Beijing Overtakes New York City As City With Most Billionaires
According to the latest Forbes' annual rich list_ Beijing is now home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. The Chinese capital added 33 billionaires in 2020 and now hosts 100_ said the business magazine.
This narrowly beats New York City_ which hosts 99 and has held the top ranking for the last seven years. China's quick containment of Covid-19_ the rise of its technology firms and stock markets helped it gain top spot.
Although Beijing now has more billionaires than the Big Apple_ the combined net worth of New York City's billionaires remained US$80bn (£58bn) greater than that of their counterparts in Beijing.
Beijing's richest resident was Zhang Yiming_ the founder of video-sharing app TikTok and chief executive of its parent firm ByteDance. He saw his net worth double to $35.6bn.
In contrast_ New York City's richest resident_ former Mayor Michael Bloomberg_ had a fortune worth $59bn.
China's e-commerce boom
China_ along with the US_ has seen its technology giants become even bigger during the pandemic as more people shopped online and looked for sources of entertainment. This saw the massive creation of personal wealth for the founders and shareholders of these tech titans.
China_ which Forbes included Hong Kong and Macau into its figures_ added more billionaires to the list than any other country globally_ with 210 newcomers.
Half of China's new billionaires made their fortunes from manufacturing or technology ventures_ and now includes female billionaire Kate Wang who made her money from e-cigarettes. With 698 billionaires_ it is closing in on the US_ which still leads with 724 billionaires.
One billionaire every 17 hours
A record 493 newcomers joined the list globally last year_ roughly one new billionaire every 17 hours_ according to Forbes. India had the third-highest number of billionaires_ with 140. In total_ the 1_149 billionaires from Asia Pacific were worth $4.7tn_ compared with the US billionaires' $4.4 tn.
Jeff Bezos_ founder and chief executive of Amazon_ remains the world's richest person for the fourth consecutive year. His net worth grew by $64bn to $177bn last year.
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