Zong Qinghou Biography
Zong Qinghou is a Chinese billionaire businessman and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, China’s largest beverage firm. In 1987, he founded Hangzhou Wahaha as a store at an Hangzhou children’s school.
How old is Zong Qinghou? – Age
He is 77 years old as of 16 November 2022. He was born in 1945 in Hangzhou, China.
Zong Qinghou Family
Zong is a Zhejiang native. After finishing high school, Zong went to work at the Zhoushan salt farm. His mother, a teacher, retired in 1979, and he returned home. He eventually returned to Hangzhou, but due to his lack of education, he was only able to find menial work at a local school. In 1987, he targeted a milk-selling mini-grocery in a school in Hangzhou’s Shangcheng District. Zong founded the Wahaha business, which supplied carbonated soft drinks, ice, and stationery.
Zong Qinghou Wife
He is married to Shi Youzhen (施幼珍), with whom he has one daughter, Fuli (Kelly) Zong (施幼珍). Zong used to have permanent resident status in the United States.
Zong Qinghou Daughter
His daughter Kelly Zong was born on 15 January 1982 in Hangzhou, China. His daughter studied at Pepperdine University in Southern California and became a naturalized American citizen, but she eventually returned to China and began the process of renunciation of her American citizenship in 2007.
Zong Qinghou Career
By emphasizing his ties to Danone, he was able to gain independence from an early government partner. He grew Wahaha into the largest beverage company in the People’s Republic of China with his dictatorial manner and workaholic mentality. The WHH-Groupe Danone joint venture entailed a US$70 million inward investment in five joint venture companies in exchange for 51 percent Groupe Danone ownership in each company. The JVs were granted exclusive rights to produce, distribute, and sell Wahaha-branded items under the trademark agreement inked on February 29, 1996. By 2007, collaboration has grown to 39 joint venture companies.
The relationship deteriorated in 2007. Danone accused Wahaha of “secretly creating a set of parallel enterprises with practically similar products that replicated the joint venture’s operations and sucked off as much as $100 million from the partnership.” The partnership between Danone and Wahaha was dissolved when a settlement was made. On June 5, 2007, Zong resigned as Chairman of the Joint Ventures.
Zong was ranked China’s richest man by Forbes in 2010. According to the China Rich List released by Hurun Report, he was China’s richest man in 2012 and second-richest in 2013. Since 2002, Zong has been a delegate to the Chinese National People’s Congress. In 2007, he was re-elected.
Zong Qinghou Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of US$8.7 billion.