Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma is known as an advocate of women empowerment. (Photo : www.careeraddict.com)
A growing number of Chinese tycoons are getting into the world of technology billionaires, as 20 individuals from the Chinese mainland landed in the Forbes list of the 100 Richest People in Tech, released on Aug. 5, the China Daily reported.
Forbes concluded that "the next technological revolution may come from outside of Silicon Valley," as the United States only got 51 individuals in the list.
Among Asian tech billionaires, Jack Ma, 51, founder of e-commerce titan Alibaba Group, topped the Asian list and was seventh overall with an estimated wealth of $23.2 billion.
Ant Financial, Alibaba's growing financial services company, which operates popular electronic payment platform Alipay and online money-market fund Yu'ebao, contributed to Ma's wealth, as Ant Financial's total sales revenue reached 10.2 billion yuan ($1.64 billion) last year, with net profit of 2.6 billion yuan.
Second in the list is Pony Ma, 44, founder of Shenzhen-based Internet company Tencent Holdings, best known for its instant messenger service WeChat. He has a net worth of $17.9 billion.
Robin Li, CEO of search engine Baidu, slid down to fourth in China, as his company's shares fell nearly 20 percent in the past 12 months as it tries to adopt to the increasingly mobile-driven landscape.
Lei Jun, 46, touted to become the "Steve Jobs of China," is the third wealthiest Chinese tech tycoon, beating Li of Baidu, with an estimated wealth of $13.4 billion.
Among female technology entrepreneurs, the top Chinese was Hong Kong-based Zhou Qunfei, 45, chairwoman of Lens Technology Co., who rose to 30th place with a net worth of $7.5 billion.
Still the world's richest man, Bill Gates, topped the tech list, with a net worth of $79.6 billion, despite leaving Microsoft last year to focus on philanthropy and sold his shares of the company. It is estimated that less than 13 percent of his wealth at present comes from Microsoft's stock.
Larry Ellison, founder of database software company Oracle, came in second on the global tech rich list, with an estimated net worth of $50 billion. Oracle's total sales revenue fell slightly to $38.2 billion in fiscal year 2014.
Online retailer Amazon.com CEO, Jeff Bezos, came in third with an estimated net worth of $47.8 billion, up $13 billion since the beginning of the year. Forbes said that more than 90 percent of Bezos's wealth comes from his 18-percent stake in Amazon.
