China’s tech moguls see US$80bil of wealth evaporate in 2021

Ma, who has been keeping a low-profile since authorities clamped down on his sprawling business empire, has seen his wealth cut by about US$13bil (RM54.25bil). — AFP

It’s been a record year for China’s Internet moguls, but not in the way most would have hoped.

The country’s 10 richest tech tycoons lost US$80bil (RM333.80bil) in combined net worth in 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, amid widescale crackdowns by Chinese regulators. The drop represents almost a quarter of their total wealth and is the largest one-year decline since 2012, when the index started tracking the world’s richest people.