Pinduoduo founder and CEO Colin Huang has surpassed Alibaba founder Jack Ma to become the second-richest man in China, according the real-time billionaire list compiled by Forbes.
Why it matters: Pinduoduo’s 40-year-old founder, also known as Huang Zheng, saw his net worth rocket in June, triggered by robust sales growth during the annual June 18 shopping promotion known as 618.
Details: Huang, an ex-Googler, is now China’s second-richest man with a net worth of $45.4 billion, second only to Tencent’s Ma Huateng whose net worth is $52.6 billion. Huang holds a 45% stake in social e-commerce platform, Pinduoduo. Jack Ma, who retired last fall from the daily operations of Alibaba to focus on philanthropy, saw his net worth fall to $43.9 billion from $45 billion as of 5 p.m. the previous trading day.
- Pinduoduo didn’t reveal sales figures during the period, saying only that sales of milk formula increased 510% year on year during the period.
- “Pinduoduo users don’t need to wait twice a year to get the best value for their money because they get the best value on our platform every single day,” the company said in a statement.
- Shares of Nasdaq-listed Pinduoduo have more than doubled in value since the beginning of the year, boosting the e-commerce company’s market cap from $44 billion on Dec. 31, 2019, to $104.89 billion as of Monday.
Read more: Pinduoduo growth story needs a new chapter
Correction: An earlier version of this story accidentally reported 2019 sales figures for the 6.18 shopping festival as though they were from this year. In fact, Pinduoduo has not published overall sales figures for the festival this year. The story has been updated with a statement from the company.