Pony Ma is richest man in China: Hurun List

Pony Ma, chairman and chief executive officer of Tencent, a leading Internet company, speaks at the China (Shenzhen) IT Summit in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, April 2, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua/Mao Siqian]

Pony Ma, chairman of China's internet giant Tencent, has become the richest man in China, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2018.

The Hurun Report says 47-year-old Pony Ma's wealth stood at around 295 billion yuan (47 billion USD) as of January 31, 2018. 

His ranking has increased 23 places to number 15 in the world. 

60-year-old Hui Kayan ranked the second with 260 billion yuan. Now ranked 20th in the world, Hui's Guanzhou Evergrande Group managed to achieve sales of over 500 billion yuan through 2017.

Hong Kong's Lee Shau Kee ranked third in China and 25th in the world. He runs Henderson Real Estate.

Four through ten on the list are Jack Ma, Yang Huiyan, Li Ka-shing, He Hengjian and his son He Jianfeng, Wang Jianlin, Wang Wei and Ding Lei. 

There are a total of 2,694 billionaires in the world, with 819 among them from China, according to the Hurun list.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, tops the Hurun list as the wealthiest man in the world with around 110 billion US dollars to his name.