Jack Ma is still China’s richest techie – and now he’s worth $6b more than last year

Forbes has just updated its China Rich List, showing that the top two is unchanged from last year. Real estate guy Wang Jianlin remains the overall wealthiest thanks to his Wanda Group, with Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma not too far behind, standing his ground as the richest techie.

Here are the top 10 Chinese billionaires in the tech industry:

1. Jack Ma – US$28.2 billion

• Up from US$21.8 billion last year
• 2nd overall in China

Alibaba’s Jack Ma, pictured earlier today.

Jack Ma’s net worth soared over US$6 billion in the past 12 months, says Forbes’ data. That’s mainly due to Alibaba’s accelerating stock price, which – despite some swerves – is up on its 2014 IPO debut.

2. Ma Huateng – US$24.5 billion

• Up from US$17.6 billion last year
• 3rd overall in China

Tencent has risen particularly strongly in 2016 on the back of WeChat’s ongoing growth – even surpassing Alibaba’s market cap. This tech giant is now pegged at US$254 billion, which is a few bil more than Alibaba.

That has given founder and boss Ma Huateng an especially big bump.

3. William Ding – US$15.2 billion

• Up from US$7.2 billion last year
• 5th overall in China

William Ding has pretty much doubled his money and gone well up from 10th on the overall China rich list last year. His firm, Netease, is doing well with online gaming.

4. Robin Li – US$12.6 billion

• Up from US$10.4 billion last year
• 7th overall in China

He’s not joking: Baidu CEO Robin Li unveils ‘smart chopsticks’. Photo credit: Baidu.

Baidu, China’s top search engine, has had a rough year – including a scandal and a lawsuit over the death of a student who bought fake drugs he found via an advertisement in Baidu’s search results.

5. He Xiangjian – US$11.4 billion

6. Zhang Zhidong – US$9.1 billion

7. Lei Jun – US$8.4 billion

8. Liu Qiangdong – US$6.8 billion

9. Zhou Qunfei – US$6.75 billion

10. Lu Guanqiu – US$6.1 billion