An increase in the worth of Baidu stock means that CEO Robin Li Yanhong is now the wealthiest man in Chinese mainland, with around 390 million yuan ($64 million) more than second place Wang Jianlin.
Li is the founder of Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine by market share, and his wealth is inherently tied to the company's stock price, which soared in recent weeks, increasing by as much as 65 percent.
The second wealthiest man is now Wang Jianlin, chairman of real estate giant Dalian Wanda Group, with assets worth 74.1 billion yuan ($12.17 billion) according to Bloomberg, compared to Li's 74.3 billion yuan ($12.2 billion) fortune. Wang made an estimated 4.24 million yuan ($695,676) an hour in 2012.
Analysts say that Baidu's stock price increase is due to the company's move into mobile advertising and app development.
"Baidu's development in mobile Internet also exceeded expectation, and the use of its mobile search application is growing fast," Zhang Xi, an analyst with Beijing-based iResearch Consulting Group told Xinhua.
Wang's stake in AMC Entertainment, which he bought in 2012, may see him back on top as the US movie company is planning a 2.2 billion yuan ($368 million) IPO in the near future.
On Tuesday, Baidu was ordered to pay 491,000 yuan ($80,000) to online video site Youku Tudou as part of a wider copyright infringement case against the search company.
[Image via Flickr]
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