Colin Huang, the founder of the Chinese conglomerate PDD Holdings that owns the popular low-cost e-commerce platform Temu, is the richest man in China, according to the ranking of billionaires which was published today by the Bloomberg agency.

PDD Holdings Group is the parent company of the Pinduoduo platform that since 2015, established in China, specializes in providing products at low prices.

For international trade, the group has Temu, a separate application, which has been very successful but has been criticized for its trading practices in several countries, including France.

Colin Huang, 44, has a fortune estimated at 48.6 billion dollars (44.5 billion euros), according to Bloomberg’s reference ranking.

He is the richest man in China and it shows in 25th place on a global level.

Huang, a former Google employee, is now ahead of mineral water king Zhong Sanshan, who in 2021 was China’s richest man thanks to his ubiquitous Nonfgu Spring brand.

The head of Internet and video game giant Tencent, Ma Huateng, is third on the podium with $42.4 billion (€38.8 billion).

Close behind ($42.2 billion) is ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, who has today left the group, which primarily owns the popular TikTok app.

The Pinduoduo platform is seeing increasing success in China at a time when Chinese are cutting back on spending and turning to low-priced products amid an economic slowdown and rising youth unemployment.

Its international version, Temu, is seeing increasing success in Europe, but associations accuse the app of manipulating users and violating regulations.

Since May, Temu has been included in the European Union’s list of very large digital platforms subject to enhanced controls.