Billionaire TikTok founder is now the richest person in all of Asia, with a $105 billion net worth—he’s gained $92 billion since 2019 thanks to AI

Summary

Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok parent company ByteDance, has become the richest person in Asia with a net worth of $105.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. His wealth has grown by $12 billion this month due to new valuations from BlackRock and Fidelity. AI has played a key role in his rise, with Zhang doubling down on investments in the technology. His fortune has nearly eight times increased since 2019, when Bloomberg first began tracking his net worth.

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The numbers tell one story.

Zhang’s net worth surged to $105.5 billion, fueled by AI and new valuations.

BlackRock and Fidelity boosted his company’s value by $12 billion this month.

He owns 21% of ByteDance, which has over a billion daily active users.

AI is the new gold rush, and he’s playing it right.

Author: Evan Null

How AI helped TikTok’s founder become even richer: ‘He plays his cards right’

Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, has become the richest person in Asia with a net worth of $105.5 billion. His wealth has grown by $12 billion this month due to new valuations from BlackRock and Fidelity. AI has played a key role in his rise, with Zhang doubling down on investments in the technology. His fortune has nearly eight times increased since 2019, when Bloomberg first began tracking his net worth.

AI is minting new billionaires and sending net worths soaring

The world’s richest entrepreneurs have watched their net worths skyrocket and plummet at the whim of the stock market. And just like Zhang, Michael Dell—founder and CEO of Dell Technologies—nearly doubled his wealth in one year thanks to the AI boom. Now, he’s the fifth richest man in the world. The 61-year-old entrepreneur, who owns 40% of his tech company, has gained around $122 billion since this month in 2025, nearly doubling his wealth to a whopping $262 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

AI isn’t just accelerating the wealth of established bigwigs—it’s also adding young newcomers to the billionaire club

Last year the number of self-made billionaires under 30 hit an all-time high, according to an analysis from Forbes. The majority made their wealth by jumping on the AI industry while it’s hot. For example, 25-year-old Sualeh Asif found success as the creator of company Anysphere—the team behind popular $29.3 billion AI editing tool Cursor. And Gen Zers Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha hit ten figures in cofounding Mercor: an AI-powered recruiting startup helping connect talent with Silicon Valley’s biggest AI labs.

Of the 11 young entrepreneurs who became billionaires analyzed, eight saw their fortunes boom through their AI innovations

AI is reshaping the billionaire ranks, creating new fortunes and rapidly growing the wealth of some of the world’s richest people. Zhang Yiming’s rise is one of many examples of how AI is reshaping the billionaire ranks—creating new fortunes, and rapidly growing the wealth of some of the world’s richest people. The innovation—seen as an improvement from Gemini 2.5 released around eight months ago—ignited optimism from investors and analysts, causing Alphabet stock to jump 3%. And in the months since, his investments have only continued to pay off, with Page’s net worth swelling to $293 billion today.