Mukesh Ambani no longer Asia's richest man, replaced by Chinese billionaire Zhong Shanshan

Zhong Shanshan, a Chinese billionaire, has replaced Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani as Asia's richest person. Shanshan is the owner of the Chinese pharma giant 'Wantai' and also the founder of Nongfu Spring, the largest beverage company in China.

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This year the net worth of Zhong has surged from $70.9 billion to $77.8 billion, that makes him the 11th richest man on Earth. As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Chinese billionaire, 66, is also locally known as the "Lone Wolf" as he isn't involved in politics and his business interests aren't interlinked with any other rich families or the property tycoons. Earlier he has worked as a construction worker, mushroom farmer, a newspaper reporter, drugmaker and a beverage sales agent before starting his own business. He also dropped out of primary school. 

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In April 2020, Zhong took Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise public. Further, Nongfu Spring was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange which made the company's shares jump 155% and it became an instant hit in September this year.  

Ambani's RIL signed 18 deals this year

India's Mukesh Ambani also had an extraordinary year. COVID-19's impact on the economy didn't stop Ambani from signing multi-billion dollar deals for his company - primarily for Reliance Jio (Jio Projects) and Reliance Retail. This year during lockdown Reliance Industries has signed 18 deals worth a total of Rs 1,90,438 crore. 

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The RIL Chairman, 63, who rose to the fourth spot on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index at the beginning of this year is now pushed to the 12th spot. His net worth came down from $90 billion to $76.9 billion after having witnessed a remarkable rise from $18 billion. Jack Ma, Asia's richest person before Ambani overtook him earlier this year has seen his net worth come down from $61.7 billion to $51.2 billion in October. 

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