Yang is the founder of SITC International Holdings, a shipping logistics company. The Hong Kong-based business owns about 100 vessels operating at around 80 ports across Asia. It reported revenue of $3.4 billion in 2025. Yang retired as the company's chairman in 2024. His daughter, Yang Xin, is the firm's vice chairman.
The majority of Yang's fortune is derived from his stake in SITC International Holdings, a shipping logistics company. The company owns about 100 vessels operating at around 80 ports across Asia, according to its website.
He owns a 41% stake in the Hong Kong-listed company through his family trust, according to its 2025 annual report.
Cash holdings are based on an analysis of insider transactions, dividends, market performance and taxes.
A company spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment on the net worth calculation.
Yang was born in 1956 in Qingdao, a port city in eastern China. He was raised in an urban setting and sent to a remote part of China during the Cultural Revolution.
He returned to his hometown in 1978 and worked as a mover at the Port of Qingdao. He also taught himself English, an essential skill in the shipping industry. Yang was promoted to deputy manager of state-owned Shandong Foreign Trade Corporation at the age of 33.
In May 1991, Yang founded SITC Corp, the predecessor of SITC International. The company established joint ventures with global shippers including Denmark's Maersk, Japan's Itochu and South Korea's Hanjin.
Yang obtained an MBA from a university in Macau in 2000.
SITC International went public in Hong Kong in October 2010.