Wealth Blog | China’s billionaires ignore one child rule

Looking through Forbes’ magazine’s latest China’s 100 Richest List reveals some interesting facts. Top comes Wang Jianlin, 59, worth US$14.1 billion (HK$109b), listed as having made his dosh from real estate, married and living in Beijing with one child.

Second comes Zong Qinghou, 68, worth $11.2b (HK$86.8) from his beverages empire. He is 65, married with two kids and living in Hangzhou. Close behind in third is Robin Li, 44; worth $11.1b (HK$86b) from search engine Baidu. He’s a busy boy at home with four kids and living in Beijing.

Fourth comes Li Hejun, married with one child, also living in Beijing. He’s worth $10.9b (HK$84.5b), from renewable energy.

Ma Huateng, aka “Pony” Ma is in fifth place is a youngster at 42, CEO of Tencent Holdings, China’s largest internet company in terms of market cap. He’s worth $10.2b (HK$79b), married, no kids, lives in Shenzhen. Seventh place goes to a real youngster, China’s richest woman Yang Huiyan, 32, who has amassed her $7.2b (HK$55.8b) from real estate developer Country Garden. She’s married, lives in Foshan, no kids yet.

When it comes to age, you can draw few conclusions about China’s billionaires. Most are in the forties, but there’s a strong showing in the sixties and older, which stands to reason – they have had longer to amass the loot.

As regards how they made their money, real estate leads the charge, with 19 of the hundred being in property related businesses. Eleven are listed as having made their fortunes from diversified interests, nine from pharmaceuticals, and only five from internet and software related fields. There’s a few in manufacturing, entertainment, retail and electronics, the odd ones in sewage treatment, media and entertainment. Otherwise their interests are very varied.