Richard Liu and German Larrea come from opposite sides of the world and made their money in very different ways. Liu is the Chinese founder of the online retail giant JD.com, while Larrea is the Mexican businessman who controls Grupo México, one of the largest copper miners on the planet. Both appear on the Forbes billionaires list, and that shared list is the main reason readers search for the two names together.
This guide explains who each man is, how he built his business, how much he is worth in 2026, and what the numbers say when you place the two side by side. All figures are based on Forbes data and other public records available in October 2026, and because billionaire fortunes move with the stock market, the numbers are best read as close estimates rather than exact amounts.
Richard Liu and German Larrea at a Glance
| Detail | Richard Liu | Germán Larrea |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Liu Qiangdong (Richard Qiangdong Liu) | Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco |
| Born | March 10, 1973, Suqian, Jiangsu, China | October 26, 1953, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Age in October 2026 | 53 | 72 |
| Main company | JD.com | Grupo México |
| Role | Founder and chairman | Chairman, president and CEO |
| Industry | E-commerce and logistics | Mining, with rail and infrastructure |
| Forbes 2026 list rank | #806 | #30 |
| Estimated net worth | About $5.5 billion | About $67 billion |
| Home base | Beijing, China | Mexico City, Mexico |
Who Is Richard Liu?
Richard Liu, known in China as Liu Qiangdong, was born in 1973 in Suqian, a city in Jiangsu province in eastern China. His family lived in poverty while he was growing up, and he later studied sociology at Renmin University of China in Beijing, graduating with a law degree in 1996. He also holds an executive MBA from the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai.
His path to business success was not smooth. While still a university student, he put money from programming work and family loans into a restaurant, but the venture failed within months and left him in debt of more than 200,000 yuan. After graduation he took a job at a Japanese health products company, where he worked in computing, business and logistics roles before deciding to start something of his own.
How Richard Liu Built JD.com
In June 1998, Liu opened a small shop in Beijing’s Zhongguancun technology district selling magneto-optical products. At a time when fake goods were common in Chinese electronics markets, he focused on selling only authorized products, and that promise of authenticity became the backbone of his brand. By 2003 he had opened twelve stores under the Jingdong name.
The SARS outbreak in 2003 changed everything. Customers and staff stayed home, the business lost more than 8 million yuan, and Liu was forced to rethink his plans. He moved the business online in 2004, closed every physical store by 2005, and turned down an offer to sell the young company for 18 million yuan. In 2007 he widened the product range far beyond electronics, and he also began building the company’s own delivery network, which is still a major strength of JD.com today.
JD.com listed on the Nasdaq in May 2014 and raised $1.8 billion, which made it the largest initial public offering by a Chinese internet company in the United States at that time. In April 2022, Liu stepped down as chief executive and became chairman, handing the top operating job to Xu Lei. Sandy Ran Xu took over as CEO in May 2023.
More recently, Liu has pushed JD.com into new areas. The company launched JD Takeaway, a food delivery service, in February 2025 and promised around 10 billion yuan in customer subsidies to compete with Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me. At a rare press conference in June 2025, Liu described the previous five years as the hardest period in the company’s history, a time when rivals such as PDD Holdings moved ahead.
Richard Liu’s Net Worth in 2026
Forbes ranks Richard Liu at number 806 on its 2026 billionaires list, with a real-time net worth of about $5.5 billion, and some other wealth trackers show figures closer to $6 billion for mid-2026. His fortune comes mainly from his shares in JD.com, so it rises and falls with the company’s share price.
That link to the stock price explains why his wealth looks so different from a few years ago. Forbes counted his fortune at about $15.9 billion in February 2022, but it fell by more than half after JD.com’s shares came under pressure, and by October 2023 it had dropped to about $5.1 billion. The slide reflects how hard the Chinese retail market has become, with discount-focused rivals taking customers and JD.com spending heavily to respond.
Who Is Germán Larrea?
Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco was born in Mexico City on October 26, 1953. He is married, has one daughter, and still lives in Mexico City. He is widely described as a private businessman who gives few interviews, which makes his public record mostly a record of his companies and deals.
His business career began well before he reached the top of Grupo México. In 1978 he founded Grupo Impresa, a printing and publishing company, and he ran it until it was sold in 1989. He joined the board of Grupo México in 1981 and has served as its chairman, president and CEO since 1994.
How Germán Larrea Built a Mining Empire
Grupo México is the largest mining company in Mexico and the third largest copper producer in the world. It has mining operations in Mexico, Peru and the United States, and Larrea owns the majority of it. He has also chaired Southern Copper Corporation, the group’s major mining arm, since December 1999, and he served as its chief executive until October 2004.
Under his leadership, the group did not stop at mining. It grew into rail transport and infrastructure, and Larrea has been the chairman and CEO of the railway company Ferromex since 1997. In 2017 he spun off the group’s transport business into a separate company, GMexico Transportes, which is partly owned by two firms linked to Carlos Slim, Mexico’s most famous billionaire.
