Alibaba's Jack Ma becomes richest in Asia, net worth soars $2.8 billion in a day

With his net worth climbing $2.8 billion overnight and $8.5 billion this year, Alibaba's Jack Ma has now become richest person in Asia and 14th wealthiest in the world.

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Alibaba's founder net worth climbed $8.5 billion this year to $41.8 billion. The sales growth of his company topped every analyst's estimate in spite of China decelerating economy. Alibaba has ventured into new areas from cloud computing services to streaming music and video.

The company has captured more digital advertising spending by incorporating social elements such as video in its shopping sites. Ma is known for taking new initiative, and he is about to hold meeting with investors this week, said sources.

The list was topped by Microsoft's founder Bill Gates, despite overnight downfall $253 mn, has gained $7.14 bn this year to end up at $89.5 bn. He was closely followed by Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos with net worth $86.5 bn. No one from India was in top ten. India's richest man Mukesh Ambani at 26th position with $29.2 bn.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people. The figures are updated at the close of every trading day in New York.

Ma founded Alibaba in 1999 in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang province. According to research firm IDC, Alibaba was the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company by GMV in 2013.

Image credit: Bloomberg