Meet Zhong Shanshan, Asia's Second Richest Man, Right Behind Mukesh Ambani

The owner of China's largest bottled-water maker has overtaken Alibaba's founder Jack Ma to become the country's richest person. The net worth of Zhong Shanshan reached $58.7 billion on Wednesday, $2 billion more than Jack Ma, as per Bloomberg estimates. Zhong is now Asia's second richest person, behind India's Mukesh Ambani and 17th richest in the world.?

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This happened after a surge in his Hangzhou-based bottled-water company Nongfu Spring's share price. The initial public offering of Nongfu Spring Co. -- which turned out to be Hong Kong’s most popular among retail investors -- propelled Zhong to China’s top three richest earlier this month.

Zhong Shanshan? own 84% of Nongfu Spring

65-year-old Zhong, who owns 84% of Nongfu Spring, has kept a low profile and made few public appearances. He is not a part of China’s legislative body nor any political consultation groups, which many successful mainland businessmen are.

AFP

Nicknamed "lone wolf"

Nicknamed as "lone wolf", Zhong has also worked in construction, journalism and drug making. After quitting journalism, he started several business projects in the 1990s. They included running a newspaper, planting mushrooms and distributing bottled water, all of which failed, until he tapped into a growing demand for health supplements. He sold pills used to treat erectile dysfunction that were derived from turtle parts, which eventually came under regulatory scrutiny. After which, Zhong shifted to selling bottled-water and ever since 2000, the company diversified into selling flavoured water, teas, juices and energy drinks.

Zhong now leads a wealth ranking in China that is typically dominated by people who made their fortunes from tech companies. Zhong’s fortune has jumped $51.9 billion in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk. On Wednesday, both suffered a sharp drop as US tech stocks tanked. Tesla plunged after its "Battery Day" event fell short of expecations, erasing almost $10 billion of market value.