China's richest man - the founder of China's drinking water company overtakes Jack Ma

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

中国一の富豪、飲料水企業の創業者に　ジャック・マー氏抜く

2020.09.25 Fri posted at 17:29 JST

香港（ＣＮＮ Ｂｕｓｉｎｅｓｓ） 中国飲料水大手、農夫山泉の創業者である鍾睒睒氏がアリババ集団創業者の馬雲（ジャック・マー）氏を抜き、中国一の富豪に浮上したことが分かった。米ブルームバーグ通信がまとめた長者番付で明らかになった。

農夫山泉は今月、香港取引所に上場。これに伴い鐘氏はすでに中国３位の富豪になっていた。ブルームバーグの計算によると、鐘氏の純資産は２３日時点で５８７億米ドル（約６兆２０００億円）に達し、マー氏の５６７億米ドルを上回った。

これにより鐘氏は中国ＩＴ大手、騰訊（テンセント）を創業した馬化騰（ポニー・マー）氏も抜いた。ジャック・マー、ポニー・マー両氏とは異なり、鐘氏はＩＴ関係の起業家ではない。農夫山泉以外ではワクチンメーカーの北京万泰生物薬業のトップを務め、同社が今年上海で上場したことも鐘氏の資産を押し上げた。

鐘氏は他の企業経営者と比べ交友関係が控え目なことでも知られ、「一匹おおかみ」の異名を取る。

資産調査会社、胡潤百富の会長を務めるルパート・フーゲワーフ氏は「起業家の友人は多くないとされる。自分のビジネスに集中するタイプだ」と指摘する。

ただ、これまでの成功者と比べても、鐘氏の実績はめざましい。「１００億ドル規模のビジネスを一つのみならず二つ築いた中国では数少ない人物」「これはすごいこと」（フーゲワーフ氏）

鐘氏の成功は、中国で急速に富が創出されていることを物語る。胡潤百富がまとめた世界長者番付によると、資産額１０億ドル以上の資産家の数では、今年前半の段階ですでに中国が米国とインドの合計を上回っていた。

Translation

Hong Kong (CNN Business) It has been revealed that Zhōng shǎn shǎn, the founder of a Chinese drinking water giant Nongfu Spring, had surpassed Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma to become the richest man in China. This was revealed in the ranking of the richest people compiled by Bloomberg News.

Nongfu Spring was listed on the Hong Kong Exchange this month. At that moment, Mr. Zhong was already the third richest man in China. According to Bloomberg's calculations, Mr. Zhong's net worth reached US $ 58.7 billion (about 6.2 trillion yen) as of the 23rd, surpassing Mr. Ma's US $56.7 billion.

As a result, Mr. Zhong also overtook Mr. Ma Huateng (Pony Ma), the founder of Chinese IT giant Tencent. Unlike Jack Ma and Pony Ma, Zhong was not an IT entrepreneur. Other than Nongfu Spring, he was the head of the Beijing Wantai biopharmaceutical industry, a vaccine maker; and the company's listing in Shanghai this year also boosted Mr. Zhong's assets.

Mr. Zhong was also known for his modest friendships compared to other business owners, and was known as "a lone wolf."

Rupert Hoogewerf, who was running an asset research firm and working the Hurun Rich List had pointed out that "Zhong doesn’t have many entrepreneurial friends. He is the type who only concentrates on business."

However, even compared to the successful people so far, Mr. Zhong's achievements were remarkable. "He is one of the few people in China who has built not one but two $ 10 billion businesses"; "This is amazing." (Mr. Hoogewerf)

Mr. Zhong's success told the story that wealth was being created rapidly in China. According to the World's Billionaires list compiled by Rupert Hoogewerf, in the first half of this year, China already outnumbered the United States and India together in the number of wealthy individuals with assets of more than $ 1 billion.

              Given CCP loves to have a hand in everything, I am wondering, as China is seeing itself as a socialist state in an early stage and is moving towards communism, will it do something on those extremely rich people in their country, for example to share their wealth with the society so that the nation could look more like a egalitarian state.

(Note: Mr. Rupert Hoogewerf is known by the name 胡润 (Hu Run) in the Chinese speaking world. He is a qualified chartered accountant (ICAEW) and has been working for Arthur Andersen before launching his Hurun Report in 1999. He is best known for his Hurun Rich List which gives a ranking on the wealthiest individuals in China.)