The number of Chinese billionaires is increasing at a record pace – despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic – thanks to booming share prices and new stock listings, according to the Hurun China Rich List 2020 published last week. There were around 2,400 individuals with a net worth of more than CNY2 billion in August, giving them a combined net worth of USD4 trillion – more than the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of Germany. More wealth was created this year than in the previous five years combined, with China’s rich-listers adding USD1.5 trillion, roughly half the size of Britain’s GDP. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, retained the top spot for the third year in a row, with his personal wealth jumping 45% to USD58.8 billion partly due to the impending mega-listing of fintech firm Ant Group. Ant plans to raise an estimated USD35 billion through a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Jack Ma was followed by Ma Huateng (USD57.4 billion) of gaming firm and WeChat owner Tencent, who made an extra 50% despite concerns about his firm’s U.S. prospects.

Booming stock markets and new listings have created five new dollar billionaires in China each week for the past year, said Rupert Hoogewerf, the Hurun Report’s Chairman. “The world has never seen this much wealth created in just one year. China’s entrepreneurs have done much better than expected. Despite Covid-19 they have risen to record levels”, Hoogewerf said. China has accelerated capital market reforms to aid a virus-hit economy and accelerate economic restructuring. To expedite initial public offerings (IPOs), regulators launched a U.S.-style IPO system on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market and Shenzhen’s ChiNext. Chinese corporate listings in Hong Kong and on Nasdaq have also turbocharged the fortunes of company founders. Zhong Shanshan, who recently listed his bottled water maker Nongfu Spring Co in Hong Kong, shot straight into the top 3 with USD53.7 billion. The wealth of He Xiaopeng surged 80% to USD6.6 billion after the listing of his electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors in New York during the summer.

The report also highlights China’s accelerated shift away from traditional sectors like manufacturing and real estate, toward e-commerce, fintech and other new economy industries. Wang Xing, Founder of food delivery app Meituan, quadrupled his wealth and jumped 52 places to 13th in the list with USD25 billion, while Liu Qiangdong, Founder of online shopping platform JD.com doubled his fortune to USD23.5 billion. Health-care entrepreneurs also moved up the list on the back of the pandemic, with Jiang Rensheng, Founder of vaccine-maker Zhifei, tripling his value to USD19.9 billion. The coronavirus boosted the fortunes of Alibaba’s Ma and other internet entrepreneurs as the shutdown to fight the virus propelled demand for online shopping and business tools. The fortune of Eric Yuan of California-based video conference platform Zoom rose by more than USD10 billion to USD16.2 billion, the Shanghai Daily reports.