$4.5bn financing deal makes Jack Ma Asia’s richest man – Bloomberg

Alibaba founder and chairman China’s Jack Ma has overtaken his compatriot and Dalian Wanda owner Wang Jianlin as Asia’s richest man. Ma leapfrogged the property developer and cinema chain operator after the e-commerce giant’s Ant Financial affiliate raised a record $4.5bn from a consortium of powerful state-backed investors to bankroll its global expansion.
The deal bought his wealth to $33.3bn  according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him ahead of Wang with  $32.7bn and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing with $29.5bn. Ma is now 16th in Bloomberg’s global rankings, which continue to be dominated by US tech entrepreneurs.

BillionaireCountryNet WorthChange YTD 
Bill GatesUS$78.0 billion-$5.8 billion
Amancio OrtegaSpain$69.7 billion-$3.2 billion
Warren BuffettUS$59.4 billion-$2.9 billion
Jeff BezosUS$55.8 billion-$3.9 billion
Carlos SlimMexico$48.6 billion-$3.6 billion
Mark ZuckerbergUS$47.5 billion+$1.7 billion
  
Source: Bloomberg