T + T – Normal size
Zhang Yiming, co-founder of ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has become China’s richest person, with a fortune of $45.6 billion, according to Forbes estimates.
Yiming has overtaken Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, a bottled water producer, whose fortune is estimated at $43.3 billion.
This is due to the decline in the wealth of Shanshan, 69 years old, by $4.4 billion, after the Hong Kong-listed shares of Nongfu Spring fell by 7.5%, since announcing negative business results on August 28.
Yiming, 40, has maintained his net worth despite the valuation of unlisted ByteDance falling to $217 billion from its peak of $400 billion in 2021, according to Forbes estimates.
The 69-year-old beverage tycoon, who has topped the list of China’s richest people for three years in a row, has struggled to grow his bottled water business, Nongfu Spring. ByteDance has been in deep trouble since Zhang Yiming resigned in 2021, handing the reins to his college roommate Liang Ruopu. Yiming is now based in Singapore.
