Jack Ma becomes richest person in Asia

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, speaks in front of a big screen during the Nov 11 Singles' Day shopping spree at Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, on Nov 11 2014. [Photo/IC]

Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of China's Alibaba Group, has become the richest person in Asia.

The 50-year-old founder of China's biggest e-commerce company surpassed Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong property tycoon who has held the top spot in Asia since April 5, 2012, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He has a $28.6 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg ranking. Li has a net worth of $28.3 billion.

Ma has added $25 billion to his fortune this year riding a 54 percent surge in the company's shares since its September initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. At that scale, Alibaba is on the verge of becoming one of the 10 most valuable companies in the world.

Alibaba, whose online marketplaces－Taobao and Tmall－h(huán)ad 307 million active buyers in China as of September, saw revenue rise to 16.8 billion yuan ($2.74 billion) between July and September, according to Bloomberg.