BEIJING - The founder of the country's search engine giant Baidu -- IT magnate Li Yanhong -- has topped the 2012 Hurun IT rich list.

The list, published by the Hurun Research Institute on Friday, said Li's personal fortune was estimated at 46 billion yuan (about 7.3 billion US dollars).

Following Li, Ma Huateng of Tencent, a leading Internet company and Ding Lei of NetEase, another leading Internet company, gained the second and third positions respectively.

The report showed that the average wealth of the top 50 people on the list was 7.1 billion yuan.

"China's IT enterprises have done quite well in such a severe economic environment this year," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

Hoogewerf began compiling the China Rich List in 1999. This is the 10th consecutive year of the Hurun Research Institute has launched the IT rich list.