Zhang Yiming Tops Asia's Richest List: $105B Net Worth From Unlisted Company & AI-Driven Wealth Creation Movement

Zhang Yiming has topped the list of the richest people in Asia, and his wealth territory is shifting to algorithmic AI.

Less than a year ago, TikTok was on the brink of life and death in the U.S. market. Today, 43-year-old Zhang Yiming has become the richest man in Asia. Behind the shift in the wealth rankings lies the migration of Asian wealth from ports and energy to algorithms and computing power.

The richest man in Asia has a new name.

It is not Gautam Adani who is engaged in ports and energy, not Mukesh Ambani who owns a conglomerate, nor Tadashi Yanai who sells apparel, but a 43-year-old programmer who started his career writing code, stepped down as CEO in 2021, and has not given interviews for many years.

On September 16, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed that the wealth of Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, exceeded 105 billion U.S. dollars, surpassing Indian industrialist Gautam Adani to top the list of the richest people in Asia for the first time. Bloomberg said this is a position Zhang Yiming has never reached before.

What is more dramatic is the time difference: less than a year ago, ByteDance was overwhelmed by the possible shutdown of TikTok in the U.S. market; in January this year, the control of TikTok's U.S. business was handed over to a joint venture led by Oracle and Silver Lake. Right after the crisis passed, Zhang Yiming's wealth stepped on the accelerator driven by AI.

This is not a simple ranking change. It is more like a paradigm shift of wealth: the richest people in Asia are shifting from "heavy asset" sectors including ports, energy and retail to "computing power-intensive" sectors covering algorithms, data and AI.

The Richest Man in Asia Has Changed: Algorithms Have Beaten Ports and Energy

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Zhang Yiming's wealth has exceeded 105 billion U.S. dollars. Adani, who was surpassed by him, once reached a peak of about 120 billion U.S. dollars in wealth in June, but then shrank all the way. After the MSCI index adjustment at the end of August, the market value of the Adani Group evaporated by about 15 billion U.S. dollars; the broader sell-off brought about by rising oil prices and bond yields further pushed down the stock price.

On one side is the cyclical volatility of energy, ports and infrastructure, and on the other side is the skyrocketing tech valuation driven by the AI narrative. Zhang Yiming's ascent to the top just stands at the intersection of the two curves.

Since March 2019, when Bloomberg first estimated Zhang Yiming's wealth at 13 billion U.S. dollars, his wealth has increased by about eight times. Today, he is not only the richest man in China, but also surpasses Adani, Ambani and Yanai — the wealth of the latter three comes from ports, energy and retail respectively.

In other words, the representatives of "old money" on the Asian rich list are being left behind by the founder of an unlisted technology company.

The Engine of Soaring Wealth: Valuation Revaluation and AI Narrative

Zhang Yiming's explosive growth in wealth first comes from valuation revaluation.

After Bloomberg referred to the latest valuations of ByteDance's shares by institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price, Zhang Yiming's wealth has increased by more than 12 billion U.S. dollars this month alone. In June this year, after ByteDance's U.S. restructuring plan was completed, Bloomberg cut the discount on ByteDance by 25%, after which Zhang Yiming's wealth surpassed Mukesh Ambani and ranked second in Asia.

But valuations themselves are full of divergences. Bloomberg puts Zhang Yiming's wealth at over 105 billion U.S. dollars, while Forbes' real-time rich list released on Wednesday shows his net worth is 84 billion U.S. dollars. The difference between the two is more than 20 billion U.S. dollars, and the core reason lies in the different valuations of ByteDance, this unlisted company. Bloomberg applied a 10% risk discount when valuing it.

This also means that Zhang Yiming's title as the richest man in Asia is built on a private company that has not yet been publicly traded. His wealth is built on two apps that hundreds of millions of users open without thinking, and on a company whose shares can only be purchased by insiders.

The richest man in Asia does not head a listed company.

The Reversal After TikTok's Life-and-Death Crisis

Zhang Yiming's wealth story has been shrouded in the uncertainty of TikTok's overseas regulatory environment over the past few years.

ByteDance spent most of last year dealing with the possible shutdown of TikTok in the U.S. market. It was not until January this year that the company handed over control of TikTok's U.S. business to a joint venture led by Oracle and Silver Lake. This arrangement eliminated one of the biggest uncertainties facing the company's valuation.

