ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming Ranks First in Hurun Under 40s China Rich List 2021

On Friday, the Hurun Research Institute released its Under 40s China Rich List 2021. The list consists of entrepreneurs under 40 years of age who had started from scratch and built their wealth. The deadline for the wealth calculation was September 15, 2021.

Zhang Yiming, the 38-year-old founder of ByteDance, became the richest man under the age of 40 who had started from nothing and saw his wealth increase to 340 billion yuan ($53 billion). In the previously released Global Unicorn List, ByteDance became the largest unicorn in the world with a total valuation of 2.3 trillion yuan.

Second place is occupied by Sea Limited’s founder, Ye Gang, with a wealth of 70 billion yuan. Following these two top spots were Li Xiang, founder of Li Auto, in 4th; Su Hua, co-founder of Kuaishou, in 5th; Tang Binsen, founder of Genki Forest, in 6th; and Wang Ning and his wife Yang Tao, founders of Pop Mart, ranked 7th.

Thirty-two entrepreneurs entered the list for the first time, the highest in all previous years, mainly from the advanced manufacturing industry (which includes new materials, electronic components and consumer electronics), in addition to the retail and entertainment industries.

The number of entrepreneurs from the advanced manufacturing industry hit a total of 19, accounting for a quarter of the list, followed by 14 from entertainment, and 6 from e-commerce.

Beijing is still the city with the most young entrepreneurs, with a total of 23. Shanghai and Shenzhen remained second and third with 14 and 8 entrepreneurs who climbed onto the list.

Twenty-seven “post-80s” were included on the list, 10 more than last year. Wang Ning and Yang Tao, founders of Pop Mart, became the richest man starting from scratch in the post-80s column with a wealth of 32 billion yuan. The second and third place were occupied by Cheng Yixiao, CEO of Kuaishou, with a wealth of 30 billion yuan, and Peng Guoyuan, who is involved with information education, with a wealth of 19 billion yuan.

Two “post-90s” are on the list. Nie Yunchen, founder of HeyTea, doubled his wealth to 10 billion yuan compared with last year. The other is Lu Jianxia, co-founder of popular coffee brand Manner.

SEE ALSO: ByteDance Tops Hurun Unicorn Index 2021 with $350 Billion Valuation

Four Chinese businessmen have successfully started businesses overseas and climbed onto the list. Among them, the wealth of Ye Gang, co-founder of Sea Limited, doubled compared to last year. Chen Jingye, co-founder of Sea Limited, ranked 11th with a fortune of 21 billion yuan. The other two are Chen Mo and Hou Xiaodi, who co-founded TuSimple, a driverless truck company in the US.