Biography & Early Wealth Journey

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Money like that always has to come from somewhere, so it stands to reason that Du's net worth has seen an equivalent drop, going from $6.5 billion to $3.1 billion. However, the terms of the split dictated that the voting rights associated with those shares remain under Du's control.

Du has had a long career in the biotech business, and has been chairman of Shenzhen Kangtai since 2009, when Minhai, the pharmaceutical company he founded in 2004, was acquired by the larger firm.

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

The Du/Yuan split is one of many mega-wealthy divorce settlements to have come out of China's boom economy in recent years. In 2012, businesswoman Wu Yajun parted with stock worth about $2.3 billion that went over to her ex-husband developer Cai Kui. Then in 2016, online gaming billionaire Zhou Yahui surrendered $1.1 billion in stock to ex-wife Li Qiong. But of course none of these divorces can match the world's most expensive divorce settlement: the one made between Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, who received a four percent share in Amazon following the couple's recent split – a stake that is currently valued at almost $50 billion.