China dominates list of education industry billionaires

China has the most billionaires in the world from the education industry, accounting for 63 percent of the total, according to the Hurun Global Education Rich List 2020 jointly released by the Hurun Research Institute and Hurun Education.

Among the top 10, seven came from China, including the top three.

The Hurun Research Institute found 19 billionaires from the field of education, among which 12 came from China. They came from 15 companies, with a total wealth of $55 billion and an average wealth of $2.9 billion. The average age was 55.

Li Yongxin, 44, and his mother Lu Zhongfang, 78, founder of Offcn Education Technology, a private institution that offers training for the civil service exam, have been crowned the richest education entrepreneurs in the world with wealth of 91 billion yuan ($12.8 billion).

Zhang Bangxin, 39, chairman and CEO of Tomorrow Advancing Life Education Group, ranked second with a personal wealth of 62 billion yuan, which increased by nearly 70 percent from last year.

Chen Xiangdong, 49, founder of online education firm Genshuixue, ranked third with 32 billion yuan. Genshuixue's stock price has risen 280 percent since its listing in June last year and has risen 25 percent in the last two months during the coronavirus outbreak.

Beijing is the world capital of education entrepreneurs, with six billionaires living there followed by Hefei with three, and Hong Kong and Bangalore with two each.

There are two female entrepreneurs on the list, accounting for 9.1 percent, lower than the 15.7 percent proportion of female entrepreneurs on the Hurun Global Rich List 2020.

In addition, educational entrepreneurs have relatively high academic qualifications, Hurun said. Three billionaires have doctorates, four have master's degrees and seven have bachelor's degrees.