The world gained 437 billionaires last year, more than one billionaire a day, with Pony Ma of Chinese digital giant Tencent becoming the richest Chinese in the world with 295 billion yuan ($47 billion), according to Hurun Global Rich List 2018, a ranking of US dollar billionaires.

(Photo: Xinhua)

With Pony Ma ranked 15th globally, the second richest Chinese is real estate tycoon Xu Jiayin, who was ranked 20th, a 78-place rise in the global ranking over last year. Ninety-year-old Hong Kong real estate tycoon Lee Shau-kee ranked third among Chinese and 25th in the world.

Jack Ma of Alibaba and his family fell by six places to 26th globally with a wealth of 200 billion yuan. He was followed by Yang Huiyan of real estate developer Country Garden Holdings, also with 200 billion yuan.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda and his family dropped from the richest Chinese billionaire last year to eighth place and 36th globally with a wealth of 170 billion yuan.

Wang Wei of SF Express and Ding Lei of NetEase were also among the top 10 richest Chinese on the list.

Zhou Hongyi, cofounder and CEO of Beijing-based Internet security software provider and search company Qihoo 360, rose a staggering 666 places to rank 126th globally.

The world has 2,694 billionaires, up 437 from last year, with seven of the top 10 from the U.S.. Jeff Bezos of Amazon added $51 billion to storm into first place with $123 billion.