BUSINESSPEOPLE from China

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Chinese Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Chinese Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Chinese Businesspeople.

1. Jack Ma (1964 - )

With an HPI of 65.08, Jack Ma is the most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 69 different languages on wikipedia.

Jack Ma Yun (Chinese: 马云; pinyin: Mǎ Yún; born September 10, 1964) is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. In addition, Ma is also the co-founder of Yunfeng Capital, a Chinese private equity firm. As of February 2024, with a net worth of $30.1 billion, Ma is the sixth-wealthiest person in China, as well as the 50th wealthiest person in the world, ranked by Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Ma earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English upon graduating from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988. He became an English lecturer and international trade lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University following graduation. The rise and expansion of the software and personal-computer industries during the 1980s captured Ma's attention, prompting him to develop an interest in the nascent internet industry. Demonstrating such a propensity led him into the realm of internet entrepreneurship where he embarked on establishing his first business in 1994, subsequently resulting in the formation of a second company upon acquiring a deeper understanding of the internet's emergence and the promising commercial prospects it offered. From 1998 to 1999, he resigned from China Telecommunications Corporation, later starting the Alibaba Group with his colleagues in 1999. The company was initially founded as a B2B e-commerce marketplace website, yet the company later expanded into a wide range of industry domains across the Chinese economy, including e-commerce, high-technology, and online payment solutions. In 2017, Ma was ranked second in the annual "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune. He has widely been considered as an informal global ambassador in Chinese business circles, and has continued to remain an influential figure in the Chinese business community and scene of startup companies. In September 2018, he announced that he would retire from Alibaba and pursue educational work, philanthropy, and environmental causes; the following year, Daniel Zhang succeeded him as executive chairman. In 2020, the Chinese government stopped plans for an IPO called for the digital payment solutions company Ant Group, a company that he founded, after he delivered a speech that criticized Chinese financial regulators for putting too much priority in minimizing risk. In 2019, Forbes Magazine named Ma in its list of "Asia's 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy" for his humanitarian and philanthropic work supporting underprivileged communities in China, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. In April 2021, Jack Ma ranked 26th in the "2021 Forbes Global Rich List" with a fortune of $48.4 billion USD. In July 2021, Jack Ma led Alibaba Group to top the 2021 China Charity List with a total cash donation of 3.22 billion yuan.

2. Li Ka-shing (1928 - )

With an HPI of 62.95, Li Ka-shing is the 2nd most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Sir Li Ka-shing (Chinese: 李嘉誠; born 29 July 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the senior advisor for CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings, after he retired from the Chairman of the Board in May 2018; through it, he is a port investor, developer, and operator of the largest health and beauty retailer in Asia and Europe. As of July 2023, Li is the 33rd richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$37.7 billion. Li invests in a wide array of industries, including transportation, real estate, financial services, retail, and energy and utilities. His conglomerate company Cheung Kong Holdings invests in many sectors of the Hong Kong economy and made up 4% of the aggregate market capitalisation of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Forbes Magazine and the Forbes family honoured Li Ka-shing with the first ever Malcolm S. Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award on 5 September 2006, in Singapore. In spite of his wealth, Li has cultivated a reputation for leading a frugal no-frills lifestyle, and is known to wear simple black dress shoes and an inexpensive Seiko wristwatch. He lived in the same house for decades, in what has now become one of the most expensive districts in Hong Kong, Deep Water Bay in Hong Kong Island. Li is also a philanthropist, donating billions of dollars to charity and various other philanthropic causes, and owning the second largest private foundation in the world after Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2019, Forbes put Li in the list of most generous philanthropists outside of the US.

3. Ren Zhengfei (1944 - )

With an HPI of 59.31, Ren Zhengfei is the 3rd most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Ren Zhengfei (Chinese: 任正非; born 25 October 1944) is a Chinese entrepreneur and engineer who is the founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies, the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and second largest manufacturer of smartphones located in Shenzhen, China. Ren is a dedicated communist and has sought to ingrain CCP ideology in Huawei's management and corporate culture.: 11  Ren states that if a conflict between Huawei's interests and the CCP's interests arose, he would "choose the CCP whose interest is to serve the people and all human beings" and that he could not betray the principle of serving all human beings.: 11 

4. Rebiya Kadeer (1946 - )

With an HPI of 57.43, Rebiya Kadeer is the 4th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  Her biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Rebiya Kadeer (Uyghur: رابىيە قادىر, romanized: Rabiye Qadir; born 15 November 1946) is an ethnic Uyghur businesswoman and political activist. Born in Altay City, Xinjiang, Kadeer became a millionaire in the 1980s through her real estate holdings and ownership of a multinational conglomerate. Kadeer held various positions in the National People's Congress in Beijing and other political institutions before being arrested in 1999 for, according to Chinese state media, sending confidential internal reference reports to her husband, who worked in the United States as a pro-East Turkistan independence broadcaster. After she fled to the United States in 2005 on compassionate release, Kadeer assumed leadership positions in overseas Uyghur organizations such as the World Uyghur Congress.

5. Morris Chang (1931 - )

With an HPI of 55.11, Morris Chang is the 5th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Morris Chang (Chinese: 張忠謀; pinyin: Zhāng Zhōngmóu, Ningbo Wu: Jiann阴平去 Zong阴平去mœü阳舒; born 10 July 1931) is an American-Taiwanese businessman and electrical engineer, originally from Ningbo, China. He built his business career first in the United States and then subsequently in Taiwan. He is the founder, as well as former chairman and CEO, of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). He is known as the semiconductor industry founder of Taiwan. As of April 2024, his net worth was estimated at US$3.4 billion.

