Real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin, 59, is the richest man in China with personal fortune doubling to US$22bn, surpassing last year's Number One Zong Qinghou, despite Zong's wealth growing 50%.
- Top 5 have seen their wealth double.
- The number of dollar billionaires is up a staggering 64 to 315 individuals this year. A decade ago there were none.
- There are three new faces in Top 5, led by 42-year old Pony Ma of Tencent at third, vehicle maker Wei Jianjun, 49, at fourth and 32-year old real estate developer Yang Huiyan.
- 559 of the Top 1000 saw their wealth grow, with 144 growing faster than 50%, mainly due to a 60% hike China's ChiNext exchange, the exchange for high growth start-ups. 252 saw their wealth shrink.
- 115 new faces, the lowest number in the last decade, mainly because of the lack of new listings.
- One in four made their money in real estate, which overtook manufacturing to become the key source of wealth for the Hurun Rich List.
- IT and entertainmenthave had a great year, with the number of individuals making their fortunes from these industries growing 20%.
- Pharmaceuticals, investments and carshave had a good year.
- The number of individuals making their money from natural resources, especially coal mining, retail, manufacturing, steel and apparel have dropped by between 5% to 10%.
- Yang Lan and Pan Shiyi are China's most popular microbloggers from the Hurun Rich List 2013, with over ten million followers each.
- The youngest self-made billionaire is 39-year-old Richard Liu Qiangdong of JD.com.
- 153 individuals on the Hurun Rich List 2013 were appointed to the 12th NPC or CPPCC, including 8 members of the CPPCC standing committee.
- While it has been a good year for monkeys and a bad year for dogs, rabbits have dominated the Hurun Rich List for yet another year, with oxen and pigs propping up the bottom yet again.
- Hainan Clearwater Bay of Agile,a luxury holiday home development targeted at Chinese from across the country, is title sponsor of the Hurun Rich List for the 5th successive year.
The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun Rich List 2013, the 15th annual ranking of the 1000 richest individuals in China. Wealth calculations are a snapshot of 15 August 2013. The Hurun Rich List 2013 is sponsored by Hainan Clearwater Bay of Agile for the fifth year running.
Despite the Shanghai Stock Exchange index dropping 1.7%, the average wealth of the Hurun Top 1000 is up 21% to a record high of US$1.04bn on average and has more than doubled since the global financial crisis of 2008, when it was US$439 million.
The cut-off to make the Top 1000 is up 12% to US$325 million, a record high, more than triple the 2008 cut-off. The cut-off to make the Top 50 has risen 500-fold in the last fifteen years, and 17-fold in the last decade.
Rupert Hoogewerf (
right), Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher said, "Strong performances in real estate and IT have driven China's richest to new records.
China's richest seem to have defied gravity this year, overcoming a slowdown in the economy and a poor stock market to hit new heights."
Hurun Rich List 2013- The Top 10
Source: Hurun Rich List 2013 sponsored by Hainan Clearwater Bay of Agile
↑ Rank increase yoy â†" Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 10
The Top 10
There are five new faces in the Top 10 this year, led by Wei Jianjun. Six made their money from real estate and three from IT.The average age of the Top Ten is 52 years, four years younger than last year.
59-year-old Wang Jianlin's wealth more than doubled to US$22 billion, making Wang the richest man in China in 2013 and the tenth Number One in fifteen years of the Hurun Rich List.
Wang, who made his name with shopping malls, has been quietly growing Wanda into one of the biggest landlords in the world, with 17 million square meters budgeted to be under management by the end of 2013. Outside of his real estate arm, in which Wang owns 61%, Wang has been expanding into entertainment, becoming the largest operator of cinema screens in the world last year after a multi-billion dollar acquisition of a US cinema chain. This summer Wang continued to add to his international acquisitions, purchasing British luxury yacht maker Sunseeker for US$520 million and announcing a US$1bn investment into a hotel and luxury apartment complex in London, as part of his plan to build one of China's biggest hotel brands. Wanda this year is targeted to make revenues of US$29bn. Wang is an important collector of art.
‘Drinks King' Zong Qinghou, 68, of the Wahaha Group might have seen his wealth grow 48% year on year but this was not enough to hold down the top spot for a record fourth time. Profits in soft drinks Wahaha were up a quarter to US$1.3bn. Zong also saw his shareholding in Wahaha jump to 95%, up from 80% last year, on the back of injection of personal investments into the group.
42-year old Pony Ma Huateng, the youngest within the Top 10, made the Top 3 for the first time, as Tencent's share price soared by over 50%, valuing Ma's 10.25% shareholding at US$10.2bn. Tencent made US$2bn of profits last year, thanks partly to the runaway success ofweixin, a communication tool somewhat equivalent to Facebook, giving it a market cap of US$90bn today, the most valuable company of anyone on this year's Hurun Rich List.
