A bottled-water and vaccine tycoon has become China鈥檚 wealthiest person in a day also marked by massive losses among the world鈥檚 tech elite.
Zhong Shanshan鈥檚 net worth reached $58.7 billion on Wednesday, $2 billion more than Jack Ma鈥檚, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Mr. Zhong is now Asia鈥檚 second-richest person, behind India鈥檚 Mukesh Ambani, and is the 17th wealthiest in the world, ahead of Charles Koch and Phil Knight.
Nicknamed 鈥淟one Wolf鈥 for his eschewing of politics and clubby business groups, Mr. Zhong鈥檚 fortune has jumped $51.9 billion in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Amazon.com Inc.鈥檚 Jeff Bezos and Tesla Inc.鈥檚 Elon Musk. Both suffered heavy declines on Wednesday as tech stocks stumbled and Tesla plunged after its 鈥淏attery Day鈥 event fell short of expectations. Musk鈥檚 fortune dropped by almost $10 billion.
The initial public offering of bottled-water company Nongfu Spring Co.鈥攚hich turned out to be Hong Kong鈥檚 most popular among retail investors鈥攑ropelled Mr. Zhong to China鈥檚 top three richest earlier this month. That came after the April listing of vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. pushed his net worth to $20 billion by early August.
Mr. Zhong now leads a wealth ranking in China that is typically dominated by people who made their fortunes from tech companies.
While Mr. Zhong has surpassed Mr. Ma as China鈥檚 wealthiest, the tech tycoon might soon regain the top spot, which he鈥檚 held for most of the past six years after Alibaba went public in the US Ant Group鈥檚 IPO next month is poised to boost his fortune, with his stake estimated at $28 billion if the company achieves the $250 billion valuation people familiar with the matter have said it鈥檚 targeting.
Wednesday was brutal for US tech stocks, which tumbled the most since earlier this month. The plunge in Musk鈥檚 wealth was the biggest among the people on the Bloomberg ranking of the world鈥檚 500 richest, followed by Mr. Bezos, whose net worth dropped by $7.1 billion. Musk is now worth $93.2 billion and Bezos $178 billion. Mr. Zhong added almost $4 billion Wednesday, more than anyone else in the index. 鈥 Bloomberg
