Zeng Yuqun, the founder of the world's largest electric vehicle battery maker, has surpassed billionaire Jack Ma in wealth rankings, marking a symbolic moment in the rise of "green" billionaires in the world's second-largest economy. Zeng's net worth surged to $49.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, driven by the rise in shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) this year. This exceeds the wealth of Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, which stands at $48.1 billion, making Zeng one of Asia's five richest people for the first time.
This is the latest sign of a new generation of Chinese business magnates amassing vast fortunes during a clean energy boom. Investors have backed shares like CATL, the main supplier for Tesla Inc, as China leads the electric vehicle sales market and pursues an ambitious policy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Billionaire rankings have previously been dominated by real estate tycoons, followed by technology entrepreneurs.
At 53 years old, Zeng hails from a village on a hillside in Fujian province in southeastern China and has turned CATL into a battery giant in less than a decade, establishing it as the largest global producer of rechargeable cells for vehicles, making it key to Tesla's future in China.
Global sales of electric vehicle batteries more than doubled in the first five months of this year compared to the previous year, with CATL capturing 31.2% of the market, the largest share, according to SNE Research. Sales of new energy vehicles in China rose by 9.8% in 2020 to 1.11 million units, according to the China Passenger Car Association. BloombergNEF forecasts continued growth in the company's global sales, benefiting from economies of scale, a competitively cost primary supply chain, and a solid customer base.
CATL's stock has risen over 20 times since the company went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2018. It has increased by 55% this year alone as demand for electric vehicles rises. Zeng, who holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, is not the only billionaire benefiting from CATL's significant stock increase. Huang Shilin, the company's vice president, has a net worth of over $21 billion, while fellow vice president Li Bing has a wealth of $8.5 billion.
Zeng's ascendance coincides with a decline in the value of Ant Group, Jack Ma's fintech arm, since the former English teacher publicly criticized Beijing, prompting Chinese authorities to cancel the company's planned massive IPO. Jack Ma, 56 years old, has almost entirely withdrawn from public view and has lost $2.5 billion from his wealth this year.
