What is Zhou Qunfei's Net Worth?
Zhou Qunfei is a Chinese entrepreneur and businesswoman who has a net worth of $6 billion. She is the founder and CEO of Lens Technology, one of Apple's biggest component suppliers for the iPhone. Zhou Qunfei is known for being the richest woman in China and one of the richest self-made women in the world. After her company was publicly listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext market in early 2015, she became the richest woman in China. A few years later, Zhou was named the richest self-made woman in the world.
Wealth Drop, Recovery & Drop
Between October 2018 and October 2019, shares of Lens Technology dropped more than 60%. That resulted in a massive loss of paper wealth for Zhou Qunfei. Her net worth peaked at $7 billion in mid-2017. As of October 2018, her net worth had dropped to $3.5 billion.
Over the next 12 months, Lens Technology's stock soared. By December 2020 the company's market cap topped $130 billion. At that level, Zhou's net worth was $15 billion. The stock then sank another 50% between December 2021 and February 2024.
Early Life and Education
Zhou Qunfei was born in 1970 in Xiangxiang, Hunan province, China as the youngest of three siblings. She grew up in a poor family. Zhou's father, a partially blind former soldier, supported the family by crafting bamboo baskets and chairs and fixing bicycles. When Zhou was five, her mother passed away. Zhou did her own part to support the family financially by helping to raise animals. She went on to become the only one of her siblings to attend secondary school. However, Zhou ended up dropping out at the age of 16 and becoming a migrant worker in Shenzhen. There, she chose to work at companies near Shenzhen University so she could attend part-time courses at the school. Zhou eventually passed her examinations and became certified in accounting, computer operations, and customs processing. Additionally, she became licensed for driving commercial vehicles.
Career Beginnings
Zhou began her career making watch parts for a small family-run company. Displeased with the working conditions, she decided to quit after three months through a letter of resignation that expressed her gratitude for the opportunity. However, the letter moved the factory chief so much that he instead offered Zhou a promotion. She continued working at the factory until it shut down in the early 1990s; subsequently, she established her own company. The company, which created high-quality watch lenses, started out with Zhou's brother, sister, their spouses, and two cousins working out of a three-bedroom apartment. Zhou herself took a hands-on approach to the business, repairing watches and creating improved designs of factory machinery. In 2001, her company hit it big when it secured a profitable contract to make mobile phone screens for the major Chinese electronics company TCL.
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Lens Technology
While still making watch faces and mobile phone screens in 2003, Zhou's company received a request from Motorola to develop glass screens for its Razr V3 phone. Zhou subsequently founded Lens Technology, a company that researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various touchscreen products, including touch-panel cover glass and touch-sensor modules. Lens Technology soon received orders from a number of major mobile phone manufacturers, such as Nokia, Samsung, and HTC. In 2007, the company became the dominant player in the touchscreen industry after it made the touchscreens for Apple's newly released iPhone. Lens Technology has continued to supply touchscreens for Apple products, as well as for such other leading electronics makers as Samsung and Huawei.
In March of 2015, Lens Technology went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext market. On its first day of trading, the company saw its stock price rise by the market's daily limit of 44%. For the next 13 consecutive days, the stock price rose 10% each day. In the process, Lens Technology became China's largest technology IPO for the first quarter of 2015. Moreover, Zhou became the richest woman in China, with a net worth of around $10 billion. By 2017, Lens Technology was employing around 90,000 people in 32 factory locations and creating over one billion glass screens. The following year, Zhou was named the richest self-made woman in the world. In 2020, Lens Technology reported a revenue of $4.6 billion. However, the company also earned widespread criticism when it was reported that it was using forced labor from China's persecuted Uyghur population.
Personal Life
Previously, Zhou was married to her former factory boss, with whom she had a daughter. The couple ended up divorcing. In 2008, Zhou wed her second husband, Zheng Junlong, a factory colleague who served on the board of Lens Technology. Together, they have a son, and reside in Hong Kong.
Beyond her work, Zhou has said that she likes to mountain climb and play table tennis. Her rags-to-riches story has been upheld as an inspiration for the millions of migrant workers in China.
