The founder of recently listed bottled water company Nongfu Spring has overtaken Alibaba founder Jack Ma as China's richest man. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires index, Nongfu founder Zhong Shanshan overtook Ma after his estimated net worth reached more than $58.7 billion. Ma's current net worth is estimated to be around $56.7 billion.
Zhong's net worth also puts him ahead of Tencent founder Pony Ma, whose net worth is currently around $52.7 billion, according to Bloomberg's calculations. Zhong's rise to the top of the list came as a surprise given that he is technically not a tech entrepreneur.
Apart from his stake in Nongfu Spring, Zhong also holds stakes in Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, a vaccine manufacturing company he also heads. The biotech firm went public in Shanghai earlier this year, boosting Zhong's wealth to its current figure.
Research firm Hurun Report's chairman, Rupert Hoogewerf, noted that Zhong's rise to the top is an impressive feat given that most of those on the top of several richest lists are either owners or co-founders of tech companies. Hoogewerf also said Zhong is only one of a few people in China that had managed to build not only one $10 billion business, but two $10 billion businesses.
Some analysts have stated that Zhong will likely not retain the title of China's richest man for long given Alibaba's planned mega-IPO for its digital payments and financial services unit Ant Group. The IPO is expected to be one of the biggest listings this year, with analysts estimating that the dual listing in both Shanghai and Hong Kong could raise up to $30 billion. The listings could easily boost Ma's wealth to regain the title once again.
Hoogewerf expects that more billionaires outside of the tech industry are likely to enter the country's richest list given the parade of planned IPOs in both Hong Kong and mainland China. New listings on Shanghai's NASDAQ-style Star Market tech innovation board have recently minted dozens of new millionaires and billionaires. According to Refinitiv, IPOs and secondary listings launched in China this year have managed to raise a combined $21.6 billion in new capital.
