New energy king LI hejun steals crown of china number one from jack ma

SURGE OF 222 BILLIONAIRES TO RECORD 2089 BILLIONAIRES IN WORLD
BILL GATES, CARLOS SLIM AND WARREN BUFFETT SEE WEALTH SURGE US$52BN OR US$100,000 A MINUTE OVER PAST YEAR TO COMBINED RECORD TOTAL OF US$244BN

USA AND CHINA MAKE UP HALF WORLD’S BILLIONAIRES; INDIA BREAKS INTO TOP 3 FOR FIRST TIME

NEW ENERGY KING LI HEJUN STEALS CROWN OF CHINA NUMBER ONE FROM JACK MA

LEADING AUTHORITY ON CHINA’S WEALTHY RELEASES HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST 2015

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  WORLD’S BILLIONAIRES GREW BY 222 TO 2089 INDIVIDUALS. RECORD NUMBER OF BILLIONAIRES.
  
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  649 SAW WEALTH INCREASE + 341 NEW FACES. 869 SAW WEALTH DECREASE + 95 DROPPED OFF LAST YEAR’S LIST, WITH 10 RUSSIANS LEADING WAY.
  
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  USA AND CHINA DOMINATE WITH 537 AND 430 BILLIONAIRES, MAKING UP HALF OF THE HURUN LIST. CHINA STOCK MARKET BOOM KEY DRIVER FOR 72 NEW FACES, FOLLOWED BY USA WITH 56. INDIA UP BY 27 TO BREAK INTO TOP 3 FOR FIRST TIME, REPLACING RUSSIA.
  
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  BILL GATES, 59, HOLDS ONTO TOP SPOT WITH US$85BN, JUST AHEAD OF CARLOS SLIM AT US$83BN. WARREN BUFFETT 3RD WITH US$76BN.
  
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  NEW YORK BILLIONAIRE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. 5 GREATER CHINA CITIES MAKE TOP 10: HK, BEIJING, SHENZHEN, TAIPEI AND SHANGHAI.
  
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  TECHNOLOGY KEY SOURCE OF WEALTH FOR SECOND YEAR RUNNING. REAL ESTATE, MANUFACTURING, INVESTMENTS AND RETAIL FOLLOW. MARK ZUCKERBERG, 30, BREAKS INTO TOP 10.
  
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  NEW ENERGY KING LI HEJUN, 48, IS CHINA NEW NUMBER ONE WITH US$26BN. WANG JIANLIN REBOUNDS AFTER LISTING REAL ESTATE AND CINEMA UNITS, JACK MA THIRD AFTER DROP IN ALIBABA SHARE PRICE.
  
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  CHINA leads with SELF-MADE WOMEN. OF 69 self-made WOMEN IN WORLD, 35 are from China.
  
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  529 BILLIONAIRES OF CHINESE ORIGIN, 23% OF TOTAL.
  
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  SELF MADE BUT WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM PARENTS WAS THE MOST COMMON ROUTE TO BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE. HURUN REPORT THIS YEAR INNOVATED A SELF-MADE SCORECARD, ASSESSING BETWEEN 1 AND 5 THE DEGREE TO WHICH A BILLIONAIRE WAS SELF-MADE OR INHERITED.
  
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  40 INDIVIDUALS BELOW 40 YEARS, 22 SELF-MADE. SNAPCHAT FOUNDERS EVAN SPIEGEL, 24, AND BOBBY MURPHY, 26, YOUNGEST. UBER TECHNOLOGIES GARRET CAMP, 36, AND TRAVIS KALANICK, 38, EACH WORTH US$1.3BN; AIRBNB JOE GEBBIA, 33, AND NATHAN BLECHARCZYK, 31, EACH WORTH US$1.5BN.
  
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  BIGGEST GAINER. E- COMMERCE TYCOON LIU QIANGDONG, 41, OF JD COM, SAW HIS WEALTH QUADRUPLE TO US$6.7BN FROM US$1.5BN LAST YEAR.
  
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  CHINESE STOCK EXCHANGES ATTRACTED MORE BILLIONAIRES THAN US, FOR THIRD YEAR RUNNING.
  
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  CHINESE STAR SIGNS. BILLIONAIRES BORN IN THE YEAR OF THE HORSE (CURRENT YEAR) LEAD THE WAY. YEAR OF THE SHEEP (STARTS ON FEB 19) COMES IN AT 6TH PLACE.
  
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  CHINESE LUXURY HOME BUILDER STAR RIVER IS SPONSOR OF HURUN GLOBAL RICH LIST FOR SECOND YEAR.
  

