China now has a new richest man after the Bloomberg Billionaire Index named Baidu founder Robin Li as the country's richest man with net worth of US$12.23 billion.
Li, the founder of the country's largest internet search engine, has overtaken Wang Jianlin, who was last month declared as China's richest, by just US$63.6 million, the index said.
Li managed to grow his wealth this year by 65 per cent or US$4.8 billion while Wang, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, saw his fortune climb by just US$2.9 billion for a total of US$12.2 billion.
Internet consulting group iResearch said Baidu's shares rose 69 per cent in the past six months due to the company's expansion into smartphones and tablets. Baidu also continues to dominate in the desktop search market.
Li owns 2.8 per cent stake in the search engine, which makes up the bulk of his wealth. He also owns one per cent of 360buy Jingdong Mall, which reported revenue of US$3.9 billion last year.
However, analysts said Li's position as China's richest person will be short-lived because Wang is expected to increase his net worth after selling shares in US Cinema chain AMC Entertainment.
Wang's Dalian Wanda Group bought AMC for US$2.6 billion last year and the US cinema chain is planning to rise up to US$368 million in an initial public offering.
In August, Baidu paid US$160 million to purchase 59 per cent of Nuomi Holdings Inc, a location-based e-commerce service, and announced that it has agreed to buy app store 91 Wireless Websoft for a whopping US$1.9 billion.
On the third spot of the Bloomberg Billionaire Index is Zong Qinghou, president of Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co, who has a net worth of US$12 billion. Taking the fourth place is Tencent Inc chairman Ma Huateng, who has a net worth of US$11.5 billion