For the second year running, Wei Jianjun, 49,was one of the fastest risers of the year, with his wealth tripling to US$8.4bn and propelling Wei into the Top 5 for the first time. Since the domestic listing of vehicle-maker Great Wall Motor two years ago, Wei has seen his wealth grow eight-fold. Wei, a delegate to the 18th Party Congress at the end of last year, owns 35% of what is now the largest non-state-owned vehicle maker.
Yang Huiyan, 32, saw her wealth shoot back up by 60% to US$8.4bn, sweeping her back into the Top 10 for the first time in xx years, but still a far cry from 2007, when she was the richest person in China with US$18bn. In a very unusual move for a first generation entrepreneur, Yang Guoqiang transferred his 58% holding in property developer Country Garden to his daughter Yang Huiyan just before its listing. Country Garden made US$1bn of profits on US$7bn of sales last year.
Robin Li Yanhong,44, dropped down three places to sixth with US$8 billion, based on his 16% of Baidu. This is the second year running that Li's wealth has dropped, even if only slightly.
Yan Bin, 59, of Reignwood, also dropped down two places to sixth with US$8 billion. Yan, who is better known by his Thai name of Dr Chanchai, owns the Chinese rights for the Red Bull energy drink, which saw sales surge 40% last year to US$2bn. Yan owns prime real estate in Beijing, and continues to spend time on a US$300m London luxury apartment and hotel development.
Xu Rongmaojumped three places to eighth place with US$7bn on the back of a 49% surge in his wealth. The most consistent member of the Top 10 (Xu has only been out of the Top 10 twice in the past ten years), Xu has been devolving the running of real estate developer Shimao to his son Jason, 36, who has overseen sales rise 45% for the first half of 2013 to over US$5bn. Xu owns 64% of Shimao.
Zhang Jindong,50, jumped places to ninth, on the back of a 73% growth in his wealth to US$6.5bn. This past year, Zhang has rebranded the Chinese name of Suning, in an effort to transform it from a traditional retailer into an ecommerce power house. Zhang's shares in the group jumped to 39.75% from 28% a year ago.
Jiang Bin,47, climbed 19 places to tenth in China, after seeing the value of his 53% in microphone-maker GoerTek, a supplier of Apple, almost double to US$6.2bn.
Xu Jiayin, 55, grew his wealth 11% to US$6.2bn to keep him in the Top 10 at ninth place. Evergrande's sales in the first half of 2013 grew 27% to US$7.2bn, the largest HK-listed developer. Xu, who owns 68% of Evergrande, continues to spend heavily on his soccer team, which won the Chinese Super League for the second season in a row.
What happened to Last Year's Top 10?
Low-key Chen Lihua, 72, saw her wealth grow 9% on the back of her prime commercial property in the heart of Beijing, but this was not enough to keep her in the Top 10. Since Wu Yajun's divorce in November last year, Chen has retaken the title of Richest Self-Made Woman in the World.
Liu Yongxing,the richest man in 2001, saw his wealth decrease by 18% on the back of a slump in the alumina smelting industry, dropping him out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2008.
In November, Wu Yajun of Longfor announced she was divorcing husband Cai Kui in a US$3bn settlement, catapulting Cai into the Top 50 in his own right, and marking the most expensive divorce settlement from a wife to her husband. After the divorce, Wu has 43% of the listed stock of Longfor, and former husband Cai 29%.
Liang Wen'gen, 57, saw his wealth fall for the second consecutive year, this year by 21% on the back of a poor performance by the two listed companies under Sany, and taking Liang out of the Top 10 for the first time he was Number One in 2011. Sany, which has moved its head office to Beijing from Hunan province this year, has six people on the Hurun Rich List, the most of any company on the list.
Records Broken
It has been a year when the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell by 1.7%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index grew by 12.4% and Nasdaq was up by 20.7%.
The number of dollar billionaires has bounced back to a record high too, with 315 individuals, up 64 from last year and zero as little as ten years ago.
559 of the Top 1000 saw their wealth grow, with 144 growing faster than 50%, mainly due to a 60% hike China's ChiNext exchange, the exchange for high growth start-ups. 252 saw their wealth shrink.
115 new faces, the lowest number of new faces in the last decade, mainly because of the lack of new listings.
By comparison, last year 469 saw their wealth shrink, of which 37 shrunk by over 50%, mainly those from solar, textiles and retail sectors. Only 291 saw their wealth grow, 114 stayed the same and there were 150 new faces.
The cut-off to make the Top 50 has risen 500-fold in the last fifteen years, and 17-fold in the last decade.
Highest new entries.
