Zhang Yiming Net Worth: TikTok Founder Is Now World's 25th Richest Person

KEY POINTS

Zhang was born in 1983 in the Fujian province of China
He founded ByteDance in 2012
He owns an estimated 22% stake in the company

TikTok is one of the most popular social platforms today, especially among Gen Z, and its popularity continues to rise, thereby creating not only a new generation of social media stars but billionaires as well.

Zhang Yiming, the founder of Tiktok owner ByteDance, also known for its news app Toutiao, is one of the richest men in the world today. He ranked No. 25 on Forbes’ richest list after building a $50 billion fortune since co-founding ByteDance.

Despite being one of the wealthiest people in China and the world, Zhang is extremely private, and little is known about his personal life. Here is what we know about the 38-year-old billionaire.

Zhang was born in 1983 in the Fujian province of China. He grew up in the southeastern city of Longyan and studied software engineering at Nankai University in Tianjin.

After graduating in 2005, he started his career as an engineer at the digital travel booking startup called Kuxun.com. In 2009, Zhang launched his first business, a property search site called 99fang.com. The business survived for only three years.

In 2012, Zhang founded ByteDance, and since the founding of the company, his net worth has grown massively.

Zhang owns an estimated 22% stake in ByteDance.

The company made $7.4 billion in revenues in 2018. It reported a revenue of $17 billion in 2019 and $35 billion in 2020, as per Bloomberg.

Data presented by Forbes revealed that in 2018, Zhang had a net worth of $4 billion. In 2019 and 2020, he had a net worth of $16.2 billion. By 2021, his net worth was at $35.6 billion.

After running the company for nearly a decade, Zhang stepped down as CEO last year.

"The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager," Zhang said, according to a Reuters report. He said that he would be a better help to the company in a role that didn't involve managing people directly.

Tiktok has more than 1 billion users worldwide today, as per CNBC.

The biggest stars on Tiktok include Charli D'Amelio, Addison Rae and Spencer X.