Seven chief executive officers of Zhejiang-based companies made the annual ranking of China's top 50 CEOs, published by Forbes China on Aug 11.

According to Forbes China, the list is based on a company's stock price performance, market value, revenue, net profit, profit growth, return on assets, and return on equity in domestic, Hong Kong, and US-traded shares from 2017 to 2020. CEOs that made the cut also are required to have been in their position for at least three years.

The seven Zhejiang CEOs were Zhang Yong of Alibaba, Ding Lei of NetEase, Huang Guanlin of Shenzhou International, Sun Yang of Sunny Optical, Liu Shufeng of Hundsun, Zhang Yabo of Sanhua, and Hu Boyan of NHU. Of the seven Zhejiang companies, three are based in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, two are based in the city of Shaoxing, one in the city of Ningbo, and one in Yuyao, a county-level city administered by Ningbo.

Zhang Yong, CEO of Hangzhou-based internet giant Alibaba Group since 2015, ranked highest on the list. He is the successor of company founder Jack Ma. Zhang is best known for his role in Tmall, Alibaba's major e-commerce platform. He is also credited with creating China's "Double Eleven" online shopping festival.

Zhang Yong, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]