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Zhang’s total wealth is now $57.5 billion, making him |
By [Studyinfo4edu]
Zhang Yiming, the 41-year-old founder of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, is now the richest person in China! According to a Bloomberg report on Thursday, he just passed big names like Zhong Shanshan (owner of Nongfu Spring water) and Tencent’s co-founder Pony Ma Huateng. This is the first time a tech entrepreneur like Zhang has beaten China’s “old-school” billionaires.
How Rich Is He?
Zhang’s total wealth is now $57.5 billion, making him:
The 3rd richest person in Asia
The 24th richest person in the world
His money grew by a huge $13.6 billion this year alone!
A Quiet Guy with a Big App
Even though TikTok is used by millions worldwide, Zhang Yiming likes to stay out of the spotlight. He was born in China’s Fujian province to parents who worked for the government. He studied software engineering at Nanjing University and started his career at a small startup called Kuxun. Later, he even worked at Microsoft but quit to start his own company.
In 2012, he launched ByteDance, which became famous for creating TikTok. The app’s fun, short videos made it a global hit, but here’s the funny thing: Zhang didn’t even use TikTok at first! He thought it was “just for teenagers.” But when he made it a rule for his employees to post videos and get likes, he finally tried it himself—and got hooked!
Why Does It Matter?
ByteDance and TikTok keep growing bigger every day, and Zhang Yiming is now seen as one of the most powerful people in tech. What’s next for this low-key billionaire? Whatever it is, the world will be watching!