Chapter 679 - 486: 98 Billion US Dollars! Only Boss Chen Gets to Decide Who Is Poor

An hour later, Forbes magazine published the 2013 Forbes World’s Billionaires list on its official website.

The feature page detailed the rankings, net worth, industries, and nationalities of the listed billionaires, accompanied by analytical articles, data charts, and related background reports.

First place: Yansen Chen, net worth 98 billion US dollars.

Second place: Carlos, net worth 73 billion US dollars.

Third place: Bill Gates, net worth 67 billion US dollars.

Eighth place: Li Jiacheng, net worth 31 billion US dollars.

Zhong Qinghou was ranked 86th, with a net worth of 11.6 billion US dollars.

Additionally, Wang Jianlin of Wanda Group ranked 128th, Penguin’s Ma Wenteng ranked 137th, and Ma Liyun ranked 212th.

As for Li Yanhong, due to the sharp drop in Qian Du’s market value, his ranking fell to 299th, nearly dropping him out of the top 300.

Although there were countless hidden billionaires out of the public eye, the Forbes list included all of the world’s most prominent super-rich.

Sina Finance, as a media partner of Forbes, was the first to republish the list, sparking a flurry of discussion among netizens in the comments section.

"The richest man of Chinese descent is still Li Jiacheng. Real estate and building ports sure are profitable!"

"No wonder when Zhang Ziqiang kidnapped Li Jiacheng’s son, he demanded one billion right off the bat. Asking for any less would have been an insult to Superman Lee, wouldn’t it?"

"The boss of Wahaha is worth 11.6 billion US dollars and he’s *only* ranked 86th? There are just too many rich people!"

"Paging Brother Hao, lead us on another big score!"

"Who’s number one? Doesn’t look like a foreigner?"

"Yan Sen... Chen? No, wait, it’s Chen Yansen! He’s the world’s richest man now???"

"It really is Chen Yansen. The official Forbes website has a more comprehensive profile. Click my link to go there."

"Fuck! You animal upstairs, I curse you to have a son born without an asshole! Posting another one of those lottery invitation links for the Orange Mobile Phone new product launch, are you?"

Soon, someone screenshotted the list’s highlights, which Forbes had posted on Twitter, and shared it on Weibo. The profile picture of the new richest man of Chinese descent was, surprisingly, a young man in a suit, with a cool expression tinged with a faint smile.

It was Chen Yansen!

He had ended the Mexican telecommunications tycoon’s three-year reign as the world’s richest person. At the incredibly young age of twenty-one, he had surpassed a crowd of magnates from Europe and America, storming to the top of the World’s Billionaires list in a crushing victory.

Fortune magazine followed suit, announcing the 2013 list of the 50 Most Influential Business Leaders in Hua Country. Chen Yansen was ranked first, Ren Zhongfei second, and Ma Wenteng third.

Interview requests from media outlets at home and abroad came flooding in, completely overwhelming the external relations phone lines at Orange Technology’s branding department.

Wang Shixiang could only select the most influential magazines and television programs from the deluge, compile them into an email for his boss, and leave the final decision to Chen Yansen.

’Time, Wired, Hua Country Nuclear Industry, High-End Interview... Netflix wants to film a documentary about me?’

Chen Yansen glanced at the email’s contents, his brow furrowing slightly.

Although he had never intended to keep a low profile, the release of the Forbes list had still thrust him into the eye of the storm.

Before, everyone knew he was rich, but no one knew exactly how rich.

When the figure of ’98 billion US dollars’ was laid out before their eyes, netizens were suddenly struck by the realization that Chen Yansen’s wealth was growing faster than a rocket launch.

The old guard of billionaires, who had toiled in the business world for decades, often saw their wealth accumulate slowly over ten-year periods. Yet he had become the world’s richest man in just a few years. Such speed completely overturned the average person’s conventional understanding of wealth creation.

In three years, a net worth of 98 billion US dollars.

That was equivalent to an average daily income of nearly 100 million US dollars!

This wasn’t making money; this was printing money!

Many people went back to re-examine the trajectory of his rise, trying to decipher the secret to his wealth from the clues he’d left behind.

But even a brief investigation revealed a startling fact: every industry Chen Yansen had entered and every company he had invested in was growing at an astonishing rate, both in business scale and valuation.

"The God of Commerce!"

"A real-life God of Wealth!"

"The new godfather of the internet!"

"The leader of Hua Country’s mobile phone industry!"

One intimidating title after another was thrown at Chen Yansen.

Some impatient reporters, unable to reach him, turned to contacting Chen Yansen’s business partners, hoping to gain some indirect insight into his personality and business acumen.

"Penguin was Chen Yansen’s first angel investor. Three years ago, he told me he could get FoxTao to one hundred million users in a single year. At the time, I thought the kid was just full of hot air.

Of course, it was also a sign of confidence. I ended up investing 10 million in him, and that investment earned Penguin a profit of more than 20 times the original amount."

Ma Wenteng, who was attending the WeChat Ecosystem Partner Conference in Shencheng City, recalled this to the cameras.

Thanks to its investments in Pinbei, Kuai Pao, Fast Taxi, and Ofo bikes, Penguin had profited handsomely in the last two years.

Facing the reporter’s questions, Little Ma was more than happy to speak well of Chen Yansen.

"Mr. Ma, Chen Yansen was only eighteen at the time, a college freshman. What potential did you see in him that made you decide to put up that 10 million?" the reporter pressed.

"He was young, but that doesn’t mean he was incapable. I still have FoxTao’s brand promotion materials and business plan in my office to this day.

Frankly, 99% of entrepreneurs couldn’t produce a proposal of that caliber. And as it turns out, I made the right choice."

Ma Wenteng shrugged and said with a smile.

Reporters in Hang City sought out Ma Liyun to ask his opinion of Chen Yansen.

"Chen Yansen is a very outstanding peer. It’s undeniable that the development of Pinbei, Cloud Speed, and Orange Pay has undoubtedly boosted the prosperity of the e-commerce industry."