Wang Jianlin has been once again hailed as China's richest man. (Photo : Reuters)
Wang Jianlin, the president of Dalian Wanda Group, was ranked as China’s wealthiest person, according to the annual Forbes magazine list of world’s richest people.
The head of the country's largest private property developer once again topped the list with a fortune of 151.8 billion yuan ($24.2 billion). Wang landed on the 29th spot in the global ranking.
Coming close behind him is Alibaba's Jack Ma with 142.3 billion yuan ($22.7 billion) worth of assets. The firm's much lauded IPO earned the e-commerce tycoon the title of being Chinese mainland's richest person in October last year, as revealed by the same magazine.
With 132.3 billion yuan ($21.1 billion), Li Hejun, the chairman and chief executive officer of Hanergy, grabbed the third spot.
The much anticipated Forbes roster of the richest persons in the world was released on Monday, March 2.
Microsoft's Bill Gates has once again secured the number 1 rank this year. Gates has been declared the world's most affluent individual 16 times for the past 21 years. For 2014, the Microsoft progenitor had a total fortune worth 496.6 billion yuan ($79.2 billion).
Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu ranked second with 483.5 billion yuan ($77.1 billion) asset, while American investor Warren Buffet landed on the third spot with 456 billion yuan ($72.7 billion).
For this year, China had a record-breaking 300 spots in the Forbes list, 213 of which came from the mainland. The statistic was a 28.6-percent increase year on year.
In 2014, Wang ranked globally in the 64th position. His spot this year was also a milestone for China as it was regarded as the best-ever ranking attained by a Chinese.
