Zong Qinghou, a self-made beverage entrepreneur who was as soon as the richest particular person in China, died on Sunday.
His loss of life 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 corporate 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 overseas enterprise accomplice 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.
However tensions erupted in 2007 when Danone accused Mr. Zong of working secret corporations promoting just about an identical merchandise that siphoned off as a lot as $100 million from the three way partnership.
Mr. Zong struck again, saying that Danone had identified concerning the corporations. Vowing to punish Danone for its “evil deeds,” he rallied public opinion in China in opposition to the overseas 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 next 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 checklist of China’s billionaires.
Survivors embody his spouse, Shi Youzhen, and their daughter, Zong Fuli, (often known as Kelly Zong), who’s the president of the Hangzhou Wahaha Group and Mr. Zong’s successor.
Mr. Zong, who grew up poor, was identified for a spartan life-style. 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 ingesting Lipton tea.
In keeping with various accounts, he was born in October or December of 1945 (his firm could have used a conventional Chinese language technique of counting ages during which an individual is taken into account 1 yr outdated at delivery) in or close to Hangzhou, a metropolis near Shanghai.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. A few decade later, Mr. Zong opened a stall close to a major college, hawking comfortable drinks and iced treats.
Seeing hungry kids cross by prompted him to invent a vitamin drink, which he known as Wahaha Oral Liquid. “It solved the issue of children who didn’t need to eat and suffered from malnutrition,” he stated in a BBC interview.
The Hangzhou Wahaha Group — “Wahaha” interprets loosely to “laughing youngster”— was born quickly afterward, promoting bottled water, comfortable drinks and teas. It later expanded into toddler formulation and kids’s clothes.
In 1996, it teamed up with Danone, the French meals firm greatest identified for its yogurt, forming the Wahaha Joint Enterprise Firm. Promoting 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 enterprise practices and slandering his household. Wahaha officers staged rallies and held information conferences denouncing Danone officers as “rascals.”
Danone ended up promoting its stake for about $500 million, far lower than analysts believed it was value.
The breakup despatched a frisson of worry by means of multinationals, significantly in sectors like automotive manufacturing, during which the Chinese language authorities required joint ventures and restricted overseas corporations’ stakes to 50 p.c.
However it proved extra an remoted episode than a bellwether, and on reflection, a mere blemish in an in any other case halcyon period. Lately, multinationals have encountered different, far tougher obstacles.
Rising geopolitical tensions have led to waves of sanctions between China and the US. Practically three years of “Covid zero” lockdowns and different measures badly harm manufacturing and gross sales for a lot of corporations. And China’s state safety companies have turn into faster to close down overseas companies that concern them, significantly due-diligence companies.
“It was a high-profile case that obtained folks’s consideration,” Ker Gibbs, a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, stated of the Danone episode. “However wanting again on it now, it’s clear that the general surroundings at that interval in time was fairly steady and pleasant to overseas companies.”
