Type two famous names into a search box and you expect to find a deal, a partnership, or at least a meeting. With Richard Liu and Serena Williams, there is no such story, and the reason people keep typing the pair together is simpler and more interesting than a relationship: a shared first name. One is the Chinese founder who built JD.com into one of the world’s largest retailers. The other is the American tennis legend who won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and then built an investment firm. They work on different continents, in different industries, and their only link is the name Richard, which belongs to a third person entirely. What they do share is a question no existing paired page answers properly: who is richer, and by how much?
This article is the first paired piece about them that answers that question with labeled numbers instead of dodging it. The two existing paired pages are connection explainers only: they correctly say there is no relationship, but they give no net worth figure for either person, no comparison table, and no verdict. This article starts with the connection truth, then gives you the comparison you actually came for, with every figure sourced and every estimate labeled as an estimate.
A note on photos before we start: the images in this article are illustrative stock photos. They are not photographs of Richard Liu or Serena Williams, and no caption here should be read as suggesting otherwise.
Are They Connected? The Honest Answer First
No. There is no documented personal relationship, shared company, shared board seat, joint deal, joint investment, meeting, or property link between Richard Liu and Serena Williams. Liu’s world is Beijing e-commerce, JD Health, and JD Logistics. Williams’ world is tennis, Serena Ventures, fashion, beauty, and American sports ownership. Serena Ventures’ published portfolio shows no JD-related investment, and no shared list appearance was found; they appear on different Forbes lists in different categories. Anyone who tells you they are partners, or related, or business allies, is inventing a story to fill a keyword.
The Richard Liu and Serena Williams Name Trap, Explained
The pairing’s entire explanation is one first name, and this article will say so plainly because both competitor pages make exactly this point and it is the cleanest answer in the whole comparison. Serena Williams’ father is Richard Williams, the tennis coach who trained her and Venus on public courts in Compton. Richard Liu is Liu Qiangdong, the founder of JD.com. They are two different men who share a first name, and search engines have spent years blurring them into one query. Once you know that, the mystery dissolves: there is no relationship to explain, only a name to untangle, and the rest of this article is a straight comparison of two very different fortunes.
Who Is Richard Liu?
Liu Qiangdong was born on March 10, 1973, in Suqian, in Jiangsu province, China, and raised in rural Jiangsu. He is 53 years old in 2026. He enrolled in sociology at Renmin University of China in 1992 and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Laws, sociology major, then completed an Executive MBA at the China Europe International Business School in 2011. An early restaurant venture failed within months, losing him more than 200,000 yuan and leaving him in debt. He is married to Zhang Zetian, the internet celebrity, since 2015, and lives in Beijing.
From a Single Store to JD.com
Liu founded JD Multimedia in June 1998 as a single retail store selling magneto-optical products. He closed the shops and moved the business online in 2004, and it became JD.com in 2013. The company listed on Nasdaq in May 2014, raising $1.78 billion, then the largest United States IPO by a Chinese company, with a Hong Kong secondary listing in 2020. Liu built JD on a logistics-first model, its own warehouses and delivery network, and it is now China’s largest retailer by revenue and a Fortune Global 500 company, with 2024 revenue of $182.2 billion. For a decade he accepted a token one-yuan annual salary, about 16 United States cents, tying his wealth to JD’s share value rather than pay. In 2024 Walmart sold its entire 9.4 percent JD.com stake for $3.6 billion, ending an eight-year partnership.
The Chairman Era: Control, Donation, and a Low Profile
Liu stepped down as chief executive in April 2022 and remains founder and chairman of JD.com, as well as chairman and non-executive director of JD Health and JD Logistics. The most important number in his story is not his salary but his voting power. Per JD’s 2025 annual report, as of March 18, 2026, he beneficially owns 305,630,780 Class B shares through Max Smart Limited plus 22,974,550 Class A shares plus 20,000,000 Class A shares from options and restricted stock units, controlling approximately 73.1 percent of aggregate voting power, including 3.6 percent exercised on behalf of Fortune Rising Holdings. For comparison, the April 2021 annual report showed 13.9 percent of shares but 76.9 percent of voting power. Like the supervoting founder’s son in an earlier article in this series, Liu holds a small economic stake and dominant control, and that distinction explains how he still runs JD after stepping down as chief executive.