(3 February 2015, Beijing, China) Hurun Report today released the Hurun Global Rich List 2015, a ranking of the US dollar billionaires currently found in the world. Wealth calculations are a snapshot of 17 January 2015, and for key people stock movements of 10% or more between the cut-off date and the release date are factored in. This is the fourth year that Hurun Report has released a ranking of the dollar billionaires in the world. The Hurun Global Rich List 2015 is sponsored by Chinese luxury home builder Star River Property.

The List at a glance

The Hurun Global Rich List 2015 ranked 2089 billionaires from 68 countries, up 222 from last year, in a record-breaking year for the world’s billionaires.

649 saw their wealth increase and there were 341 new faces. 230 remained unchanged. 869 individuals saw their wealth decrease. 95 dropped out of last year’s list.

The Russian Rouble collapse, brought about by a stagnating Russian economy, sanctions due to Ukrainian conflict and cheaper oil price by the OPEC, has been the cause for 60% of Russian billionaires to see their wealth drop, led by Vladimir Yevtushenkov and Vagit Alekperov of Lukoil whose wealth fell by 77% and 73% respectively.

Although the list expanded by 222 individuals, the total wealth dropped by 1.5% to US$6.7 trillion, still more than the GDP of Japan and South Korea combined.

The average age is 64, same as last year.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun Report, said, “Tech has been leading the way again for new billionaires. It’s all eyes on the new economy.”

“’New Energy King’ Li Hejun becomes the twelfth Number One China has had in the past 16 years, underlying once again the dynamism of the Chinese economy. In that same period, Bill Gates has been the only Number One in the US.”

Top Ten – Hurun Global Rich List 2015

	Name	WealthUS$bn	% change YOY	Source of Wealth	Age	Country of residence	Self-Made Scorecard
1-	Bill Gates	85	25%	Investments	59	USA	4
2↑	Carlos Slim Helu & family	83	38%	America Movil	75	Mexico	5
3-	Warren Buffet	76	19%	Berkshire Hathaway	84	USA	5
4↓	Amancio Ortega	55	-11%	Zara	78	Spain	5
5-	Larry Ellison	54	13%	Oracle	70	USA	5
6-	Bernard Arnault	45	-2%	LVMH	65	France	4
7*	Mark Zuckerberg	44	42%	Facebook	30	USA	4
8↑	Charles Koch	36	0%	Energy	79	USA	3
8↑	David Koch	36	0%	Energy	74	USA	3
8*	Dieter Schwarz	36	29%	Retail	75	Germany	3

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2015

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 10

Bill Gates, 59, retains the number 1 spot with a fortune of US$85bn, up US$17bn, on the back of strong gains on his investments. Interestingly, one quarter of his wealth is parked with Warren Buffett, exceeding the value of his remaining stake in Microsoft. Other investments include US$3.5bn in Facebook, owned by Mark Zuckerberg also in the Top 10, and close to US$2bn in the Four Seasons hotel chain, majority owned by Prince Alwaleed, one of the Top 20. Gates became a billionaire by the age of 31. Despite being one of the biggest philanthropists in the world, Gates has been in the Top 3 of the Hurun Global Rich List since its inception four years ago.

Carlos Slim Helu, 75, regains his second spot with a 38% surge in his fortune to US$83bn. Interestingly, Slim is said to like to drive himself and has lived in the same six-bedroom house for the past 40 years. Slim has six children.

Warren Buffett, 84, saw his wealth shoot up by US$12bn or 19%. Buffett donated US$2.8bn to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last year. Interestingly, 99 percent of his wealth was earned after his 50th birthday. His children, Susan, Howard and Peter, run their own charity foundations. “I would say the most satisfying thing is watching my children pick up on their own interests," Buffett said, "and work many more hours per week, than most people that have jobs, at trying to intelligently give away that money in fields that they particularly care about."

Amancio Ortega, 78, is out of the top three for the first time in three years, after seeing his stake in Zara drop by US$7bn, due in part to a drop in the Euro. Ortega has three children.

Larry Ellison, 70, with US$54bn, saw his wealth increase by 13%. Ellison is a signatory of The Giving Pledge, committing to donate more than half his wealth to philanthropic causes. Ellison is best-known for his passion for the sea, racing in the America’s Cup owning one of the biggest yachts in the world and in 2012 buying one of Hawaii’s largest islands. Interestingly, Steve Jobs was the official photographer at Ellison’s wedding.
Bernard Arnault, 65, stays at sixth with US$45bn. Arnault has five children from two marriages.
Mark Zuckerberg, at 30 the youngest member of the Top 10, has had a great year. His wealth soared 42%, moving him up 11 places no. 7. In October, Zuckerberg surprised many with the quality of his spoken Chinese during a visit to Tsinghua University in China. Zuckerberg graduated from one of America’s best-known private high schools, Phillips Exeter Academy, which is why Hurun Report assessed his self-made score ‘4’. Zuckerberg has donated US$2bn. Five Facebook billionaires made the Hurun List.

