Socialist capitalism 'with Chinese characteristics' also beats Covid-19: there are more billionaires and their wealth increases by over 1,500 billion dollars, becoming richer than ever: it is the fastest trend ever, according to the
Hurun Rich List 2020
, the ranking of the rookies of the Dragon that follows the model of Forbes in the USA.
The wave of IPOs and the solid growth of hi-tech have given a decisive boost, bringing the total value of assets to 4 trillion:
Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba
, is confirmed for the third year at the top with a fortune of 59 billion.
China has created 257 billionaires in the past year, equal to an average of 5 new gossips a week, rising to 878, over 788 billionaires in the United States.
"The world has never seen so much wealth created in just one year - noted Rupert Hoogewerf, president of the Hurun Report and head of research - Chinese entrepreneurs have done much better than expected.
Despite Covid-19, they have risen to record highs. "The surge in China's equity markets, the wave of initial public offerings, and the strong growth of the tech sector have fueled the country's latest billion-dollar boom. Jack Ma is on top to the rankings, seeing his fortune increase 45% with the upcoming IPO of fintech giant Ant Group. "The Hurun China Rich List recorded more wealth created this year over the previous 5 years combined, suggesting that the structure of the economy has evolved, moving away from traditional sectors such as manufacturing and real estate, towards the new economy, "Hoogewerf added. Just like in the US, the first two months of the pandemic in China saw massive destruction of wealth, followed by a V-shaped recovery for equity markets and then a huge boom in the digital economy.
In second place is Pony Ma,
head of tech conglomerate Tencent. His wealth has risen 50%, to 57, 4 m
billions of dollars, driven by the gaming business and the growth of WeChat, a messaging service combined, among other things, with the hugely popular payment system.
Third place is Zhong Shanshan
, president of YST, who made a splash with the Hong Kong listing of Nongfu Spring bottled mineral water.
Other performances include
Meituan-Dianping's Chinese "food delivery king" Wang Xing
, who quadrupled assets to 25 billion after taking market share from Alibaba.
The leader of the express delivery, Wang Wei,
with his SF Express more than doubled his assets to 35.3 billion.
Lens manufacturer's Zhou Qunfei has seen fortunes more than triple to $ 17 billion: she is now one of the three richest women in the world starting from scratch.
