Trade war hits China billionaires hard



China's billionaires have seen their wealth tumble dramatically amid trade war uncertainty, a weakening yuan and a general economic slowdown.

The 2018 Forbes China Rich List was released this week, showing the total net worth of China's richest businesspeople dropping to US$1.06 trillion against a total net worth of US$1.19t in 2017.

The median net worth dropped from US$1.7 billion in 2017 to US$1.4b this year.

Despite some positive outliers, the overall mood among China's richest businesspeople must be glum.

"The world has come to associate China with wealth creation, and it is startling to see the extent of wealth destruction this year," said Russell Flannery, the editor-in-chief of Forbes China.

Billionaires in the manufacturing sector, the most common source of wealth in China, took the hardest hit of any sector, suggesting that the trade war is beginning to bite at the top. In 2017, there were 79 Chinese billionaires in manufacturing, while this year that number dropped to 72.

Of the top 400 people compiled by Forbes China, 93 disappeared from last year's list. Of those on the list, Forbes reported that 229 were poorer than last year and a third saw a decline of 20 per cent or more to their net worth.

In 2017, all 400 people on Forbes China Rich List were billionaires - in 2018, the cut-off to make the list dropped to US$840 million.

Of the 400 people on the list, 344 were billionaires.

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is once again China's richest man with a net worth of US$34.6 billion, despite being US$4 billion poorer than last year.

Last year's top spot was held by Hui Ka Yan, whose net worth dropped 28 per cent to US$30.8b, putting him at No 3. Hui is chairman of China Evergrande Real Estate Group, one of China's biggest property players. But shares in China Evergrande have been on a long slide as investors worry about the company's debt profile.

Tencent's Pony Ma dropped US$6.2 billion net worth, but stayed at No 2 with US$32.8 billion. Tencent, which earlier this year took control of NZ's Grinding Gear Games in a $100m+ deal, has also seen its shares drop significantly in 2018.

Collectively, the top 10 billionaires in China dropped US$42.8 billion in net worth. The biggest loser among the top 10 was Evergrande's Hui Ka Yan, whose fortune dropped by US$11.7 billion.

Wang Wei, founder of SF Express delivery service, saw his fortune fall by US$7.4b in the past year. Richard Liu, founder of e-commerce giant JD.com, saw his net worth drop by US$3.2b to US$6.2b.

Liu was embroiled in scandal when he was arrested on August 31 in Minneapolis after being accused of sexual assault. He was later released but the investigation is still pending.

While manufacturing may have seen the biggest losses, the tech sector provided new entrants on the list. Colin Huang joined the billionaire list after his firm Pinduoduo was listed on Nasdaq in July. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun moved up dramatically, gaining US$5.1b for a net worth of US$11.9b.

Old fashioned businesses proved to be more resilient in this past year. Zhang Yong, co-founder of the popular hotpot restaurant chain Haidilao, joined the billionaire list at US$7.7b on the strength of the chain's Hong Kong IPO in September.

Shi Yongjong, the other founder of Haidilao, was estimated at US$3.65 billion. Pang Kang, who chairs Foshan Haitian, one of China's biggest soy sauce suppliers, jumped US$2.8b for a 2018 fortune of US$8.8b.


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