Zong Qinghou, a self-made beverage entrepreneur who was as soon as the richest individual in China, died on Sunday.
His demise was introduced by his firm, Wahaha Group, which stated that Mr. Zong had died from an unspecified sickness and gave his age as 79. The firm assertion supplied no additional particulars.
Mr. Zong’s rags-to-riches story had made him distinguished in China even earlier than a public feud together with his international business associate significantly raised his profile — and his wealth. He based a beverage firm within the Nineteen Eighties, and within the Nineteen Nineties, he partnered with Danone, the French meals big, to launch one of many best-known meals and beverage manufacturers in China.
But tensions erupted in 2007 when Danone accused Mr. Zong of operating secret firms promoting just about similar merchandise that siphoned off as a lot as $100 million from the three way partnership.
Mr. Zong struck again, saying that Danone had recognized in regards to the firms. Vowing to punish Danone for its “evil deeds,” he rallied public opinion in China towards the international firm.
The dispute grew so acrimonious that France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, raised the matter in a gathering with China’s chief, Hu Jintao. In 2009, Danone offered its 51 p.c stake, giving Mr. Zong’s firm full management.
The following yr, Forbes named Mr. Zong the richest man in China, with a fortune of $8 billion. He achieved the excellence once more in 2012, with $10 billion. Forbes estimated that his wealth has since sunk to $5.9 billion, inserting him at No. 53 on final yr’s listing of China’s billionaires.
Survivors embody his spouse, Shi Youzhen, and their daughter, Zong Fuli, (also called Kelly Zong), who’s the president of the Hangzhou Wahaha Group and Mr. Zong’s successor.
Mr. Zong, who grew up poor, was recognized for a spartan way of life. In interviews, he stated he arrived at firm headquarters earlier than 7 a.m. and labored till 11 p.m. He stated he had no hobbies — past smoking and consuming Lipton tea.
According to various accounts, he was born in October or December of 1945 (his firm might have used a conventional Chinese methodology of counting ages through which an individual is taken into account 1 yr outdated at start) in or close to Hangzhou, a metropolis near Shanghai. He was amongst many youths despatched to the countryside throughout the Cultural Revolution, and spent years working at a farming commune.
He grew to become a touring salesman in 1978, the identical yr the nation’s new chief, Deng Xiaoping, started ushering in an period of capitalism. About a decade later, Mr. Zong opened a stall close to a main college, hawking delicate drinks and iced treats.
Seeing hungry youngsters move by prompted him to invent a vitamin drink, which he referred to as Wahaha Oral Liquid. “It solved the problem of kids who didn’t want to eat and suffered from malnutrition,” he stated in a BBC interview.
The Hangzhou Wahaha Group — “Wahaha” interprets loosely to “laughing child”— was born quickly afterward, promoting bottled water, delicate drinks and teas. It later expanded into toddler system and youngsters’s clothes.
In 1996, it teamed up with Danone, the French meals firm greatest recognized for its yogurt, forming the Wahaha Joint Venture Company. Selling yogurt drinks, carbonated drinks and meals merchandise, it had amassed 15 p.c of China’s beverage market by 2012, trailing solely Coca-Cola and Tingyi Holdings.
After Danone accused Mr. Zong of misconduct, he fought again with an open letter, accusing Danone of spreading lies about his firm’s business practices and slandering his household. Wahaha officers staged rallies and held news conferences denouncing Danone officers as “rascals.”
Danone ended up promoting its stake for about $500 million, far lower than analysts believed it was price.
The breakup despatched a frisson of worry by multinationals, significantly in sectors like automotive manufacturing, through which the Chinese authorities required joint ventures and restricted international firms’ stakes to 50 p.c.
But it proved extra an remoted episode than a bellwether, and on reflection, a mere blemish in an in any other case halcyon period. In latest years, multinationals have encountered different, far more difficult obstacles.
Rising geopolitical tensions have led to waves of sanctions between China and the United States. Nearly three years of “Covid zero” lockdowns and different measures badly harm manufacturing and gross sales for a lot of firms. And China’s state safety businesses have change into faster to close down international companies that concern them, significantly due-diligence companies.
“It was a high-profile case that got people’s attention,” Ker Gibbs, a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, stated of the Danone episode. “But looking back on it now, it’s clear that the overall environment at that period in time was quite stable and friendly to foreign businesses.”
Source: www.nytimes.com