China’s Richest Man Risks Losing Crown After $13-B Wipeout

China’s richest man is at risk of losing the pole position he’s held for almost three years, with his wealth slipping the most among billionaires worldwide as intensifying competition and public relations challenges plague his bottled water giant.

Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Hangzhou-based Nongfu Spring Co., has lost $13 billion so far in 2024. I Photo and Illustration: danor shtruzman Flickr

Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Hangzhou-based Nongfu Spring Co., has lost $13 billion so far in 2024, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a fortune of $54.8 billion as of Monday.

That keeps him a whisker above Colin Huang, founder of online shopping platform PDD Holdings Inc.

Huang’s fortune stands at $47.3 billion. China’s consumer sector is increasingly complex for businesses to navigate, as the economy slows and competition intensifies.

Besieged by a price war in its core bottled water space, Hong Kong-listed Nongfu has also found itself on the wrong side of growing nationalistic and health-conscious sentiment among Chinese consumers in recent months.

This has led to an almost 20% plunge in its share price since Feb. 1, compared to a roughly 6% rise for PDD, with its dirt-cheap products and aggressive deals.

Zhong’s fortune is derived from stakes in the beverage company and pharmaceutical business Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. Earlier this year, the company—and Zhong himself—were barraged by criticism after the February death of Zong Qinghou, founder of key rival Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co.

Online sympathy after his passing morphed into a takedown of Nongfu, with some comments deriding its bottled water packaging as looking Japanese in design, and others recapping what they alleged were tricks Nongfu had used to gain an advantage over Wahaha.

Users alleged that Zhong’s son holds a U.S. passport and questioned the family’s allegiance to China. In a blow to Nongfu, Wahaha sales spiked.