Elementary school dropout and former construction worker Zhong Shanshan is now the world's sixth richest person with a personal net worth estimated at $92.1 billion by Forbes.
The founder and chairperson of bottled water company Nongfu Spring earlier became Asia's richest man, topping India's Mukesh Ambani, who is worth $73.8 billion. Zhong displaced Warren Buffett with a net worth of $87.1 billion to become the world's sixth richest individual.
Those richer than Zhong are Jeff Bezos ($183.4 billion), Elon Musk ($165.4 billion), Bernard Arnault and family ($149 billion), Bill Gates ($120.7 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg ($96.4 billion).
Forbes said the jump in Zhong's wealth was a result of a rise in Nongfu Spring's share price. Listed in Hong Kong since Sept. 8, Nongfu Spring saw its stock price triple over the past four months.
Zhong owns 84.4% of the company. Nongfu Spring controls a quarter of China's bottled water market.
Zhong also owns a controlling stake in Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, which produces test kits for COVID-19 and other diseases. Beijing Wantai went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in April and has seen its share price rise 2,500% since the initial public offering.
More than $10 billion of Zhong's wealth is from his shares in Beijing Wantai, of which he is the chairperson.
China's second richest person is Colin Zheng Huang, founder of online discounter Pinduoduo. He has a net worth of $$66 billion. He is the 18th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. Jack Ma, is now worth $58.2 billion - No. 20 on Forbes' list.
Ma is China's third richest individual but has seen his wealth decline following the government's investigation of his Alibaba Group and an affiliated company.
Ma, however, stands to reclaim his status as China's richest man if the government approves an initial public offering by Ant Group, an Alibaba financial services arm.
