The name Zhang Yiming probably doesn’t ring any bells for you. However, the company he founded and turned into his main source of income probably could: ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok.
Zhang Yiming stepped down as president of ByteDance in 2021 and has since stepped away from the spotlight. No talking, no interviews, no noise. However, this silence did not mean that the millionaire was idle. In September, the founder of TikTok became the richest fortune in Asia (not just China), according to the Forbes and Bloomberg millionaire list.
An image that never stops rising. Bloomberg ranks Zhang as Asia’s richest man, with a net worth of more than $105 billion, just ahead of India’s Gautam Adani.
Last September alone, Zhang added $12 billion and, so far this year, is a 61.8% increase from the $65.2 billion registered in January 2026. In just seven years, ByteDance’s founder’s wealth has grown eightfold, from $13 billion in 2019 to Bloomberg.
Rich depending on who you ask. ByteDance is not listed on the stock market, so its fortunes are calculated based on assumptions that take into account both its operations and those announced by its environment. Making these assumptions, along with China’s great fortune, is further complicated by its secrecy.
Bloomberg estimates from funds such as BlackRock or Fidelity, which on average value ByteDance at around $548 billion. Zhang controls about 21% of the company, which is why his listing attributes that $105 billion to him. The Forbes list, on the other hand, is slightly more conservative and gives him a fortune of $84,000 million, maintaining his lead as Asia’s biggest fortune.
Some see it as a setback, some as an opportunity. In 2024, new data sovereignty rules forced ByteDance to sell part of its TikTok business in the US. The app was due to close in January 2025. Ultimately, a joint company with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX was set up with a 15% stake, and ByteDance holding 19.9%, as detailed by Reuters.
For Zhang, the deal has been a golden opportunity as it has allowed him to continue investing in his most profitable assets. TikTok? No. Artificial Intelligence.
AI Bill. While it may not make headlines, ByteDance is spending as much money on AI as its US counterpart. as expected SCMPIt predicts 200 billion yuan (about $30 billion) of investment in AI infrastructure this year. This represents an increase of at least 25% over the previous year’s allocation. Also, it has increased its investment in Chinese AI chips and is even considering making its own chips
All these investments have allowed ByteDance to make the most of its Seedance video generation AI model and Dubao AI chatbot in China, boosting the fortunes of its founder and major shareholder along the way. “It plays its cards well. It has definitely been and continues to double investment in AI,” said Lian J. Su, an analyst at Omdia. Bloomberg.
In Xataka | AI is going to create unprecedented wealth. The question is starting to arise in everyone’s mind who will be with him?
Picture | Bytedance, Magnificent
