as the shutdown of the Chinese economy to
fight the virus propelled demand for online
shopping and business tools.
Eric Yuan of California-based video conference
platform Zoom rose more than $10 billion to
$16.2 billion. Li Yongxin of Offcn, an online work
training platform, more than doubled to $20.6
billion. Chen Xiangdong of tutoring platform
Genshuixue rose eightfold to $11.8 billion.
Ma, 56, retired as Alibaba chairman last year and
also is a shareholder in Ant Group, a payments
service spun off from Alibaba. It is preparing
for a public share offering after being valued at
$150 billion in a 2017 private financing round,
which will add to Ma’s fortune.
Entrepreneurs in electric cars, an industry the
ruling Communist Party is promoting, also saw
their fortunes swell.
Zeng Yuqun of battery producer CATL tripled to
$17.6 billion. He Xiaopeng of electric car brand
Xpeng, rose 80% to $6.6 billion following a stock
market debut in New York. Li Bin of NIO rose
300% to $3.5 billion.
Business leaders who tumbled down the list
included Ren Zhengfei, founder of Chinese tech
giant Huawei. U.S. export controls imposed in a
feud with Beijing over technology and security
threaten to cripple its sales of smartphones and
switching equipment. Ren’s net worth declined
10% to $2.8 billion, according to Hurun.
Lei Jun of rival smartphone brand Xiaomi saw
his fortune more than double to $25 billion
as its share price surged, possibly boosted
by expectations sales will benefit from
Huawei’s troubles.