259 billionaires were created in China last year - more than the rest of the world combined

[xizhimen]

259 billionaires were created in China last year - more than the rest of the world combined, Beijing tops the city billionare list for 6 years running​

The size of China's exclusive billionaire's club has almost doubled in the past five years.PHOTO: AFP

• PUBLISHED
  March 2 2021

BEIJING (AFP) - More than 200 billionaires were created in China last year as booming stock markets and a flood of new listings offset the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a global tally released on Tuesday (March 2).

The size of China's exclusive billionaire's club has almost doubled in the past five years as the world's number two economy continued to outpace most others, and its ability to mostly avoid the worst of the coronavirus meant it was one of the few to expand in 2020.

And the Hurun Global Rich List showed 259 people breaking into the billion-dollar bracket - more than the rest of the world combined - taking .

In comparison, second best performer the United States saw 70 new billionaires created, taking its total to 696.

Leading the Chinese pack was Zhong Shanshan of bottled water giant Nongfu, who entered the list for the first time with an $85 billion fortune, putting him number one in Asia and into Hurun's global top 10. Mr Zhong, a former construction worker, made his cash following a $1.1 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong last year.

However, a clampdown on ecommerce giant Alibaba saw tycoon Jack Ma fall down the pecking order. The one-time darling of China's entrepreneurs has come under pressure from regulators, who have reigned in Alibaba and fintech arm Ant Group on anti-trust issues.

Three individuals globally added more than US$50 billion (S$66.6 billion) in a single year, the survey found: Tesla's Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Colin Huang of Pinduoduo, one of China's fastest-growing ecommerce players.

Overall, China continues to lead the world's wealth creation, Hurun's report said, adding 490 new billionaires in the past five years compared with the 160 added in the US.

Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said that even with the pandemic chaos, the past year saw the biggest wealth increase of the past decade due to new listings and booming stock markets.

"Asia has, for the first time in perhaps hundreds of years, more billionaires than the rest of the world combined," he added.

The report also flagged a shift in Hong Kong, pointing out that the city's entrepreneurs are now being "dwarfed" by their counterparts in the mainland - only three Hong Kong tycoons make it into the China top 50.

Six of the world's top 10 cities with the highest concentration of billionaires are now in China, with Beijing top of the heap for the sixth year running.

259 billionaires were created in China last year - more than the rest of the world combined

China now has 1,058 billionaires, the first country to break the 1,000 mark. Read more at straitstimes.com.

www.straitstimes.com

 

[xizhimen]

I doubt that China can be still called a communist country...

 

[Glass🚬]

Impressive.

 

[xizhimen]

China passes U.S. as world leader in billionaires, becomes the first country in history with more than 1,000 billionaires

By David R. Sands - The Washington Times - Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Nearly one-third of the world’s 3,228 billionaires live in China

China, guided in theory by the ruling Communist Party’s Marxist-Leninist ideals, has achieved an unlikely milestone — surpassing the United States as the country with the largest population of billionaires.

According to the 2021 Hurun Global Rich List released this week, China has become the first country in history with more than 1,000 billionaires, clocking in with 1,058 residents worth $1 billion or more — in U.S. dollar terms — at the start of 2021. That’s an increase of 259 billionaires in China from the start of 2020, and comes despite rising economic friction with the U.S. and a global pandemic that decimated trade and economic growth around the globe.

The U.S. finished second in the billionaire race with 696. India, Germany, Britain and Switzerland are the other countries that can boast of at least 100 billionaires.

Nearly one-third of the world’s 3,228 billionaires live in China, according to the survey, although Americans Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos still top the list of the planet’s wealthiest individuals.

Zhong Shanshan, founder of the Nongfu Spring bottled water behemoth, is China‘s wealthiest man at No. 7 on the list, with a fortune estimated at $85 billion, Mr. Zhong is the first Chinese national to make the Hurun global top ten.

China passes U.S. as world leader in billionaires

China, guided in theory by the ruling Communist Party’s Marxist-Leninist ideals, has achieved an unlikely milestone — surpassing the United States as the country with the largest population of billionaires.

www.washingtontimes.com

 

[xizhimen]

One third of the world billionaires live in China and Beijing has the most of them, no wonder the housing price is crazily high here, hopefully they can move to live somewhere else.

 

[xizhimen]

Millionaires in China to double by 2025, says HSBC​

Number of wealthy individuals expected to increase to 5-million in next five years​

21 MAY 2021 - 10:33 BLOOMBERG.COM

China will more than double the number of millionaires in the next five years and boost the size of the middle class by almost half, spurring consumption in the economy, according to HSBC Holdings.

The number of wealthy individuals — those with the equivalent of at least 10-million yuan ($1.55m) in investable assets — is likely to increase to 5-million by 2025 from more than 2-million now, the bank estimated. The middle class, which numbers about 340-million based on the narrowest definition, will grow by more than 45% to more than 500-million in the period, it said.

“An expanding middle class will underpin medium to long term economic growth, and stronger consumer spending boosts domestic demand, business confidence and capital expenditure,” HSBC economists led by Qu Hongbin wrote in a note Friday. “A rising middle class will also increase imports of goods and services, and attract foreign companies to invest in China.”

The expanding wealth will help China avoid falling into the “middle income trap” and aid the government’s efforts to make the economy more consumption-led, the economists said. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the middle class can be the backbone of China’s dual circulation strategy,” they said.

Household wealth is likely to rise about 8.5% every year over the next five years, with investable assets reaching 300-trillion yuan in 2025, or about 300% of China’s GDP in 2020.

A larger middle class with higher income levels would mean rising demand for quality goods and services. China will see its consumption increase by about $1.1-trillion a year for every $20 increase in daily spending by the newly made middle class, the bank estimates. That would make the total middle class expenditure the eighth largest in 2020 terms.

However, as the country grows richer, the wealth gap in China is also widening, the bank said, with the top 1% of households owning 30% of China’s wealth. More effort is needed to reduce income equality and help more people join the middle class, such as migrant workers and new university graduates, HSBC said.

Millionaires in China to double by 2025, says HSBC

Number of high-net-worth individuals expected to increase to 5-million in next five years

www.businesslive.co.za