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(Bloomberg) – A bottled water and vaccine mogul has become China’s richest person on a day also marked by massive losses among the global tech elite.
Zhong Shanshan’s net worth reached $ 58.7 billion on Wednesday, $ 2 billion more than Jack Ma’s, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Zhong is now the second richest person in Asia, behind Mukesh Ambani from India, and he is the seventeenth richest in the world, ahead of Charles Koch and Phil Knight.
Nicknamed the “Lone Wolf” for his avoidance of politics and club business groups, Zhong’s fortune has risen $ 51.9 billion in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. and Elon Musk. from Tesla Inc.. Both suffered sharp declines on Wednesday as tech stocks faltered and Tesla tumbled after its “Battery Day” event fell short of expectations. Musk’s fortune was reduced by nearly $ 10 billion.
The initial public offering of bottled water company Nongfu Spring Co., which turned out to be Hong Kong’s most popular among retail investors, boosted Zhong to the three richest in China earlier this month. That came after vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co.’s April listing raised its net worth to $ 20 billion in early August.
Zhong now leads a wealth ranking in China that is generally dominated by people who made their fortunes from tech companies.
While Zhong has overtaken Ma as China’s richest, the tech mogul could soon regain top spot, which he held for most of the past six years after Alibaba went public in the US Ant Group’s IPO. The US stake is estimated at $ 28 billion if the company reaches the $ 250 billion valuation that people familiar with the matter have said it targets.
Wednesday was brutal for US tech stocks, which fell further since the beginning of this month. Musk’s wealth drop was the largest among the people in Bloomberg’s ranking of the 500 richest people in the world, followed by Bezos, whose net worth fell by $ 7.1 billion. Musk is now worth $ 93.2 billion and Bezos is now worth $ 178 billion. Zhong added nearly $ 4 billion on Wednesday, more than anyone else on the index.
© 2020 Bloomberg LP