6. Jimmy Lai (1948 - )

With an HPI of 52.70, Jimmy Lai is the 6th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Lai Chee-ying (Chinese: 黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kong-listed media company, and the popular newspaper Apple Daily. He is one of the main contributors to the pro-democracy camp, especially to the Democratic Party. Although he is known as a Hong Kong political figure, he has been a British national since 1996. Lai is also an art collector. A prominent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, Lai was arrested on 10 August 2020 by the Hong Kong police on charges of violating the territory's new national security law, an action which prompted widespread criticism. Lai was allowed bail on 12 August, but on 3 December, Lai was accused of fraud and his bail was revoked. The court decided to jail Lai until April 2021, marking the first time Lai has been detained. Lai regarded his imprisonment as "the summit of his own life". In July 2019, Lai met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Advisor John Bolton. Lai said "We in Hong Kong are fighting for the shared values of the US against China. We are fighting their war in the enemy camp." In December 2020, Lai was awarded the "Freedom of Press Award" by Reporters Without Borders for his role in founding Apple Daily, a news outlet under Lai's pro-democracy leadership that "still dares to openly criticise the Chinese regime and which widely covered last year's pro-democracy protests." On 29 December, Lai resigned from his roles with Next Digital as director and chairman of the board. In April 2021, he was sentenced to an additional 14 months in prison for organizing illegal protests. As of September 2023, Lai remains imprisoned in solitary confinement at Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison.

7. Ma Huateng (1971 - )

With an HPI of 52.29, Ma Huateng is the 7th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Ma Huateng (Chinese: 马化腾; pinyin: Mǎ Huàténg, born on October 29, 1971) is a Chinese business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Tencent, one of the most valuable companies in East Asia, one of the largest internet and technology companies, and one of the biggest investment, gaming, and entertainment conglomerates in the world. The company in Shenzhen develops China's biggest mobile instant messaging service, WeChat, and its subsidiaries provide media, entertainment, payment systems, smartphones, internet-related services, value-added services and online advertising services, both in China and globally. In 2007, 2014, and 2018, Time magazine named him one of the world's most influential people, while in 2015, Forbes credited him as one of the world's most powerful people. In 2017, Fortune ranked him as among the top businessmen of the year. In 2018, he was named one of the "Most Powerful People In The World" by the CEOWORLD magazine. Ma was a deputy to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress and a delegate in the 12th National People's Congress. Being one of "Fortune world's greatest leaders", Ma is known for his low profile personality as compared to fellow Chinese businessman and Alibaba founder Jack Ma's outgoing personality. Ma has been compared to famed American investor Warren Buffett for their similar investment approaches, and often described as an "aggressive acquisitor." As of September 2023, he has a net worth of US$37.5 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, ranking him as the 33rd wealthiest person in the world. Ma ranks the fourth wealthiest person in China and the 34th wealthiest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$34.5 billion as of September 2023. In November 2017, his net worth briefly surpassed that of Larry Page and Sergey Brin (individually) ranking him the ninth richest man in the world, and the first citizen from China to enter Forbes' top 10 richest list, though the net worth of Page and of Brin have each since eclipsed that of Ma.

8. Lei Jun (1969 - )

With an HPI of 51.89, Lei Jun is the 8th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Lei Jun (born 16 December 1969) is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is known for founding the consumer electronics company Xiaomi. As of October 2022, Lei's net worth was estimated at either US$8.1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the 203rd richest person in the world, or at $7.5 billion by Forbes, ranking him 265th worldwide.

9. Lee Shau-kee (1929 - )

With an HPI of 51.27, Lee Shau-kee is the 9th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Lee Shau-kee GBM (Chinese: 李兆基; born 7 March 1928) is a Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is a real estate tycoon and majority owner of Henderson Land Development, a property conglomerate with interests in property, hotels, restaurants and internet services. In 2019, aged 91, Lee stepped down as chairman and managing director of the company, in favour of two of his sons, Peter and Martin Lee. He retains a role as an executive director. His personal wealth is estimated to be US$33.0 billion as of July 2021, making him the second wealthiest man in Hong Kong (behind Li Ka-shing), and the 43rd richest in the world. Before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, he was the fourth-richest person in world. Since 2006, Lee has accrued profits from his holdings of Mainland-controlled stocks. He is also known as "Uncle Four", one of the very few fourth-born children in the world to have become a multi-billionaire.

10. Wang Jianlin (1954 - )

With an HPI of 49.80, Wang Jianlin is the 10th most famous Chinese Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Wang Jianlin (Chinese: 王健林; pinyin: Wáng Jiànlín; born 24 October 1954) is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the chairman, founder, and majority shareholder of the Dalian Wanda Group, one of China's foremost conglomerate companies, which is also well known for being China's largest real estate development company and the world's largest movie theater operator. He previously owned 17% of the Spanish football club Atlético Madrid. In 2016, Wang reached a deal with FIFA to launch the China Cup, in which national football teams compete in Nanning, Guangxi each year. Wang has been the economic consultant for Yunnan province, as well as a construction consultant of the Guiyang government, and was named "honorable citizen" of Changchun, and "outstanding contributor" to the construction of Dalian. As of November 2020, Wang is estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of US$14.4 billion, making him one of the richest men in China.