Dieter Schwarz, 75, saw his wealth shoot up 29% to US$36bn and winning him a place in the Top 10 for the first time. Schwarz inherited a retailing business from his father but has since grown it significantly. Schwarz is known to be very low-key.

Charles, 79, and David Koch, 74, go up one place despite their wealth remaining the same.

Jeff Bezos and Sheldon Adelson out of Top 10 after just one year, down to 22^nd and 24^th place respectively.

Measuring the degree to which Billionaires are Self-Made

This year, Hurun Report innovated a scorecard measuring the degree to which billionaires are inherited or self-made. The scorecard is out of five, where 1 is inherited and not active in business, and 5 is self-made without help from parents.

Self-made with a little help from parents was the most common route to becoming a billionaire. An example is Mark Zuckerberg, who was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, one of America’s best-known private high schools,. Second was self-made without help from parents, most of whom are coming from China and the US. Third was inheriting a business and growing it into a much bigger entity, eg Rupert Murdoch.

China leads with self-made ‘5s’.

25% of the Self-Made ‘4s’ and ‘5s’ are female, whilst 72% of the ‘1s’ are female. For the ‘2s’, the majority of the Chinese are from HK.

69% are self-made and a further 19% are substantially self-made in that they grew an inherited business into a much bigger business.

82 individuals, or 4%, are from the 4th generation or more. The 82 come from 52 companies.

Countries by Self-Made Scorecard

Self-Made Scorecard	% of billionaires	TOP 3 Countries (with %. of billionaires)	Example
5		1. China (61%)	Self-made without parental financial support eg Warren Buffett
	30%	2. USA (13%)
		3. Chinese Taipei (5%)
4		1. USA (38%)	Self-made, but with a helping hand from parents such as through private education, eg Mark Zuckerberg
	39%	2. Russia (10%)
		3. India (5%)
3		1. USA (22%)	Inherited a small business and grew it big time, eg Rupert Murdoch
	19%	2. India (9%)
		3. Germany (9%)
2		1. USA (23%),	Inherited, but active in the business eg Liliane Bettencourt of L’Oreal
	8%	2. China (16%),
		3. Chinese Taipei (8%)
1		1. USA (33%),	Inherited and not actively involved in the business, eg Laurene Powell Jobs of Apple
	4%	2. Brazil (13%)
		3. China (7%)

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2015

Where they live

The ‘Big Two’ are the USA and China with 537 and 430 billionaires respectively, amounting to almost half of the billionaires on the planet. India grew fast. Russia had a bad year, losing 10 billionaires.

New York is the ‘Billionaire Capital of the World’, retaining the title it took away from Moscow two years in a row. 91 of the Hurun Billionaires live in the Big Apple, up 7 from last year. The rise in Hong Kong billionaires came about mainly from ranking several families individually, as well as 6 new faces.

Rise of Asia: Of the top 17 billionaires whose fortunes doubled this past year, 14 are Chinese, led by Liu Qiangdong of online retailer JD.COM.

Where they live

	Country	No of billionaires	Change in No. of billionaires			City	Number of billionaires	Change in No. of Billionaires
1-	USA	537	56		1-	New York	91	7
2-	China	430	72		2-	Moscow	73	-4
3↑	India	97	27		3-	Hong Kong	71	22
4↓	Russia	93	-10		4-	Beijing	68	11
5↓	UK	80	3		5-	London	49	0
6-	Germany	72	6		6-	Mumbai	40	7
7-	Switzerland	60	4		7↑	Shenzhen	34	7
8-	Brazil	56	8		8↓	Taipei	33	5
9↑	Chinese Taipei	48	11		9↑	Shanghai	30	6
10-	France	46	9		9↑	Sao Paulo	30	4
11↓	Japan	45	2		9-	Paris	30	3
12-	Canada	39	4		12↓	Istanbul	29	1
13↑	South Korea	33	6		13↓	Tokyo	28	1
13-	Turkey	33	1		13↓	Seoul	28	1
15↓	Australia	32	3		15↑	Bangkok	27	10
16*	Thailand	29	12		16↓	San Francisco	26	2
17↑	Italy	27	5		17↓	Singapore	22	-5
18↓	Singapore	26	-2		17-	Los Angeles	22	2
19↓	Indonesia	24	-3		17↑	Hangzhou	22	3
20↓	Spain	19	-1		20↓	Dallas	17	0
					20*	New Delhi	17	2

Source: Hurun Research Institute 2015

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 20