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- The 15 richest people from Asia in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index are collectively worth more than $500 billion.
- As of September 24, a new name has been crowned China’s richest: Per Forbes, Zhong Shanshan, founder and chairman of the water bottle company Nongfu Spring, has a net worth of about $59 billion.
- Some of the names occupying the top ranks are self-made billionaires, like Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company.
- Others inherited wealth from their families, like Mukesh Ambani, who took over his father’s oil company, Reliance Industries.
- Read on to learn more about the richest people in Asia.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Emmie Martin, Melissa Stanger, and Tanza Loudenback contributed to an earlier version of this post.
Visual China Group via Getty Images/Visual China Group via Getty Images
Net worth: $19.2 billion
Age: 55
Location: China
Industry: Food and beverage
Source of wealth: Self-made; Muyuan Foodstuff
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $13.6 billion in the last year.
Qin Yinglin and his wife Qian Ying founded Muyuan Foodstuff, a pig breeding and distribution company where he serves as chairman. Muyuan Foodstuff breeds and sells pigs and pork products. The couple got started in 1992, and the company made $3 billion in 2019. Qin went to Henan Agricultural University where he studied animal husbandry before embarking on the business venture, per his Forbes Billionaires profile.
14. Zhang Zhidong
REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Net worth: $22.1 billion
Age: 48
Location: China
Industry: Tech
Source of wealth: Self-made; Tencent Holdings
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $7.05 billion in the last year.
Zhang Zhidong, also known as Tony Zhang, co-founded the tech company Tencent Holdings, which provides applications for instant messaging, gaming, and virtual payments. The company owns Riot Games, developer of “League of Legends,” Variety reported. Tencent made $54.6 billion in 2019. Zhang served as the company’s Chief Technology Officer until he retired in 2014, per Forbes.
13. Pang Kang
Jie Zhao/Corbis via Getty Images
Net worth: $23.5 billion
Age: 62
Location: China
Industry: Food and beverage
Source of wealth: Self-made; Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $13.9 billion in the last year.
Pang Kang runs the soy sauce supplier Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food. Based in China’s Guangdong providence, the food company made $2.9 billion in 2019, five years after going public. Foshan Haitian makes more than 200 different condiments like oyster sauce, vinegar, and chicken stock.
12. Hui Ka Yan
VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Net worth: $24.8 billion
Age: 62
Location: China
Industry: Real Estate
Source of wealth: Self-made; China Evergrande Group
Net worth year-over-year change: Down $1.67 billion in the last year.
Hui Ka Yan serves as chairman of China Evergrande Group, a property developing company that builds in nearly 300 cities across China. Hui founded the company in 1996 with ten years of experience working in a steel factory, per his Forbes profile. Hui took the company public the following decade.
11. Takemitsu Takizaki
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Net worth: $25.5 billion
Age: 75
Location: Japan
Industry: Tech
Source of wealth: Self-made; Keyence
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $3.02 billion in the last year.
Takemitsu Takizaki founded Keyence, an Osaka-based company that makes electric sensors for vehicles, electronics firms, and food packagers. Some of Keyence’s clients include Toyota, Toshiba, and Volkswagen. Takizaki served as the company’s chairman until 2015 when he stepped down. But he is still on Keyence’s board, according to his Forbes profile.
10. Colin Huang
Visual China Group/Getty Images
Net worth: $27 billion
Age: 40
Location: China
Industry: Tech
Source of wealth: Self-made; Pinduoduo
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $11.8 billion in the last year.
Colin Huang, also known as Huang Zheng, is the founder and chairman of one of China’s largest e-commerce companies, Pinduoduo. The platform has more than 628 million customers and made $4.2 billion in 2019, per Huang’s Bloomberg Billionaires profile.
Before running Pinduoduo, Huang interned at Microsoft and worked at Google, according to his Forbes profile. Additionally, Huang founded two other internet-based companies — Xinyoudi, a gaming business, and Ouku.com, another e-commerce platform.
9. Yang Huiyan
Summer Zhen/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Net worth: $27.3 billion
Age: 38
Location: China
Industry: Real Estate
Source of wealth: Inherited
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $1.71 billion in the last year.
Yang Huiyan, the richest woman in Asia and only female on this list, inherited more than half of the stakes of her father’s real estate developing company, Country Garden Holdings, in 2005, per her Bloomberg billionaires profile.
Yang is currently running the company, which constructs buildings and manages hotels in China. At the same time, Yang serves as chairman of an education company, Bright Scholar Education Holdings.
