Jack Ma, the embattled co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. , has lost his title as China’s richest person after the billionaire’s business empire came under regulatory scrutiny, according to a closely watched annual list of China’s wealthy.
According to Shanghai-based research firm Hurun Report, which released its annual rankings Tuesday, Mr. Ma and his family’s fortune rose 22% to 360 billion yuan, equivalent to about $55.6 billion, from a year ago, placing them at fourth place in the list of China’s richest people. The former executive chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba and controller of financial technology firm Ant Group Co. virtually disappeared from public view overnight after he drew the ire of Chinese regulators in October.
In early November, Ant was forced to cancel its initial public offerings in Hong Kong and in Shanghai, which were on track to raise more than $34 billion. In December, regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba. The regulatory scrutiny sent shares of Alibaba tumbling and prompted the restructuring of Ant’s online-lending model.
Bottled-water tycoon Zhong Shanshan took the top spot with an estimated net worth of 550 billion yuan, or about $85 billion. The wealth of two other founders of Chinese internet companies also surpassed Mr. Ma. Tencent Holdings Ltd. founder Pony Ma, who isn’t related to the Alibaba co-founder, and Pinduoduo Inc. founder Colin Huang—came in second and third respectively on Hurun’s rich list, with net worths of 480 billion yuan and 450 billion yuan.
Mr. Zhong, who founded Nongfu Spring Co. , China’s largest bottled water company, also joined another list of the world’s 10 richest people, placing seventh in a group led by Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk and Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos. Mr. Zhong’s net worth was boosted in September by the initial public offering of Nongfu Spring in Hong Kong, which raised $1.24 billion.
