The growing global popularity of the social network TikTok has made the co-founder of its parent company, ByteDance, the richest person in China.
Zhang Yiming, 41, has a net worth of US$49.3 billion, 43% higher than in 2023, according to a list compiled by the Hurun Research Institute.
And although he resigned from the firm in 2021, Zhang is estimated to own around 20% of the company.
Unlike other great Chinese tycoons, such as Jack Ma – founder of Alibaba – or Pony Ma – creator of Tencent, another Asian giant – the man behind the technology giant ByteDance has an extremely mysterious profile.
Although very little is known about his life, Zhang has turned on some lights that allow us to get closer to the person behind the businessman.
“He is a big admirer of Mark Zuckerberg”says BBC journalist Zing Tsjeng, referring to the founder of Meta.
Zhang grew up in Longyan, a city in the southwestern province of Fujian, as the only child of a couple of civil servants linked to the scientific environment.
Although he initially wanted to pursue biology, he ended up studying software engineering at Nankai University in Tianjian, where he repaired other students’ computers and created websites to earn extra money.
After graduating, he worked at a digital firm specializing in airline ticket searches, as well as on a microblogging platform before joining Microsoft, where he only stayed for half a year because, he said in an interview, he was “bored.”
Shortly after, he founded a real estate platform before starting ByteDance in 2012.
“People who achieve great things often maintain a very normal mindset. In other words, if you maintain a normal mind, accept yourself as you are, and do well, you can often do things well. Normal people can do extraordinary things“Zhang said in one of his corporate speeches.
Zhang said in the past that ByteDance – now one of the largest technology companies in the world and popularly known for having created TikTok – emerged when he realized that fewer and fewer people were reading newspapers on the subway and that phones were going to become the main means of disseminating information.
Apparently Zhang was interested in develop an application that could distribute information according to personal interests which later became news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, the newspaper reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The same concept of content tailored to individual interests – powered through the use of artificial intelligence – was the basis for the development of short video apps like Douyin.
Informally known as a “application factory”in 2017 ByteDance launched the international version of Douyin, known as TikTok, considered the first Chinese application to become globally successful.
The company continued to expand into other digital sectors to diversify its revenue streams, including e-commerce, gaming, and education.
Bytedance’s commercial rise, with Zhang at the helm, was meteoric, until in 2021 the founder announced that he was resigning as CEO to “have a greater impact on long-term initiatives,” as he said at the time.
“The truth is that I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager”he said in a memo posted on the company’s website.
“I’m more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people.”
The surprise resignation came less than a month after the company’s IPO plans were put on hold.
Currently, ByteDance reports on its website that about 60% of the firm is owned by global institutional investors (such as Blackrock, General Atlantic and Susquehanna International Group), 20% is owned by the company’s founders and the other 20 % is owned by its employees.
As a part owner of the firm, the evolution of Zhang’s fortune is linked to the fate of ByteDance.
A destination that, outside of China, has faced difficulties.
ByteDance is fighting in the US Supreme Court against a ban order signed by President Joe Biden in April.
The order gives the Chinese company until January to sell the popular TikTok or face a ban of the service, as US lawmakers argue that its Chinese ownership poses national security risks.
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Despite facing intense pressure in the United States, ByteDance’s global profit rose 60% last year, boosting Zhang Yiming’s personal fortune.
“Zhang Yiming is the 18th new Number One we have had in China in just 26 years,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, director of the Hurun Research Institute, which compiles the ranking of millionaires in China.
Zhang Yiming climbed to the top spot among Chinese millionaires not only because ByteDance has done well.
The truth is that its rivals in the ranking have fared worse than other years, registering fewer profits in a year in which China’s economy has been faltering.
In fact, only about 30% of the people on the list of Chinese millionaires saw an increase in their net worth, while the rest experienced a decrease.
“China’s Hurun richest list has shrunk for an unprecedented third year in a row; the Chinese economy and stock markets have had a difficult year,” Hoogewerf said.
And he explained that the data shows that it has been a good year for some technology companies, such as for smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi.
But it was not a good period for those who make their fortunes in the green energy market, such as manufacturers of solar panels, lithium batteries and electric vehicles.