China loses 229 billionaires amid turmoil and crackdown

More than 400 people lost their billionaire status last year, most from China, while the LVMH chief became the richest man in the world, according to Hurun Global Rich List 2023.

China lost 229 billionaires in 2022, accounting for more than half of the 445 who disappeared from the list, due to global monetary tightening, Covid disruptions, and Beijing's crackdown on major tech companies, the report said yesterday.

The world's second-biggest economy also added 69 new billionaires to the list during the period and remained the biggest source of the super-rich, with its total number of billionaires standing at 969 as of January 16, 2023, ahead of the United States with 691.

Luxury brands had a good year, with LVMH chief Bernard Arnault rising to the top of the list with a net worth of US$202 billion (HK$1.58 trillion), overtaking Tesla founder Elon Musk, and Hermes heirs Bertrand Puech and family coming in third.

Zhong Shanshan, who founded Nongfu Spring (9633), retained his position as China's richest person with US$69 billion, down 4 percent. He was followed by Tencent's (0700) founder Pony Ma Huateng and ByteDance's founding father Zhang Yiming.

Jack Ma Yun, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba (9988), dropped to ninth place in China.