Gong is a shareholder in Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, a Chinese supplier of video surveillance products to more than 170 countries. The Hangzhou-based company was established in 2001 and reported revenue of 92.5 billion yuan ($12.9 billion) in 2024 from the sale of its cameras and surveillance equipment.
The majority of Gong's fortune is derived from his stake in Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, a Chinese supplier of video surveillance products. Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology supplies video surveillance products to more than 170 countries, according to its website.
He owns 12% of the company directly and through Hangzhou Pukang Investment company, according to the company's 2025 third-quarter report. About 28% of his stake is pledged, according to the same report, and removed from the net worth calculation.
He also has stakes in closely held technology companies, including security software maker Watchdata Technologies. These investments aren't included in the net worth calculation because financial details aren't disclosed.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of these proceeds as well as insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Huang Fanghong, a spokesperson for the company, didn't respond to a request for comment on the net worth calculation.
Gong Hongjia was born in Zhejiang, a province in eastern China, in 1965. In school, he often chose literature over science and showed little interest in technology, according to the China's Tycoons report by HSBC. Gong graduated in 1986 with a computer science degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he met his wife, Chen Chunmei.
After graduation, he worked as an agent selling electronic products in China's southern city of Guangzhou and Hong Kong before he moved to the then-British colony in 1992. The billionaire co-founded his first company, Tecsun Radio, in 1994. It became China's largest radio producer by selling cheaper equipment to younger consumers, breaking the dominance of Japanese manufacturers, the HSBC report said. Known as "China's best angel investor," Gong and his wife have created or invested in at least 15 companies, most of which are in the technology field, according to the report.
Gong is the largest individual shareholder of publicly traded Hikvision, China's biggest maker of video surveillance products. He's also chairman of closely held Funinhand Electronic Technology, a mobile Internet company that helps users compress video for wireless handsets.
Gong and Chen live in Hong Kong and have two daughters.