Zhang Yiming surpassed Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s second-richest person after a rise in ByteDance Ltd.’s valuation and further progress in the Chinese firm’s AI ambitions.
Zhang’s net worth climbed to $92.8 billion, cementing his position as China’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The ByteDance co-founder’s fortune swelled more than sevenfold since Bloomberg started tracking his wealth in March 2019, when he was worth $13 billion.
The surge comes amid the success of ByteDance’s video app TikTok, as well as its Doubao AI chatbot, which has amassed more than 300 million monthly users to become China’s most popular. ByteDance also earlier this year transferred parts of its US business to American investors.
“The jump in valuation reflects the company’s strong fundamentals and the success of its apps such as Doubao in China,” said Amy Lin, Shanghai-based analyst at Capital Securities. “The developments in the US are unlikely to have a major negative impact.”