His career has also had difficult moments. In 2014, a spill at a Grupo México copper mine in Sonora contaminated two nearby rivers, and the company agreed to a government request to place $150 million in a trust to compensate affected residents. In October 2025, Larrea made an offer to buy Banamex, one of Mexico’s biggest banks, from Citigroup, but Citi rejected the proposal on October 9.
Germán Larrea’s Net Worth in 2026
Germán Larrea ranks number 30 on the 2026 Forbes billionaires list with a net worth of $67.1 billion, based on prices from March 1, 2026. Forbes’ real-time tracker has placed him between about $66 billion and $70 billion in recent weeks, and he is currently among the thirty richest people in the world. Forbes shows seventeen appearances for him on its lists over the years.
The size of his rise is striking. Forbes put his fortune at about $31.3 billion in June 2025, which means it more than doubled in under a year. Mexican business media linked the jump to rising prices for metals such as gold and silver, and Forbes described 2026 as a record year for billionaire wealth overall, helped by strong markets. Before this surge, Larrea had already been the second richest person in Mexico, behind Carlos Slim, in 2015, 2016 and 2021.
Richard Liu and German Larrea: How the Two Billionaires Compare
The first and clearest difference is the size of their fortunes. Larrea’s net worth is more than ten times larger than Liu’s, and on the 2026 Forbes list the two men sit more than seven hundred places apart.
The second difference is the kind of business each man owns. Liu runs a consumer company that depends on shoppers, delivery speed and competition with other apps, while Larrea owns a company that digs metal out of the ground and sells it into global markets. Copper and other metals can rise sharply when demand grows or supply tightens, whereas a retailer such as JD.com has to win customers one order at a time, and that contrast helps explain why one fortune climbed while the other stayed far below its peak.
Their ages and stages are also different. Liu is 53 and has already stepped back from the daily CEO role, but he remains chairman and has set JD.com on a new path in food delivery and overseas growth. Larrea is 72 and still leads Grupo México in the top job, which he has held for more than three decades.
Their public images are different too. Liu is a familiar figure in Chinese business, known for his rags-to-riches story, his marriage to Zhang Zetian in August 2015, and his habit of appearing in his company’s livestream sales events, including an AI avatar of himself in 2024. Larrea keeps a much lower profile, with his best-known personal hobby being thoroughbred racing, where his mare Letruska became the first horse that had raced in Mexico to win a Grade I race in the United States, taking the 2021 Apple Blossom Handicap.
One more shared thread is giving. In February 2022, Liu pledged to donate JD.com shares then worth about $2.3 billion to charity, and he and his wife also run the Tian-Qiang Charitable Fund, which has donated books to rural schools. Public sources contain far less detail about Larrea’s personal charity work, so it would be unfair to compare the two on this point.
Why Do People Search for Richard Liu and German Larrea Together?
The two names usually show up together because of the Forbes billionaires list and similar wealth rankings, where readers compare entrepreneurs from different countries and industries. There is no public record of a joint business or partnership between them, and nothing in this article suggests one. The pairing is about comparison, not connection: a tech founder from China and a mining magnate from Mexico make a useful example of how different routes can lead to a place on the same list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is richer, Richard Liu or German Larrea?
Germán Larrea is far richer. Forbes lists him at about $67 billion in 2026, compared with about $5.5 billion for Richard Liu.
What company does Richard Liu own?
Richard Liu founded JD.com, also called Jingdong, one of China’s largest online retailers, and he serves as its chairman. His wealth comes mainly from his shares in the company.
What company does German Larrea own?
Germán Larrea controls Grupo México, the biggest mining company in Mexico, and he is its chairman, president and CEO. The group also has major interests in rail transport and infrastructure.
How old are Richard Liu and German Larrea?
Richard Liu was born on March 10, 1973, so he is 53. Germán Larrea was born on October 26, 1953, so he is 72 and will turn 73 later this month.
Is Richard Liu still the CEO of JD.com?
No. He stepped down as CEO in April 2022 and stayed on as chairman, and Sandy Ran Xu has served as CEO since May 2023.
Where do Richard Liu and German Larrea live? Liu is based in Beijing, China, and Larrea lives in Mexico City, Mexico.
Final Thoughts
Richard Liu and German Larrea show two very different ways to reach the top of the global wealth rankings. Liu built a retail and logistics company from a single shop and has seen its value swing sharply, while Larrea has led a mining group for decades and has watched his fortune more than double in a single year. Because both fortunes follow the markets, the rankings will keep changing, so readers who want the latest figures should check the live Forbes billionaires tracker.
Disclaimer
This article is written for general information and entertainment only. Net worth figures are estimates drawn from public data such as Forbes rankings and real-time trackers, and they change daily with stock and commodity prices. They should not be treated as exact or as financial, investment or legal advice. While every effort has been made to keep the information accurate as of October 2026, readers should confirm important details with official or primary sources before relying on them.
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