Robin Li Net Worth $10 Billion
Category: Richest Business › Richest Billionaires
Net Worth: $10 Billion
Birthdate: November 17, 1968 (55 years old)
Birthplace: Yangquan, Shanxi, China
Gender:
Male
Profession: Businessperson, Entrepreneur
Nationality: China
What is Robin Li’s Net Worth?
Robin Li is a Chinese businessman with a net worth of $10 billion. He is the founder of Baidu, the largest search engine in China and the third largest independent search engine globally. Baidu was the first Chinese company to be part of the NASDAQ-100. Li also created RankDex, the first web search engine to utilize site-scoring and page-ranking algorithms.
Net Worth Details
Robin Li owns a 20% stake in Baidu, China’s most popular search engine, and controls a 5% stake through his wife, Melissa Ma. Together, they own over 7 million Class A and Class B shares in Baidu, with each share equating to 10 American depository receipts traded on NASDAQ. Baidu generates more than $16 billion in annual revenue.
Early Life and Education
Robin Li Yanhong was born on November 17, 1968, in Yangquan, Shanxi, China, to factory worker parents. He is the fourth and only boy among five siblings. Li earned his bachelor’s degree in information management from Peking University and later obtained his master’s degree in computer science from the University at Buffalo in 1994.
Career Beginnings
After completing his studies, Li worked at IDD Information Services, a division of Dow Jones & Company. From 1994 to 1997, he developed a software program for the web edition of the Wall Street Journal and improved search engine algorithms.
RankDex
While at IDD, Li created RankDex, the first online search engine to use site-scoring and page-ranking algorithms to measure website quality. This technology, for which he received a US patent, predated Google’s “PageRank” algorithm by two years.
Baidu
In early 2000, Li co-founded Baidu with Eric Xu. Baidu specializes in Internet services and products, as well as artificial intelligence software. Its offerings include a Chinese search engine, mapping application, online encyclopedia, cloud storage service, and discussion forum. Baidu also provides keyboard apps Simeji and Facemoji Keyboard, the augmented reality network OmniAR, and the ad platform MediaGo. Baidu is the second-largest search engine in the world, holding a 76.05% market share in China’s search engine space.
In 2005, Baidu went public on Wall Street through a variable interest entity based in the Cayman Islands. In 2007, it became the first Chinese company to join the NASDAQ-100 index. In 2018, Baidu became the first Chinese company to join the artificial intelligence ethics coalition Partnership on AI.
Other Business Ventures
Li serves as chairman of iQIYI, an online video platform company founded in 2010 by Gong Yu. iQIYI, one of the largest video platforms globally, has over 500 million monthly active users and went public in the US in 2018, raising $2.25 billion.
Li also sits on the board of New Oriental, China’s largest private educational company, offering pre-school education, general-level courses, online education, and overseas study consulting. New Oriental went public in the US in 2006.
Political Career
Li has been involved in Chinese politics. In 2014, he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a co-chair of the Independent Expert Advisory Group on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development. He is also a member of the 12th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Honors and Accolades
Li has received numerous honors for his contributions to technology. In 2001, he was named one of China’s top ten innovative pioneers and was listed among the “IT Ten Famous Persons” in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he was recognized as one of CCTV’s “Chinese Economic Figures of the Year” and was named “World’s Best Business Leader” by American Business Weekly in 2006. He was also included on CNN Money’s 2007 list of “50 People Who Matter Now.”
Personal Life
Robin Li is married to Dongmin Ma, better known as Melissa Ma. They have four children and reside in Beijing, China. Ma, educated at the University of Science and Technology of China and Rutgers University, worked with her husband at Baidu.
