PDD’s Colin Huang surpasses Tencent, ByteDance founders as China’s richest tech billionaire after Pinduoduo outgrows e-commerce rivals

Colin Huang, the founder of PDD Holdings, has become China’s richest technology entrepreneur after a surge in the value of its US-listed shares, allowing him to surpass the nation’s more illustrious tycoons Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent Holdings and Zhang Yiming of Bytedance.

The 44-year-old grew his wealth by 71 per cent to 385 billion yuan (US$53.4 billion) from a year earlier, according to the annual Hurun Global Rich List 2024 released on Monday. Zhong Shanshan, who founded bottled water producer Nongfu Spring, remained the richest in the country, with a net worth of 450 billion yuan, it added.

Ma’s wealth shrank by 10 per cent to 250 billion yuan, while Zhang endured an 8 per cent erosion to 245 billion yuan, according to Hurun, whose ranking is based on values as of mid-January this year. Both slipped by one rung to rank third and fourth, respectively.

Huang is PDD’s single largest shareholder with 26.5 per cent, according to US regulatory filings, a stake worth US$43.3 billion based on its share price on March 22. He stepped down as chairman in 2021 to focus on the company’s agritech future after Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on Big Tech erased trillions from the nation’s tech and education stocks at home and overseas.

Huang’s magnified fortune catapulted him to 24th in the global rich list, according to Hurun, from 39th in the ranking a year ago.

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“[Huang] for the second year in a row has been the entrepreneur who has grown the most wealth in China,” Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said in a statement. “It’s hard to believe that he has been in the top 30 global entrepreneurs since he founded Pinduoduo less than 10 years ago.”

China’s Big Tech landscape continues to undergo seismic shifts. The rally in PDD shares late last year turned it into the most valuable Chinese company traded in the US. Its revenue jumped 94 per cent in the third quarter last year, prompting Alibaba Group’s founder Jack Ma to congratulate its “decisions, execution and efforts.”

Alibaba Group, which owns the South China Morning Post, has since regained that title as its stock price stabilised this year.

Several other tech executives also emerged among the fastest-growing Chinese billionaires, as artificial intelligence became a hot asset driving new global tech trends. They include Cai Haoyu, founder of Shanghai-based game studio miHoYo, and Chen Tianshi, founder of Beijing-based AI chip developer Cambricon Technologies.

Cai’s wealth rose 210 per cent to 67 billion yuan, while Chen gained 120 per cent in value to 16 billion yuan.

While China remains the country with the most billionaires globally, the pool has shrunk by 155 to 814 over the past 12 months, according to the Hurun Report. In the US, their peers increased by 109 to 800, the report showed.

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, regained the title of richest man with a wealth of 1.67 trillion yuan, courtesy of Tesla’s record shipments and SpaceX’s huge valuation, according to Hurun.

Additional reporting by Li Jiaxing