# TikTok co-founder Zhang Yiming overtakes Gautam Adani as Asia’s richest

2026-09-17T06:01:41+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 3 independent outlets

Zhang Yiming, co-founder of ByteDance, has overtaken Indian billionaire Gautam Adani to become Asia's richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 43-year-old's net worth is about $105.5 billion, compared with Adani's $104.8 billion, as of September 15. Bloomberg began tracking Zhang's fortune at $13 billion in March 2019, meaning it has increased more than eightfold. Zhang founded ByteDance in 2012 from a Beijing apartment. The company owns TikTok and the news aggregator Toutiao, and has expanded into AI tools such as the Doubao chatbot. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 but still holds more than 50 per cent of ByteDance's voting rights, according to Reuters. The Bloomberg index ranks Zhang 18th globally, with Adani at 20th.

## Indian Opinion Analysis

All three outlets report the same Bloomberg data with neutral framing, but differ in emphasis. Livemint.com and timesnownews.com devote substantial space to regulatory battles ByteDance faced in the US and China from 2020 to 2024, while gulfnews.com mentions only Zhang's low profile and his resignation. The critical outlets portray the wealth milestone as a rebound after existential threats, while the Gulf News version treats it as a straightforward valuation update. The balanced reading: Zhang's fortune reflects both ByteDance's AI-driven growth and the platform's resilience through geopolitical storms. ByteDance's next private valuation round will test whether this wealth holds.

## Coverage

- gulfnews.com (neutral report) <https://gulfnews.com/business/tiktok-co-founder-zhang-yiming-overtakes-gautam-adani-as-asias-richest-1.500677142>
  Presents Bloomberg ranking as a straight wealth list without discussing regulatory context
- livemint.com (neutral report) <https://www.livemint.com/companies/people/who-is-zhang-yiming-meet-the-tiktok-founder-and-asias-richest-person-surpassing-gautam-adani-11789545348946.html>
  Leads with who Zhang is and includes detailed regulatory history as context
- timesnownews.com (neutral report) <https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/industry/from-13-billion-to-105-billion-how-zhang-yiming-surpassed-gautam-adani-to-become-asias-richest-article-156173140>
  Similar to livemint, gives equal weight to wealth rise and regulatory pressures

Tags: Bloomberg Billionaires Index, ByteDance, Gautam Adani, TikTok, Zhang Yiming
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