Colin Huang, the founder of the Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo, is ranked No. 58 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $36.6 billion. He stepped down as chairman of the company in 2021.
Colin Huang Zheng was born on January 1, 1980, on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the son of factory workers. He attended Hangzhou Foreign Language School and, at 18, began studying computer science at Zhejiang University’s Chu Kochen Honors College. He earned a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin in 2004.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 58, with $36.6 billion
- Earlier estimate: Wikipedia cites Forbes at $39.1 billion as of May 2025
From Google to Start-ups
Huang interned at Google and Microsoft and became a Google engineer in 2004. In 2006 he returned to China with Kai-fu Lee to expand Google’s services there. After resigning in 2007 he started the e-commerce site Oku, which he sold for $2.2 million in 2010.
Pinduoduo
- 2015: he founded Pinduoduo, based in Shanghai; its revenue was 1.4 billion yuan ($280 million) in 2017 and $4.33 billion in 2019
- July 2018: it listed on Nasdaq in an offering that raised $1.6 billion; his 47% stake was then valued at $14 billion
- July 1, 2020: he stepped down as CEO and kept the post of chairman
- March 17, 2021: he stepped down as chairman too and entrusted the voting rights of his shares to the board; the company said he would pursue “new, long-term opportunities”
Why It Matters
Pinduoduo, now part of PDD Holdings, became one of China’s biggest e-commerce companies in a few years, and its share price drives Huang’s fortune.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: A Pinduoduo advertising poster in a market in Hong Kong, July 2025 (file photo; Colin Huang is not pictured). Photo: TONGAU DADSAM / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
