Nongfu Spring Founder Retains Title of China’s Richest Man
Xu Wei
DATE:  Nov 08 2022
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Nongfu Spring Founder Retains Title of China’s Richest Man Nongfu Spring Founder Retains Title of China’s Richest Man

(Yicai Global) Nov. 8 -- Zhong Shanshan, founder of bottled water giant Nongfu Spring, has held onto his crown as China’s richest person for the second year running, according to the latest Hurun China Rich List.

68-year-old Zhong saw his wealth swell 17 percent in the past year to CNY455 billion (USD62.8 billion), largely due to a 20 percent jump in Hangzhou-based Nongfu Spring’s share price, according to the list released by the Hurun Research Institute today.

Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance Technology, the firm behind short video app TikTok, was the second-richest Chinese billionaire with a fortune of CNY245 billion (USD33.7 billion), while Zeng Yuqun, chairman of EV battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, came third with CNY230 billion. Both men saw their wealth shrink considerably in the past year, with Zhang’s fortune slumping 28 percent and Zeng’s by 30 percent.

It is interesting that in an era of fast technological development, a bottled water tycoon’s worth was almost the sum of that a short video entrepreneur and electric car battery maker, Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher, said.

The family of late Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing advanced four places to rank fourth with wealth of CNY220 billion, pushing the founder of internet behemoth Tencent Holdings, Pony Ma, into fifth place with CNY215 million. His worth has tumbled 32 percent year on year. While Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, fell four places to ninth. His wealth narrowed 30 percent to CNY180 billion.

The 2022 list included 1,305 billionaires, 160 fewer than last year. Their average age was 58 years, two years older than last year. And their total wealth came to CNY24.5 trillion (USD3.38 trillion), down 18 percent from a year ago.

“This year has seen the biggest fall in the Hurun China Rich List of the last 24 years… Part of the reason has been a global economy downturn, led by the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war, a sharp drop in tech prices and the generally slow post-Covid economic recovery, but also at the national level, the continued disruptions to the economy from localised Covid outbreaks,” Hoogewerf said.

“However, it is worth noting that although the number of individuals has decreased, it is still nearly 50 percent more than five years ago, four times that of ten years ago, and more than 400 times that of twenty years ago,” he added.

Beijing has the highest concentration of the super rich, followed by Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hangzhou, according to the list. Wealth calculations started from Sept. 15 last year and included only those with a fortune of at least CNY5 billion (USD689.9 million)

Editor: Kim Taylor
 

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Keywords:   Hurun China Rich List 2022,Zhong Shanshan,Nongfu Spring