Chinese billionaire has a net worth of $59.5 billion. Zhong Shanshan (aka lone wolf because he rarely makes public appearances and is not involved in politics) is the chairman and founder of Nongfu Spring a bottled water company. He established the bottled water company in 1996. This is great success for someone who dropped out of school at the age of 12 due to the cultural revolution.
Before he founded the bottled water company, he had tried his hand in journalism and selling health supplements. He now draws water from some of China’s most sensitive ecological lakes, springs ad waterfalls.
Zhong Shanshan sells his bottled water to the middle class of China and that is how he makes his billions. China is said to be the world’s largest consumer of bottled water according to Euromonitor International.
In 2019, Nongfu Spring extracted 33 million cubic meters of water which is estimated to be sufficient to fill 13,000 olympic-sized swimming pools from just 10 sources. The company has also diversified into other businesses such as soft drinks, juices and teas.
In 2019, Nongfu Spring expanded their tentacles overseas when they purchased Otakiri Springs in New Zealand. In China the company owns a facility the size of 50 soccer fields by the shores of Xingfeng River.
As at the time of writing this article, Zhong Shanshan was the 17th wealthiest person in the world.
Zhong Shanshan was born in Hangzhou but he dropped out of school during China’s cultural revolution.
Later he worked as a construction worker, beverage salesman and a newspaper reporter.
Zhong Shanshan has controlling shares in Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise which makes rapid diagnostic tests for infectious diseases.
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His son Zhong Shu Zi is the non-executive director of Nongfu Spring.
Very little is known about the lone wolf because he nearly never speaks with the media and no reports of any lavish spending.
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