A new richest person in Asia: Zhang Yiming’s net worth surges past $105.5 billion to claim the top spot
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of September 15, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has reached a net worth of $105.5 billion, surpassing Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s $104.8 billion for the first time to become Asia’s richest person. The 43-year-old Zhang not only weathered the regulatory storm that nearly led to a shutdown of TikTok in the U.S., but also capitalized on the recent artificial intelligence (AI) boom; his net worth has surged more than eightfold from the $13 billion recorded when Bloomberg began tracking it in March 2019.
As of September 15, the top five richest people in Asia are, in order: Zhang Yiming, taking the top spot with $105.5 billion; Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of India’s Adani Group, ranking second with $104.8 billion; Mukesh Ambani of India’s Reliance Industries, ranking third with $81.3 billion; Tadashi Yanai, founder of Fast Retailing (the parent company of Uniqlo), ranking fourth with $63.7 billion; and Zhong Shanshan, founder of China’s Nongfu Spring, ranking fifth with $59.1 billion.
Zhang Yiming had already become China’s richest person thanks to the popularity of TikTok and ByteDance’s expansion into AI. ByteDance’s AI portfolio includes the popular chatbot “Doubao” and the video generation model Seedance. His rise to become Asia’s richest person underscores how the AI boom is generating massive wealth and minting a new generation of billionaires, surpassing titans of traditional industries.
This also indicates that ByteDance has largely moved past earlier geopolitical controversies. Earlier this year, such disputes prompted the company to transfer parts of its U.S. operations to American investors. Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at the research firm Omdia, noted that Zhang “knows how to play the hand he’s been dealt,” remaining committed to his original strategy while continuing to ramp up investment in AI.
Su pointed out that even when TikTok CEO Shou Chew faced questioning by the U.S. Congress in 2023, Zhang continued to bet on the development of the company’s AI technology. ByteDance is also well-positioned to leverage its vast trove of social media data to train AI models. Following its success with short-video platforms, AI-related products and services represent ByteDance’s greatest opportunity—though fierce competition in the Chinese market remains its biggest risk.
Zhang’s net worth surged by more than $12 billion in September alone. Bloomberg re-evaluated his wealth after analyzing the latest valuations disclosed by firms such as BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and T. Rowe Price. As ByteDance is not publicly traded, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index applies a 10% liquidity discount to its valuation.