Forbes Calls BS on Beijing as Billionaire Capital, Places City at No. 4

Forbes magazine has called BS on the February Hurun Report survey that declared Beijing is now the home of the most billionaires in the world, with 100 to former champion New York's 95.

"Contrary to a widely circulated report from Chinese research firm Hurun last week calling Beijing 'The New Billionaire Capital of the World,' the city is just fourth in line, with 51 residents holding three-comma fortunes, according to Forbes’ research," Forbes staff writer Katia Savchuk declares in a Tuesday post entitled "New York Is The City With The Most Billionaires, Not Beijing." 

RELATED: Get Rich by Accusing Foreigners of Terrorism

Forbes places the number of billionaires in New York at 79, with Beijing, in fourth place, with 51, almost half of the Hurun estimate. Forbes also places Hong Kong and Moscow above our fair city.

However, Savchuk never contrasts Forbes' methodology with Hurun's, leaving us wondering where the discrepancy may lie. Forbes, not surprisingly, is based in New York, and was founded by billionaire Malcolm Forbes (Hurun Report is based in Shanghai).

China has also overtaken the US, with 568 Chinese billionaires to 535 Americans with that level of wealth, and is home to the most female billionaires, with 93 of 124 self-made women, according to Hurun.

And while on the subject of billions, news came out this morning indicating that Beijing is home to 40 so-called "unicorns" － aka venture capital-backed tech startups valued at more than $1 billion － which is second only in number to famed Silicon Valley.

The three largest? Xiaomi ($46 billion) Meituan-Dianping ($18 billion), and Didi Kuaidi ($16.5 billion)

Of China's 70 unicorns, Beijing is home to more than half of them (40), with Shanghai (15), Hangzhou (4) and Shenzhen (3) trailing far behind.

More stories by this author here.

Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @greatwriteshark
Weibo:​ @SinoScuba潜水

Photo: api.ning.com