Zong Qinghou's interest in Milan Soccer Team
Lifestyle

Zong Qinghou's interest in Milan Soccer Team

A short profile of the Chinese King of soft drinks who wants to invest in Italy

Zong Qinghou - the king of Chinese soft drinks and the richest man of China until a couple of years ago - is now looking at Milan soccer team.

Eminent newspapers (Corriere della Sera, Hong Kong Next Media group) assume he is the most probable candidate to take a majority share of the society. Qinghou has a very humble background. In fact, fortune smiled at him after 1987 when he started to sell ice creams and drinks in schools. Two years later, he founded the company that became the basis of his empire, i.e. Wahaha.

Heavy smoker, he stands as a very bold man who says what he thinks without any filters. He shocked everybody when he openly declared he had snubbed Queen Elizabeth's and David Cameron's invitations for lunch because it would not have been worthy to fly for more than 10 hours "merely for eating". Moreover, Qinghou does not love to be at the centre of attention but if he has something to debate he would certainly argue for his cause. In August 2014, during a summit of economists and entrepreneurs, he declared that 20% of companies need to pay 90% of total tax amount and "if the nation is rich but the people are poor, the country will never be strong nor the society be stable".

Nonetheless, not everyone appreciates his ideas. In September 2013, a 49-years old man (unemployed) stabbed him outside his house. Surprisingly, it was not serious and his aggressor was immediately arrested.

With regard to his relationship with Italy, he clearly stated that he is interested in good-quality products having affordable prices. He is interested in "medium quality goods" since the top-quality ones have already entered the Italian market. Finally, it is curious to learn that he has a terrible idea of e-commerce, which he considers as an effective way to get rid of poor-quality goods.

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Claudia Astarita

Amo l'Asia in (quasi) tutte le sue sfaccettature, ecco perché cerco di trascorrerci più tempo possibile. Dopo aver lavorato per anni come ricercatrice a New Delhi e Hong Kong, per qualche anno osserverò l'Oriente dalla quella che è considerata essere la città più vivibile del mondo: Melbourne. Insegno Culture and Business Practice in Asia ad RMIT University,  Asia and the World a The University of Melbourne e mi occupo di India per il Centro Militare di Studi Strategici di Roma. Su Twitter mi trovate a @castaritaHK, via email a astarita@graduate.hku.hk

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