China's richest in 2025 include diverse industry leaders

In 2025, five of the richest people in China are well-known business leaders. Forbes has ranked them based on their net worth. Notably, the richest person is not a tech entrepreneur, but someone who found wealth in water. The fifth richest is Robin Zeng, worth $37.1 billion. He is the CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), which makes batteries for electric vehicles. Despite a drop in company revenue last year, Zeng saw his net profits rise by 15% due to lower raw material costs. He plans to expand CATL by building factories in the U.S. if investment opportunities arise. Next, with a net worth of $43.9 billion, is Colin Huang. He started his career at Google and founded PDD Holdings, an e-commerce platform. His company also launched Temu, competing with major retailers like Shein. Although Huang stepped down as chairman in 2021, he remains a significant shareholder. He once ranked as China's richest but faced a drop in stock value last August, losing $14 billion. Third on the list is Zhang Yiming, with a net worth of $45.6 billion. He founded ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. ByteDance has grown rapidly, making Zhang a prominent figure in China's tech industry. His success highlights the ongoing influence of technology in the country’s economy.