As the company enters 2017 with such high-level goals, Wang assures the public of his easy-going nature. (Photo : REUTERS)
For the first time, the number of Chinese billionaires has overtaken that of the U.S., according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2016 released on Wednesday, Feb. 24, the Global Times reported.
There are 568 billionaires in China while the U.S. has 535, with both countries accounting for half of the Hurun list. According to the report, the number of Chinese billionaires has risen 80 percent since 2013.
Hurun said that Beijing is now the new "Billionaire Capital of the World," taking away the title from New York for the first time.
The report also named four other Chinese cities which made the top 10 for rich people: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou.
According to the Global Times, at least 2,188 billionaires from 68 countries and regions were ranked by the Hurun Global Rich List 2016, up 99 from last year, for another record-breaking year for the world's billionaires.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corp., retained the top spot with a total wealth of $80 billion, followed by Warren Buffett with $68 billion and Amancio Ortega with $64 billion.
Among the wealthy Chinese, Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, was the richest with $26 billion, ranking 21st in the world, just ahead of Jack Ma Yun, executive chairman of global e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, with $21 billion, the report said.
A CNBC report said that China's billionaire population first surpassed the U.S. in August, and grew by a total of 90 last year.
The report said that Hurun's numbers are debatable and they differ from those of Forbes and other research firms which put the U.S. ahead of China in billionaire count. In Forbes' 2015 China report, it counted 335 billionaires in China compared with 536 in the U.S.
The report added that although the list has made a new record, Hurun said that the billionaire growth worldwide is slowing along with the economy as the total wealth of the world's billionaires grew 9 percent in 2015 to $7.3 trillion, more than the combined GDPs of Germany and the U.K.
"Despite its own slowdown and falling stockmarkets, China minted more new billionaires than any other country in the world last year, mainly on the back of new listings," Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said.
CNBC, however, said that Hoogewerf could not be reached for comment on why Hurun's numbers differ from Forbes', but he previously told CNBC that Hurun's China count is low.
"For every billionaire that Hurun Report has found, I estimate we have missed at least two," Hoogewerf said last year. "Some people deliberately make their wealth a secret because . . . they gained it through illegal ways. Some others simply prefer to keep a low profile."
According to the Hurun list, the main source of wealth for China's billionaires is real estate which produced 117 billionaires, manufacturing with 94, and technology with 68.
The report said that China has the largest number of billionaires under age 40, numbering 28, and it also has the largest number of self-made women, with 93 out of 124 self-made women billionaires worldwide.
