Zhong Shanshan, the journalist-turned founder of mainland bottled water giant Nongfu Spring (9633) is now the richest man in Asia with a net worth of US$85 billion (HK$663 billion), according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2021.
The list ranked 3228 billionaires from 2402 companies and 68 countries. Wealth calculations are a snapshot of January 15, 2021.
Zhong also places seventh among the billionaires worldwide.
As for the ranking in Greater China, last year's number one, Alibaba (9988) co-founder Jack Ma Yun, dropped out of the top three for the first time in three years, after China's regulators reined in Ant Group and Alibaba on anti-trust issues.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk of Tesla became the richest man in the world for the first time, with a wealth of US$197 billion.
