Making batteries for Tesla, this billionaire is now richer than Jack Ma

Zeng Yuqun, the founder of the world’s largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer, has just surpassed Jack Ma on the ranking of world billionaires.

Zeng’s net worth soared to $49.5 billion after Contemporary Amperex Techonology (CATL) shares surged year-to-date, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Currently, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is worth $48.1 billion. Zeng also entered the top 5 richest people in Asia for the first time.

It’s the latest sign that a new generation of tycoons is emerging in China, reaping more success and wealth from a clean energy boom. Stocks like CATL, a key battery supplier to Tesla, have soared as China leads the electric vehicle market and the government pursues its ambition to go carbon-neutral by 2060.

“In the past, China’s billionaires list has been dominated by real estate billionaires, then technology. Now we see more and more people coming from the new energy sector,” said Hao Gao, a specialist in China. Gia who is working at Tsinghua University commented. “As the industry leader, CATL will benefit the most from China’s carbon target.”

This year, 53 years old, Zeng comes from a village in the mountains of Fujian province. In less than a decade he has built CATL into the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries specifically for electric vehicles.

CATL headquarters in Fujian

In the first five months of this year, global sales of electric vehicle batteries more than doubled compared to the same period last year. CATL holds the largest market share, up to 31.2%, as reported by SNE Research. In 2020, retail sales of new energy vehicles in China increased 9.8% to 1.11 million units.

BloombergNEF forecasts CATL’s revenue will continue to grow well, benefiting from the advantage of scale, a fairly competitive supply chain in terms of price, and a stable customer base.

Shares of CATL are up more than 20 times since the company was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2018. This year alone, the increase is 59% thanks to soaring demand for electric vehicles, many countries are moving towards reducing carbon emissions and production costs fell sharply. Currently, CATL’s P/E ratio is up to more than 100 times, compared to only about 13 times of rival Panasonic Corp.

In addition to Tesla, CATL also has large customers such as BMW and Volkswagen. In an interview last year, Zeng said he and Elon Musk texted each other about technology, Covid-19 and Musk’s main concerns: cheaper batteries and cars.

Zeng, who has a PhD in physics, isn’t the only billionaire to benefit from CATL stock’s rally. Huang Shilin, the company’s vice president, is also worth more than $21 billion. Another vice president, Li Ping, owns $8.5 billion.

While Zeng’s fortune is growing rapidly, Jack Ma has “dropped” $2.5 billion year-to-date after recent controversies.

Refer to Bloomberg