Is that a dollar in your pocket, or the GDP of Iceland? Mainland China's richest tycoon increases wealth by US$17 billion
Property and entertainment tycoon Wang Jianlin topped mainland rich list this year with his personal wealth ballooning nearly US$17 billion - equivalent to the GDP of Iceland.
Despite slowing economic growth, the total wealth of the mainland's 100 richest people rose 20 per cent from US$376 billion last year to US$450 billion.
Wang, chairman of Dalian Wanda, saw his personal wealth jump from US$13.2 billion to US$30 billion. This was largely driven by the listing of Wanda's commercial property arm in Hong Kong in December and that of its cinema chains in Shenzhen in January.
READ MORE: China’s richest man Wang Jianlin ‘to withdraw from frontline management in 2020’
The GDP of Iceland was US$16.93billion last year.
Alibaba chairman Jack Ma came second, with his wealth growing from US$18.8 billion to US$21.8 billion.
"In China, most rich people, especially the super-rich people, are good men," Wang said yesterday. "I believe it would be hard to build up a sizable business empire only by relying on government relationships. All the successful [mainland] enterprises we know today must have done a great job with their market strategies and innovation work."
Russell Flannery, Shanghai bureau chief of , said even though China's economy was slowing, many of its billionaires had still increased their wealth significantly over the past year.
"This is largely attributed to the rise in mainland stock markets and the new business opportunities emerging in internet and other industries," Flannery said.
In China, most rich people, especially the super-rich people, are good men
Six people in the top 10 were in internet industries.
The wealth of Zong Qinghou, the chairman of beverage maker Hangzhou Wahaha Group, was estimated to have shrunk from US$10.6 billion to US$7.3 billion, dragging him from sixth to 11th.
