The two Ma tycoons, Pony and Jack, become first Chinese to make Forbes list of world’s 20 richest

Two of the most well known faces of China’s technology boom, Tencent Holdings’ chairman Pony Ma Huateng and Alibaba Group Holding’s Jack Ma, became the first Chinese to enter the top 20 richest people in the world, with a combined wealth of US$84.3 billion.

As in previous years, the 32nd Forbes annual billionaires list was dominated by US tycoons, who made up 13 out of the world’s 20 richest people. But with China creating the most new billionaires last year, 89 compared to the US’ 18, the gap between the two countries is closing. While the US had the most number of people with wealth in the billions, 585, Greater China – mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan – had 476.

The popularity of Tencent’s online games and its WeChat messaging and online payment app helped its share price double in the last year, propelling Pony Ma into the top 20 as well as to the title of the wealthiest man in Asia with US$45.3 billion. 

The Hong Kong-listed company also has stakes in Tesla, Snapchat parent Snap and music-streaming service Spotify. It had a market capitalisation equal to US$517 billion on Monday, higher than Facebook's valuation of US$514 billion at the close of trading in the United States on Friday.

Alibaba’s Jack Ma, 53, with net worth of US$39 billion, ranked the third wealthiest person in Asia and the 20th worldwide, thanks to a 76 per cent rise in Alibaba’s share price in the past year as the e-commerce giants’ revenues rose. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.