Beijing: Zhong Shanshan is setting new wealth records. The chairman of Nongfu Spring Co., a bottled-water company that’s ubiquitous in China, is now richer than Warren Buffett as his fortune surged $13.5 billion since the start of the year to $91.7 billion on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The 66-year-old, is now the sixth-wealthiest person on the planet. Nongfu shares jumped 18% in the first two trading days of 2021, taking the advance since their September listing to more than 200%. They gained 0.7% on Wednesday.
It’s only the second time a Chinese national has broken into the world’s Top 10 — property tycoon Wang Jianlin hit No. 8 in 2015 — and no one from the mainland has ever ranked this high on Bloomberg’s wealth index since it launched in 2012.
Nicknamed locally as the “Lone Wolf” for avoiding involvement in clubby business groups or politics, Zhong also took vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. public in April. The stock has soared more than 2,800%.
Zhong dethroned India’s Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s wealthiest person last week and is close to entering the rarefied realm of individuals worth more than $100 billion.
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