While many billionaires faced major losses due to decline in share price, China’s richest person Zhang Yiming wealth rose in 2025.
ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming has performed well in 2025 with a $14 billion increase in his net worth since the start of the year. This hike has taken his net worth to $57.5 billion, with a 31% growth.
Whereas, the world’s richest persons, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos saw a decline in wealth. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, wealth declined by $135 billion, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ net worth went down by $43 billion this year so far. ...CONTINUE READING
China’s Richest Person
Zhang Yiming, a 41-year-old software engineer and co-founder of ByteDance, has now become the richest person in China. He took the place of Tencent CEO Pony Ma, who has a net worth of $56.5 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zhang is also the third-richest person in Asia, behind Indian businessmen Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok. It reported revenues of $110 billion in 2023, which led to Zhang’s growing net worth.
Zhang rarely appears in front of the public. In 2021, he resigned as ByteDance’s CEO after 10 years. He wanted to spend more time on his hobbies like reading, listening to music. Zhang admitted to staff, “The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager.’’.
Zhang Yiming still ranks 23rd globally in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Whereas, Warren Buffett and Jeff Yass are among the few billionaires except Zhang who have added over $10 billion to their wealth this year, with each rose by $11.5 billion. Buffett’s net worth now is $153.5 billion, making him the fourth-richest person in the world.
Losers In Wealth
Elon Musk, who owned 42% of SpaceX and 13% of Tesla as of December 2024 has suffered major financial losses in the last 3 months. Tesla shares went down by 17.5% in three sessions, reducing $159 billion in market capitalization and reducing Tesla’s valuation to $750 billion. Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s wealth also went down by $45 billion.
Aliko Dangote remains Africa’s richest man
According to Bloomberg, Africa’s richest man’s net worth rose by $68.5 million (N106.05bn) within 24 hours.
Dangote’s newfound wealth helped him climb to the 68th position on the list of the world’s 500 wealthiest men.
South African billionaire Johann Rupert and his family, the second richest in Africa, have a net worth of $13.9bn.
