Asia’s fast-growing wealth has always caught the world’s eye, with many billionaires from the region featured on the Forbes real-time list. But have you ever wondered who the richest person in Asia is right now?
As of April 2025, it’s no surprise that Mukesh Ambani holds the top spot, with a net worth of $97.3 billion. But he’s not alone—many other wealthy individuals across Asia are making headlines.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the richest people in Asia in 2025 and where they come from.
| Asia Rank | Name | Net Worth | Source | Country/Territory | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mukesh Ambani | $108.2 B | Reliance Industries | India | 16 |
| 2 | Gautam Adani | $66.6 B | Adani Group | India | 23 |
| 3 | Zhang Yiming | $65.5 B | TikTok | China | 25 |
| 4 | Zhong Shanshan | $58.6 B | Nongfu Spring, Biological Pharmacy Enterprise | China | 28 |
| 5 | Ma Huateng | $53.1 B | Tencent Holdings | China | 29 |
| 6 | Tadashi Yanai & family | $47.7 B | Fast Retailing | Japan | 31 |
| 7 | Colin Huang | $42.0 B | PDD Holdings | China | 35 |
| 8 | Lei Jun | $40.9 B | Xiaomi | China | 38 |
| 9 | William Ding | $38.2 B | NetEase | China | 44 |
| 10 | Li Ka-shing | $37.5 B | CK Hutchison Holdings | Hong Kong | 45 |
Richest People in Asia in 2025
Mukesh ambani
Age: 68
Lives in: Mumbai, India
Nationality: Indian
Mukesh Ambani is the richest person in Asia. He is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, one of India’s biggest companies.
In 2008, he entered the world of cricket by buying the Mumbai Indians team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). His telecom company, Jio, now has around 476 million subscribers across India.
In August 2024, Reliance launched Jio Financial Services, showing the company’s growth into new areas. Earlier, in July 2023, Jio Financial teamed up with BlackRock to create Jio BlackRock, a joint venture that aims to offer modern and smart investment options to people in India.
Gautam Adani
Age: 62
Lives in: Ahmedabad, India
Nationality: Indian
Gautam Adani is the head of the Adani Group, a huge company worth Rs 16.22 lakh crore that works in ports, airports, energy, and green projects.
He started his journey in 1988 with a trading business and today, he is one of the richest people in Asia. He is known for being India’s top airport operator and for managing Mundra Port, one of the largest ports in Gujarat.
In 2022, he made a major move by buying Holcim’s Indian assets, which helped him become the second-largest cement producer in India.
Zhang Yiming
Age: 41
Lives in: Beijing, China
Nationality: Chinese
Zhang Yiming is the founder of ByteDance, the Chinese tech company best known for creating TikTok, the video app with over 1 billion users worldwide.
As of May 2024, Zhang still owns 21% of ByteDance. However, the company is facing some challenges because the U.S. government may ban TikTok. A new law passed by the U.S. Congress gives the government the power to do so.
Even though TikTok is the most famous, ByteDance also works in other areas like news, education, and gaming, making it one of the leading tech companies in China.
Zhong Shanshan
Age: 70
Lives in: Hangzhou, China
Nationality: Chinese
Zhong Shanshan is the founder of Nongfu Spring, a popular bottled water company. He is the third richest person in Asia and the richest in China.
His career path has been unique—he started out doing construction work, then moved into journalism, and later into selling drinks before becoming a successful business owner.
Besides Nongfu Spring, he also owns a large part of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, a company known for making fast Covid-19 test kits.
Ma Huateng
Age: 53
Lives in: Shenzhen, China
Nationality: Chinese
Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, is the head of Tencent Holdings, one of China’s biggest internet companies. He is one of the richest people in Asia.
He runs WeChat, a messaging app with over 1.2 billion active users. Tencent also has a big role in the global gaming industry, with investments in companies like Epic Games, and is one of the world’s top video game publishers.
