The founder of Alibaba and Ant Group, Jack Ma, after conflicts with the Chinese authorities, lost his status as the richest man in the PRC. Despite the fact that the fortune of Jack Ma and his family grew by 22% to $56 billion, he was in fourth place.
This was reported by Reuters. This data is also confirmed by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
True, the information about the size of Jack Ma’s fortune from Bloomberg is different — $51.9 billion.
As Reuters analysts explain, while Jack Ma was struggling with the restrictions of Chinese financial regulators, the billionaire competitors were simply building up their fortunes.
Now the richest in China is Zhong Shanshan with a fortune of $85 billion (according to Reuters) or $77.5 billion (according to Bloomberg).
He is the owner of Nongfu Spring, the largest bottled water manufacturer in China. And in 2020, unlike Jack Ma, he managed to hold an IPO of his company.
Recall that Jack Ma’s scandalous speech in Shanghai in the fall, which many praised for courage, disrupted Ant Group’s initial public offering. Then Ma said that state banks and regulators have a “pawnshop mentality” and they hinder innovation.
This IPO was planned to be the largest in the world. Rumor has it that Chinese President Xi Jinping himself could have initiated the cancellation. After that, an antitrust investigation was launched against Alibaba.
