Business

Rich getting richer in China
by Zuzana Zelenakova

China is doing well in the times of the global economic crisis, no doubt about that. The fact that it is currently the country with the second highest number of US dollar billionaires in the world only confirms this. According to the 2009 Hurun Rich List released only recently which displays 1,000 richest people in China the wealth of those included rose about 30 percent in average in the past 12 months. "The key driver has been urbanization because about 23 percent of the people on the list made their fortune in property," said Rupert Hoogewerf, the list's compiler. Number of Chinese billionaires rose from 101 to 130. The US has 359 of them. Among the Chinese top ten appe! ared seven new names this year, which is the highest number of new entries since 1999. These lucky seven became super rich mostly through mining and real estate. Quite significant influence on the list, or better to say some people on the list and their fortunes, has had US billionaire Warren Buffett, whose investment caused an increase in the share price of BYD Co, Chinese battery and car manufacturer. Subsequently, the company´s chairman Wang Chuanfu improved his position on the list. Another person who can thank Buffett for his increasing fortune is Li Guilian, formerly number 656. The thing is American philanthropist and investor mentioned at one of his conferences that he only wears suits made by Dayang Trands Co Ltd, the company owned by Li. The list´s compiler Rupert Hoogewerf said that the actual number of Chinese billionaires can be even higher than his list reports. "The real number of billionaires in China could be as many as 260," said Hoogewerf. "Ther! e are still a large number of billionaires off the radar scree! ns." Whe n it comes to women billionaires they represent about 10 percent of the list.

related story (sgx15615): http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091013/bs_nm/us_china_rich;_ylt...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 1:43 PM