China’s bottled water king Zhong Shanshan is now richer than Warren Buffett

Zhong Shanshan is setting new wealth data.
The chairman of Nongfu Spring Co., a bottled-water firm that’s ubiquitous in China, is now richer than Warren Buffett as his fortune surged $13.5 billion to $91.7 billion because the begin of the 12 months, in line with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zhong, 66, is now the sixth-wealthiest particular person on the planet. Nongfu shares jumped 18% within the first two buying and selling days of 2021, taking the advance since their September itemizing to 200%.
It’s solely the second time a Chinese nationwide has damaged into the world’s Top 10 — property tycoon Wang Jianlin hit No. 8 in 2015 — and nobody from the mainland has ever ranked this excessive on Bloomberg’s wealth index because it launched in 2012.
Nicknamed domestically because the “Lone Wolf” for avoiding involvement in clubby enterprise teams or politics, Zhong additionally took vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. public in April. The inventory has soared greater than 2,500%.
Zhong dethroned India’s Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s wealthiest particular person final week and is near coming into the rarefied realm of people price greater than $100 billion. Buffett is exterior that group with an $86.2 billion fortune, however the Berkshire Hathway Inc. founder has given away greater than $37 billion of inventory since 2006.
Investors are snapping up Chinese client shares because the nation demonstrates it’s recovering from Covid-19, whereas analysts have grown more and more bullish on Nongfu.
Zhong has additionally helped 4 kinfolk turn into billionaires. His youthful sister, Zhong Xiaoxiao, and three of his spouse’s siblings every maintain a 1.4% stake in Nongfu price $1.3 billion, based mostly on the possession listed within the firm’s prospectus from final 12 months. The agency has produced dozens of millionaires, together with extra of Zhong’s kinfolk and workers.

While Covid-19 upended a lot of the worldwide economic system in 2020, it was a superb 12 months for the world’s ultra-rich. The 500 wealthiest folks added $1.8 trillion to their fortunes and had been price a mixed $7.6 trillion by year-end. Zhong, the most important winner from Asia, amassed greater than $71 billion, essentially the most after Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk and Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos.

One notable exception is Jack Ma, till lately Asia’s richest particular person. He’s not been seen in public since Chinese regulators torpedoed Ant Group Co.’s $35 million preliminary public providing. His internet price has dropped about $10 billion since October and he’s now the world’s Twenty fifth-richest particular person.