8. He Xiangjian
Chen Gang/VCG via Getty Images
Net worth: $27.9 billion
Age: 78
Location: China
Industry: Consumer
Source of wealth: Self-made; Midea Group
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $3.99 billion in the last year.
He Xiangjian founded Midea Group, a company that exports air conditioners and produces other appliances like heaters and washing machines. He started the business in 1968 producing plastic lids and built it into one of the largest appliance companies in the world, per his Forbes profile. He stepped down from Midea’s operations in 2012, and his son He Jianfeng serves as one of Midea’s directors.
7. William Ding
Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images
Net worth: $28.3 billion
Age: 49
Location: China
Industry: Tech
Source of wealth: Self-made; NetEase
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $11.6 billion in the last year.
William Ding runs the Beijing-based internet provider NetEase credited with localizing popular games like “Overwatch” and “Westward Journey,” according to his Bloomberg Billionaires profile. The company works with Blizzard Entertainment and Microsoft subsidiary Mojang. Aside from gaming, NetEase works with other online media entertainment like movies and music.
6. Tadashi Yanai
REUTERS/Issei Kato
Net worth: $31.6 billion
Age: 71
Location: Japan
Industry: Retail
Source of wealth: Self-made; Fast Retailing
Net worth year-over-year change: Down $631 million in the last year.
Tadashi Yanai, the richest person in Japan, runs Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing. Yanai is also the founder and biggest shareholder of the clothing retailer, which happens to be Asia’s largest, according to Yanai’s Bloomberg Billionaires profile. Fast Retailing operates owns about 1,000 stores.
Yanai has a couple of golf courses in Maui, Hawaii.
5. Li Ka-Shing
Reuters
Net worth: $32.3 billion
Age: 92
Location: Hong Kong
Industry: Real Estate
Source of wealth: Self-made; CK Hutchison Holdings
Net worth year-over-year change: Down $757 million in the last year.
Li Ka-Shing, the wealthiest person in Hong Kong, founded CK Hutchison Holdings, a vast business empire with interests in primarily retail services. In addition, Li founded another investment holding company, CK Asset Holdings, geared towards real estate services.
Li ran both companies until May 2018, when his son, Victor, took over as chairman, per his Bloomberg Billionaires profile.
CK Hutchinson made $38 billion in 2019.
4. Pony Ma
Visual China Group via Getty Images/Visual China Group via Getty Images
Net worth: $51.7 billion
Age: 48
Location: China
Industry: Tech
Source of wealth: Self-made; Tencent Holdings
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $15.6 billion in the last year.
Pony Ma, also known as Ma Huateng, serves as chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings, the tech company he co-founded alongside Zhang Zhidong, number 12 on this list. Tencent is best known for its instant messaging app WeChat, which has more than a billion users.
3. Jack Ma
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Net worth: $56.7 billion
Age: 55
Location: China
Industry: Tech
Source of wealth: Self-made; Alibaba Group
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $12.1 billion in the last year.
Jack Ma, the richest person in China, co-founded Alibaba Group, the country’s largest e-commerce company. Alibaba runs Taobao, an online shopping site, along with Tmall, an online store facilitator. Ma served as the company’s executive chairman until he stepped down in 2019.
Ma also owns stakes in two Chinese entertainment industry firms and an online payment service.
A former English teacher, Ma has recently been in the news because of his widespread donations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, per BBC.
2. Zhong Shanshan
Jiang Xin/VCG via Getty Images
Net worth: $58.7 billion
Age: 65
Location: China
Industry: Food & beverage
Source of wealth: Self-made; Nongfu Spring Company
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $51.9 billion in the last year.
Zhong Shanshan is the founder and chairman Nongfu Spring, a bottled water company that went public in Hong Kong on September 8. As of September 24, the company’s stocks are up 77%, making Shanshan, who owns about 84% of Nongfu Spring, the richest person in China and 17th-richest in the world. On top of that, Shanshan has a controlling stake in Wantai Biological Pharmacy, a firm that said it’s working on a coronavirus cure, per CNBC.
1. Mukesh Ambani
Reuters/Amit Dave
Net worth: $85.2 billion
Age: 63
Location: India
Industry: Energy
Source of wealth: Inherited
Net worth year-over-year change: Up $22.9 billion in the last year.
Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India and eighth-richest on the planet, took over as chairman of Reliance Industries when his father, the company’s founder, died in 2002. Reliance Industries is an oil and gas company that Ambani owns 42% of, per his Bloomberg Billionaires profile.
Ambani also founded Jio, a 4G phone service. He owns the Mumbai Indians, a professional cricket team, and a property worth more than $400 million.
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