Zhang Yiming, founder of, owner of, became the richest person in China on Wednesday (26). With a fortune valued at $ 57.5 billion, Zhang exceeded Zhong Shanshan, owner of Nongfi Spring, China’s largest beverage company, and Ma Huateng, co-founder, according to Bloomberg.
At 41, Zhang now occupies the third position on the list of the richest men in Asia, behind the Indians and, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
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The increase of more than US $ 10 billion in its net worth was driven by evaluations of institutional investors, including and, in addition to the intention of the Bytedance to repurchase employee actions with a $ 312 billion assessment.
However, the situation of Tiktok’s operations in the United States remains uncertain.
President Donald Trump in 75 days, until April 5, the deadline for Bytedance to guarantee a buyer for its US operations or face the ban.
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According to Bloomberga proposal to acquire Tiktok operations in the US, which would include safety guarantees and the acquisition of minority participation in a new American entity, allowing the crucial application algorithm to remain under Chinese control.
Currently living in Singapore, Zhang has accumulated his fortune through his 21% participation in Bytedance, which has over 1 billion users worldwide.
Zhang founded bytedance in 2012, in an apartment in Beijing, launching the Toutiao news app, which quickly won over 13 million daily users.
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In 2016, the company launched Tiktok (known as Douyin in China), which quickly became popular among younger generations and achieved global success.
Zhang left his position as CEO in 2021 and then resigned to the presidency, following a trend among other important billionaires in China, such as Jack Ma, from Alibaba, and PDD Colin Huang, who also moved away from the active management of their companies.
