"Dong said he believed the incident might have a rippling effect on the entire Alibaba Group, given that there was an episode last year involving its senior executive Jiang Fan, who was demoted to company partner for mishandling family issues.

Fourteen company executives, including Mei Qun, the Party chief and president of Tong Ren Tang Group, were criticized and five were demoted, dismissed or had their labor contracts terminated.

Last year's No 1, Xu Jiayin, chairman of real estate developer Evergrande Group, was demoted to second place this year, with his wealth shrinking $6 billion to $36 billion.