Two other facts belong in this section, reported briefly and factually. In February 2022, JD disclosed that Liu would donate 62,376,643 Class B shares to a third-party foundation for charitable purposes, valued at about $2.28 billion to $2.34 billion at the time, part of China’s common prosperity push. After stepping down as chief executive he also reduced holdings, cashing out more than 6.6 billion yuan, about $927.5 million, per October 2022 reporting. And on the legal side: on August 31, 2018, Liu was arrested in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape while attending a University of Minnesota residency, and released the next day. Prosecutors declined to press charges, finding insufficient evidence. The accuser, Jingyao Liu, no relation, filed a civil lawsuit in April 2019. On October 1, 2022, two days before a scheduled civil trial, both sides issued a joint statement settling the dispute, with the amount undisclosed and the 2018 incident described as a misunderstanding, without confirming or denying the claims. Liu has largely retreated from public life since 2018, resigning from roughly 230 affiliated-company posts in 2020 and 18 more in 2021. Industry sources also link him to a 134.2-metre superyacht, Project Deep Blue, valued at about $450 million, but he has not publicly confirmed ownership, so this article presents that as industry reporting, not fact.
Who Is Serena Williams?
Serena Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, in the United States, and turned 45 on September 26, 2026. She is the youngest of five sisters, raised in Compton, California, and coached on public courts by her father Richard Williams and her mother Oracene Price. She is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian since 2017, and they have two daughters, Olympia and Adira. Her husband’s separate net worth, estimated at $80 million to $150 million, is not part of her fortune and this article does not combine them.
From Compton Public Courts to 23 Grand Slams
Williams turned professional in 1995 and won her first major at the 1999 US Open aged 17. She went on to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the Open Era women’s record: 7 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, 7 Wimbledons, and 6 US Opens. She won 73 WTA singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with her sister Venus, never losing a major doubles final, and spent 319 weeks as world number one, including 186 consecutive weeks. She won four Olympic gold medals, one in singles and three in doubles, and she is the only player, across genders, with a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Ten of her 23 singles Slams came after she turned 30. Her career prize money of $94.8 million is the WTA all-time record for a woman. Her endorsement peak ran to about $45 million in 2021 alone, built on long-term partners including Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Beats, Gucci, Audemars Piguet, and Disney, plus a $13 million Puma deal at age 17 and a $55 million Nike deal at age 22.
The Investor Era and the 2026 Comeback
Williams said in an August 2022 Vogue essay that she was evolving away from tennis rather than retiring, and played her final singles match at the 2022 US Open, losing to Ajla Tomljanovic on September 2, 2022. Her second career was already underway. Serena Ventures, launched quietly in 2014 and publicly with a $111 million inaugural institutional fund in 2022, holds a portfolio of 70 to 102 companies depending on source, with 14 to 16 unicorns, and 79 percent of its portfolio companies founded or led by underrepresented founders, including 54 percent women founders, 47 percent Black founders, and 11 percent Latino founders. Named portfolio companies include MasterClass, Impossible Foods, Tonal, Noom, Partake Foods, and Fenty Beauty, with recent additions Midi Health, a women’s menopause platform that raised a $100 million Series D in February 2026 with Serena Ventures participating, and Unrivaled, a women’s 3-on-3 basketball league that raised a Series B in September 2025. Her other businesses include the S by Serena fashion label, launched in 2018 and later discontinued, the WYN Beauty makeup brand, Serena Williams Jewelry, and Nine Two Six Productions, her production company from 2023. In sports ownership she is part of the ownership group of the Toronto Tempo, a WNBA expansion team founded in 2026, and holds minority stakes in the Miami Dolphins, UFC, and the Los Angeles Golf Club. She has also served on the boards of SurveyMonkey and Poshmark.
Then came the comeback. In June 2026, after 1,375 days away, she announced a return: Queen’s Club doubles with Victoria Mboko, a Wimbledon singles wildcard, where she lost to Maya Joint in three sets, and on September 4, 2026, a US Open women’s doubles return with Venus, losing in the first round to Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan, 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-7(7). An earlier February 2026 source saying no comeback was confirmed is superseded by those June to September 2026 events. Forbes’ 2026 tennis earnings list ranks her third overall at $40.1 million, $40 million off court and $0.13 million in prize money. Forbes also dropped her from its 2026 America’s Richest Self-Made Women list, where she ranked 97th in 2025, not because her wealth fell but because the list’s minimum threshold rose with surging markets, a point one June 2026 profile makes explicitly while still putting her at $350 million.
