CHINA, Dec 4 ― Robin Li passed Wang Jianlin as the richest man in China today by just US$63.6 million (RM204.5 million), according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

The founder of China’s largest Internet search engine Baidu Inc., has become the wealthiest individual in the world’s second-biggest economy, 14 days after he took the No. 2 spot. Li’s net worth has climbed by US$4.8 billion, or 65 per cent, to US$12.23 billion so far this year as Baidu shares rallied. Wang, chairman of closely-held Dalian Wanda Group, has seen his fortune rise by US$2.9 billion to US$12.2 billion.

Wang may reclaim the first spot after he sells shares in AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the U.S. movie chain he bought for US$2.6 billion in 2012. AMC this week said it plans to raise as much as US$368 million in an initial public offering. Quick expansion in smartphones and tablets plus a predominant position in the desktop search market have boosted Baidu shares 69 per cent in the past six months, according to Lucy Zhang, an analyst at Internet consulting group IResearch.

“Baidu’s development on mobile has surprised the market and its search app’s traffic volume has been growing very fast, ”Zhang said in a phone interview from Beijing, where Baidu’s headquarters is based.

Baidu had an 81 per cent share of search-engine queries in China in the three months ended June, followed by Qihoo 360 Technology Co. with 10.1 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Baidu’s market share for desktop search has been stable as threats to its dominance faded after Qihoo failed to acquire Sohu.com Inc.’s search engine Sogou, Zhang said.

Handsome Rewards

Baidu, whose name is derived from a Chinese poem from the Song dynasty, was co-founded by Li on January 1, 2000 in Beijing’s Zhongguancun, China’s equivalent of Silicon Valley. The company, which has grown from fewer than 10 staffers to more than 17,000 today, sold shares on the NASDAQ in 2005.

The bulk of Li’s wealth comes from his 20.8 per cent stake in Baidu. The shares are owned directly by Li and his wife Melissa Dongmin Ma through Handsome Rewards Ltd., a British Virgin Islands-based holding company. The 45-year-old billionaire also owns 1 per cent of 360buy Jingdong Mall, a closely held Chinese online retailer that had revenue of US$3.9 billion in 2012.

Li, who also goes by his Chinese name Li Yanhong, said in October that his company would continue to invest aggressively in mobile search. Its search app installments rose 50 per cent to 330 million users by the end of September, compared with three months ago.

Acquisition Front

“We probably invested a lot more than any of the competitors in the mobile-search front, ” Li said during an earnings call. “This year and next year will be very, very crucial for the eventual success of the overall mobile strategy.”

The Internet company agreed in August to pay US$160 million for 59 per cent of location-based e-commerce service Nuomi Holdings Inc. and said in July it would buy app store 91 Wireless Websoft Ltd. for US$1.9 billion.

It bought Santa Clara, California-based TrustGo Mobile Inc. for its security and personal-privacy protection technology earlier this year, Li said in a televised interview with “Bloomberg West,”without disclosing details.

Baidu is also exploring opportunities on Internet finance. In October, it offered “Baifa,”  a money-market fund managed by China Asset Management Co. The product has attracted more than US$164 million of investment from more than 120,000 customers on its debut, according to Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo.

Property Prices

Wang, China’s second-richest man, founded Dalian Wanda, the nation’s largest commercial property developer and movie theater operator. Wang’s wealth shrank to US$12.2 billion from US$14.2 billion in August when he overtook Zong Qinghou, chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group as the country’s richest man.

More than half of Wang’s wealth comes from the property arm of closely held Wanda Group. Its valuation is derived using the average price-to-earnings multiple of four publicly traded peers: China Vanke, China Overseas Land & Investment, Longfor Properties and Evergrande Real Estate Group.

Wang’s fortune dipped after at least 10 Chinese cities have tightened their property policies in the past month as local governments face pressure to meet annual home-price targets, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd., the nation’s biggest real estate brokerage.

Three of China’s four major cities ― Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou ― raised minimum down-payment requirements for second-home mortgages to 70 per cent from 60 per cent.

Zong of Wahaha, the largest Chinese beverage maker, trails Li and Wang with a net worth of US$12.0 billion. Ma Huateng, founder and chairman of Tencent Holdings, China’s largest Internet company by market value, is the country’s fourth- richest individual with a wealth of US$11.5 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people. Each Bloomberg Billionaire profile contains a detailed analysis of how that person’s fortune is tallied. The index measures the world’s wealthy based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net worth figure is updated every business day at 5:30 p.m. in New York.― Bloomberg