Chinese Tycoons Claw Back $71 Billion From Market Rebound
The strength of the rebound in Chinese and Hong Kong shares on Wednesday added $71 billion to the combined fortune of the richest people from the mainland. With the surge continuing on Thursday, that amount is set to rise further.
Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Pony Ma, William Ding of NetEase Inc. and Colin Huang, the founder of Pinduoduo Inc., were among the world’s biggest gainers, adding more than $5 billion each, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The gains came as Chinese stocks trading in Hong Kong staged their best rebounds since 2008 on Wednesday after the nation’s top financial policy body pledged to stabilize a market that had gone into free fall.
Chinese equities have been particularly volatile. An index tracking mainland shares listed in Hong Kong started the week by falling the most since the global financial crisis on concern that Beijing’s ties with Russia could lead to political backlash. Regulatory worries also came back to the fore after a report that Tencent is facing a record fine for violating anti-money laundering rules. The richest Chinese tycoons lost more than $80 billion combined in the first two days of the week, with Pony Ma’s fortune sinking by $6.5 billion.
But the losers are now rebounding. Tencent, which rallied a record 23% on Wednesday, climbed as much as 9.3% on Thursday, helping push up the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index up 6%. Pony Ma, once China’s richest person and currently the third, had a $38.5 billion fortune as of Wednesday’s close.
Nongfu Spring Co.’s Zhong Shanshan, known as the king of bottled water, remains the nation’s wealthiest person, followed by Zhang Yiming of privately held ByteDance Ltd. Jack Ma of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. ranks No. 4.
Still, even with the market rebound, China’s 75 wealthiest tycoons are sitting on losses this year. Their fortunes have tumbled almost $185 billion collectively, according to the Bloomberg index that tracks the world’s 500 richest people.
