This is what you call making a fortune in silence! NetEase's latest equity structure revealed: Ding Lei owns 45.5% of shares with a net worth exceeding 230 billion yuan

According to authoritative data from the 20-F filing, as of February 28, 2026, NetEase's total share capital is approximately 3.19B shares, with Ding Lei holding a total of 1.4503 billion common shares through affiliated entities, precisely accounting for 45.5%, giving him full decision-making power over the company's operations. In comparison, other core management holdings at NetEase are highly dispersed, with independent directors Zheng Yufen, Tang Ziqi, and others holding less than 200k shares each, and Chief Legal Officer Paul W. Boltz, Jr. holding 111.1k shares. The combined shareholding of the core management team is only about 0.9%, further highlighting Ding Lei's "absolute control" position at NetEase.
This equity disclosure also brings Ding Lei's personal net worth into the spotlight. On April 16, NetEase's Hong Kong stock closed at HKD 186.6 per share, with the company's total market value reaching HKD 590.8 billion. Based on this, the value of Ding Lei's 1.4503 billion shares is approximately HKD 270.6 billion. Using the exchange rate of 1 HKD ≈ 0.872 RMB on that day, it amounts to about 236 billion RMB, successfully surpassing the 230 billion RMB mark, making him one of the wealthiest founders in China's internet industry.
In addition to equity value, stable high dividends are an important supplement to Ding Lei's wealth. In 2025, NetEase achieved steady growth, with total annual revenue of 112.6 billion yuan, operating profit of 35.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%, and net profit attributable to the parent of 33.8 billion yuan, breaking the 30 billion yuan threshold for the first time. This strong profitability laid the foundation for a high dividend payout ratio. The financial report shows that NetEase paid dividends quarterly in 2025, totaling $0.595 per share. Based on this, Ding Lei received approximately $863 million in dividends for the year, equivalent to nearly 5.9 billion RMB, with daily dividends exceeding 16 million RMB.
From an industry comparison perspective, Ding Lei's 45.5% shareholding ratio is far ahead among leading domestic internet companies. Data shows that Baidu's Robin Li owns about 16%, Tencent's Pony Ma about 8.5%, Alibaba's Jack Ma about 4.8%, and Ding Lei's shareholding ratio is 2 to 9 times higher than other internet giants' founders. $BNB
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