Vaccine tycoon Shanshan become richest man of China and 2nd richest in Asia

Beijing: Zhong Shanshan’s net worth reached $58.7 billion on Wednesday making him the second richest man in Asia after India’s Mukesh Ambani being the first richest in Asia. He even crossed Jack Ma’s by $2 billionaccording to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zhongs is te bottled-water and vaccine tycoon. He is known as “Lone Wolf” for his politics and clubby business groups, Zhong’s fortune has jumped $51.9 billion in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk. Both suffered heavy declines on Wednesday as tech stocks stumbled and Tesla plunged after its “Battery Day” event fell short of expectations.

The initial public offering of bottled-water company Nongfu Spring Co propelled Zhong to China’s top three richest earlier this month. That came after the April listing of vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. pushed his net worth to $20 billion by early August.

Zhong now leads a wealth ranking in China that is typically dominated by people who made their fortunes from tech companies and 17th richest man on earth. Zhong has surpassed Ma as China’s wealthiest, the tech tycoon might soon regain the top spot, which he’s held for most of the past six years after Alibaba went public in the U.S.