Richard Liu and Serena Williams: The Side-by-Side Comparison
| Richard Liu | Serena Williams | |
|---|---|---|
| Born | March 10, 1973, Suqian, Jiangsu, China | September 26, 1981, Saginaw, Michigan, USA |
| Known for | Founder and chairman of JD.com | 23-time Grand Slam singles champion; founder of Serena Ventures |
| Career start | JD Multimedia single store, June 1998 | Turned professional 1995; first major 1999 US Open |
| Path to the top | E-commerce founder, Nasdaq IPO 2014, chairman since 2022 step-down | Tennis champion, then athlete-investor from 2014 |
| Income engine | JD.com share value and supervoting control | Prize money, endorsements, venture equity, brand businesses |
| Headline wealth figure | $5.5 billion (Forbes, October 2026) | About $350 million (central estimate, 2026) |
| Biggest documented money fact | Donated 62.4 million JD shares worth about $2.3 billion, Feb 2022 | Career prize money $94.8 million, WTA women’s record |
| Current status (2026) | JD chairman with about 73.1% voting power; low public profile | Comeback season; Toronto Tempo owner; Serena Ventures active |
| Defining deal | JD.com Nasdaq IPO 2014, $1.78 billion | Serena Ventures $111 million inaugural fund, 2022 |
| Legal note | 2018 Minnesota case: charges declined; civil case settled Oct 2022 | No legal controversies in this research |
Richard Liu Net Worth: A Falling Fortune, Still in Control
Liu’s wealth has a clear anchor and a clear direction, and this article gives both. Forbes, as of October 2026, puts him at $5.5 billion, per Wikipedia citing Forbes. The trajectory shows the fall: about $12.7 billion in the 2019 to 2020 era, $15.9 billion on Forbes Real-Time in February 2022 at the donation news, $10.5 billion in April 2022 at the chief executive step-down, $8 billion in 2023-era tracker pages, $6 billion to $8 billion in 2025 tracker pages, $6.1 billion in August 2025, and about $6 billion in October 2026. The honest 2026 range is about $5.5 billion to $6 billion, anchored on Forbes October 2026. The older figures are rejected as current: the $12.7 billion, $15.9 billion, and $8 billion numbers are all stale, and one data pull showing a $239.54 billion JD market capitalization does not match any other source and is not used here. One caution on sourcing: a Forbes profile mirror site carries matching rank and age details, but it is a mirror, not Forbes itself, and this article does not cite it as Forbes directly.
The structural point matters more than the direction. Liu’s fortune moves with JD’s share price, which is why it has nearly halved since 2022, but his control does not move with it. With about 73.1 percent of voting power against a much smaller economic stake, he still controls JD regardless of what the market thinks the company is worth on any given day. His one-yuan salary decade, his $2.3 billion share donation, and his post-step-down cash-out of more than 6.6 billion yuan all fit the same picture: a founder whose money is the company, and whose power over the company survives the share price.
Serena Williams Net Worth: Prize Money Into Venture Capital
Williams’ wealth has no single authoritative figure, but the 2026 reporting clusters tightly. The honest 2026 range is about $350 million to $400 million, with a central estimate of about $350 million, based on Investormint’s $350 million to $400 million range, BritBrief’s June 2026 figure of $350 million, up $50 million from the prior year, and $340 million to $350 million figures from sports business outlets in 2025. Celebrity Net Worth publishes a lower $300 million. The stale figures are rejected: $260 million from 2023, $240 million from a tennis tracker, and $280 million labeled as a projection for 2025, which is unsourced projection, not reporting. One spam mirror page claiming billionaire status is rejected outright as not credible.
Two traps in her numbers deserve plain statements. First, Serena Ventures’ $111 million fund is fund assets, not Williams’ personal net worth, and venture valuations are paper gains until exits happen, so the fund’s size should never be added to her fortune. Second, her $94.8 million in career prize money is real, documented, and the WTA women’s record, but it is only part of the fortune: the larger part is endorsements at peak, brand businesses, and venture equity accumulated since 2014, which is why her wealth kept rising after she stopped playing full time, and why Forbes could rank her third in 2026 tennis earnings at $40.1 million with almost no prize money at all.
The Verdict: Who Is Richer, and by How Much?
Richard Liu, by a wide margin. On the best-grounded figures, about $5.5 billion against Williams’ roughly $350 million to $400 million, he is roughly 14 to 16 times richer: $5.5 billion divided by $350 million is 15.7, and divided by $400 million is 13.75. Against the most generous possible Williams reading and the lowest Liu reading the gap narrows but never closes, and against older Liu figures it widens dramatically, which is why this article anchors on October 2026 rather than the stale $15.9 billion or $12.7 billion figures. The fair headline is that Liu is richer by roughly 14 to 16 times on current Forbes figures, with the caveat that his figure moves with JD’s share price and hers is an estimated range built on private venture valuations. Unlike the tie in one earlier article in this series, this one is not close, but unlike the 600-times gap in another, it is not absurd either. It is the gap between a listed-company founder and a wealthy athlete-investor, and it is exactly the size you would expect.
