Colin Huang has become the richest man in China, thanks in part to the globally successful Temu shopping app. Bloomberg published its new billionaire ranking on Friday.
According to this data, the 44-year-old Huang has a fortune of 48.6 billion dollars (44.5 billion euros), which puts him in first place. He founded the holding company PDD, the parent company of the Chinese online retailer Pinduoduo and Temu, responsible for the foreign markets.
Extreme bargains, questionable quality
Temu tempts with extreme bargains. However, the online retailer has repeatedly been criticized for its poor quality, failure to receive shipments and, last but not least, the catastrophic impact on the climate and environment of its products. Consumer advocates criticize that the online marketplace is “full of manipulative techniques aimed at getting consumers to spend more on the platform.”
Former Google employee in China
Founder Huang, a former Google employee in China, is the world’s 25th richest person with a billion-dollar fortune, according to Bloomberg. He founded Pinduoduo in 2015. Temu followed in the US in 2022; the European and Latin American markets followed. In Europe, Temu claims to have around 75 million monthly active users.
In second place in the wealth ranking for China is the ‘mineral water king’ Zhong Shanshan with his bottling plant Nongfu Spring, which has topped the ranking since 2021. Number three on the Bloomberg list is the head of internet company Tencent, Ma Huateng, followed by the founder of Tiktok parent company Bytedance, Zhang Yiming.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
