Wang Chuanfu

WANG CHUANFU, founder of the Shenzhen-based battery and car producer BYD, has become China’s richest person thanks to U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett, according to a list published Monday.

Wang, 43, leapt 102 places to top the Hurun rich list after his fortune increased more than fivefold to 35 billion yuan (US$5.1 billion), said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, which publishes the annual list of the 1,000 richest people in China.

Wang’s 27.8 percent stake in BYD “hit the big time” after Buffett paid US$230 million for a 10 percent stake in the company last September.

Zhang Yin, the woman who founded paper-recycling company Nine Dragons Paper and China’s richest person in 2006, was in second place.

The number of U.S. dollar billionaires in China rose to 130 from 101 last year, Hoogewerf said.

The full list will be released in October, the report said.

(SD-Agencies)