Meet China’s newest richest person, Zhong Shanshan – Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

Zhong Shanshan, founder of the bottled water company Nongfu Spring, pushed Alibaba’s Jack Ma from his position as the richest in China. Rupert Hoogewerf, chief researcher of the Hurun China Rich List, explains how Zhong made it to the top, at CNN Business. Hoogewerf expects a new boom in billionaires from China, he says.

CNN Business:

Zhong’s new status also puts him ahead of Pony Ma, who founded Tencent. Unlike Jack Ma and Pony Ma, Zhong is not a tech entrepreneur. Outside of his stake in Nongfu Spring, he is the head of a vaccine maker, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy. That company went public in Shanghai this year, which also helped boost Zhong’s wealth.

“You would have typically expected the number one in China to come from [technology],” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of wealth research firm Hurun Report.

Zhong is also known for being more low-profile and reclusive compared to other top business leaders, which has earned him the nickname “lone wolf.”

“He’s not known to have many entrepreneur friends,” said Hoogewerf, a longtime China watcher who is based in Shanghai. “He just kind of gets on with his own business.”

But even prior to his latest success, Zhong’s track record was impressive.

“Zhong Shanshan is one of the few people in China to not just build one $10 billion business, but two $10 billion businesses,” said Hoogewerf. “It’s pretty remarkable.”

Zhong’s ascent underscores the rapid pace of wealth creation in China.

Earlier this year, China was already home to most of the world’s billionaires, with more than the United States and India combined, according to a global rich list compiled by the Hurun Report….

A report released by Deloitte on Wednesday said that “several other developments are set to sustain the prevailing trend of listings in the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong over the rest of this year,” including the approval of cross-listing rules and a new tech index in Hong Kong.

That will likely spawn even more billionaires in China, Hoogewerf predicts.

He estimates that about 100 new billionaires will be created in China this year because of the IPO boom. That’s “one every four days. Two a week,” he said.

More at CNN Business.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more strategy experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

How Nongfu’s Zhong Shanshan became one of China’s wealthiests – Rupert Hoogewerf

 

Rupert Hoogewerf

Zhong Shanshan, the owner of bottled water producer Nongfu became through its IPO suddenly one of the wealthiest people in China, in a time when IT in a post-COVID economy seems to be leading, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun, the China Rich List to the China Daily. Consumption tycoons have become the winners in post-COVID China, he adds.

The China Daily:

Zhong, the 66-year-old former journalist-turned-health product entrepreneur, owns 84.4 percent of Nongfu’s shares. The share surge pushed his fortune to more than $57 billion, calculated as per Nongfu’s opening price on Tuesday. At one point, Zhong’s wealth even overtook that of Jack Ma’s $51.4 billion and Pony Ma’s $56.7 billion, before falling.

Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, in which Zhong is the biggest shareholder, is one of the leading manufacturers of infectious disease diagnostics and has been traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since early this year.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said Zhong is the 17th Chinese businessman to take the No 1 position in terms of wealth during the last two decades. He is also a good example of the dynamism of the Chinese economy, he said.

“Who would have thought that Zhong, a man who sells bottled water, in the age of IT and post-COVID economy, could actually become the richest man in China overtaking Jack Ma and Pony Ma,” said Hoogewerf.

“Zhong is pretty special. He has built two businesses, both of which have valuations of over $10 billion. Very few people in China have managed to build two $10 billion businesses from scratch.”

Hoogewerf said after the epidemic, the global economy has suffered significantly, with China being the sole exception. “In China, many consumer tycoons have not just grown but flourished in the past six months possibly because a lot of investors looked for relatively safe havens. Traditional leaders in the consumer sector were able to give investors that reassurance,” he said.

More at the China Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

At the China Speakers Bureau, we start to organize online seminars. Are you interested in our plans? Do get in touch.

Are you looking for more experts on consumption at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.