Hurun released an all-time high Chinese billionaires list for 2015. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese billionaires continue to grow in number as their assets spread out mainly from the success of both their local and international businesses, according to Yicai, the Web portal of Shanghai's China Business News.
The Hurun Global Chinese Rich List 2015 was just released by Shanghai-based Hurun Report, showing the increasing population of Chinese billionaires. The record has hit a new high in 2015, including over 1,577 Chinese tycoons with wealth amounting to 2 billion yuan ($320 million) and above. Combined, the overall assets of these wealthy people stand at $2.1 trillion, 1.5 times higher than South Korea's GDP and equal to the economy of Russia.
Wang Jianlin, Dalian Wanda Group's head, has entered the list and replaced Hong Kong's property businessman Li Ka-shing as the wealthiest person in the Chinese-speaking arena.
The real estate and entertainment conglomerate's stock price has spiked to a value of 330 billion yuan ($52 billion), after acquiring American movie theater chain AMC. This initiative allowed Wang to penetrate both the U.S. and Chinese markets.
E-commerce giant Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, was also part of the Hurun List, placing third among Chinese billionaires. The Alibaba chairman's personal assets were valued at $3.6 billion as a result of making 33 acquisitions worldwide in the e-commerce sector.
One significant aspect portrayed in the list was that 18 percent of the billionaires are women, including Kwong Siu-hing, the proprietor of Hong Kong's biggest property development firm, and Sun Hung-kai, the owner of realestate corporation Sun Hung Kai Properties. They are the two wealthiest women in Hong Kong.
Mainland China had the most representatives in the list of billionaires, with 79.5 percent of the population when it comes to the Chinese-speaking world. Meanwhile, Hong Kong covered 6.3 percent of the list.
The Hurun Report also indicated that most tycoons live in either Shenzhen or Beijing. Data showed real estate and manufacturing as the two sectors with the richest mainlanders, though five billionaires in the top 10 are engaged in the tech segment, like Jack Ma and Tencent founder Ma Huateng.
