Zhang Yiming surpasses Ambani to become Asia's second richest person

Zhang Yiming, co-founder of TikTok's parent company ByteDance, has overtaken Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani to become the second richest person in Asia, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zhang's net worth has surged to $92.8 billion, cementing his position as China's richest person . The ByteDance co-founder's fortune has swelled more than sevenfold since Bloomberg began tracking his wealth in March 2019, when he was worth $13 billion .

The massive jump in Zhang's wealth, more than $24 billion in a single day, came after Bloomberg reassessed ByteDance's valuation based on analyses from major institutional investors including BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price Group .

Zhang Yiming, 43, was born in Fujian province and studied software engineering before founding ByteDance in 2012 from a modest four-bedroom apartment in Beijing . The company started with news aggregator Toutiao before finding global success through short-video app Douyin, which was later introduced internationally as TikTok . He stepped down as both CEO and chairman of ByteDance in 2021 but remains a shareholder, with legal filings suggesting he owns 21 per cent of the company.

AI and TikTok drive wealth surge
The surge is attributed to the global success of TikTok as well as ByteDance's rapid expansion into artificial intelligence. The company's AI chatbot Doubao has amassed more than 300 million monthly users, becoming China's most popular AI chatbot .

ByteDance is reportedly planning to invest up to $70 billion this year in China's AI market as it seeks to challenge leading US tech companies globally .

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index had previously applied a 25 per cent risk discount to ByteDance's valuation following a US House bill in March 2024 that threatened to ban TikTok unless its Chinese owner sold the app. That discount was lowered to 10 per cent on June 2 following the completion of TikTok's US sale to a consortium led by Oracle Corp., Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX .

Adani remains on top, Ambani slips to third
Gautam Adani retained the top spot as Asia's richest person, with a net worth of $117.4 billion .

Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, slipped to third place with a net worth of $86.9 billion. His fortune has declined by $20.8 billion so far this year amid volatile global oil prices and geopolitical turbulence .

Tadashi Yanai, founder of Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing, ranked fourth with $72.5 billion, while SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son rounded out the top five with $72 billion .