Zhang Yiming Overtakes Gautam Adani as Asia’s Richest Person on Bloomberg’s Index
The ByteDance co-founder’s estimated fortune has passed $105 billion, less than a year after TikTok faced potential closure in the US. Zhang Yiming, 43, now tops Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, dethroning Indian industrialist Gautam Adani.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zhang's net worth is estimated at over $105 billion. This places him ahead of Adani, whose fortune peaked at around $120 billion in June, before market fluctuations significantly reduced his holdings.
The shift in rankings is largely attributed to investor valuations of ByteDance, a private company with shares not publicly traded. Bloomberg applies a 10% risk discount to its valuation. This month, Zhang's wealth surged by over $12 billion following BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and T. Rowe Price's updated holdings in ByteDance.
Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at research firm Omdia, attributes Zhang's success to his continued investment in AI, despite regulatory challenges faced by TikTok. Su believes AI presents ByteDance's biggest opportunity since its video platform, but also highlights fierce competition in China as a potential risk.
The ranking occurs amidst heightened discussion in Beijing about AI development. China's commerce ministry recently dismissed calls from US AI executives to slow frontier development, with Zhang, China's richest person and a major AI investor, now also Asia's richest.