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Forbes rich list: Financial turmoil hits China's super-wealthy
Shanghai (AFP) Oct 30, 2008 The credit crunch and financial crisis have more than halved the combined wealth of China's richest people, Forbes magazine said Thursday as it released its annual Chinese billionaires list. The ranking illustrates how fortunes have risen and fallen over the past tumultuous year as the net worth of mainland China's 40 richest people fell 57 percent to 52 billion dollars from 120 billion dollars, Forbes Asia said. Coming out on top was Shanghai-based agricultural feed tycoon Liu Yongxin with a net worth of three billion dollars while 20 billionaires including paper recycling queen Yan Cheung, who was once ranked as China's richest person, have dropped off the list entirely. Cheung's company, Nine Dragons Paper, has lost 95 percent of its peak value and her net worth is now estimated at 295 million, the magazine said. Last year's number one, 27-year-old property heiress Yang Huiyan, saw 14 billion dollars wiped off of her fortune in part due to ill-timed acquisitions, Forbes said. She fell to number three on this year's list with 2.22 billion dollars. Number two on the list, with 2.7 billion dollars, is Huang Guangyu, founder of Gome, China's largest chain of consumer electronics stores. Huang, a native of south China's Guangdong province who also goes by the Cantonese name Wong Kwong Yu, moved up eight spots from last year. Liu, this year's number one, started building his fortune in 1982 when he and his three brothers used 120 dollars in savings to start raising quails and chickens, the magazine said. They split up the business in 1995 and are now China's only family of billionaires. Liu moved to Shanghai, where his East Hope Group is one of China's biggest feed companies, the magazine said. He also owns aluminium smelters. At 60, Liu is well above the list's average age of 49 -- eight of the billionaires on the list are under the age of 40. Among them is 37-year-old Internet entrepreneur William Ding Lei, once China's richest man, who was among 10 billionaires who returned to the list after dropping off in past years. Lei's online gaming company Netease saw its profits rise 40 percent in the second quarter and his flagship game "Fantasy Westward Journey" is one of China's top 10 downloads, Forbes said. He signed a three-year contract with US game developer Blizzard Entertainment to distribute "StarCraft 2" and "Battle.net" on the mainland. The highest ranked newcomer on the list is Zhou Chengjian, at number five with a net worth of two billion dollars. Zhou, 43, created the fashion brand and retail chain Metersbonwe, which raised 200 million through a stock market floatation in August, Forbes said. He opened his first store in 1995 and now has 2,200 across China. Also among those from last year's list who failed to return was Larry Yung, whose Citic Pacific lost up to two billion dollars due to unauthorised currency bets. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Biggest Mao Zedong statue unveiled in China: report
Beijing (AFP) Oct 26, 2008A university campus has erected China's tallest statue of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, state press reported Sunday. |
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