49-year old Zhang Yin pole-vaulted to the top spot from No. 36 in last year’s ranking on the back of the listing of Nine Dragons Paper in Hong Kong, finishing ahead of GoMe’s founder Huang Guangyu. Zhang’s personal fortune of US$3.4 billion makes her the richest self-made woman in the world and the first time a woman has topped the China Rich List.
Zhang Yin, the first woman to top the China Rich List, is de-facto top of Hurun Report’s first Richest Women of China ranking with a personal fortune of US$3.4 billion. Second comes 35-year old metal trader Chen Ningning and her mother (US$800m) and third is Beijing property developer 65-year old Chen Lihua (US$750m).
In just five short years, Shi Zhengrong has built Suntech Power into one of the world’s leading solar cell manufacturers listing on the NYSE at the end of 2005 with a market cap today of US$3.5 billion. Born in Jiangsu, Shi completed his undergraduate and masters in China before heading off to Australia to complete his doctorate.
Property has created more private wealth in China than any other sector. Of the ten richest individuals from the China Rich List, six are property developers with a further two listing property as one of their key industries. “The stories of these property tycoons tell the story of China’s property boom,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, CEO of Hurun Report, a luxury business magazine in China.
35-year old Ding Lei takes back top place from 33-year old Chen Tianqiao on the IT Rich List with a personal fortune of US$1.1 billion. Whilst there has been a surge in the value of Tencent and FocusMedia over the past year, other more established players such as Shanda and Baidu have seen their stocks fall.
Nine of the ten richest finance tycoons made their money from either Ping’An or Minsheng Bank, both listed companies. A few select individuals have been allowed to buy into some of the city commercial banks, such as Lu Guanqiu in Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Wang Wenjing in Beijing Bank, Yin Minshan in Chongqing Commercial Bank and Xu Wanmao in Ningbo Commercial Bank.
37-year old Huang Guangyu surges ahead widening the gap between him and his nearest rival in the stakes to be China’s leading retail tycoon. This past year Huang cashed out a further US$520 million from the sale of GoMe outlets in his private holding company to his listed vehicle, making him China’s cash-richest individual.
