first list. And we have seen big changes in its entrants. Some have aged or passed away, others have been put behind bars, and some have seemingly vanished, possibly having fled. So we continually seek out new entrepreneurs to feature on our list and to support their endeavors.
Of course, a firm cannot exist as a unicorn forever and must graduate much like a university student one day. Recently, the capital market has welcomed few IPOs and some Chinese businesses have opted to go public overseas. The entrepreneurship ecosystem is vital. Investors typically seek returns within an average period of seven years, sometimes extending to 10 years. However, if the investment cycle lengthens beyond that, it may indicate that something is wrong.
3. “Billionaire” not a good word
Southern Weekly: What is the biggest challenge in accurately calculating the wealth of billionaires?
Rupert Hoogewerf: Lack of transparency. We can only rely on publicly reported information, and have no access to non-public information about so-called “vampire billionaires”. Terrified of daylight, they conceal their wealth through various means, such as saving their money across multiple banks and moving their assets offshore.
Another category of billionaires are small shareholders in large firms like ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba. Their personal wealth can exceed 5 billion yuan even with a stake of just tenths of a percent share in the company. However, their wealth information is not visible.
In some other cases, the personal wealth of billionaires only becomes public knowledge during divorce proceedings. Few entrepreneurs, therefore, are inclined to divorce.
This means some people may not be included in our wealth listings as we claim.
In fact, the Rich List represents merely a transient phase for entrepreneurs. There is also the Philanthropy List.
Some entrepreneurs don’t want to see their name on the list. They often reach out to me for advice. Typically, there are two approaches. First, they could experience poor stock performance, which entrepreneurs are unwilling to accept, though.
Second, they could donate their money based on the threshold of the Rich List. Let’s say, the current threshold is 5 billion yuan and their wealth amounts to 10 billion yuan. Just donate 5 billion yuan, and they would remove themselves from the Rich List and potentially appear on the Philanthropy List.
Southern Weekly: How much money does a person truly need on earth?
Rupert Hoogewerf: Five billion yuan could be more than sufficient to support several generations. For instance, if an individual has three children, each could inherit approximately 1.3 billion yuan. By the time the third generation comes along, and assuming each of them also has three children, the inheritance per grandchild would be about 400 million yuan. Moving to the fourth generation, each child of the grandchild would then inherit around 100 million yuan.
For many, 100 million yuan guarantees financial freedom. It allows one the choice to forgo traditional employment if they wish to.
Recently, an entrepreneur in his nineties passed away, leaving behind a fortune close to a hundred billion. It made me wonder: “Why did he still have so much wealth at such an advanced age? Why hadn’t he donated it?” Of course, I’m not in a position to judge such actions; I simply don’t understand it.
I really don’t like using the word “billionaire” to describe the entrants on the Rich List, since it seems to just relate to a group with high spending power. I think “super wealth creator” might be better. Why do governments across the world hope to attract these individuals to their region? Because they have the potential to stimulate local industrial growth and generate wealth for the area.