Jack Ma is no longer the richest Chinese, he was overtaken by Shanshan

The founder of the Chinese online store Alibaba Jack Ma is no longer the richest man in the country. In the ranking compiled by Hurun magazine every year, he was replaced by Chung Shanshan in the first place. Sixty-six-year-old Zhong Shanshan, who operates mainly in the field of bottled water and owns the Nongfu brand, for example, jumped two places last year. From the third straight to the first, said the magazine's founder Richard Hoogewerf at an online event.

Minerals and the pharmaceutical business

He overtook not only Jack Ma, but also Ma Hua-cheng or Pony Ma, the owner of Tencent, the owner of the WeChat application. The primacy of Zhong Shanshan, which is relatively unknown even in China, is remarkable, Hoogewerf said. In addition to its Nonfu Spring mineral water empire, Zhong Shanshan also built the Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy. The value of his assets increased when both companies went public this year. The success of the pharmaceutical company Wantaia, supported by hopes for the development of a vaccine against the new coronavirus, also contributed to this. Zhong Shanshan's assets are estimated at more than 80 billion euros, while the pharmaceutical company has a value of more than 8 billion euros. Nonfu Spring is based in Hangzhou, East China, as well as Alibaba, the world's largest online trading platform.

Alibaba under pressure

However, Alibaba and its boss are under pressure after Jack Ma criticized China's regulatory system last year. In early November, therefore, the Chinese authorities stopped the planned initial public offering (IPO) of the financial group Ant, the daughter of the online giant Alibaba. The authorities are now working to restructure the online retailer and regulate it more strictly. As a result, the value of Alibaba shares decreased and, along with the shares, Jack Ma's assets decreased.