Dubbed the “Lone Wolf”, Zhong Shanshan’s fortune increased by $ 51.9 billion in 2020.
A Chinese tycoon who owns a bottled water firm and a vaccine maker has become China’s richest person on a day marked by huge losses in the technology sector.
Zhong Shanshan’s net worth reached $ 58.7 billion (€ 50.3 billion) and exceeded two billion (€ 1.7 billion) Jack Ma, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zhong is now the second richest person in Asia, behind Mukesh Ambani, from India, and the 17th richest person in the world.
Dubbed the “Lone Wolf” for his refraining from politics and business groups, Zhong’s fortune increased by $ 51.9 billion (€ 44.5 billion) in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon.com, and Elon Musk, owner of Tesla.
Both suffered heavy losses on Wednesday, with technology stocks registering huge declines.
The initial public offering by bottled water company Nongfu Spring Co placed Zhong among China’s three richest people earlier this month.
This was after the listing of vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. increased its net worth to $ 20 billion (€ 17 billion) in early August.
Zhong now leads the ‘ranking’ of the richest in China, usually dominated by entrepreneurs in the technology sector.
