Zong Qinghou established Wahaha in 1987 (File)
Beijing:
Chinese business tycoon Zong Qinghou, whose leading beverage company made him China’s richest man, died on Sunday, his company said. He is 79 years old.
Zong Qinghou is the founder of Wahaha Group, which specializes in bottled water, soft drinks, tea and other products.
He died on Sunday morning due to “disease treatment that was ineffective,” the company said in an obituary posted on its Weibo social media account.
A memorial service for Zong will be held on Wednesday at the company’s offices in the eastern city of Hangzhou, the statement said.
State media reported this week that Zong was being treated in hospital but gave no details of his condition.
Zong Qinghou didn’t start a business selling soft drinks to children until he was in his forties, and was reportedly short of money and slept under a bridge in Beijing because he couldn’t afford a hotel.
He founded Wahaha in 1987 and built it into a beverage giant whose drinks became a must-have in stores and kiosks across China.
In 2010, Zong Qinghou was listed as the richest man in China by Forbes magazine with a fortune of US$8 billion.
He ranked 53rd in the country with a net worth of $5.9 billion, according to last year’s estimates.
The tycoon has previously expressed support for tax cuts as a strategy to boost investment, telling reporters in 2013 that rising wealth inequality in China was not a problem.
“If we have egalitarianism… we won’t have enough food,” Zong said at the time. “It’s better to encourage people to create wealth.”
In recent years, Wahaha (its Chinese name means “laughing child”) has branched into areas including baby milk powder and clothing.
In 2021, Zong Qinghou retired from front-line work and appointed his daughter Zong Fuli as the vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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