China's rich list shrinks as economy battles challenges, AI adding new money at rapid pace, shows Hurun report

The Chinese stock market has had a tough year, if one leaves aside the sudden frenzy seen in the last month or so, driven entirely by the anticipation of stimulus measures to revive key sectors and demand.

China's challenging economic conditions have resulted in the number of its dollar billionaires contract sharply compared to last year, though it still at the top of the global pecking order. The latest Hurun report has revealed that China has lost over a third of its billionaires since the highs of 1,185 seen in 2021. This is third straight year of decline in its number of billionaires.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher said, "The Hurun China Rich List has shrunk for an unprecedented third year running, as China’s economy and stock markets had a difficult year. The number of individuals on the list was down by 12% in the past year to just under 1100 individuals and 25% from the high point of 2021, when we managed to find 1465 individuals with CNY 5 billion (equivalent to US$700 million)."

The Chinese stock market has had a tough year, if one leaves aside the sudden frenzy seen in the last month or so, driven entirely by the anticipation of stimulus measures to revive key sectors and demand.

The traditionally dominant sectors that created wealth such as real estate has started to give way to tech, new energy, consumer electronics, e-commerce, consumer products and healthcare, the report showed. More than half of the new money is now coming from AI-related business, the Hurun report has revealed.

The concentration of wealth is China too has turned extremely skewed, with the growth in the wealth of the top 10 names accounting for 60 percent of the growth in total wealth. 13 names on the list are sitting with personal wealth of over $100 billion. The total wealth of Hurun list of billionaire, however, is lower than last year at $3 trillion. This contraction follows economic stress and regulatory changes, that have impacted sectors like technology and real estate, traditionally strong wealth creators for China.

Sitting for the first time at the top of rich list is Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, with a personal wealth of $49.3 billion, nudging past Nongfu Spring's Chairperson Zhong Shanshan, who was leading the rankings for the last three years.

This year, the report finds that China has 1,094 individuals with wealth of over $700 million, or 5 billion yuan, down by 12% compared to 2023. This year also saw the lowest addition of new names to the list in two decades.

The churn in the Chinese rich list, though not unfamiliar during previous years, has been noticeable. "Half of the entrepreneurs on this year's list were not on the list just five years ago, and 8 out of 10 were not there 10 years ago," the report said.