Colin Huang or Huang Zheng (, born January 1, 1980) is a Chinese billionaire businessman and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. He is the founder and former CEO of the

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

company Pinduoduo, which is now the largest agriculture platform in China. Huang is also the owner of at least three other

limited liability Limited liability is a legal status in which a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a corporation, company or partnership. If a company that provides limited liability to it ...

Cayman companies, including Pinduoduo.

Early life and education

Huang was born in 1980 in the outskirts of

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

. His parents were middle-class factory workers. He attended

Hangzhou Foreign Language School Hangzhou Foreign Languages School (HFLS) (Chinese: 杭州外国语学校 (simp.)/杭州外國語學校 (trad.)), colloquially referred to as "Hangwai"(杭外), is a grade 7–12 public high school located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Founded in ...

. At the age of 18, Huang began studying computer science at Chu Kuchen Honors College of

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the na ...

. During his freshman year, he was selected as a fellow at the Melton Foundation. Huang graduated with a master's degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 2004.

Business career

Early career

Huang interned at

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

and Microsoft. He became an engineer with Google in 2004. In 2006, he returned to China with Kaai-fu Lee to expand Google services in China. After resigning from Google in 2007, Huang started the e-commerce site Oku. He sold it for $2.2m in 2010. In October, he ranked seventh on the 2019 Huron Report. In March, he ranked second in the 2020 Huron Global Young Zhuang Sect Self-Made Rich List. In November, he was named to the 2021 Forbes Rich List of Mainland China, ranking sixth with a wealth of ¥213.2 billion.

Pinduoduo IPO

Huang founded and led the Shanghai-based company Pinduoduo in 2015. Pinduoduo had a revenue of 1.4 billion yuan ($280 million) in 2017. In 2019, its revenue was $4.33 billion US dollars (30.14 billion RMB). It became publicly traded following an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

in the United States in July 2018, raising $1.6 billion. After the public offering on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

, Huang's 47% stake in Pinduoduo was valued at $14 billion, making him the thirteenth richest person in China. On July 1, 2020, Huang stepped down as CEO of Pinduoduo but continued as its chairman. On March 17, 2021, Huang stepped down as chairman and entrusted the voting rights of his shares to the Board. The company said Huang will pursue "new, long-term opportunities".

Philanthropy

By June 2020, Huang reduced his Pinduoduo stake to 29.4% by donating 2.37% to a

charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable act ...

and 7.74% to the Pinduoduo Partnership. He also donated 2.37% to an irrevocable charity to promote social responsibility development and scientific research. Huang was named the leading philanthropist on the ''Hurun China Philanthropy List'' in 2021 after pledging US$1.85 billion for social responsibility projects and scientific research. According to Bloomberg, Huang and the Pinduoduo founding team have donated 100 million (2.37% of Pinduoduo shares) to the Starry Night Charitable Trust to "support fundamental research in biomedical science, agriculture, and food."

Notes

# In this Chinese name, the

family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

Huang Huang or Hwang may refer to: Location * Huang County, former county in Shandong, China, current Longkou City * Yellow River, or Huang River, in China * Huangshan, mountain range in Anhui, China * Huang (state), state in ancient China. * Hwang Riv ...

References

External links

The letter to the shareholders
at Pinduoduo
Colin Huang
on

Wechat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...

Colin Huang
on

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Colin Living people 21st-century Chinese businesspeople Billionaires from Zhejiang Businesspeople from Hangzhou Businesspeople in online retailing Chinese chief executives Chinese company founders Chinese computer businesspeople Chinese software engineers Chinese technology company founders Google people University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Zhejiang University alumni 1980 births