Alibaba's Jack Ma takes rich list crown

E-commerce giant Alibaba's founder Jack Ma topped the 2018 Hurun China Rich List released on Wednesday, the second time he has reached this pinnacle of wealth in the past four years.

Ma and his family's wealth increased by $10 billion to $39 billion, on the back of a hike in the valuation of online payment arm Alipay's mothership Ant Financial.

Alibaba's market value reached $390 billion by the end of September, making it the most valuable company established in China and one of the 10 largest companies globally. The value of Ant Financial exceeded $100 billion.