Company executives in China were the big winners of last year’s soaring stock market, with the top 50 executives worth nearly 40 billion yuan (5.1 billion dollars), according to state media.
None of the top 50 was worth less than 200 million yuan and half of the top 50 saw their stock portfolios break the 500 million yuan mark, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The take off in executive fortunes has been set off by shareholder reforms which allow previously non-tradable state-owned shares to be converted into ordinary stock and turned into cash, the report said.
Meanwhile the Chinese people themselves are becoming more prosperous. I would think that this is a good thing, except for the fact that these people are billionaires because the Chinese Government picks winners and losers.
Maybe some of these guys started managing small state owned factories and built them up. So they deserve some of the profits. But was the market in China free for the competition. Or did they become rich because of connections?
The one thing to remember is that economics is not a zero sum game. We are better off with economic progress by whomever and wherever it takes place.