Survey: China's rich got richer in 2019 despite tariff war

An annual survey of China's wealthiest businesspeople found they got richer this year despite a tariff war with Washington and slowing economic growth.

The Hurun Report said Thursday the average net worth of China's richest 1,800 people rose 10 per cent over 2018 to $1.4 billion.

Jack Ma, who retired last month as chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, was No. 1 with a net worth of $39 billion. Ma Huateng of Tencent, a games and social media company, was second with $37 billion.

The results reflected the growing importance of China's consumer market at a time when US tariff hikes have battered export-oriented manufacturing.

 

The number of businesspeople on the list from the tech, pharma and food industries rose while manufacturing declined.