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China’s top 10 tycoons add US$100 billion of wealth while Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan founders surrender US$29 billion in market’s worst year since 2008

  • A 68 per cent rally in Tesla battery supplier CATL has enriched founder Zeng and a group of top executives
  • The founders of Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan, the trio at the centre of China’s tech crackdown, lost a combined US$29 billion

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Pedestrians walk along the Bund in Shanghai on December 28 with the city’s financial district in the background. Photo: Bloomberg
Cheryl Heng
In the worst year for Chinese stocks since 2008, China’s 10 biggest winners gained almost US$100 billion of additional wealth. Global investors, facing an onslaught of regulatory crackdowns and economic slowdown, were US$5.2 trillion poorer in the broader sell-off.
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Topping the list is Robin Zeng Yuqun, the chairman and founder of electric-car battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technologies, or CATL, whose fortunes grew as its shares jumped 68 per cent in Shenzhen after a 252 per cent surge in 2020. The rally also enriched a score of senior executives at the parts-supplier to Tesla.

Zhang Yiming, China’s richest man under 40 according to Hurun, came a close second as the value of his closely-held ByteDance soared even as the unicorn struggled to pin down its stock listing plan. As the group faces break-up pressures from the US, the founder has decided to retreat from the corporate scene.
CATL’s CEO Robin Zeng gained US$21 billion.
CATL’s CEO Robin Zeng gained US$21 billion.

Lu Xiangyang, the vice-chairman of BYD Co, ranked third in garnering extra wealth as the carmaker jostled with a plethora of rival manufacturers for a bigger share of the world’s biggest EV market. The stock, favoured by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has risen this year.

In summary, the country’s top 10 wealth builders accumulated US$99.5 billion of extra wealth through December 29, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On the opposite end, the top bosses from Post owner Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Meituan lost a combined US$29 billion.

China: 10 Chinese tycoons with biggest wealth gains in 2021

Rank Entrepreneur  Company  Gain (US$bn)
1 Robin Zeng Yuqun  Contemporary Amperex 21.0
2 Zhang Yiming  ByteDance 19.5
3 Lu Xiangyang  BYD 9.6
4 Huang Shilin   Contemporary Amperex 8.9
5 Wei Jianjun  Great Wall Motor 7.3
6  Zhang Bo  China Hongqiao Group 7.2
7 Jin Baofang  JA Solar Technology 7.0
8 Gao Jifan  Trina Solar  6.6
9 Wang Chuanfu  BYD 6.5
10 Pei Zhenhua  Contemporary Amperex 5.9
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It was tough luck for global investors. The MSCI China Index, a gauge of 741 companies representing the world’s second-largest economy, fell 25 per cent, the worst since a 52 per cent setback in 2008. About US$5.2 trillion of value evaporated in the slump.

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