Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced

2026-10-20T17:36:52Z

New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced

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{{short description|'''Chinese businessman; founder, director and chief executive of the online games and internet company NetEase'''}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William Ding
| image =
| birth_date = 1971 (Forbes)
| birth_place = Ningbo, China
| citizenship = China
| education = University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (BSc)
| occupation = businessman
| known_for = Founder and CEO of [[NetEase]]
| other_names = Ding Lei
| net_worth = US$42.02 billion (Forbes real-time estimate, 20 October 2026)
}}

'''William Ding''' ('''Ding Lei''') is a Chinese businessman who founded the internet and online games company [[NetEase]] and has been its chief executive since November 2005.<ref name="fp_william_ding">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/william-ding.json Forbes profile record for William Ding (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/william-ding/)] ''Forbes'', live record, read 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref><ref name="ne_ding">NetEase, Inc., [https://ir.netease.com/management/william-ding Biography – William Ding] ''NetEase Investor Relations'', undated (accessed 20 October 2026), accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> On 20 October 2026 the [[Forbes]] Real-Time Billionaires list ranked William Ding 48th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$42.02 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Online games.<ref name="fp_william_ding" /><ref name="ForbesRTB">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rtb/0/position/true.json Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed] ''Forbes'', live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked William Ding 55th, at US$37.9 billion.<ref name="ForbesAnnual">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/billionaires/2026/position/true.json Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read)] ''Forbes'', annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Forbes gives Ding's birthplace as [[Ningbo]] and his year of birth as 1971.<ref name="fp_william_ding" /> He holds a BSc in communication technology from the [[University of Electronic Science and Technology of China]].<ref name="ne_ding" />

== Business career ==
NetEase's investor-relations biography says Ding has been a director of the company since July 1999. He was co-chief technology officer from July 1999 to March 2001 and interim chief executive from July 1999 to April 2000. He served as acting chief executive and acting chief operating officer between June and September 2001, and as chief architect from March 2001 to November 2005, when he became chief executive.<ref name="ne_ding" />

Forbes describes NetEase as one of the world's largest online games companies. Its titles include ''Fantasy Westward Journey'', ''Eggy Party'' and ''Justice Mobile'', which Forbes says uses AI to generate storylines. Forbes adds that, facing competition from [[Tencent]], NetEase has expanded into films, e-commerce and online music, and that in 2003 Ding was China's richest person and its first internet and gaming billionaire.<ref name="fp_william_ding" />

NetEase's 14-year licensing partnership with the US developer Blizzard Entertainment, under which it published titles such as ''World of Warcraft'' in China, ended in January 2023. The two companies had announced in November 2022 that talks on a new deal had broken down, and ''The China Project'' described a public dispute between them afterwards.<ref name="tcp_blizzard">Jenny Feng, [https://thechinaproject.com/2023/01/26/activision-blizzard-and-neteases-feud-explained/ Activision Blizzard and NetEase’s feud, explained] ''The China Project'', 26 January 2023, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

===Agriculture===
''TechNode'' reported in 2017 that Ding had spent eight years raising organic black pigs through Weiyang, NetEase's agricultural affiliate, and that NetEase had opened a second pig farm in Jiangxi province.<ref name="tn_pigs">Rita Liao, [https://technode.com/2017/10/28/netease-black-pig-farm/ Chinese tech conglomerate NetEase has been quietly raising pigs for eight years] ''TechNode'', 28 October 2017, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> Forbes notes that NetEase's e-commerce arm, Yanxuan, sells pork from its own farms.<ref name="fp_william_ding" />

== Wealth ==
Forbes gives the source of his wealth as online games.<ref name="fp_william_ding" />

== Wealth history ==
[[Forbes]] has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 21 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2006. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.<ref name="ForbesAnnual" /><ref name="fp_william_ding" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Forbes estimates by list year
! Year !! World's Billionaires rank !! Net worth (US$ bn)
|-
| 2006 || 645 || 1.2
|-
| 2007 || 840 || 1.1
|-
| 2008 || 1062 || 1.0
|-
| 2009 || 647 || 1.1
|-
| 2010 || 437 || 2.2
|-
| 2011 || 440 || 2.6
|-
| 2012 || 418 || 2.8
|-
| 2013 || 458 || 3.0
|-
| 2014 || 354 || 4.2
|-
| 2015 || 208 || 6.6
|-
| 2016 || 141 || 8.1
|-
| 2017 || 52 || 17.3
|-
| 2018 || 69 || 17.4
|-
| 2019 || 81 || 14.7
|-
| 2020 || 51 || 17.0
|-
| 2021 || 45 || 33.0
|-
| 2022 || 55 || 25.2
|-
| 2023 || 53 || 26.7
|-
| 2024 || 46 || 33.5
|-
| 2025 || 54 || 33.3
|-
| 2026 || 55 || 37.9
|}

== Philanthropy ==
No documented personal philanthropy by Ding was found in the sources checked.

== Political activity ==
Ding served one term as a delegate to the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]. The ''South China Morning Post'' reported in January 2023 that he was not on the list of 2,172 delegates to the 14th CPPCC.<ref name="scmp_cppcc">Coco Feng, [https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3207284/big-tech-cppcc-baidus-robin-li-neteases-ding-lei-no-longer-delegates-chinas-top-political-advisory Big Tech in CPPCC: Baidu’s Robin Li, NetEase’s Ding Lei no longer delegates of China’s top political advisory body] ''South China Morning Post'', 18 January 2023, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> ''TechNode'' reported that he served his pork to other technology executives at the government-run World Internet Conference in Wuzhen.<ref name="tn_pigs" />

== Controversies and legal issues ==
No legal proceedings against Ding personally were found in the sources checked.

== International and political links ==
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."

=== Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements) ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Jewish communal charities ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Gulf states ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== China ===
For his former membership of the CPPCC, see Political activity.<ref name="scmp_cppcc" />

=== Russia ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== India ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Palestinian or Arab causes ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Home government ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Other international links ===
For the end of NetEase's partnership with the US company Blizzard Entertainment, see Business career.<ref name="tcp_blizzard" />

== See also ==
* [[NetEase]]

== External links ==
* [https://ir.netease.com/ NetEase Investor Relations]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Businesspeople|Ding, William]]
[[Category:Living people|Ding, William]]
[[Category:Chinese billionaires|Ding, William]]
[[Category:China|Ding, William]]
[[Category:Video games|Ding, William]]
[[Category:Internet|Ding, William]]

William Ding - Revision history

Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced