By Nakiwala Barbra
Zhang Yiming, co-founder of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, has risen to the top of the 2024 Hurun China Rich List, with an estimated wealth of $49.3 billion.
The 41-year-old entrepreneur’s ascent follows ByteDance’s impressive 30% revenue growth last year, reaching $110 billion. Since its 2017 launch, TikTok has gained massive global popularity, becoming a defining social media platform and paving the way for other Chinese companies eager to enter the US and global markets.
However, TikTok is also facing increasing scrutiny in the US, where it has nearly 200 million users. ByteDance and TikTok are fighting federal and state lawsuits over alleged failures to protect children and a law that could ban the app unless its US operations are spun off, citing national security concerns. TikTok denies these allegations and similar concerns raised by other countries, including India, Canada, and Australia.
Zhang, who co-founded ByteDance in 2012, stepped down as CEO in 2021 but retains a 20% stake in the company, which also owns popular Chinese apps Douyin and Toutiao. His rise displaces Zhong Shanshan, China’s “bottled water king,” who held the top spot for three years. In third place is Tencent founder Pony Ma.
Despite Zhang’s success, the number of billionaires in China has dropped for the third consecutive year. China now has 753 US-dollar billionaires, down 142 from last year, and has lost over a third of its billionaires since peaking at 1,185 in 2021. Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman, attributed the decline to a challenging year for China’s economy and stock markets.
