China’s latest wealth ranking shows a split between technology and property fortunes, with ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming at the top of Hurun’s 2026 list with US$99.7 billion.
The Hurun Research Institute published its ranking Oct. 27, using a Sept. 1 wealth snapshot. Zhang’s estimate rose 43% from a year earlier when measured in renminbi. Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher, said the increase came “almost all of it on the back of AI.” The institute also cited AI assistant Doubao and revenue from Douyin and TikTok in its account of ByteDance’s performance.
Hurun counted 1,529 people with wealth above CNY 5 billion, equivalent to US$740 million. That was a record and a 6.6% increase from the previous year. The list included 1,176 U.S. dollar billionaires, up 155 year over year but nine below the 2021 peak of 1,185. Hurun identified 160 people on the list as having made their money from AI, about one in 10.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that gross domestic product grew 4.5% year over year in the third quarter of 2026. Value added in information transmission, software and information technology services rose 9.8%, while real estate value added fell 0.4%. In the first three quarters of 2026, real estate development investment declined 20.6%; the NBS described insufficient domestic demand as a prominent issue.
The institute’s top 100 also showed a change in where property wealth appeared: mainland developers were absent for the first time, while families in Hong Kong accounted for the property-related names in that group, Hurun said.
Hurun calculates year-over-year changes in renminbi and dates its estimates to Sept. 1. For private companies, it compares them with listed peers and applies industry price-to-earnings ratios. The institute cautions that owners may be missed or undervalued when their holdings are difficult to identify.
