By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is China’s richest person, with a personal fortune of $49.3 billion, according to an annual rich list released on Tuesday, even though his counterparts in the real estate and renewable energies fare less well.

Zhang, 41, who resigned as chief executive of ByteDance in 2021, becomes the 18th person to be crowned China’s richest person in the 26 years since the Hurun China Rich List was first published.

He overtook bottled water tycoon Zhong Shanshan, who slipped to second place as his fortune fell 24 percent, to $47.9 billion.

Despite a legal battle over its U.S. assets, ByteDance’s global revenue grew 30% last year to $110 billion, Hurun said, helping propel Zhang’s personal fortune.

Third on the list was Tencent’s low-key founder Pony Ma, while Colin Huang, founder of PDD Holdings, slipped from third place last year to fourth, even as his e-commerce platforms Discount-focused companies, Pinduoduo and Temu, continue to post healthy revenue growth.

The number of billionaires on the list fell from 142 to 753, a drop of more than a third from its 2021 peak.

“China’s economy and stock markets have had a difficult year,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, president of Hurun Report.

The most dramatic falls in fortune have come from China’s real estate sector, he added, while consumer electronics is clearly growing rapidly, with Xiaomi founder Lei Jun adding $5 billion to his wealth This year.

“Manufacturers of solar panels, lithium batteries and electric vehicles have had a difficult year, as competition intensified, leading to a glut, and the threat of tariffs added to uncertainties,” he said. said Hoogewerf, who is also the list’s chief researcher.

“Solar panel makers saw their wealth decline by 80% from the 2021 peak, while battery and electric vehicle makers fell by half and a quarter, respectively.”

(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)