Hurun China 500 Most Valuable Private Companies 2024
The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun China 500 Most Valuable Private Companies 2024, a list of the Top 500 China-based non-state-controlled enterprises, ranked according to their value. The cut-off used for listed companies was 15 November 2024. Non-listed companies were valued with reference to similar-sized listed companies from the same industry. This is the sixth year of the H
THE HURUN RESEARCH INSTITUTE TODAY RELEASED THE HURUN CHINA 500 MOST VALUABLE PRIVATE COMPANIES 2024
TSMC MOST VALUABLE PRIVATE COMPANY IN CHINA FOR FOURTH YEAR RUNNING. MARKET CAP UP US$452BN TO US$965BN
TENCENT 2ND WITH US$473BN VALUE
BYTEDANCE OVERTAKES ALIBABA TO A TOP THREE PLACE WITH US$225BN
HUAWEI RETURNS TO HURUN TOP 10 WITH VALUE OF US$95BN
THE TOTAL VALUE OF THE HURUN 500 INCREASED BY 13% TO US$7.8TN
LED BY HON HAI PRECISION, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS HAVE GROWN THE FASTEST, PUSHING HEALTHCARE INTO SECOND PLACE
BY VALUE, SEMICONDUCTORS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS AND CONSUMER GOODS LED
BEIJING REMAINS THE CITY WITH THE MOST COMPANIES ON THE HURUN 500, WITH 65, FOLLOWED BY SHANGHAI WITH 50, SHENZHEN WITH 49, TAIPEI WITH 37, HONG KONG WITH 29 AND HANGZHOU WITH 23. TOP 6 CITIES ACCOUNT FOR 50% OF TOTAL
74 COMPANIES (15%) NEW TO HURUN CHINA 500
84% ARE LISTED COMPANIES, LED BY COMPANIES ON THE SHENZHEN STOCK EXCHANGE (137 COMPANIES) AND SHANGHAI STOCK EXCHANGE (122 COMPANIES), FOLLOWED BY THE HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE (106 COMPANIES)
(25 February 2025, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun China 500 Most Valuable Private Companies 2024, a list of the Top 500 China-based non-state-controlled enterprises, ranked according to their value. The cut-off used for listed companies was 15 November 2024. Non-listed companies were valued with reference to similar-sized listed companies from the same industry. This is the sixth year of the Hurun China 500.
In the year to 15 November 2024, Nasdaq was up 32%, the Shanghai Composite Index up 8.4%, the Hang Seng Index up 7.5% and the Shenzhen Component Index up 6.7%.
It took a value of at least US$3.7bn to make the Hurun China 500 Most Valuable Private Companies 2024, unchanged from the previous year. The total value of the list increased by 13% to US$7.8tn. The average value increased by US$1.6bn to US$15.4bn. 291 companies saw their value increase, of which 74 were ‘new faces’. 184 companies decreased in value and 34 maintained the same value. 57% were B2B businesses and 43% consumer-focused. 74% offered physical products and 26% software or services.
The Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun, Rupert Hoogewerf, said:
“The Hurun China 500 are the backbone to the China economy. Their combined annual sales of CNY30tn last year more than the combined GDPs of Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing. Between them, they employ 13.5 million staff. If you want to understand the impact of the private sector on the economy of China, a good starting point is the Hurun China 500.”
“China’s President Xi Jinping signaled a new era for the private sector of China in a meeting with founders of some of China’s most valuable businesses, including Tencent, Alibaba, Huawei, BYD, CATL and Meituan in Beijing on 17 February.”
“The Hurun China 500 is worth 60% more than 2019, showing how China’s economy has grown.”
“The Hurun China 500 is ranked according to value. Value is a key measure of a company's economic strength, reflecting not only current performance but also future growth potential. The Hurun China 500 reveals the companies that investors believe will make the most profits over the next decade or so. Investors expect the Hurun China 500 to make US$7.8tn in profits over the next ten years or so.”
“We can see the trends in the economy from the new faces and drop-offs on the Hurun China 500. This year, industries on the up were Industrial Products, Semiconductors and Software Services, reflecting advances in smart manufacturing and the digital economy. This year, Healthcare, especially medical devices, and Consumer Goods were down, reflecting the challenges of intensified market competition, industry restructuring and changes in the external environment.”
