BEIJING (CHINA) – Alibaba and Ant Group founder Jack Ma has lost the title of China’s richest man, as shown in a list published on Tuesday showed, as his peers went on to make progress while his company came under scanner from Chinese regulators.
Ma and his family continued to be in the top spot for China’s richest in the Hurun Global Rich List in 2020 and 2019 but now it has come down to the fourth place next to bottled water maker Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan, Tencent Holding’s Pony Ma and e-commerce upstart Pinduoduo’s Collin Huang, the latest list showed.
The Hurun report said that his fall out of the top three comes “after China’s regulators reined in Ant Group and Alibaba on anti-trust issues.”
Ma’s recent woes were triggered by an October 24 speech in which he was seen criticising China’s regulatory system, which resulted in the suspension of his Ant Group’s $37 billion IPO a few days before the fintech giant’s public listing.
Regulators have since toughened their stand on anti-trust scrutiny regarding the country’s tech sector, with Alibaba bearing the brunt; the market regulator introduced an official anti-trust probe into Alibaba in December.
Ma, who is has always been in the limelight, had disappeared from the public eye for about three months, leading a lot of speculation about his whereabouts. He came again in January with a 50-second video appearance.
China’s current richest man, Zhong, made his first appearance at the top spot with a fortune of 550 billion yuan ($85 billion), owing to the share price performances of Nongfu Spring and vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, which he also is in charge.
Tencent’s Ma saw his wealth increase 70% over the year to 480 billion while Pinduoduo’s Huang’s fortune grew 283% to 450 billion yuan, according to the list. In comparison, the wealth of Ma and his family grew 22%, to 360 billion yuan.
