China's bottled water king Zhong Shanshan surpasses Buffett as world's 6th richest

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, China's bottled water king Zhong Shanshan is now the sixth richest person in the world, thanks to an 18% jump in the price of Nongfu Spring shares since the beginning of 2021. This is the second time that a mainland Chinese tycoon has made the list of the world's 10 richest people.

Zhong Shanshan, 66, is a Chinese billionaire businessman, who founded and chairs Nongfu Spring Co., the largest beverage company in China. He is also the owner of the Chinese pharma giant Beijing Wantai Biological.

Since Nongfu Spring's IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September last year, its share price has rocketed by more than 1.8 times, pushing Zhong's net worth to around US$91.7 billion (HK$700 billion).

In December 2020, Zhong unseated India's Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani to be Asia's richest person. As the world enters 2021, Zhong overtook Warren Buffett to become the world's sixth richest man.

Zhong's sixth ranking is also the highest for Asians since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index first published in 2012.