The 10 wealthiest Chinese billionaires and their family offices

In recent decades, China’s economy has been characterised by an immense increase in private wealth. By 2024, the country will have the most billionaires in the world. The demand for proper wealth management is also growing. As a result, family offices are playing an increasingly important role in the country’s wealth management landscape. Of the 814 Chinese billionaires, we present the 10 richest and their involvement in a single family office.

#1 Zhong Shanshan Family Office, Net Worth $62.3BN

Zhong Shanshan is known as the “Lone Wolf” and Chinese billionaire businessman. He is the founder and chairman of the Nongfu Spring Beverage Company and owns the majority of the shares of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, one of China’s largest in-vitro diagnostic test manufacturers.

#2 Zhang Yiming Family Office, Net Worth $43.4BN

Zhang Yiming is a billionaire Chinese internet entrepreneur. He founded ByteDance (the parent company of TikTok). ByteDance is a multinational internet technology company based in Beijing. Today ByteDance counts more than 1 billion monthly users and generates revenues of $120 billion in 2023. Yiming set up a new venture company in Hong Kong called Cool River Venture. The firm will invest mainly in technology-related industries.

#3 Colin Huang Family Office, Net Worth $38.9BN

Colin Hunag is the founder and CEO of the e-commerce company Pinduoduo, which went on to become a leading grocery marketplace in China. Pinduoduo became the largest agriculture-focused technology platform in China. It connects farmers and distributors with consumers directly through its interactive shopping experience.

#4 William Ding Family Office, Net Worth $33.5BN

William Ding is the founder and CEO of NetEase, which was founded in 1997. In 2003, Ding became China’s richest man and its first internet and gaming billionaire. Originally founded in 1997 as China’s first free email system, it now offers news services and online games. NetEase has developed partnerships with several global companies, including Microsoft subsidiary Mojang and Blizzard Entertainment.

#5 Ma Huateng Family Office, Net Worth $30.2BN

Ma Huateng also known as Pony Ma, is a Chinese billionaire business magnate. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of Tencent, Asia’s most valuable company. The firm develops China’s biggest mobile instant messaging service, WeChat, and its subsidiaries provide media, entertainment, payment systems, smartphones, and online advertising services, both in China and globally. This makes Tencent one of the largest Internet and technology companies and one of the biggest investment, gaming and entertainment conglomerates in the world.

#6 He Xiangjian Family Office, Net Worth $25.1BN

He Xiangjian is the co-founder of Midea, one of China’s largest home appliance manufacturers. Today, Midea employs more than 130,000 people and has a turnover of $42 billion.  Most of his wealth is managed through the Midea Holding. Additionally, Xiangjian manages parts of his fortune through the Midea Real Estate Holding.

#7 Jack Ma Family Office, Net Worth $24.5BN

Jack Ma is a Chinese business tycoon, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail, and the Internet. Jack Ma has two family offices. Together with David Yu, Jack Ma owns YF Capital (based in Shanghai). Blue Pool Capital is an investment firm and single-family office of Joe Tsai and Jack Ma (based in Hong Kong).

#8 Eric Li Family Office, Net Worth $16.8BN

Eric Li, also known as Li Shufu is the chairman of one of China’s largest automakers Geely Automobile Holdings. In 2010 the company acquired Volvo and later U.K. luxury sportscar maker Aston Martin and electric vehicle manufacturer Lotus Technology to expand globally.

#9 Qin Yinglin Family Office, Net Worth $15.5BN

Qin amassed his fortune through Muyuan Foodstuff, a pig farming company. He is widely considered to be the world’s richest farmer. Muyuan Foodstuff was founded in 2000 by Qin and his wife Qian Ying. Muyuan Foodstuff became a listed company in 2014 and has expanded rapidly in recent years, successfully navigating through swine fever and COVID-19 when others faltered. In 2019, the group grew by more than 341% as a result of the global pork shortage.

#10 Wang Chuanfu Family Office, Net Worth $14.2BN

Wang is the owner and founder of the publicly traded company BYD, which is one of the largest electrical battery manufacturers in the world. Wang founded BYD in 1995, thanks to the help of his cousin Lu Ziagnyang who invested 5 million renminbi in the company after working as a broker for several years. BYD became a publicly traded company in 2002 and gained interest from some high-profile investors such as Warren Buffet who owns a 6% stake in the company.

Picture Source: Hyunwon Jang via Unsplash