The richest man in China is the same one who has in his pocket, among other things, the TV rights of our Serie A football. His name is Wang Jianlin, is 61 years old and is a former colonel leading the group Dalian Wanda, a global giant active in the construction, tourism and entertainment sectors. With his 42,6 billion dollars, Wang has ousted from the first step of the podium Li Ka-Shing (head of Cheung Kong Holdings, which controls companies such as Hutchison Whampoa), now second with 32,8 billion dollars.
The research institute that compiled the ranking (Hurun Research Institute) identified 1.577 Chinese with a wealth of at least 2 billion yuan (320 million dollars). “For every billionaire identified, in our opinion there are at least two more – commented Rupert Hoogewerf, president and chief researcher of Hurun Report -. We therefore estimate that there are at least 5 super-rich Chinese”.
Wang managed to earn the gold medal thanks to the IPOs of his real estate and film companies. This year, his group bought the Swiss Infront, a company that manages the TV rights of Serie A and many other football leagues, for one billion euros. In the past it was said that he was interested in buying Milan, but then he preferred to buy 20% of Atletico Madrid.
In 2013, the Wanda Group recorded a net profit of more than 22 billion yuan. It owns 300 theme parks in China and 59 more are under construction. Wang made his fortune building shopping malls: today the group's real estate division owns 159 shopping malls and 71 luxury hotels. As part of the $3,7 billion IPO, Wanda Commercial Properties was valued at $28 billion, making it the second largest commercial construction group globally.