Company Builder Versus Brand Builder: Two Routes to the Top
This is the most useful contrast in the whole comparison, and no competitor page writes about it, because no competitor page gives a money answer at all. Liu built a company. He started with one store, moved it online, built warehouses and a delivery network, listed it in New York and Hong Kong, and ended up controlling a retailer with $182.2 billion in annual revenue through supervoting shares. His wealth is the company, concentrated, listed, and volatile, and his power over it survives his title, his salary, and his share price. His risk is the company’s risk: when JD’s stock slides, his paper fortune slides with it, and no pay package replaces equity he already gave away or sold.
Williams built a brand, then converted it into an investment firm. She started with a racket on public courts, won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, turned prize money and endorsements into businesses, then turned those businesses into venture capital, backing dozens of companies led by underrepresented founders. Her wealth is diversified by design: prize money banked, endorsement money invested, venture equity compounding, sports ownership stakes on the side. Her risk is different: venture valuations are paper until exits, brand businesses fade, and a comeback season at 45 earns headlines, not prize money. One route rewards building something other people must use. The other rewards being someone other people want to watch, then investing that attention wisely. Both arrived at the top, but only one of them arrived a multi-billionaire.
What Each Is Doing in 2026
Liu’s 2026 is a year of quiet control. He remains JD’s chairman with about 73.1 percent of voting power, chairs JD Health and JD Logistics, and keeps a low public profile, years after retreating from public life following the 2018 case and the 2022 settlement. JD’s market value sits around $35 billion to $40 billion in late 2026, and his fortune moves with it. The open question is whether JD’s logistics-first model keeps growing against its rivals, and whether a chairman with dominant voting power but a falling paper fortune changes strategy, or simply waits.
Williams’ 2026 is a year of return. Her comeback season took her to Queen’s Club, a Wimbledon wildcard, and a US Open doubles reunion with Venus. Her Toronto Tempo ownership began with the WNBA expansion team’s founding year. Serena Ventures kept deploying, including the Midi Health Series D in February 2026. Forbes ranked her third in tennis earnings at $40.1 million, almost all of it off court. The open question is whether the comeback continues into 2027, and whether her venture portfolio’s paper valuations convert into exits that push her fortune past the $400 million mark. At 45, with a brand, a firm, and a team to show for it, her second career may yet out-earn her first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Richard Liu and Serena Williams related?
No. There is no family relationship between them. Liu was born in Jiangsu province, China, into a rural family. Williams was born in Michigan, United States, into a tennis family. They share no ancestry or family tie.
Is Richard Liu Serena Williams’ father?
No. Serena Williams’ father is Richard Williams, the tennis coach who trained her and Venus on public courts in Compton. Richard Liu is Liu Qiangdong, the founder of JD.com. They are two different men who share a first name, and that confusion is the entire explanation for why this pair appears together online.
What is the connection between Richard Liu and Serena Williams?
There is no connection of any kind. No personal relationship, shared company, shared board seat, joint deal, joint investment, meeting, or property link has been documented. Serena Ventures’ published portfolio shows no JD-related investment, and no shared list appearance was found.
Who is richer, Richard Liu or Serena Williams?
Richard Liu, by a wide margin. On current Forbes figures, his roughly $5.5 billion against her roughly $350 million to $400 million puts him about 14 to 16 times richer. The gap narrows but never closes on any honest reading of the current numbers.
What is Richard Liu’s net worth?
About $5.5 billion to $6 billion in 2026, anchored on Forbes as of October 2026 at $5.5 billion. Older figures of $15.9 billion from February 2022, $12.7 billion from the 2019 to 2020 era, and $8 billion from 2023 are stale and rejected as current.
What is Serena Williams’ net worth?
About $350 million to $400 million in 2026, with a central estimate of about $350 million, based on Forbes-linked 2026 reporting. Older figures of $260 million, $240 million, and a projected $280 million are stale or unsourced and rejected. One spam page claiming billionaire status is rejected outright.
Is Richard Liu still JD.com CEO in 2026?
No. He stepped down as chief executive in April 2022 and remains founder and chairman of JD.com, as well as chairman and non-executive director of JD Health and JD Logistics. He still controls about 73.1 percent of JD’s voting power.
Is Serena Williams still playing tennis in 2026?
