Lei is chairman of Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker that competes with Apple and Samsung. The Beijing-based company had revenue of 280 billion yuan ($41.6 billion) in 2022 from the sale of its smartphones, software applications and consumer electronics. Before he founded Xiaomi, Lei was CEO of software developer Kingsoft.
The majority of Lei's fortune is derived from a 24% stake in Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker. He holds the shares through his wholly-owned holding company Smart Mobile, according to a March 22, 2023 filing.
Lei donated 616 million shares to two charitable foundations in July 2021, according to a regulatory filing. The removal of these shares from the calculation led to a decrease of more than $2 billion on July 19, 2021.
Lei also owns 13% of Kingsoft, which makes security and gaming software, and 9% of JOYY Inc, a mobile entertainment and online social platform.
The value of his cash assets is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Tang Yue, a spokesman for Xiaomi, declined to comment on Lei's net worth.
Lei Jun was born in central China's Hubei province in 1969. After graduating from Wuhan University with a bachelor's degree in computer science, Lei went north to Beijing and landed a job at Kingsoft, a software maker located in the city's Zhongguancun area, known as China's Silicon Valley.
Lei became chief executive officer of Kingsoft in 1998. He co-founded Joyo.com, an online retailer, and sold it to Amazon.com in 2004. He also invested in other ventures, including YY, a Chinese game and mobile social network website that sold shares in an initial public offering in 2012.
He founded Xiaomi, a smartphone maker, in 2010. The company shipped 18.7 million handsets in 2013 and shipments are expected to surge to 40 million in 2014, Lei said in January 2013.
In 2013, Lei hired Hugo Barra, who helped oversee Android product management at Google, to lead the company’s international business development as it prepares to take on Apple and Samsung Electronics overseas. The company turned profitable for the first time in 2013, three years after it was founded, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.