Jack Ma and his family continue to be the richest on the Chinese mainland with a total wealth of 275 billion yuan (39 billion U.S. dollars), according to the 2019 LEXUS-Hurun China Rich List, issued on Thursday.

As of the end of September, Alibaba has a market value totaling 3.3 trillion yuan (464 billion U.S. dollars). In the fiscal year of 2019, the total revenue of Alibaba reached nearly 400 billion yuan, up 51 percent year-on-year.

Jack Ma was followed by Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings, who rose one position to second place with a net worth of 37 billion U.S. dollars. Tencent's total revenue in the first half climbed by 18 percent to nearly 175 billion yuan (25 billion U.S. dollars).

Xu Jiayin, chairman of property conglomerate Evergrande Group, came in third with 30 billion U.S. dollars.

The threshold for the top 50 richest Chinese people this year rose by 10 billion yuan to 51 billion yuan.

The Rich List includes everyone with a net worth of at least two billion yuan. A total of 1,819 individuals made the list this year, four percent less than last year.

IT sector creates more billionaires in China

The IT sector overtook the investment sector and became the third-largest source of wealth for entrepreneurs on the list. The proportion of billionaires in the IT sector rose to 11.7 percent from 10.3 percent last year.

Apart from the two billionaires from Alibaba and Tencent, other bosses from tech companies covering AI, robots, and drones are also on the list.

Twenty-two individual shareholders from 17 companies listed on the Nasdaq-style tech board, the STAR market, were on this year's list.

Besides, unicorn firms, including startup companies valued at over one billion U.S. dollars, contributed with 52 individuals to the list this year.

Manufacturing remains on the top of the sector list, but the proportion fell from 26.1 percent last year to 24.5 percent. Real estate accounts for 14.8 percent, remaining in second.