Of the top 10 billionaires in Asia, 7 are from China

Business Times

18 hours ago

[SINGAPORE] Some of the richest billionaires in the world are from Asia, and helm companies across a variety of sectors such as software and technology, energy, consumer and retail. Of the top 10, seven are from China.
But amid this year's volatility, how are the net worths of the top billionaires in Asia affected? Trump's tariffs have affected major trading partners to varying degrees, and different sectors.
Markets have also see-sawed this year in response. China's stock market, however, has been on the rise in the past few months. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at its highest level in a decade at 3,728.03 on Aug 18, Reuters indicated.
Here are Asia's 10 richest billionaires and how much their net worth has gone up or down, based on Bloomberg data:
1. Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of his family business and multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries, is the richest man in Asia. He is ranked 16th in the world, with a net worth of US$99.6 billion, up 9.9 per cent or US$9 billion year to date (YTD).
He was in charge of creating the world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery in Jamnagar, India. In 2010, it was producing 660,000 barrels per day, or 33 million tonnes per year.
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His father, Dhirubhai Ambani, founded Reliance Industries in 1958. It began as a small venture firm trading commodities – especially spices and polyester yarn.
Born on Apr 19, 1957, the younger Ambani joined the company at the age of 24, first taking charge of a yarn manufacturing project.
To date, the business has diversified into the areas of energy, petrochemicals, retail and telecommunications, with a total market capitalisation of 20.7 trillion rupees (S$308.3 billion).
The younger Ambani also owns the Mumbai Indians cricket team.
2. Gautam Adani
The 63-year-old is the founder of Adani Group, one of India's major infrastructure conglomerates. His net worth stands at US$77.3 billion, down 1.8 per cent or US$1.4 billion YTD. Adani is the 21st richest man in the world.
Adani Group is the largest private port operator in India with a market capitalisation of over 200 billion rupees, handling around 25 per cent of the nation's cargo and more than 10 ports. Its power arm – Adani Power – has a capacity of 15,250 megawatts, and emerged as India's largest power producer in 2014.
Adani was a Mumbai diamond trader for Mahendra Brothers in 1978, before he started Adani Group's flagship company Adani Enterprises in 1988.
He was kidnapped and held for ransom in 1997, and was formerly the richest person in Asia, having surpassed the older Ambani in February 2022.
3. Zhong Shanshan
Zhong is the founder and chairman of Chinese bottled water and soft drink company Nongfu Spring. He has a net worth of US$68.5 billion, which increased US$13.6 billion YTD, and is China's richest billionaire.
The Hangzhou-based beverage business recorded a revenue of 42.9 billion yuan (S$7.7 billion) in 2024, as the largest bottled water maker in China. It is also one of the biggest beverage companies in the world, having beaten Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Watsons before as a best-selling packaged beverage brand.
The businessman is also the major shareholder of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, a vaccine and hepatitis test kit manufacturer with a revenue of 2.2 billion yuan last year. He is ranked as the 24th richest man in the world.
4. Ma Huateng
Ma is the co-founder and chief executive of Tencent, a Chinese instant messaging, mobile gaming and online payment service provider. His net worth is valued at US$64.3 billion, with a 33.3 per cent YTD increase of US$16 billion.
He also goes by the English nickname 'Pony', as Ma means horse in Chinese, and is China's second richest man and 25th richest in the world. Ma was a deputy to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress and a delegate in the 12th National People's Congress before.
His company, based in Shenzhen, reported revenue of 660 billion yuan for 2024, and owns China's largest instant messaging service WeChat. Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot DeepSeek in May acknowledged Tencent's role in offering a technical solution to address a persistent issue in its system.
5. Zhang Yiming
Zhang is the co-founder of Bytedance, the social media group behind video-sharing app TikTok. His net worth stands at US$59.6 billion, up US$15.7 billion YTD, as the 27th richest man in the world.
The Chinese Internet entrepreneur founded his Beijing-based company in 2012, which owns news aggregator service Toutiao and Douyin (TikTok in mainland China and Hong Kong). His company also bought Musical.ly in 2016 for US$800 million and integrated it into TikTok.
The surging popularity of TikTok in recent years has propelled Zhang's wealth, leading him to become the richest man in China in 2024. He stepped down as Bytedance's CEO in May 2021, though he continues to hold over 50 per cent of the company's voting rights.
6. Tadashi Yanai
The 76-year-old Japanese CEO and founder of Fast Retailing, the parent company of popular clothing brand Uniqlo, has a net worth of US$51.5 billion. His net worth is up 1.1 per cent YTD or US$575.3 million, and he continues to be the richest man in Japan.
Fast Retailing is the largest clothing retailer in Asia, and owns other brands besides Uniqlo such as GU, J Brand and Theory. The CEO is known for checking stores unannounced, and is rarely recognised, based on Bloomberg Intelligence.
Yanai was also an independent director on Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank's board for 18 years, before stepping down in 2019.
He has a house in central Tokyo with a mini-golf range in the garden, and also owns two golf courses on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
7. Lei Jun
Lei is the founder and chairman of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which is often seen as a competitor of Apple and Samsung. His net worth is valued at US$44.1 billion, which has risen by US$14.4 billion or 48.7 per cent YTD, as the fourth-richest man in China.
He is also known as the 'Steve Jobs in China'. The billionaire's company was named a Fortune Global 500 company in 2019, becoming the youngest corporation on the list at the time. Xiaomi is known to sell its products at cheaper and more competitive prices, such as when the company's handset in China was a third of the price of Apple's iPhone 5.
Before he founded Xiaomi, Lei was CEO of software developer Kingsoft. He has served as congressman of the National People's Congress since 2013.
8. Robin Zeng Yuqun
The founder and chairman of Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has a net worth of US$42.6 billion, up 10 per cent YTD or US$3.9 billion.
Zeng first founded Amperex Technology (ATL) in 1999 with two others, where the company produced lithium polymer batteries for digital gadgets such as iPhones. In 2012, Zeng and his vice-chairman Huang Shilin hived off the electric vehicle battery operations of ATL into CATL.
CATL listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2017, and the group has ventured into the areas of renewable energy and electrical energy storage systems since 2024.
9. Colin Huang
The Chinese businessman, investor and philanthropist is the founder of e-commerce company Pinduoduo (PDD Holdings), the largest agriculture online retailer in China. His net worth stands at US$41.7 billion, up US$7.5 billion or 22 per cent YTD.
Founded in 2015, Shanghai-based PDD Holdings also owns popular online marketplace platform Temu. The company was listed on the Nasdaq in 2018, after it raised US$1.6 billion in investment-backed capital.
Huang stepped down as CEO of the company in 2020 but remained its chairman until 2021. He was named the leading philanthropist on the 2021 Hurun China Philanthropy List, after he pledged US$1.85 billion for social responsibility projects and scientific research.
10. Jack Ma
The Chinese billionaire is the co-founder of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group with a net worth of US$41.6 billion, up US$7.4 billion or 21.6 per cent YTD.
He started the business with US$60,000 in cash gathered from 18 people, based on Bloomberg Intelligence. Co-founded in 1999 and based in Hangzhou, Alibaba Group runs popular online shopping site Taobao and Tmall, a facilitator of online stores. It recorded revenue of 996 billion yuan in the year ended March.
In 2020, he disappeared from the public eye after his outspoken criticism of regulators derailed Ant Group's initial public offering in 2020 – until his political rehabilitation became more clear when he appeared at a Beijing summit hosted by Xi Jinping on Feb 17 with other top corporate leaders.