FX.co ★ 5 billionaires with biggest losses in 2021

Colin Zheng Huang, founder of Pinduoduo

In spring of 2021, Pinduoduo became the biggest online marketplace in China, surpassing Alibaba in the number of active buyers. However, the growing regulatory crackdown forced its founder and chairman Colin Zheng Huang to resign. Shares of Pinduoduo nosedived by more than 60%, erasing $40 billion from Huang’s fortune – the biggest loss suffered by a billionaire in 2021.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba

Online commerce giant Alibaba was another target of the crackdown by Chinese authorities. In spring of 2021, Alibaba was forced to pay the biggest corporate fine in China’s history for violating anti-trust regulations - $2.8 billion. As a result, the company’s market cap dropped by more than 45% in 2021, wiping out 37% of Jack Ma’s fortune and costing him the title of China’s richest person. He is now the fifth wealthiest person in the country.

Hui Ka Yang, chairman of China Evergrande

China Evergrande, the country’s biggest real estate company, came close to defaulting on its debts in 2021 due to inability to pay interests on its dollar bonds. Its chairman, Hui Ka Yang, was forced to inject $1 billion from his personal fortune into the company to keep it afloat. However, he failed to improve China Evergrande’s financial situation, which lost $18 billion last year. The worst debt crisis in China’s history is looming over the real estate market, threatening to shrink the company’s market cap even further.

Zhang Yong, chairman of Haidilao

Singapore’s Zhang Yong is the founder of Haidilao, China’s biggest hotpot chain with restaurants around the world. Far fewer customers visited the company’s restaurants in 2021 due to the lockdown, negatively affecting Haidilao’s revenues and its share price. Over the year, Haidilao’s stock lost 70%, shaving $16 billion off Yong’s fortune.

Tadashi Yanai, president of Fast Retailing

Japanese billionaire Tadashi Yanai is fifth on the list of billionaires with the heaviest losses. Yanai lost $14 billion last year, 1/3 of his entire fortune, due to a sharp drop in Fast Retailing stock price. Shares of the businessman’s company, which owns the clothing brand Uniqlo, lost 34% due to quarantine measures shutting down some of its factories in Vietnam.