Thursday Sep 17, 2026
Thursday Sep 17, 2026
Thursday, 17 September 2026 05:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming has become Asia’s richest person for the first time, overtaking Indian billionaire Gautam Adani as his fortune crossed $ 105 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zhang’s fortune has increased more than eightfold from $ 13 billion in March 2019, when Bloomberg began tracking his wealth, boosted by a higher valuation for ByteDance and growing investor interest in its artificial intelligence (AI) products, including the Doubao chatbot and the Seedance video-generation tool.
The latest rankings placed Zhang ahead of Adani on the index, highlighting the growing influence of AI and consumer platforms on Asian billionaire fortunes and wealth rankings.
Zhang’s wealth is closely tied to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which has emerged over time as one of the world’s biggest social media platforms. The organisation has also expanded its presence rapidly in AI, with Doubao and Seedance among its key products.
Zhang continued with his AI investments even as TikTok faced intense scrutiny in the US. Earlier this year, ByteDance transferred parts of TikTok’s US operations to American investors, easing uncertainty over the app’s future in the country.
Before taking over Asia’s top spot, Zhang was already China’s richest person, with his wealth driven by TikTok’s global reach and ByteDance’s expanding AI business.
