Ta ma de! Remember that China is a country where a good percentage of the population still lives on $2 or less a day and the average income per years (even with purchasing power parity) is less than $8K a year, real dollars are $2K a year. Mexico by contrast has 1 billionaire and $11K (PPP) per capita, real $8K per year.
China Has 106 Billionaires, Up From 15 Last Year (Update1)
By Allen T. Cheng and Dune Lawrence
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) — China has 106 billionaires, up from 15 last year, as surging stocks boost the wealth of the nation’s richest people, according to the Shanghai-based Hurun Report.
Yang Huiyan, the 26-year-old daughter of a property developer, is the nation’s wealthiest person with $17.5 billion, according to the annually published list. She also topped a list released by Forbes Asia two days ago.
China’s billionaire tally is second only to that of the U.S., which has 400, according to the Hurun Report, as surging mainland and Hong Kong stock markets have boosted wealth.
“China may have 200 billionaires, we just haven’t identified them yet — there are a lot of people out there who don’t report their assets,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, who has produced the list since 1999. “The new wealth we haven’t discovered yet is lying in the stock markets.”
The mainland benchmark CSI 300 Index of stocks has nearly quadrupled in the past year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 41 percent this year through yesterday, the strongest annual performance since 1999 if it holds through year-end. Mainland and Hong Kong-based companies raised HK$160.3 billion in Hong Kong this year through Sept. 30, up from HK$133.9 billion last year.
Yang’s net worth rocketed after her father gave her his shares in property developer Country Garden Holdings Co. and the company raised HK$14.8 billion ($1.91 billion) in its Hong Kong debut last April.
Nine Dragons
No. 2 on the list, Zhang Yin, saw the value of her holding in the paper-recycling company she founded, Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Ltd., triple to $10 billion since last year. She was the richest person in mainland China last year with $3.4 billion after Nine Dragons went public.
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