“The growth in AI can be seen from the growth in both the hardware and software. For chip makers, TSMC, Beijing-based Cambricon and Shanghai-based Will Semiconductors had good years. For the software side of things, SenseTime from Beijing, Pony.ai from Guangzhou and Weride have also had good years. DeepSeek is not on this year’s Hurun China 500, since it exploded into the global market only after the cut-off date of the list.”
“Real estate has fallen out of the Top 10, a far cry from when it was the No.1 industry five years ago, and the number of Hurun China 500 companies has decreased from 67 to just 19, mainly HK-based estate management companies. Other industries that have gone down since Covid include Financial Services and Media & Entertainment, which both dropped out of the Top 5.”
“Energy businesses, especially solar and battery-related, have had a tough year, with over half seeing a drop in their value.”
“Despite competition in the EV market intensifying this past year, there are still high expectations of the industry growing fast in the global market. Nonetheless, Li Auto was down 45%, Nio down 28% and Xpeng down 23%. Huawei’s Chongqing-based partner Seres Group became the third most valuable car maker in the Hurun China 500, whilst Xiaomi’s share price also rose on the announcement of its car making business.”
“And where does the Hurun China 500 sit in the Hurun Global 1000? 72 made it into the Hurun Global 1000 in 2024.”
“The average age of Hurun China 500 companies is only 29 years old, which is 38 years younger than average age of the Hurun Global 1000. Within China, the average age of Hong Kong and Taiwan companies are 58 and 39 years, while those from mainland China were much younger, only 25 years old.”
“The revenue of the Hurun China 500 companies increased by 3% compared with the previous year, while the value increased by 13%. Some of the most valuable companies in Hurun China 500 have surprisingly low sales and employee numbers. Specifically, there are 11 enterprises with annual sales of less than CNY1bn, such as Cambricon, an AI chip enterprise, with sales of only CNY700mn, but its value is US$26bn. In addition, there are 8 companies with less than 400 employees."
“Hurun has been promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research since 1999. Hurun started out by telling the story of the Chinese economy through the China Rich List, the stories of China’s most successful entrepreneurs, and then expanding these stories to India and the rest of the world. Since then, Hurun has gone on to tell the story of the world’s start-up ecosystems, by ranking unicorns and future unicorns, before moving on to telling the story of the world economy by the 500 most valuable companies.”
This is a brief English language summary of the full Chinese press release which can be found at www.hurun.net. For media enquiries please contact our public relations team whose contact details can be found at the end of this report.
Top 10
Huawei returns to the Hurun Top 10, replacing HK-based insurance giant AIA, which dropped down to 13th. The total value of the Hurun Top 10 accounted for 34% of the total list, a significant percentage. Four are based in Shenzhen.
Geographical Distribution
In terms of cities, Beijing topped the list with 65, followed by Shanghai with 50 and Shenzhen with 49.
In terms of provinces, Taiwan surpassed Guangdong for the first time.
The Yangtze River Delta region was top with 149 or 29% of the Hurun 500, followed by the GBA with 108 or 21%.
Industry Distribution
Industrial Products have overtaken Healthcare to first place with 69 companies. Consumer Goods ranked 3rd. In terms of value, Semiconductors, Media & Entertainment, Industrial Product and Consumer Goods have the highest total value.
Biggest increases
New to the List Top 10
Biggest drops
Dropped out
So, How much Revenues do they have?
The revenue of the Hurun China 500 totalled US$4.38tn in 2023, US$166bn more than last year, with an average of US$8.6bn, US$200mn more than last year.
And how many staff do they employ?
Cumulatively, the companies on the Hurun China 500 employ 13.7 million staff, or 27,000 per company. 238 of the Top 500 companies have fewer than 10,000 employees. 29 have more than 100,000 employees.
How old are they?
Stock Exchanges
86% are listed (including partially listed) and 14% are unlisted.
Hurun China 500 Most Valuable Private Companies 2024 Top 100
For the full list, please see www.hurun.net
About Hurun Inc.
Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research
Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai
Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2023, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Best-known for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key series focus on young businesses and entrepreneurs, through the Hurun Unicorns Index, two Hurun Future Unicorns indices, the Hurun Uth series and the Hurun Pioneers series.
Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.
The Hurun Pioneering Young Startups and Entrepreneurs series focuses on startups set up within the last ten years and founders aged 45 or under.
The Hurun Uth series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively.
Other lists include the Hurun 500 series, ranking the most valuable companies in the world, China and India, the Hurun Global High Schools List, ranking the world’s best independent high schools, the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists and the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today.
Hurun provides research reports co-branded with some of the world’s leading financial institutions and regional governments.
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