Zhang Yiming has built a fortune of more than $105 billion through his ownership of ByteDance, the technology company behind TikTok.
The 43-year-old founder has seen his wealth rise more than eightfold from the $13 billion disclosed in March 2019.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zhang has now become Asia’s wealthiest individual, overtaking Gautam Adani.
The rise in his wealth is closely linked to the increasing value placed on ByteDance by investors and financial institutions.
It started with ByteDance
Zhang founded ByteDance and built the company around technology platforms that use algorithms to match users with content.
TikTok later became ByteDance’s best-known global product.
The platform gave the company access to a large international user base and helped turn ByteDance into one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies.
Because Zhang owns a stake in ByteDance, an increase in the company’s value can significantly increase his personal wealth.
This is the main reason behind his rapid rise on global wealth rankings.
Private valuations increased his wealth
ByteDance is privately held, so its value does not come from a daily stock-market price.
Instead, investors and financial institutions use private transactions and valuation estimates to assess what the company could be worth.
Recent valuation markups by BlackRock, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price helped increase estimates of Zhang’s fortune.
Those valuations include a 10% risk discount because ByteDance is a private company.
Estimates of ByteDance’s overall value vary widely.
The company was valued at about $268 billion during a 2023 share buyback.
A separate stake sale proposal involving General Atlantic implied a valuation of about $550 billion.
The difference between those figures shows why Zhang’s reported wealth can change as investors update their view of ByteDance’s value.
AI is the next part of the story
ByteDance is now investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
The company has developed AI products including the Doubao chatbot and Seedance, a video generation tool.
Its large consumer platforms also give the company access to vast amounts of user interaction data that can support the development of AI models.
That expansion could create another source of value for ByteDance and, in turn, affect Zhang’s wealth.
But the strategy also comes with higher costs.
ByteDance’s large spending on AI development has contributed to a decline in net profit, while competition in China’s AI market continues to increase.
TikTok also remains subject to regulatory scrutiny in the United States.
For Zhang, therefore, the $105 billion figure is not simply money accumulated in a bank account.
Most of his wealth is linked to the estimated value of his ownership in ByteDance.
As that value rises or falls, so can the fortune that has taken him from $13 billion in 2019 to more than $105 billion today.
Last modified: September 17, 2026
