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29 March 2024

Revealed: Which country has 300 billionaires

This picture taken on December 12, 2012 shows Wang Jianlin, head of conglomerate Wanda Group a private firm with interests ranging from property to retailing attending an awards ceremony in Beijing. Wang, a multi-billionaire who bought US cinema chain AMC Entertainment and has just acquired a luxury British yacht builder, has taken top spot as China's richest man with a wealth of 14 billion USD, according to Forbes magazine. (AFP)

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By Agencies

The number of dollar billionaires in China has passed 300 for the first time, an annual ranking of wealth in the world's second-largest economy showed Wednesday.

The Hurun Report, a luxury magazine publisher, named property tycoon Wang Jianlin as China's new richest person, saying he had more than doubled his worth to $22bn (Dh80.81bn).

There were a total of 315$ billionaires in the country, it said, up by 64 from a year ago.

The average fortune of the top 1,000 stood at $1.04bn -- more than double their $440m during the global financial crisis five years ago.

But some were dogged by scandal.

Three of last year's 10 richest people in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, have been detained amid a corruption crackdown in the province.

Two others on the list are in prison, while Xu Ming, who joined this year at No 676 with $490m, was a key witness against Bo Xilai last month in China's biggest political corruption trial in decades.

According to court transcripts, Xu said he gave the former senior politician 21 million yuan ($3.4m) in bribes, including purchasing a villa in the French resort of Cannes for Bo's wife.

Real estate businesswoman and recent divorcee Wu Yajun fell from No 8 to No 22 and her wealth dropped nearly a quarter to $4.6bn after she gave her ex-husband $3bn-- propelling him into the Top 50 in his own right.
Hurun called the transaction "the most expensive divorce settlement from a wife to her husband".

Real estate was the biggest source of ultra-rich fortunes, led by Wang, whose conglomerate Wanda

Group recently also acquired the US cinema chain AMC Entertainment and a luxury British yacht builder.


But Lei Jun of mobile phone maker Xiaomi rose the fastest on the 2013 rankings after his worth shot up seven-fold to $2.6bn.


Wang was also named as China's richest man by Forbes magazine earlier this week, which estimated his wealth at $14bn.