Yes, in a comeback season. After 1,375 days away, she returned in June 2026 with Queen’s Club doubles, a Wimbledon singles wildcard, and a US Open doubles return with Venus on September 4, 2026. She had said in August 2022 that she was evolving away from tennis rather than retiring.
How much did Serena Williams earn in prize money?
$94.8 million in career prize money, the WTA all-time record for a woman. That figure is documented and real, but it is only part of her fortune, with endorsements, brand businesses, and venture equity making up the larger part.
What is Serena Ventures?
Serena Ventures is Williams’ venture capital firm, launched quietly in 2014 and publicly with a $111 million inaugural institutional fund in 2022. Its portfolio holds 70 to 102 companies depending on source, with 14 to 16 unicorns, and 79 percent of its portfolio companies founded or led by underrepresented founders. The $111 million fund is fund assets, not Williams’ personal net worth.
What happened in Richard Liu’s Minnesota case?
On August 31, 2018, Liu was arrested in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape while attending a university residency, and released the next day. Prosecutors declined to press charges, finding insufficient evidence. A civil lawsuit filed in April 2019 was settled by joint statement on October 1, 2022, two days before a scheduled trial, with the amount undisclosed and the incident described as a misunderstanding, without confirming or denying the claims.
How much JD.com stock does Richard Liu own?
Per JD’s 2025 annual report, as of March 18, 2026, he beneficially owns 305,630,780 Class B shares through Max Smart Limited plus 22,974,550 Class A shares plus 20,000,000 Class A shares from options and restricted stock units, controlling approximately 73.1 percent of aggregate voting power. His economic stake is much smaller than his voting power, which is the point: he controls JD without owning most of it.
Why did Richard Liu step down as CEO?
JD has not given a single public reason tied to one event, but the timing points to a deliberate retreat: he stepped down in April 2022, months before the October 2022 settlement of the Minnesota civil case, after years of reducing his public profile since 2018 and resigning from hundreds of affiliated-company posts in 2020 and 2021. He kept the chairmanship and his voting control.
What is Serena Williams’ 2026 comeback?
After 1,375 days away from competition, she returned in June 2026: Queen’s Club doubles with Victoria Mboko, a Wimbledon singles wildcard where she lost to Maya Joint in three sets, and a US Open women’s doubles return with Venus on September 4, 2026, losing in the first round. Forbes ranked her third in 2026 tennis earnings at $40.1 million, almost all of it off court.
Who is Richard Williams?
Richard Williams is Serena and Venus Williams’ father and tennis coach, who trained them on public courts in Compton, California. He is not Richard Liu, the JD.com founder, and confusing the two men is the entire reason this search pairing exists.
Final Thoughts
If you came here expecting a partnership, a rivalry, or a secret deal, the honest answer is a name. One first name, shared by a tennis coach and a tech founder, typed into a search box often enough to build a keyword out of nothing. But the emptiness is not the whole story this time, because the comparison underneath it is genuinely instructive. A founder who controls a $182 billion retailer with supervoting shares, watching his paper fortune halve in four years while his power stays intact. An athlete who turned prize money into a venture firm, watching her wealth rise after she stopped playing, and returning to the court at 45 for the love of it and the headlines it brings.
That is the filter to carry into the next headline you read. Ask who the names actually are before you ask what they have in common. If the link is a first name, say it is a first name. If the fortune is a share price, say it moves with the share price. If the wealth is venture paper, say it is paper until exits. Either way, the number is an estimate, and the honest pages are the ones that say so, the way this one just did.
More from Medium Blogs: read our explainer on Pedro Paulo Coaching, our explainer on Magvistanow Com, our comparison of Florence Pugh and Igor Olenicoff, our comparison of Kathy Warden and Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, our comparison of Brian Roberts and Amy Hood, our comparison of Hiroshi Mikitani and James Gorman, our comparison of Miguel Patricio and Malcolm Gladwell, our comparison of Joaquin Duato and Margot Robbie, our comparison of Bob Chapek and Diane von Furstenberg, our FPMomTips parental guide, and our honest Uggcontroman controller guide, and explore the rest of the site from the Medium Blogs homepage. If you have a question or a topic you would like us to cover honestly, visit our About Us and Contact Us pages.
Aliza Blogger writes for Medium Blogs, where she covers business, lifestyle, tech, food, games, travel, celebrities and net worth in clear and simple words. Her work focuses on honest, well researched stories. Every figure is checked, every estimate is labeled, and every pairing is tested before it is written about. No hype, just clear facts and full detail.