Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun becomes China's 5th richest person

Lei, who founded Xiaomi in 2010 with several partners, has seen his wealth tripling from $10.9 billion in April 2024, according to Forbes.

His latest net worth surpassed the previous peak of $23 billion in 2021.

The 250% jump of Xiaomi shares in the past 12 months has pushed up the asset of the 55-year-old self-made billionaire.

Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun attends a launch ceremony of the new flagship phone Xiaomi Mi 9 in Beijing, China February 20, 2019. Photo by Reuters

Investors’ enthusiasm about Xiaomi's burgeoning electric vehicle division has been attributed to the surge in its share price.

The 27% gain of Xiaomi so far this year has outpaced the 9% increase of Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Several other factors contributed to the gain, including Xiaomi’s well-performing smartphone business, drive by sales of higher-priced and more profitable models.

As the world's third-largest smartphone maker by market share, Xiaomi is also riding the wave of renewed investor confidence in Chinese tech companies following DeepSeek's successful launch of a cost-effective AI model in January.

This has fueled speculation of further technological advancements from China, according to Eric Wen head of research at Hong Kong-based research firm Blue Lotus Capital Advisors.

Lei said earlier this month that Xiaomi plans to sell 10,000 units of its flagship EV, the SU7 Ultra, Reuters reported.

The richest person in China is Zhong Shanshan, founder and chairman of bottled water company Nongfu Spring, with a $54.9 billion net worth.

He is followed by Tencent Holdings chairman Ma Huateng, ByteDance cofounder Zhang Yiming, and PDD Holdings founder Colin Huang.