Of the 115 new faces on this year's list, five jumped straight into the Top 100. Wang Wenyin of Amer is the highest new entry with a personal fortune of US$4.9bn. Amer went straight in at 387 on the Fortune Global 500 this year. Cai Kui jumped right into the Top 50 after divorcing from Wu Yajun. Renewable energy king Li Hejun of Hanergy jumped in at 83 with US$2.1bn. Legendary investor husband and wife team Xiao Jianhua and Zhou Hongwen of Tomorrow Holdings made the list for the first time straight in at 98 with US$1.95bn. Xie Zhikun of Zhongzhi made the list for the first time, also at 98.
Going International.
Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China, continues to lead the way, with the US$320 million purchase ofSunseeker, a UK luxury yacht brand, and a commitment to US$1 billion development of luxury apartments and a hotel. This follows on from last year's US$2.6bn takeover of a US cinema chain. In June, Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin of SOHO China led a consortium to purchase a 40% share in the General Motors building in New York for US$700 million, the largest direct acquisition of US real estate by a Chinese investor.Wang Jing, 41, of Xinwei Telecoms burst onto the scene earlier this year when he announced that he was going to build a US$40bn canal in Nicaragua.
In February, Li Shufu of Geely bought out the remaining shares in Manganese Bronze, maker of the London taxi, for US$18 million. Brothers Jiang Zhaobo and Jiang Lei of Pengxin finally won approval from the New Zealand government to purchase a diary business for US$160m.
Huang Nuboof Zhongkun is still in the process of trying to win approval from the Icelandic government to purchase close to 300 square kilometers of Iceland for US$200 million.
Most valuable companies.
The top ten most valuable companies on this year's list were Tencent US$90bn, Baidu US$47bn, PingAn US$45bn, China Minsheng Bank US$41bn, Alibaba US$41bn, Huawei US$37bn, Wanda US$25bn, Great Wall Motor US$21bn,Wahaha US$19bn and Haikang Satellite US$14bn
Bankruptcy
This year former solar darling Suntek, the company that Shi Zhengrong founded, declared bankruptcy, an unusual event for the Hurun Rich List. Shi, who was as high as Top 10 in 2008, still makes the list on the basis of the stock he sold when it was at the top.
Former politician
Ye Chenghai, a former vice mayor of Shenzhen, is the richest ex-politician, breaking into the Top 50 for the first time, on the back of a doubling of Salubris Pharmaceuticals' share price.
InvestorsLegendary investor Gong Hongjia and wife Chen Chunmei cashed out the best part of US$500 million this year, but still retain 20% of Hikvision. Another serial investor, Neil Shen Nanpeng has shot into the billionaire class for the first time following hikes in the share prices of Ctrip, HomeInn, Qihoo and eHouse.
Jack Ma of Alibaba Group saw his wealth continue to shoot up, this year by 70% as he prepares to take the group public in what is billed to be one of the largest IPOs coming out of the Chinese private sector.
Divorces & Disputes & ‘Helping Authorities with their Inquiries'
In November, Wu Yajun of Longfor announced she was divorcing former husband Cai Kui in a US$3bn settlement, catapulting Cai Kui into the Top 50 in his own right, and marking the most expensive divorce settlement from a wife to her husband. Du Shuanghua of Rizhao Steel has still not resolved his high profile divorce case, which Chinese media expects to involve another record divorce settlement.
A dispute between Guo Guangchang of Fosun, Pan Shiyi of SOHO China, Dai Zhikang of Zendai and Song Weiping of Greentown China, over one of the most expensive parcels of Shanghai land continues into its third year. Zhang Jindong of Suning andLiu Qiangdong are continuing their price war for the future of the household electronics retailing sector.
Some are ‘helping the authorities with their inquiries'. In September, just months after becoming one of the few to win a public listing this year, Hua Bangsong of Wisen Engineering was detained. Zhu Xingliang of Gold Mantis Construction was another in July.Xu Ming of Shide resurfaced as a key witness in the Bo Xilai case in August, but still makes the list at US$490 million. Zhang Keqiang of Poly Property Group is also ‘helping the authorities with their inquiries'.
Following the arrest of the Chengdu mayor Li Chuncheng, three of last year's top ten in Chengdu have been detained including Liu Han of Hanlong, Deng Hong of Chengdu Exhibition and Travel Group, and Wang Junlin of Sichuan Langjiu. For Liu Han, under investigation on charges of harboring his brother after a murder, it meant that the billion-dollar takeover of an Australian minerhad to be scrapped.
In prison. Huang Guangyu of GoMe and Zhang Wenzhong of Wumart.
Philanthropy
Huang Rulunwas crowned the most generous philanthropist in China on the Hurun Philanthropy Ranking 2013, donating US$92 million last year. See
http://www.hurun.net/usen/HRCpl.aspx for further details.
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