The founders of three of China’s technology giants each pledged over US$2 billion to charitable causes over the past year.The founders of three of China’s technology giants each pledged over US$2 billion to charitable causes over the past year, in a collective response to the nation’s call for common prosperity that drove donations to a record, according to the Hurun China Philanthropy List 2022.
“The top three on the list each donated around 15 billion yuan and came from internet companies,” Hoogewerf said in the list released on Wednesday. “They have recently retreated behind the scenes, and have all responded quickly to the country’s common prosperity drive.” JD.com ’s billionaire founder Richard Liu Qiangdong, the world’s 149th richest man with an estimated net worth of US$11.8 billion according to Forbes, became China’s most generous donor for the first time, giving away US$2.05 trillion. Liu donated 62.38 million Class B shares of JD.com to a third-party charity foundation, according to a February filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission .
Lei Jun, the co-founder and chief executive of the smartphone maker Xiaomi, came in third place with US$2 billion in donations. Ranked the world’s 214th richest man with a US$8.9 billion net worth according to Forbes, Lei donated 308 million shares of his company each to the Xiaomi Foundation and the Lei Jun Foundation in June 2021, according to aLei stepped down from the main role of the company’s gaming unit , Beijing Wali Internet Technologies, earlier this year.