China's Richest Man Wants to Go Shopping

Zong Qinghou, with a fortune estimated to be at least $8 billion, has a reputation as a bit of a cheapskate. The soda and juice magnate says his personal spending averages just $20 a day. He doesn’t gamble, drink, or play golf. He eats his meals at the company canteen. Zong’s frugality is mirrored in how he runs Hangzhou Wahaha Group, the third-largest soft-drink company in China. Its headquarters for more than two decades has been in a six-floor building next to a railway station in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Former Wahaha marketing director Shang Yang says he remembers Zong, a Communist Party member, personally reviewing every expense, including the purchase of a broom. Explains Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group: “One of the reasons he’s been so successful is he keeps costs down.”

Zong, 65, says he’s now ready to start spending. Privately held Wahaha has accumulated $2 billion that Zong plans to use to expand the company. He wants to build 100 department stores as well as supermarkets. The company Zong started with a 140,000 yuan ($21,300) loan in 1987 aims to boost sales 27 percent this year, to 70 billion yuan, he says. “I want Wahaha to be among the world’s top 500 companies within five years,” says Zong, a delegate to China’s Parliament, whose ranking shot up from No. 63 on ‘ list of richest Chinese in 2007 to the top slot last year.