TMT overtake real estate on rich list

Technology, Media & Telecoms (TMT) overtook the real estate industry to become the world's biggest wealth-creating sector, churning out 257 billionaires in the past year, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2014, an annual ranking of richest individuals, released Tuesday.

Led by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, 257 TMT billionaires accounted for 13.7 percent, or the largest share of the pie, of the 1,867 billionaires identified by the Shanghai-headquartered Hurun Research Institute in 2013.

Economic recovery in the US and an IT boom drove the number of the world's billionaires to a record high, with 457 billionaires from China or of Chinese origin, said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the institute, at a press conference held in Beijing on Tuesday.

In comparison, the real estate sector, which produced the most super-rich individuals in 2013, created 253 individuals with a personal fortune of over $1 billion worldwide.

In the Greater China region, Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing topped the billionaire list with $33 billion, the report said. Li ranked 12th on the global rich list.

Although real estate slowed in China, Wang Jianlin, chairman of private property developer Dalian Wanda Group, doubled his fortune by investing aggressively in the entertainment sector. Wang remained the richest man on the Chinese mainland with a personal fortune of $25 billion, ranking 26th on the global list.

The second-richest man on the Chinese mainland is Zong Qinghou, board chairman of the Wahaha Group whose major business is beverages. Zong is followed by Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings.

"China will probably see a richest individual from the TMT sector in five years," Hoogewerf told the Global Times Tuesday, adding that China's TMT tycoons have also seen their wealth grow wildly.

Ma Huateng was ranked eighth on the Greater China list and 70th on the global list with a personal fortune of $14 billion. Tencent's WeChat dominated communications in China and Ma's fortune grew 87 percent year-on-year, the report said.

Ma is followed by Robin Li Yanhong, founder and CEO of Baidu Inc ranking 119, and Jack Ma Yun of Alibaba Group ranking 192 on the global list.

"The TMT sector will no doubt churn out a string of billionaires, but it is not likely to produce a top rich guy which could match those from the real economy or software business," Liu Dalong, an industry analyst with Beijing-based iResearch told the Global Times Tuesday.

Bill Gates retook the laurel as the world's richest man with $68 billion, after three years, from the hands of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu, the report said.