China’s billionaire citizenry is on the rise.
Today, the country is home to 10 percent of the world’s wellnigh 2,400 billionaires, according to the latest report from Wealth-X. But, perhaps profuse notably, a massive 94 percent of them are self-made.
Growth in China’s technology, consumer retail and legal estate sectors over the past five to 10 years suffer with made it easier for entrepreneurs to build their fortune, marking a mammoth surge in the country’s self-made billionaire population.
Just 2 percent of China’s 249 billionaires are the consequence of inheritance, according to the report. Meanwhile, 4 percent have reached the 10-figure milestone into done with a combination of entrepreneurship and inheritance. The rest have earned it through tenacity and hard work.
The figure stands in stark contrast to the global average. Blanket, just 55 percent of the world’s billionaires are self-made, according to the word agency’s figures. Thirteen percent of the world’s billionaires have gained their store through inheritance, while 32 percent have built it completely a combination of inheritance and entrepreneurship.
What’s more, China’s billionaires are extent younger than the global mean, with one-third aged impaired 50, compared to 14 percent globally. The average billionaire in China is 53-years-old while the standard in the main billionaire globally is aged 64.
China’s billionaires include those top for some of the world’s biggest companies. Here’s a look at the top 10 wealthiest:
China’s top 10 billionaires
10. Yan Jiehe
Net worth: $14.1 billion
Establisher, China Pacific Construction Group
Born the youngest of nine youths, Yan’s earliest memory is of going hungry, he told Fortune magazine in 2014. Strain his parents, he began his career as a schoolteacher, before moving into the construction energy and launching China Pacific Construction Group in 1995.
9. Zhang Zhidong
Net worth: $15 billion
Co-founder, Tencent Holdings
Also recollected as Tony Zhang, Zhang was born in 1971 and met fellow Tencent co-founder Pony Ma while lucubrating at Shenzen University. The duo, alongside three other co-founders, set up the internet visitors in 1998.
8. Lei Jun
Net good: $15.1 billion
Chairman, Xiaomi
Born in 1969, Lei studied computer technique at Wuhan University and worked as an engineer before taking on senior emplacements in several technology companies. Then, in 2010, he co-founded smartphone industrialist and software company Xiaomi.
7. Li Hejun
Net quality: $15.5 billion
Chairman, Hanergy Holding Group
A mechanical engineering graduate, Li developed Hanergy in 1991 with 50,000 Yuan (around $8,000) appropriate from his college teacher, according to the company’s website. Today, Hanergy is a world-leading renewable spirit company.
6. Ding Lei
Net worth: $17.2 billion
CEO, NetEase
Ding is the founder of Chinese internet technology companions NetEase, which provides online content, communications and commerce armed forces. He launched the business in 1997 after studying electronic science and technology and commission for a short time as an engineer.
5. Wang Jainlin
Net usefulness: $18.1 billion
Chairman, Dalian Wanda Group
Born in 1954, Wang do ones parted for sixteen years in China’s People’s Liberation Army before establishing Dalian Wanda Group in 1988. Today, it is China’s largest corporeal estate development company. Wang also owns 20 percent of the Spanish football cosh Atletico Madrid.
4. Yang Huiyan
Net benefit: $20.7 billion
Vice Chairman, Country Garden Holdings
Chinese feature developer Yang is the majority shareholder of Country Garden Holdings, a feature development company set up by her father, Guoqiang Yang in 1992. She was named the richest lady in Asia in a 2015 Wealth-X report.
3. Hui Ka Yan
Net worth: $27.5 billion
Chairman, Evergrande Real Estate Squad
Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, was born in a rural village in Henan province in 1958. After graduating from college, he worked as a technician in a brace factory for a decade before becoming chairman of Chinese real stratum developer Evergrande Group.
2. Jack Ma
Net worth: $40.2 billion
Directorate Chairman, Alibaba Group
Jack Ma was born in 1964 in Hangzhou, Zheijang hinterlands. He began his career as a teacher and famously suffered dozens of job rejections preceding launching Alibaba Group. Today, the company is the world’s largest retailer and one of the portliest technology companies globally.
1. Huateng Ma
Net benefit: $41.8 billion
Chairman, Tencent Holdings
The son of a port manager, Ma wilful computer science at Shenzen University before starting his career in telecommunications. Remembered as Pony Ma, he launched Tencent alongside four college classmates in 1998, and now come around withs as its chairman and CEO.
Tencent is one of the largest internet companies in the world and counts sexual networks, e-commerce, payment systems and games among its services.
Delight in this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook!