Many of nation's wealthiest suffer due to economic slowdown: Forbes
Slower economic growth took its toll on many of China's 100 biggest fortunes, according to the 2012 Forbes China Rich List, with 45 of them slipping from last year's count and their total assets dropping 7 percent to $220 billion.
Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of the beverage producer Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co Ltd, who topped the list in 2010, regained his title as the richest businessmen in China, with a net worth of nearly $10 billion, according to the list.
With an 80 percent share in Wahaha, Forbes said Zong's fortune exceeded 60 billion yuan ($9.57 billion), over 2 billion yuan more than last year.
Wang Jianlin, chairman and president of Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd, was the fastest riser in the past year, seeing his wealth jump from 25.6 billion yuan to 50.4 billion yuan, making up the top three with Zong and Robin Li from China's search engine company Baidu.
The Forbes list comes a fortnight after Zong, 67, topped the Hurun Rich List 2012, which estimated his fortune at $12.6 billion, the second time he has topped the list produced by the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute.
Russell Flannery, a senior editor at Forbes and chief of its Shanghai Bureau, said: "Wang outperformed with his greatest success entering the entertainment industry with the announcement of a $2.6 billion acquisition of US cinema chain AMC Entertainment."
The Forbes list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and China's regulatory agencies.
Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of Sept 21. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.
Compared to Zong and Wang, others in the demanding consumer sector did not fare as well, however.
Zhang Jindong, the chairman of Suning Appliance Co Ltd, saw a drop in his value of $2.4 billion, even as he opened up a commanding market lead over longtime rival Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd, owned by Huang Guangyu who suffered a $2 billion drop in value and who still sits in jail for financial crimes.
Qiu Guanghe of the fashion chain Zhejiang Semir Group shed $2.8 billion and fell to 37th.
"Most of the businesses related to the consumer and retail sectors are suffering in these tough times by making less profits and experiencing some financial problems," said Flannery. He added that the total number of billionaires in China fell from 146 last year to 113 this year, caused by the economic slowdown.
Several property tycoons also suffered, with last year's list leader Liang Wengen seeing his worth drop $3.4 billion as demand slowed for the building materials produced by Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd, which he chairs.
The real estate sector as a whole also saw several casualties within the list, as property deals cooled and developers saw projects shelved and prices slow.
"All those ups and downs of rich people in China in different industries lead to the conclusion that the slowdown of China's economy has brought uncertainty to local private enterprises," said Zhou Jiangong, chief editor of Forbes Chinese edition.
中国多名富豪受到了经济增长减速的影响
根据2012福布斯中国富豪排行榜的数据显示，经济增长的减速使中国富豪榜的前100名富豪得许多人遭受了损失，他们中的45名的资产与去年相比出现了下降，他们的总资产缩水7%，到了2200亿美元。
杭州娃哈哈集团的创始人及总裁宗庆后继2010荣登榜首后今年又以100亿美元的净资产问鼎中国首富。
根据胡润富豪榜公布的数据，由于宗庆后在娃哈哈集团持有80%的股份，福布斯称宗庆后的财富超过了600亿元人民币（约合97.5亿美元），相比去年增加了20亿元。
大连万达集团的总裁王健林成为去年财富增长最快的富豪，他的财富从256亿元增加到504亿元，这使得他与宗庆后和中国搜索引擎公司百度的总裁李彦宏荣列榜首前三。
在67岁的宗庆后问鼎2012胡润富豪榜的两个星期后，福布斯富豪榜出台了。根据胡润富豪榜的估计宗庆后的财富为126亿美元，这也是他第二次荣登上海胡润研究中心发布的胡润富豪榜的榜首。
福布斯研究中心的资深编辑和上海办事处的主任罗素·弗莱内若称：“王健林的成功主要是他在娱乐行业的投资取得的巨大成功，他以26亿美元收购了美国电影娱乐连锁公司”。
福布斯富豪榜的编辑使用的是家庭与个人的持股和财务信息以及来自与股票交易所，分析师和中国的一些监管机构的数据。
上市公司的财产则是基于9月21日的股票价格和汇率计算的。私营公司则是基于类似的上市公司进行估值的。
然而与宗庆后和王健林相比，其他的企业家们在高端消费领域的表现欠佳。
苏宁电器的总裁张近东即使在长期主导其竞争对手国美电器市场的情况下其资产还是缩水了24亿美元，黄光裕拥有的国美电器资产缩水了20亿美元，他本人则仍在服刑期间。
浙江森马服饰连锁集团的总裁邱光和的财富缩水28亿美元跌至排行榜37位。
弗莱内若称：“大多数与消费零售领域有关的企业都面临着盈利减少和资金周转困难等问题”。他还补充说由于受到经济增长减速的影响，中国亿万富翁的总数从去年的146名减少到今年的113名。
一些产业大亨也受到了影响，由于建筑材料的需求减少，去年名列榜首的梁稳根的三一集团资产缩减了34亿美元。
由于房市低迷，房地产项目被搁置以及房价的影响，房地产行业在今年的榜单上表现不佳。
福布斯中国版的首席编辑周建功表示：”这些中国各个行业的富豪们的起起落落都显示出中国经济的减速给本国的私营企业的发展带来了不确定性“
译言网
2012-10-14
译言网
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