Rich People in the World 'Fall Poor', from Jack Ma to Masayoshi Son

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The 10 richest people in the world have fallen into poverty amid the pandemic. Mostly because the company's shares plunged to the debt burden of default. (AFP/Jaime Reina)

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, was once known as the richest person in China with an estimated wealth of US $ 37 billion or equivalent to Rp. 525 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,199 per dollar). But who would have thought, at this time, he would have to lose more than half of his wealth due to the Chinese Government's harsh policies towards his company.

Not only Jack Ma, several other world billionaires also have to experience the same thing for various reasons. Forbes projects 10 billionaires in the world who have lost their fortunes this year.

Forbes estimates that at least the billionaire must lose wealth of up to US $ 152 billion or equivalent to Rp. 2,178 trillion. Ironically, this incident is in contrast to several other billionaires who actually experienced an increase in wealth, such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

So, who are the 10 billionaires who lost a lot of their fortune in 2021?

1. Colin Zheng Huang

The Chinese government has recently cracked down on e-commerce company Pinduoduo. This made Colin as the founder lose up to 64 percent of his wealth due to the decline in Pinduoduo's shares. Colin's fortune had to be shaken and fell very deep to US $ 40.2 billion.

This was further exacerbated by Colin's sudden resignation in March. As a result, the stock of the six-year-old company fell by 21 percent in November this year.

2. Jack Ma

The Alibaba founder previously had a fortune of US$37 billion, but in the past year he had to lose up to US$21.4 billion due to the Chinese government's tough policy on his company.

Jack Ma, formerly known as the richest man in China and one of the tycoons most vocal in criticizing the policies of government regulators.

For the first time, Chinese regulators canceled a planned $35 billion IPO by Ant Group, Alibaba's parent company, in November 2020.

Then, they hit Alibaba with a $2.8 billion fine in April in the highest form of antitrust punishment ever imposed in China. Regulators allege that Alibaba violated antitrust rules.

As a result of these actions, Alibaba's market capitalization fell by more than 46 percent throughout 2021.

3. Hui Ka Yan

Hui Ka Yan, the founder of Evergrande, will have to lose US$18 billion in 2021. This is because of the financial crisis that hit his property company.

Evergrande reportedly failed to pay its debts, so the value of its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange fell to US$0.19 per share.

To keep running his business, Hui reportedly had to spend a personal pocket of US $ 1 billion. It didn't stop there, to speed up Evergrande's debt restructuring, Hui also had to pay US$300 billion so that his business debt wouldn't swell.

4. Zhang Yong

He is the founder of Haidilao, a hotpot network company in China. His company also experienced the same thing. He had to be willing to lose his wealth of up to US $ 15.9 billion. This Singaporean man has expanded his business by doubling the number of restaurants to 1,600.

But fate said otherwise, the pandemic made the entire restaurant inaccessible to loyal customers. In the end, he had to close 300 restaurants by the end of the year. This made Haidilao's shares fell by 71 percent.

5. Tadashi Yanai

Tadashi Yanai, founder of Uniqlo and Theory, had to lose up to US$14 billion of his total fortune of US$30.4 billion. He lost a third of his wealth because the shares of his two companies fell 34 percent due to the pandemic.

Despite company revenue growing 6 percent and profit before tax soaring more than 70 percent, retailers are still heavily impacted by the restrictions on activity due to the pandemic, particularly factories in Vietnam.

6. Lei Jun

Lei Jun, he is the founder of Xiaomi. He was also one of the world's richest people in the smartphone sector. His wealth has even touched US $ 16.3 billion. But now he has lost almost 90 percent of his wealth.

As experienced by Alibaba, Xiaomi is also experiencing pressure due to government regulations that are so harsh on technology companies. Xiaomi also has to struggle with supply chain problems, plus the problem of intense competition that is shrinking its market share.

7. Masayoshi Son

Softbank Group CEO Masayoshi Son also lost up to US$13.6 billion of a total fortune of US$25.1 billion. The Japanese investment giant had to suffer losses as a result of investments poured into Chinese companies, such as Alibaba, which was under pressure from the Chinese government.

The Chinese government's attacks on large corporations, coupled with Softbank's fall in value resulted in a record loss of US$7.3 billion for Softbank's Vision Fund in the 3 months ended September 30. As a result, Son's wealth fell 35 percent.

8. Daniel Gilbert

He is best known as the founder of Rocket Companies. He has also lost most of his wealth due to the plummeting value of his company's stock. This US national man had to lose US $ 13.2 billion of a total wealth of US $ 29.6 billion.

Whereas the mortgage billionaire was previously one of the 10 richest people in the world when his fortune soared to US $ 80 billion. However, his company's shares have fallen 62 percent on slowing earnings and profits.

9. Zhang Bangxin

He is known as the founder of the company TAL Education. His company also had to lose its wealth due to the policies of the Chinese government which pressured large companies to expand. Zhang lost US$11.3 billion in wealth due to the policy.

The Chinese government has even stepped up its attacks on tutoring companies, arguing the industry has put too much pressure on children and parents.

Shares of the company TAL Education plunged as regulators rolled out tough new rules, including a ban on raising capital from overseas investors.

Meanwhile, Zhang's net worth fell by 90 percent. Some tutoring entrepreneurs have also had bad luck, such as GSX Techedu CEO Larry Xiangdong Chen whose fortune fell to US$250 million from a peak of US$15.8 billion.

10. Zhong Huijuan

Zhong is the only woman to have her fortune decreased by $10.4 billion. As CEO of Hansoh Pharmaceutical, Zhong was once one of the richest women in the world when her company went public in 2019.

However, the company's stock has fallen by more than 50 percent in 2021 and is now valued at only $1.82 per share. As a result, Zhong's wealth fell 51 percent this year.

Source: CNN