Beverage tycoon tops Forbes' China rich list
Beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou regained his position as China’s richest man this year, Forbes magazine said on Friday, but the global economic slump took its toll on other billionaires.
Beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou regained his position as China’s richest man this year, Forbes magazine said on Friday, but the global economic slump took its toll on other billionaires.
Zong, who heads soft-drink producer Wahaha, has a fortune of US$10 billion, according to the magazine’s influential annual ranking of China’s 400 richest people, helping him win back the position he lost last year.
A similar list released last month by the China-based Hurun Report also crowned Zong as China richest, but put his wealth at US$12.6 billion.
Last year’s number one on the list, construction equipment magnate Liang Wengen, slid to sixth place with US$5.9 billion as his Sany company was hit by weak demand for new building projects caused by a slowdown in China’s economy.
Forbes said the number of US dollar billionaires fell to 113 this year from 146 last year, while the wealth of China’s top 100 richest people fell seven per cent to US$220 billion.
“This year we encountered a long period of economic difficulty that’s rarely been seen in the past decade,” editor of Forbes China Zhou Jiangong told a news conference.
“This is a year which saw wealth created by Chinese entrepreneurs shrinking.”