China billionaires Jack Ma & Wang Jianlin lose $800 mn in meltdown

Business tycoons from mainland and Hong Kong collectively see $34 billion shaved off their personal wealth in the worst monthly market slump in two years

Jack Ma, the high-profile chairman of China-headquartered e-commerce giant Alibaba.com, lost as much as $123 million (Rs 800 crore) in the Tuesday meltdown in A-shares in the Chinese stock markets, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, chinadaily.com.cn has reported.

But that was just a fifth of what another top billionaire Wang Jianlin lost. The Founder-CEO of China's largest property development group and owner of the world's largest cinema chain operator, The Dalian Wanda Group, saw an astounding $661 million of his personal wealth shaved off due to the market crisis.

The overall loss in the combined net worth of Mainland China and Hong Kong's wealthiest tycoons was pegged at $34 billion, following the worst monthly slump in the Chinese markets during the past two years.

Shenzhen-listed Wanda Cinema Line hit the Chinese market equivalent of the circuit breaker for three days at a stretch, before being suspended for trading on Wednesday. The Dalian Wanda group's Hong Kong-listed Wanda Commercial Properties shed a little under two per cent.

Jack Ma's Alibaba lost 3.3 per cent at the close of trading in New York on Tuesday, after declining by a staggring s 9.1 percent.

Richard Liu Qiangdong, who heads e-commerce giant JD.com, suffered an erosion of $344 million in his personal wealth, after the company's stocks sagged 4 per cent.

Zhou Qunfei, China's richest woman entrepreneur, who heads Lens Technology Co, endured a $4.8 billion loss in personal wealth in June, after her Shenzhen-listed company crashed 36 per cent.