Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man and head of Reliance, was Asia’s richest man until a few days ago. Now a Chinese industrialist has left behind Mukesh Ambani in the case of Asia’s richest man. Zhong Shanshan, the founder of bottled water brand Nangfu Spring, has become Asia’s richest man after a career in journalism, mushroom farming and healthcare. He has left behind Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani and Chinese industrialist and Alibaba founder Jack Ma. This year, his net worth has increased from $ 7090 million (Rs 5.2 lakh crore) to $ 7780 million (Rs 5.7 lakh crore) in 2020.
He is now the 11th richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Such a rapid increase in his wealth is historical and the special thing is that not many people had known about him outside China before. The 66-year-old Zhong is not related to politics in any way and his business interest is not associated with other rich families such as property tycoons, due to which he is called “Lone Wolf”.
The increase in net worth due to Zhong’s business success is made up of two different sector businesses. Zhong’s vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Corporation went public in April 2020 this year. Three months later, his bottled water company Nangfu Spring Corporation was also listed, which received a tremendous response from investors in the Hong Kong listing. Since its launch, shares of Nangfu have risen by 155 per cent and shares of Wantai are above 2,000 per cent.
