The 66-year-old Zhong, who has become rich with, among other things, mineral water and vaccines, has done it. The latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the ‘water king’ in Asia, the growth region of billionaires, in first place. With his assets of 64 billion, Zhong Shanshan Mukesh Ambani (63) dethroned. The Indian, owner of the tech conglomerate Reliance Industries, saw his fortune decline by 15 billion in 2020 due to a significant drop in his company’s stock.
Zhong’s biggest ‘competitor’ in his own country, Jack Ma, also saw its assets decline by more than eight billion euros. Ma’s concern Alibaba is under fire from the Chinese authorities and that did not help the shares. In addition, Ma had to postpone the IPO of another crown jewel, Ant Group, in November by order of the government.
Mushrooms
Zhong Shanshan, on the other hand, has his life and business fortune in order. That has been different in the past. He was born in Hangzhou in 1954, as the scion of a well-off family. In the 1960s, Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution also crushed Zhong’s family. His parents were killed. In the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, he left school at the age of 12 for a job in construction, but eventually returned to university after years. He successfully graduated from Zhejiang Radio and Television University and then worked for five years as a financial and economic journalist for a local newspaper. In that position he discovered the opportunities of the new ‘market economy with socialist characteristics’ proclaimed by party leader Deng Xiaoping.
He moved to Hainan Island in southern China. There he founded all kinds of companies in the 1990s, including a mushroom farm, a newspaper and a mineral water distribution center. In 1993 he made the first big hit with the development of a food that became extremely popular in China. He also successfully marketed pills for erection problems. His greatest success followed in 1996 with the establishment of his own mineral water bottling company called Nongfu Spring. Zhong’s red-capped bottles quickly flew from shelves all over China. In 2000, the company also sold tea, energy drinks, fruit juices and coffee.
Vaccines
Last year, Zhong quickly added tens of billions to his fortune. He brought his first company to the Chinese stock exchange: Wantai Biological Pharmacy, which produces vaccines, including a vaccine against Covid-19. The decision yielded many billions to the major shareholder, first at the IPO itself, but then the price rose by more than 2000 percent. Nongfu Spring also went public in September. With the proceeds, Zhong passed Alibaba owner Jack Ma as the richest man in China in one fell swoop. Shares of Nongfu Spring have also risen by 155 percent since its inception. “Rarely has anyone gotten so rich so quickly,” concluded Bloomberg News.
‘Lone Wolf’
Zhong himself is silent about his success and his enormous wealth. Chinese media have nicknamed him ‘Lone Wolf’ because he rarely makes himself heard or seen in public. The billionaire also avoids business or political contact with others. “I like to live on my own, I am not interested in what colleagues do or think,” is one of his rare statements to the media that is also not given a glimpse into his private life. According to China Daily, Zhong is married and has three children.
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