ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming’s net worth exceeds 3.3 trillion yuan, becoming Asia’s richest man

"Bloomberg" reported that ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming's net worth has surpassed Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, becoming Asia's richest man.

As the artificial intelligence (AI) craze continues to drive a new wave of wealth accumulation, Zhang Yiming's current net worth has exceeded US$105 billion (approximately NT$3.3 trillion), which is more than 8 times higher than the US$13 billion (approximately NT$413.52 billion) estimated by Bloomberg in March 2019.

This month alone, after analyzing the latest valuations released by institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price, Bloomberg estimated that Zhang Yiming’s net worth increased by more than US$12 billion (approximately NT$381.71 billion) in a single month.

According to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zhang Yiming has now surpassed Indian billionaire Adani to become the richest man in Asia. Adani's net worth once climbed to approximately US$120 billion (approximately NT$3.8 trillion) in June this year. However, his wealth has shrunk recently due to factors such as adjustments to the MSCI index components and market sell-offs triggered by rising oil prices and bond yields.

The report pointed out that Zhang Yiming was already the richest man in China, and now he has become the richest man in Asia. His wealth mainly comes from ByteDance, and TikTok's global business and the company's continued expansion of AI layout in recent years have also become important factors in boosting the growth of his net worth.

Zhang Yiming's rise in the rankings also reflects the changes in the wealth map of Asia's billionaires. With the rapid development of AI technology, related companies are gradually becoming an important source of a new round of huge wealth, and the scale of wealth of technology entrepreneurs continues to attract market attention.

At the same time, China continues to increase investment in artificial intelligence and compete with the United States in advanced technology. In this AI industry competition, ByteDance is also further extending its business territory from the global short video platform giant to the field of artificial intelligence.