Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, has become the wealthiest person in China, with a net worth of $57.5 billion. This achievement is even more incredible considering TikTok’s current challenges, including a potential ban in the United States.
ByteDance
ByteDance maintains a prominent position in China’s AI sector, with its chatbot Doubao serving 75 million active regular users. The company reports that its earlier vision understanding model operates at costs 85% below the industry standard.
Net Worth
Zhang’s net worth increased by over $10 billion after Bloomberg analyzed valuations from institutional investors such as BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments, and T. Rowe Price Group Inc., and ByteDance’s intent to repurchase employee shares at a $312 billion valuation.
TikTok Operations
TikTok’s operating status in the US remains uncertain as President Donald Trump extended the deadline until April 5, 2025. This could mean that ByteDance needs to secure a purchaser for its US operations. According to Bloomberg News, Oracle Corp. is considering a proposal to acquire TikTok’s US operations that would involve providing security guarantees and developing a minority stake in a new US entity, while potentially allowing the application’s crucial algorithm to remain under Chinese control.
In a positive turn of events for ByteDance, Trump stated his willingness to consider reducing tariffs on China to acquire Beijing’s support for selling TikTok’s US operations to an American company. Trump predicted he could secure a deal by the following week but warned that if an agreement remains elusive, he would pursue a deadline extension.
About Zhang Yiming
Yiming has recently emerged as China’s wealthiest individual by surpassing Zhong Shanshan, known for his bottled water enterprise, and Tencent Holdings’ co-founder Ma Huateng, with his wealth valued at $57.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. He accomplished this feat amid recent challenges, including potential US restrictions on TikTok, ByteDance’s flagship application, and a temporary withdrawal of music content from the platform by the world’s largest record label.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Yiming is third in the Asian wealth hierarchy, following Indian industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
Yiming stands out among Chinese billionaires because of his innovative and globally-focused enterprise. He resides in Singapore and accumulated his fortune through his 21% stake in ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, which has amassed over 1 billion users globally.
His digital presence began as an engineer at Kuxun.com, a tourism search website. In 2009, he became an entrepreneur by founding 99fang.com, a property search platform, and left the company three years later. That is when he founded ByteDance from his modest Beijing flat. He created the Toutiao news application, which gained over 13 million daily viewers within two years.
Zhang commented on this success in a 2017 interview: “The most important thing is that we are not a news business. We are more like a search business or a social media platform. We are doing very innovative work. We are not a copycat of a US company in product and technology.” ByteDance introduced TikTok in 2016, rapidly gaining traction after a modest following during its genesis. It is now a diverse conglomerate, offering various applications—from video content to entertainment platforms—ranging from humor to celebrity news.