Tencent also owns shares in companies like Tesla and Spotify. Recently, Ma Huateng announced that Tencent is working on new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help improve life for everyone.
Tadashi Yanai
Age: 76
Lives in: Tokyo, Japan
Nationality: Japanese
Tadashi Yanai is the founder of Fast Retailing, the company that owns the popular clothing brand Uniqlo. He is one of the top 10 richest people in Asia.
Fast Retailing also owns other fashion brands like Theory, Helmut Lang, J Brand, and GU. Uniqlo is the main brand and has over 2,400 stores in 25 countries around the world.
In October 2023, Uniqlo opened its first store in Mumbai, India. Now, the company plans to grow in India and compete strongly with both local and global clothing brands.
Colin Zheng Huang
Age: 44
Lives in: Shanghai, China
Nationality: Chinese
Colin Huang is the founder of PDD Holdings, a large Chinese e-commerce company that changed its name from Pinduoduo in February 2023.
Even though he stepped down as chairman a few years ago, he still owns about 28% of the company. Before starting PDD, Huang also founded an online gaming company called Xinyoudi and another shopping platform called Ouku.com.
Lei Jun
Age: 55
Lives in: Beijing, China
Nationality: Chinese
Lei Jun is a computer engineer and the co-founder of Xiaomi, a famous Chinese company known for making smartphones. Xiaomi is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Under Lei’s leadership, Xiaomi is now trying to enter the high-end smartphone market, after years of making affordable phones. In March last year, the company also launched its first SU7 electric vehicle.
Before Xiaomi, Lei made his first big success by selling the online store Joyo.com to Amazon in 2004 for $75 million. Lei is also the chairman of Kingsoft, a software company listed in Hong Kong, and he invests in JOYY Inc., a popular live-streaming and social media platform listed on Nasdaq.
William Ding
Age: 51
Lives in: Hangzhou, China
Nationality: Chinese
William Ding is the CEO of NetEase, one of the biggest online gaming companies in the world. Some of NetEase’s popular games are Fantasy Westward, Eggy Party, and Justice Mobile, which uses AI to create game stories.
NetEase started in 2003, and Ding became the first internet gaming billionaire in China. Despite economic challenges, he increased his wealth by $12.2 billion between October 2022 and July 2023.
Besides gaming, Ding also supports sustainable farming. NetEase’s online store, Yanxuan, sells pork from its farms.
Li Ka-Shing
Age: 96
Lives in: Hong Kong
Nationality: Hong Kong
Li Ka-Shing is one of the richest people in Asia. He started his business journey at the age of 21 in 1950 by opening Cheung Kong Plastics, using $6,500 he saved and borrowed from his family.
He is very generous through his Li Ka Shing Foundation, which has donated more than $3.8 billion to different causes, mostly in Greater China.
Li Ka-Shing controls CK Hutchison Holdings, which recently teamed up with Vodafone Group to merge their British telecom businesses, creating the biggest mobile operator in the UK.
Conclusion
The Forbes India article talks about the richest people in Asia and how much money and influence they have. In 2025, most of these top billionaires come from India and China. They play a big role in helping Asia’s economy grow. These rich people work in many different areas like technology, phones, shopping, and medicine, showing how many business chances there are in Asia.
Mukesh Ambani is still the richest person in Asia. Other well-known names on the list include Gautam Adani and Zhang Yiming. The article shows that Asia is a strong center for new ideas and making money, and these leaders are helping shape the future of business around the world
Who is the richest person in Asia as of 2025?
As of April–May 2025, Mukesh Ambani tops the list with a net worth of approximately $108.2 billion, making him Asia’s wealthiest person.
Which countries are most represented among Asia’s richest individuals?
The top 10 is dominated by billionaires from India and China—together making up the majority. There’s also representation from Japan and Hong Kong.
Which industries do these billionaires work in?
They come from diverse sectors, including energy, technology, telecommunications, retail, and pharmaceuticals. Their success reflects Asia’s broad economic landscape
