<p class="ingestion featured-caption">ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is now China's richest man.Visual China Group via Getty Images; Ruobing Su/Business Insider</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Zhang Yiming has built a $49.3 billion fortune since cofounding <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bytedance-rather-close-down-tiktok-us-than-sell-report-2024">ByteDance</a>, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok.</li><li>Zhang is highly private and little is publicly known about his personal life.</li></ul><p>The widespread popularity of <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-zs-use-tiktok-resource-finding-college-research-university-sponsorship-2024-10">TikTok</a> has created not only a new generation of social media stars — it's also helped mint China's wealthiest person.</p><p>Zhang Yiming, the 41-year-old software engineer who founded the app's parent company, ByteDance, now has a net worth of $49.3 billion, according to the <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.hurun.net/en-us/info/detail?num=8S9MBRWXLAT6">2024 Hurun China Rich List</a>, which documents the country's richest people.</p><p>Zhang is a highly private person and little is publicly known about his personal life. He has recently, however, been thrust back into the spotlight after being named on the list as the <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-lost-36pc-billionaires-three-years-rich-list-hurun-economy-2024-10">richest person in China</a>.</p><p>After running ByteDance for nearly a decade, Zhang <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bytedance-cofounder-zhang-yiming-steps-down-as-ceo-report-2021-5">stepped down</a> as CEO in 2021, reportedly telling employees that he's "not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and contemplating what may be possible."</p><p>"The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager," Zhang said at the time, according to Reuters, saying he would be a better help to the company in a role that didn't involve managing people directly.</p><p>Here's what we know about his career rise and life:</p>