Chinese real estate billionaire lost more than 90% of his fortune

The past few years haven’t been kind to China’s super-rich, especially those who built their fortunes in the country’s once booming real estate market.

The net worth of Hui Ka Yan, chairman of real estate developer China Evergrande, is down nearly 93%, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Once Asia’s second-richest person, Hui’s wealth has dropped from $42 billion at its peak in 2017 to about $3 billion, Bloomberg said.

Evergrande is China’s most indebted developer, with $300 billion in liabilities, and has been at the center of the country’s real estate troubles since 2021. Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin in Mandarin, has used his personal wealth to shore up his struggling company, selling his houses and private jets.

But that was far from enough and Evergrande defaulted on its US dollar bonds in December 2021 after struggling for months to raise cash to pay off creditors, suppliers and investors.

Last year, the company failed to deliver on its preliminary debt restructuring plan, leading to further concerns about its future.

Evergrande is huge: It has about 200,000 employees, grossed more than $110 billion in 2020 sales, and has more than 1,300 properties in more than 280 cities.

Analysts have long feared that an Evergrande collapse could trigger broader risks for China’s real estate market, hurting homeowners and the wider financial system. Real estate and related industries account for up to 30% of GDP.

But Hui isn’t the only one who has seen massive wealth destruction lately. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, became the first person to lose $200 billion in wealth, according to Bloomberg last month.

Most of Musk’s wealth is tied to Tesla, which has seen its stock plummet 65% in 2022.