Owners of online retailers increase their wealth during pandemic
June 30, 2020 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
Founders and controlling shareholders of major online retailers are among the biggest gainers in wealth, according to a recent Hurun research report. Chinese billionaires claimed six positions among the top 10 fastest risers during the four months ending on May 31. Huang Zheng of Chinese “social shopping” site Pinduoduo was the fastest wealth riser on the Hurun Global Rich List Top 100 over the past four months, with his wealth almost doubling after strong gains of Pinduoduo shares. Liu Qiangdong of JD Group and Xu Hang of Chinese medical equipment maker Mindray were also among the top 10 fastest risers. The two biggest wealth gainers from the Hurun Top 100 were Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Pinduoduo’s Huang, who added USD20 billion and USD18 billion to their fortunes, respectively.
Founder of popular video conferencing app Zoom, Yuan Zheng, also saw his wealth tripled from USD4.5 billion in January to USD13 billion as of May. Other big wealth gainers include Elon Musk, Haitian Soy Sauce’s Pang Kang and New Hope Group’s Liu Yonghao. Consumer demand for online services and daily necessities have pushed up market valuations of digital and consumer goods firms, creating new wealth in these industries.
In the four months to May 31, China added three individuals to the world’s top 100 billionaires, with the U.S., Russia and Italy each adding one. As many as 60% of the Hurun Global Rich List Top 100 saw their wealth rise or remain the same over this period, whilst 40% were down. Luxury and investment conglomerates were the worst hit, with Bernard Arnault of LVMH and Warren Buffett each seeing USD18 billion wiped from their wealth, the Shanghai Daily reports.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world