KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 10): The collective net worth of tycoons on the 2022 Forbes list of China’s 100 Richest fell 39% to US$907.1 billion (RM4.27 trillion) from US$1.48 trillion last year, marking the biggest drop in wealth since Forbes began tracking the country’s wealthiest more than two decades ago.
In a statement on Thursday (Nov 10), Forbes Asia said that of the 100 names on the list, 79 were down, 12 were returnees, four had split fortunes, three were new, and only two were richer.
The magazine said wealth fell in part on a tech crackdown, zero-Covid policies, slower economic growth, political worries after the Communist Party Congress in October, and the more than 12% fall in the value of the yuan against the US dollar in the past year.
It said two key metrics suffered heavy losses — mainland China’s benchmark CSI 300 stock index shed over a quarter of its value since the list was last published, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fared worse, plunging almost 41%.
Forbes editor-at-large and editor of the China’s 100 Richest list Russell Flannery said the past year was one of China's most difficult in recent decades, and overall wealth destruction among the top 100 on the list was large by any measure.
“On the other hand, the list highlights the staying power of a number of Chinese entrepreneurs in green technology-related areas, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and solar, even though their shares on the whole have taken a hit in the past year,” he said.
Forbes Asia said this year’s No 1 spot is held again by Zhong Shanshan, the chairman of China’s top bottled-water supplier Nongfu Spring.
It said that among dramatic falls for many, Zhong’s fortune fared relatively well, slipping just 5% to US$62.3 billion from US$65.9 billion a year ago.
Forbes said Zhong suffered less than many others due to his savvy investment in Covid-19 test supplier Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, and from supplying the vital commodity of drinking water.
Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, remains at No 2 in this year’s list with a fortune of US$49.5 billion, down US$9.9 billion from last year.
Robin Zeng, the chairman of the world’s largest EV battery maker CATL, retained the No 3 spot with a net worth of US$28.9 billion, a decline of 43% from US$50.8 billion last year.