Hurun names Zhuhai businessmen to billionaires list

China's record-breaking 819 US-dollar billionaires include three Zhuhai men and one father-son team who appear on the Hurun Global Rich List for 2018, which was released on Feb 28.

Lei Jun, 48, founder and chairman of Chinese smart phone giant Xiaomi Technology (Zhuhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, headquartered in Beijing), moved up 65 spots to rank 80th. Cited are total accumulated assets of 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion).

Lei's 72 percent growth in wealth came principally from surging sales of Xiaomi phones over the past year, with experts viewing the potential of Xiaomi's hypothetical initial public offering in the future.

Lei Jun [File photo]

Next, Zhuhai real estate magnates Liang Shezeng, 85, and son Liang Jiarong, 53, placed 2,075th with combined wealth of 8.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) to make an inaugural appearance on the list.

The elder Liang is the controlling shareholder of Zhuhai-based Guangdong Shirong Zhaoye Co Ltd, while the son is in charge. The Doumen enterprise stands out as one of Zhuhai's four largest listed real estate companies that went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2004. The company has transited to healthier industries in recent years with its latest project in Beijing's senior housing market.

Liang Yunchao, 49, is chairman of one of China's largest suppliers of vitamins and health supplements -- Guangdong By-health Biotechnology. With his family's net worth growing by 50 percent to 13.5 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), they leaped 237 places to 1,383th. The Sanzao (Jinwan District) company has since gone public in the country's A-share IPO market.

Another A-share listed company -- Jafron Biomedical Co Ltd, Zhuhai Hi-Tech Zone -- is a leader in the blood filtration industry. Chairman Dong Fan, 48, made the list again at 2,545th, a drop of 593 spots as his wealth fell by 9 percent to 6.3 billion yuan ($993 million). 

The 2018 edition lists 2,694 billionaires from 68 countries and 2,157 companies who have a wealth of at least $1 billion each. That is 437 more billionaires than in the previous year. The number is the largest recorded since the annual list began publishing seven years ago. The collective wealth of 66 trillion yuan ($10.4 trillion) is also on the rise, amounting to 13.2 percent of the world's GDP. Hurun Research Institute has made itself the world's largest recorder of individual's wealth.

At the top of the list is Jeff Bezos, 54, CEO and founder of Amazon.com Inc, the world's largest online retailer with assets of 775 billion yuan ($112 billion). Following are Warren Buffett, 88, one of the most successful investors from the United States, and Bill Gates, 63, founder of Microsoft Corp.

Zhuhai billionaires named [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]