The Hurun Research Institute recently released the 2020 Hurun Global Rich List. The wealth of listed entrepreneurs is calculated as of January 31, 2020. There are 2,816 billionaires globally, an increase of 346 from last year. According to data, China has the most billionaires residing in the country, with 799 (9 of whom are not of Chinese descent). The US follows with 626, and India has risen to third this year. Interestingly, the total number of entrepreneurs in China (first) and the US (second) accounts for more than half of the global total. Moreover, China's total number of entrepreneurs exceeds the combined total of the second and third countries. -01- Industry Rank: Sixth By industry, the top five industries account for half of the billionaires on the list, and the top ten industries account for over 70%. The food and beverage industry ranks sixth among all industries, with the number of listed entrepreneurs this year roughly flat compared to last year, accounting for 7.7% of the total number and 6.8% of total wealth. From the table data, in the global food and beverage industry, Mars' Jacqueline Mars ranks first with 252 billion RMB. Last year, the top spot was held by Ferrero with 255 billion RMB, followed by Mars' Jacqueline Mars with 220 billion RMB. This year, Mars has overtaken to take the top spot. -02- Top Three in China's Food Industry In China's food and beverage sector, Wahaha Group's Zong Qinghou family ranks first with 86 billion RMB, firmly holding the top position in the beverage industry, ranking 135th overall. However, it must be noted that in last year's global rich list, Wahaha ranked 100th globally with 90 billion RMB. This year, its wealth has declined, and it has fallen out of the Top 100. Especially in the 2018 list, Wahaha's wealth was 100 billion RMB. Ranking second domestically is Hua Bin Group's Yan Bin, with 81 billion RMB, ranking second in the food and beverage industry, and 147th overall. His ranking has slipped compared to last year, but his wealth has increased by 1 billion RMB. Haitian Weiye founder Pang Kang ranks third in the food industry with 77 billion RMB, placing 158th overall. Besides Pang Kang, two other shareholders of Haitian Group also made the Hurun Rich List. Among them, the second-largest shareholder Cheng Xue has a fortune of 31 billion RMB, ranking 573rd; another shareholder Li Xuhui has assets of 18 billion RMB, ranking 1146th. It seems that Haitian, even without dominating the edible oil sector, cannot be underestimated. It remains to be seen how far Haitian Weiye can climb after successfully resolving its trademark issues. -03- Dairy Industry Sluggish However, dairy entrepreneurs have performed poorly on the Hurun Rich List. Including Feihe, only three leaders made the list, and their rankings are relatively low. Among them, Pan Gang, Chairman and President of Yili Group, ranks 2401st with 8 billion RMB; Zhang Litian's family of Yashili ranks 2642nd with 7 billion RMB. It is particularly noteworthy that Leng Youbin and his daughter Leng Shuang of China Feihe, the leading domestic infant formula company, made the rich list for the first time with 41 billion RMB. China Feihe only listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November last year. According to the prospectus, Feihe's revenue over the past three years was 3.7 billion, 5.9 billion, and 10.4 billion RMB, with a compound annual growth rate of about 67.05%, making it the first domestic infant formula company to exceed 10 billion RMB in revenue. However, when mentioning Yili, people often compare it with Mengniu. A closer look reveals that Mengniu, a domestic dairy giant, is absent from this list. According to Mengniu's financial report, in the first half of 2019, Mengniu achieved sales revenue of 39.8572 billion RMB, with net profit of 2.0769 billion RMB. Industry analysts say that the listed names are all shareholders of private enterprises. Mengniu is now controlled by COFCO, with major shareholders being three major groups, and the board members are basically professional managers with relatively small personal shareholdings, which is why Mengniu-related individuals are not ranked on the list. -04- In addition to the aforementioned companies, other food companies have also performed commendably. For example, Xu Shihui's family of Dali Foods ranks 200th with 66 billion RMB. This year, the domestic list has also welcomed fresh blood. Dai Wenjun, founder of Juewei Food, one of the "three giants" of braised food, ranks 2307th; Zhou Hei Ya's founders Zhou Fuyu and Tang Jianfang made the list for the first time, ranking 2462nd. The listing of Three Squirrels, the first national snack stock, in 2019 brought Zhang Liaoyuan into the rich list, ranking 1692nd. Looking at the broader food industry, Qin Yinglin and his wife Qian Ying, behind the listed company Muyuan Foods, rank 56th with 133 billion RMB; Zhang Yong and his wife Shu Ping of Haidilao rank 82nd with 112 billion RMB. Conclusion: In the report, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf mentioned that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, online education, online gaming, and healthcare have seen a small boom, while catering, airlines, traditional hotels, and food delivery have been hit.