Xiaomi founder loses $21B in a year, biggest drop among China's billionaires

Xiaomi founder Lei Jun's fortune has plunged 48% in a year to 169 billion yuan ($25.1 billion), marking the biggest wealth decline among China's billionaires, according to the latest Hurun China Rich List.

The decline sent him tumbling 12 places from fifth in 2025 to 17th in the 2026 ranking, released by the Hurun Research Institute on Tuesday.

Lei, 56, was also among three entrepreneurs who dropped out of China's top 10 richest people this year, alongside Colin Huang, founder of e-commerce company Pinduoduo, and Eric Li Shufu and his family, behind automaker Geely.

Hurun attributed Lei's wealth decline partly to Xiaomi's falling share price and its costly expansion into electric vehicles, where Chinese automakers face intense price competition. The decline marks a sharp reversal for Lei, who was the biggest wealth gainer on Hurun's 2025 list after his fortune increased by 196 billion yuan.

Other prominent Chinese billionaires also suffered substantial declines in their estimated fortunes this year.

Zhong Shanshan, founder of bottled water company Nongfu Spring, lost 120 billion yuan, a 23% decline, although he remained China's second-richest person with 410 billion yuan. Tencent founder Pony Ma saw his fortune shrink by 26% to 346 billion yuan, placing him fourth. Wang Ning and his family, behind toy company Pop Mart, lost 94.5 billion yuan as the company's valuation retreated from last year's peak, driven by the popularity of its Labubu collectibles.

While some of China's best-known business figures suffered steep losses, others saw their fortunes surge, particularly in artificial intelligence and related industries.

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, 43, recorded the largest wealth increase, gaining 200 billion yuan to reclaim the title of China's richest person. His fortune reached a record 670 billion yuan, up 43% from a year earlier, supported by ByteDance's growing valuation and expansion into AI.

The second-largest increase went to Chen Jianhua and Fan Hongwei of industrial group Hengli, whose combined fortune rose by approximately 123 billion yuan.

Lin Tsung-Chi, 85, of Taiwan-based King Slide, a manufacturer of precision components used in AI servers, recorded the third-largest increase at approximately 106 billion yuan. Other major gainers included Zhu Yiming of semiconductor company GigaDevice, whose fortune increased by approximately 97 billion yua.

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, 41, was the wealthiest newcomer, entering the ranking directly in seventh place with an estimated fortune of 280 billion yuan. Cambricon founder Chen Tianshi, also 41, joined the top 10 with an estimated fortune of $30.5 billion, reflecting the growing wealth generated by China's AI chip industry.

Overall, 785 entrepreneurs saw their fortunes increase, including 263 newcomers, while 911 recorded declines or no change.

The number of people with fortunes of at least 5 billion yuan reached a record 1,529, up 95 from last year. Their combined wealth rose 7% to approximately $4.8 trillion. The ranking is based on estimated wealth as of Sept. 1, 2026, rather than cash holdings or realized earnings.