Dot-com entrepreneur named China’s richest man

Defying common wisdom that the dot-com boom is long over, Internet entrepreneur William Ding, the founder and chief architect of Internet portal Netease.com Inc., has been named China’s richest person in an annual ranking of the country’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.

With a personal fortune estimated at $900 million, 32-year-old Ding’s rise to the top of the list of China’s wealthiest entrepreneurs reflects the strong growth of China’s IT industry, according to a statement released by Asiamoney magazine, which will publish the Chinamoney 100 list.

As the owner of a 53.6-percent stake in Netease as of May 31, Ding’s high ranking also shows the great year that Chinese Internet stocks have had. Listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, Netease stock has soared 2,068 percent over the last 12 months, up from a closing price of $3.10 on Oct. 17, 2002, to close at $67.22 yesterday.

An attempt to contact Ding to find out how it feels to be named the richest entrepreneur in China was not successful. At the time of writing, Ding was on a business trip and was not accepting press interviews, according to Olive Wang, a spokeswoman for Netease in Beijing.

Netease is not the only Chinese Internet stock to have taken off over the last year. Portals Sina Corp. and Sohu.com Inc., which are also listed on Nasdaq, have seen their stock prices soar over the past 12 months.

Sohu’s stock price is now worth 17 times what it was a year ago, rising from $2.10 to close at $36.13 yesterday, helping to push company Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Charles Zhang to the No. 20 spot on the Chinamoney 100 list with a personal fortune of $265 million. Similarly, Sina’s stock has surged by the same multiple over the last year, from a closing price of $2.45 on Oct. 17, 2002, to close at $41.60 yesterday.

Two other IT executives made their way onto the list of China’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.

Chen Tianqiao, CEO of online games developer Shanda Networking Development Co. Ltd., came in at No. 10 with an estimated net worth of $480 million. Further down on the list, Wu Ying, vice chairman, executive vice president and a founder of telecommunications equipment maker UT Starcom Inc., was ranked No. 43 with personal holdings valued at $180 million.