Chinese e-commerce platform founder, Colin Huang has apparently lost more wealth this year than anyone else in the world.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Huang’s fortune has dropped by more than $27 billion after the company’s stock plunged with China cracking down on its internet giants. That’s the biggest decline among the 500 members of the index, much larger even than the roughly $16 billion lost by China Evergrande Group Chairman Hui Ka Yan, whose real estate empire is struggling under a pile of debt.
This is the latest instance of how the tide has turned for China’s billionaires as President Xi Jinping calls for “common prosperity” and reins in the country’s private-sector companies. Shares of Pinduoduo (PDD) have fallen more this year than either Alibaba Group Holding Ltd or Tencent Holdings Ltd.
PDD is “more vulnerable to the crackdown compared to those peers with mature and profitable models” like Alibaba and Tencent, said Kenny Ng, a securities strategist at Everbright Sun Hung Kai Co in Hong Kong. “That’s the main reason for the stock performance lagging behind other tech companies.”
Pinduoduo’s American depositary receipts have dropped 44% this year, compared with a 33% decline for Alibaba’s ADRs. Tencent’s shares have slid 20% this year in Hong Kong.
Having founded the company in 2015, Huang built it into an e-commerce giant by pioneering community buying. He currently owns 28% of PDD. Its annual active users climbed to 788 million in December, exceeding the 779 million users at Alibaba’s online marketplaces.
