Zhang Yiming Net worth: TikTok mogul overtakes Mukesh Ambani to become second richest person in Asia | Today’s news
Zhang Yiming beat Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. The ByteDance co-founder is now the second-richest person in Asia, according to Bloomberg. His net worth has climbed to $92.8 billion. He is also confirmed as the richest person in China.
Zhang’s fortune has grown more than sevenfold since March 2019. Bloomberg began tracking his fortune that month, when it was worth $13 billion. The increase reflects ByteDance’s growing global footprint and AI ambitions.
Two key drivers have driven this rise. TikTok continues to do very well as a global video platform. ByteDance’s Doubao has also become China’s most popular AI chatbot. According to Bloomberg, it has over 300 million monthly users.
Read also | Dua Lipa Ties The Knot With Callum Turner: What’s Their Combined Net Worth?
ByteDance is now betting heavily on artificial intelligence. It is talking about spending up to $70 billion in 2026. It aims to lead the Chinese AI market and challenge the leading US players around the world.
Much of that investment is expected to come from the roughly $50 billion in profits ByteDance will earn in 2025. The company also remains a strong candidate for an eventual initial public offering.
Earlier in 2026, ByteDance transferred parts of its US business to American investors. An Abu Dhabi-based consortium led by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX has taken over TikTok’s US operations. This ended years of political and regulatory uncertainty in the country.
Bloomberg applied a 25% risk discount to ByteDance’s valuation. This followed a bill by the US House of Representatives that was passed in March 2024. The bill sought to ban TikTok unless its Chinese owner sold the app.
The discount was reduced to 10% on June 2nd. This reflected the completed US sale and a new institutional valuation filed in late May.
Read also | Mohanlal Turns 66: Check Drishyam 3 Net Worth of ₹ 400 Crores
Zhang’s fortune jumped by more than $24 billion after this revaluation. Bloomberg analyzed valuations from BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price, HSG and General Atlantic.
“The jump in valuation reflects the company’s strong fundamentals. Developments in the US are unlikely to have a major negative impact,” Shanghai-based analyst Amy Lin was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Singapore-based technology analyst Ke Yan of DZT Research also weighed in. “The removal of the US overhang has unlocked a revaluation of the remaining ByteDance entity. Despite the revaluation, the valuation still looks cheap on fundamentals,” he told the publication.
The richest Asian
Mukesh Ambani has dropped to third richest in Asia, according to Bloomberg. His net worth is $86.9 billion. Gautam Adani retained the top spot in Asia with $117.4 billion, according to the publication.
However, the Forbes real-time billionaires list still lists Mukesh Ambani as the richest Asian with a net worth of $89.5 billion. Gautam Adani is the second Asian with $86.3 billion. With a net worth of $69.3 billion, Zhang Yiming is still the 3rd richest Asian according to Forbes.
Read also | Suvendu Adhikari Net Worth: No Car, No Gold, ₹12,000 Cash To Be Bengal’s Next CM
On the same list, Elon Musk is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $826.1 billion. Larry Ellison is next, far behind with $296 billion. The third position is held by Larry Page with a valuation of 295 billion dollars.
The richest woman on the list is Alice Walton. The Walmart heiress is the 16th richest overall with a net worth of $120.8 billion.
