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Alibaba's Jack Ma slips to third in China rich list

Getty Images Alibaba founder Jack MaGetty Images
Alibaba founder Jack Ma is China's third richest man

Jack Ma, the boss of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has slipped to the third top spot in Forbes' China rich list.

Mr Ma's ranking fell one place, even though his net worth increased by more than a third to $38.6bn (£27.3bn).

Asia's richest tech billionaire, Tencent's Pony Ma, also known as Ma Huateng, climbed to second after his fortune surged almost 60% to $39bn.

Leading the rankings was China's richest man, real estate magnate Hui Ka Yan.

The 59-year-old, also known as Xu Jiayin, is the chairman of the China Evergrande Group. His fortune rose more than 400% from last year to $42.5bn.

The huge increase in his wealth is due to the "extraordinary rise in the stock price of his company" which added more than $32bn to the property developer's net worth, according to Forbes.

Getty Images Hui Ka YanGetty Images
China's richest man, Hui Ka Yan

However, Mr Hui's net worth is less than half that of the world's richest man, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. .

He also trails behind the world's 10 richest people, which includes Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet and Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos.

As well as property, Mr Hui made his wealth from seeing the potential in China's healthcare spending to create Evergrande Healthcare.

He also owns a majority stake in one of China's professional football teams, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football club.

Mr Hui is not the only multi-billionaire to have climbed in the rankings. Several Chinese property developers, internet entrepreneurs and manufacturers on the list saw significant gains in their wealth this year.

Getty Images Evergrande International Football SchoolGetty Images
Mr Hui is the brainchild behind the Evergrande International Football School

As well as Alibaba founder Jack Ma dropping down the list, last year's richest man in China, Wang Jianlin, the chairman of the Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, dropped to fourth place after his fortune fell nearly $8bn to $25.2bn.

His company was once described as the world's biggest private property developer and the world's largest cinema chain operator, but it lost value amid a major restructuring.

Other key highlights from 2017's Forbes China rich list include:

  • The average of age of those on the list is 55
  • The top 10 includes one woman - real estate developer, 36-year-old Yang Huiyan
  • Four of the top 100 on China's rich list are under 40
  • The four own businesses in property, software, drones and after school tutoring
  • But the big two sectors represented on the list are real estate and technology