Ding Lei (born October 1, 1971; also known as William Ding) is a Chinese billionaire businessman, and the founder and CEO of NetEase. He made significant contributions to the development of computer networks in mainland China. In late 2016, he was looking into investing in the property sector, and travelled to Zimbabwe in December and to the United Kingdom. As of April 2021, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated Ding's fortune to be $35.8 billion.

Early life

Ding was born in Fenghua, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. He graduated from the Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering (now the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China) and obtained a bachelor's degree in telecommunications engineering.

Career

After graduation, Ding worked as an engineer in a local state department in Ningbo, and worked for Sybase in Guangzhou. He founded NetEase and became the richest individual on the Chinese mainland in 2003 (7.6 billion yuan), becoming the country's first internet and gaming billionaire. According to the Hurun Report 2013, his net worth is estimated to be $5.2 billion. In 2012, it was confirmed that Ding branched NetEase's activities out into pork production. The pig farm is centered around technology and environmental sustainability, and is not meant to become a major arm of the company. In May 2017, venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures, US-based Meituan-Dianping, and Alibaba competitor JD invested a total of US$23 million into the farm. In June 2020, Ding purchased a 16,000-square-foot mansion for US$29 million in Bel Air, Los Angeles, from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.