China’s richest man is a cinema and property tycoon called Wang Jianlin - this is his secret

Wang’s $38.6 billion fortune still trails behind those of the richest men in the US, including Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $86.4 and Warren Buffett, who is worth $71.6 billion, according to the latest update by Bloomberg.

Wang has taken advantage of the softening attitude towards capitalism in China by sticking to one simple rule when it comes to handling the authorities: "Stay close to the government and distant from politics."

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Wang owns 20 per cent of Atlético Madrid, the Spanish football team, and Picasso’s ‘Claude and Paloma’. But he made his money in property, department stores and hotels – boosting his profile in 2012 after the acquisition of AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion. The addition of that Kansas City-based cinema chain made Dalian Wanda the world’s largest cinema operator.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma According to a year-long investigation by the New York Times, Wang offers China’s politicians and businessmen shares in his commercial properties and cinema businesses. In return the officials sell him the rights to develop land for a discounted rate.

The NYT estimated that government officials and their family members owned $1.1 billion worth of shares in commercial properties and $17.2 million in the cinema subsidiary when the companies went public late 2014 and early 2015.