Beijing: Jack Ma, the founder of China`s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba, has been ranked as Asia`s richest person by a Bloomberg survey published Friday.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 50-year-old Ma, with a net worth of $28.6 billion, surpassed Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong property and ports tycoon, who has held the top spot in the region since April 5, 2012, Bloomberg reported.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, with a net worth of $85.4 billion tops the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
India`s Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), who has a net worth of $21.8 billion, is the highest ranking Indian on the Bloomberg list at number 32.
Ma, a former English teacher who started the Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba in his apartment in 1999, has added $25 billion to his fortune this year, riding a 54 percent surge in the company`s shares since its September initial public offering (IPO).
Li Ka-shing, on his part, congratulated his rival Ma. "I am nothing but happy when young people from China do well," Li was quoted by his spokesperson as saying.
A spokesman for Alibaba, however, declined to comment on Ma`s net worth.
"The billionaires in China are growing their wealth faster because China`s economy is still developing, with plenty of room for growth," said Francis Ying, an analyst at Yuanta Research, adding, "Hong Kong is already a mature market."
Alibaba`s $259-billion market capitalisation makes it larger than Amazon and eBay combined, and more valuable than all but eight companies in Standard & Poor`s 500 Index.
More than half of Ma`s wealth comes from his 6.3 percent stake in Alibaba, valued at $16.3 billion. He is also the owner of Alipay, an online payment service similar to PayPal.
Alibaba raised a record $25 billion in its Sep 18 IPO, selling shares for $68 each.
"If you look at the whole Chinese internet space, it`s definitely getting very significant," said Tony Chu, a money manager for RS Investment. Alibaba has become "a global stock which you cannot ignore", he said.
Ma, who became China`s richest person in August, told CNBC in an interview that being the wealthiest person in the world`s second largest economy "is a great pain".
"I never thought I`d be and I don`t want to be," he said.