William Ding
| Net worth | $37.9 billion Forbes 2026 list, March 24, 2026[1] |
|---|---|
| World rank | 55th (Forbes 2026)[1] |
| Source of wealth | Online games (NetEase) |
| Companies | NetEase (founder and CEO) |
| Citizenship | China |
| Born | October 1, 1971, Fenghua, Ningbo, China |
| Education | University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (telecommunications engineering) |
| Known for | Founding NetEase; China's first internet billionaire |
| Net worth figures are estimates by the source named and change every day. | |
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William Ding (Ding Lei) is a Chinese businessman who founded the internet and video game company NetEase and is its chief executive.[2] On the Forbes 2026 billionaires list, a snapshot taken on March 24, 2026, he was 55th in the world with an estimated $37.9 billion.[1]
Net worth
- 2003: 7.6 billion yuan, the richest person in mainland China and the country's first internet and gaming billionaire.[2]
- May 2025: about $38.9 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[2]
- March 2026: $37.9 billion, 55th on the Forbes list.[1]
How the fortune was made
Ding was born in Fenghua, Ningbo, and graduated in telecommunications engineering from what is now the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.[2] He worked as an engineer for a local government office in Ningbo and for the software company Sybase in Guangzhou before founding NetEase.[2] In 2012 NetEase also branched out into high-tech pig farming.[2]
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Forbes, "William Ding", 2026 World's Billionaires list (snapshot of March 24, 2026), read November 3, 2026. Net worth is a Forbes estimate.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Wikipedia, "Ding Lei", read November 3, 2026. Billionaire Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.