(Yicai Global) March 9 -- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has retained his status as the world's most affluent self-made billionaire under 40 years of age, followed by Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo's chief executive officer Huang Zheng but the latter made his first billion twice as fast as the No. 1 did, according to a Chinese research report.

Zuckerberg's net worth rose by 5 percent to USD84 billion from a year ago, according to the Hurun Global 40 & Under Self-Made Billionaires 2020 list that was released today. Meanwhile, Huang boosted his fortune by 20 percent to USD18 billion. The bulk-buy platform chief had amassed his first billion the fastest in just two years. ByteDance's CEO Zhang Yiming was third on the list with USD13.8 billion. 

The Shanghai-based media firm had ranked 53 billionaires from nine countries for the annual report that it has already published five times. The club consisted mostly of e-commerce and social media tycoons but the sharing economy, gaming, and cryptocurrencies were also trending. The participants' average age was 37 and wealth USD5.2 billion. Some 19 were Chinese and 20 Americans.

Among this year's 18 new names, eight were Chinese, including video site Kuaishou's founder Cheng Yixiao, as well as lifestyle platform Meituan Dianping's Executive Director Mu Rongjun. Four were Indians and three were from the States. 

Most of the Chinese participants had donated money in a bid to contain the Covid-19 epidemic. ByteDance's Zhang led the efforts with USD55 million. Others, including Pinduoduo's Huang, TAL Education's CEO Zhang Bangxin, and DJI Technology's CEO Frank Wang, had granted USD15 each. 

The global list's No. 3 was running an unlisted firm. ByteDance, which operates video platform TikTok and news aggregator Toutiao, was the world's second-most valuable unicorn last year with a USD75 billion valuation, according to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index. Alibaba's fintech affiliate Ant Financial Services Group was first.

Editor: Emmi Laine