Zhong Shanshan Pips Mukesh Ambani, China's Jack Ma To Become Asia's Richest

Zhong Shanshan, a private billionaire, has outranked India's Mukesh Ambani and China's tech titans including Jack Ma to become the richest person in Asia. As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth has increased by $70.9 billion in 2020 to $77.8 billion, making him the 11th richest person on the earth. This is praiseworthy as it marks the fastest accumulation of wealth in history, and outstanding in the sense as until this year he was little known outside of China.

Aged 66, Zhong career spans journalism, mushroom farming and health care and as his business interests do not resonates with other rich families, he is popularly known as 'Lone Wolf' locally.

Further he attributes his success to two unrelated domains. He took the vaccine manufacturing entity Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. public in April, then few months down the line Nongfu Spring Co., a bottled water manufacturing company, turned into the hottest listing of Hong Kong. Since the debut Nongfu shares gained 155% while Wantai's are higher by over 2000%.

Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index

Mukesh Ambani also had an outstanding year with his fortune soaring $18.3 billion to $76.9 billion as he entered into deals one after the other with global tech and investment giants to transform his conglomerate entity into a e-commerce and tech titan. At one point, he was the fourth richest person globally, but now as he is to deliver on digital transformation which he promised about, the scrip of his company has stalled.

This week Nongfu shares hit a peak after Citigroup Inc. analysts said the company has cemented its market dominance and has ample cash flow.

Notably, Zhong has also climbed in rank as tech companies in China have crumbled owing to increased government scrutiny.

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