Changes in China's Wealth Rankings Due to COVID-19... Ma Huateng Rises to 1st Place

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] The ranking of China's richest people has changed due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

According to the list of China's richest compiled by Forbes on the 27th, the family fortune of Ma Huateng, chairman of Tencent, China's largest gaming company, reached $45.8 billion (approximately 59.75 trillion KRW), securing the top spot in China. Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, who previously held the number one position, fell to second place with a fortune of $41.9 billion.

The rise in Tencent's stock price, driven by the activation of remote work and increased time spent at home due to COVID-19, leveraging social networking services (SNS), gaming, cloud, and video conferencing platforms, had a decisive impact on the change in China's richest ranking. Additionally, it is evaluated that Tencent's influence has grown further as the use of the 'Health Code' identification through WeChat became routine after the COVID-19 outbreak. In China, including foreigners, one cannot enter public places without the smartphone application 'Health Code.'

Last year, Tencent's revenue was 377.3 billion yuan, a 21% increase from the previous year, and the industry expects Tencent's business performance this year to be favorable despite COVID-19. As of the 24th, Tencent's closing price on the Hong Kong stock market was 406.4 Hong Kong dollars, about 25% higher than the low point on March 19. On the other hand, Alibaba's stock price has been weak recently due to a scandal involving the infidelity of CEO Zhang Peng, who is mentioned as a candidate for the next chairman.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.