Wang Chuanfu, the founder of Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD. [file photo]

BEIJING: Wang Chuanfu, the founder of Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD, has become Chinese mainland's richest person thanks to US billionaire investor Warren Buffett, according to a list published Monday.

Wang, 43, leapt 102 places to top the Hurun Rich List after his fortune increased more than five-fold to $5.1 billion, said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, which publishes the annual list of the 1,000 richest people in the Chinese mainland.

Wang's 27.8 percent stake in BYD "hit the big time" after Buffett paid $230 million for a 10 percent stake in the company last September, the report said.

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Zhang Yin, the woman who founded paper-recycling company Nine Dragons Paper and the mainland's richest person in 2006, was in second place.

The number of US dollar billionaires in China rose to 130 from 101 last year, Hoogewerf said.

The full list will be released in October, the report said.