But Zhang Yiming did not continue to bet all on short videos. After the TikTok crisis eased, ByteDance increased its investment in artificial intelligence: it launched the Doubao chatbot, the Seedance video generator, and a model with 10 trillion parameters that is under training.

Lian Jye Su, principal analyst at Omdia, told Bloomberg: "He has a sound strategy. He sticks to the established path and continues to double down on investing in artificial intelligence."

The analyst also pointed out that even during the period when TikTok was under regulatory review in the U.S. in 2023, Zhang Yiming still insisted on supporting the development of artificial intelligence. The social media data stored by ByteDance can theoretically help it train its models.

AI is described by Zhang Yiming as ByteDance's biggest opportunity since it launched its video platform. And the fierce domestic competition is the biggest risk in his eyes.

Zhang Yiming's "Established Path"

Zhang Yiming is not the kind of richest man who likes to stand in the spotlight.

He once wrote code at Microsoft, stepped down as CEO of ByteDance in 2021, has not given interviews for many years since then, and occasionally communicates with the outside world about the company's development direction through letters. Unlike Adani's industrial empire involving heavy assets such as ports and airports, Zhang Yiming's wealth is more "light": algorithms, data, attention, and a private company that does not need to disclose its financial reports to the public.

This "lightness" allows his wealth to be repriced in a short period of time, and also makes his position as the richest man full of flexibility.

ByteDance's AI layout is accelerating. From the upcoming AI mobile phones with built-in Doubao chatbots, to its AI drug R&D subsidiary completing a 290 million U.S. dollar financing — with investors including HSG, GL Ventures and IDG participating — these moves are all reinforcing a narrative: ByteDance is no longer just a short-video company, but an AI company.

The capital market is willing to pay for this narrative. At least for now.

Cracks in the Richest Man's Throne: Valuation Divergence, Competition and Overseas Regulation

But the throne of the richest man in Asia is not stable.

First, ByteDance is unlisted and its valuation is opaque. The difference between Bloomberg's and Forbes' data already shows that the market is far from reaching a consensus on the pricing of this company. The 10% risk discount is not only the pricing of uncertainty in overseas markets, but also the pricing of illiquidity.

Second, the competition in the domestic AI market is extremely fierce. Zhang Yiming himself regards the fierce competition in the domestic market as the biggest risk for ByteDance. Whether Doubao, Seedance and the 10-trillion-parameter model can be converted into sustainable cash flow still needs time to verify.

Third, the overseas regulatory pressure has not completely dissipated. The arrangement of TikTok in the U.S. market has always been shrouded in the cloud of negotiations, and ByteDance's growth story has now basically evolved into an AI story. Its founder has long remained low-key, in control of an unlisted company, and no longer needs to tell this story publicly. But the regulatory trend in the U.S. market may change the valuation logic at any time.

In a more macro context, the domestic market's investment in AI continues to increase, and the competition in the technology industry for computing power and models is also heating up. At the same time, the richest man in China — whose wealth is increasingly dependent on artificial intelligence — has also become the richest man in Asia.

Personal wealth rankings are closely linked to the ups and downs of the AI industry cycle.

Behind the Richest Man Lies the Opportunity of the Era

The growth of Zhang Yiming's wealth essentially comes from three key choices: from recommendation algorithms to short videos, from short videos to globalization, and from globalization to AI. Each time, he stepped on the rising curve of the technology cycle.

The era gave him opportunities, and he caught them with long-termism. Personal wealth ranking is never just a personal story. Behind it are the ups and downs of the industrial cycle, the capital's pricing of the future, and the judgment of a generation of entrepreneurs on technology trends.

Zhang Yiming's 105 billion U.S. dollars is like a signal flare: the throne of the richest man in Asia is occupied for the first time by the founder of an unlisted technology company. This is not only a milestone of personal wealth, but also a signal — the technology cycle is reshaping the wealth map of Asia.

For Zhang Yiming, topping the list of the richest people in Asia is only a result, not the end point. The wealth story in the AI era has just begun. The next decade will still belong to those who dare to bet in the face of uncertainty.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Tech Business", author: Tech Business, published with authorization from 36Kr.