Battery maker tops annual 'rich list'

Wang Chuanfu, the founder of Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD. [file photo]

Wang Chuanfu, the founder of Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD, has become Chinese mainland's richest person thanks to US 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 five-fold to $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 the Chinese mainland.

Wang's 27.8 percent stake in BYD "hit the big time" after Buffett paid $230 million for a 10 percent stake in the company last September, the report said.

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

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

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