Explainer | Why family feud at Wahaha is no laughing matter for China businesses
At stake is succession planning at Wahaha, China’s biggest privately owned soft drink bottler with US$7.2 billion of sales in 2022
Three plaintiffs claiming to be his children sued chairwoman and CEO Kelly Zong Fuli in Hong Kong and Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, demanding her to honour the late founder’s will, which promised them trusts valued at US$700 million each. Until the lawsuit, Kelly, 43, was publicly known as the billionaire’s only child.
The feud will get a fresh twist at 4pm local time on August 1, when the lawsuit by Jacky Zong Jicang, Jessie Zong Jiele and Jerry Zong Jisheng comes before the High Court in Hong Kong for a decision.
Here’s why the family feud at Wahaha – a name that resembles the sound of laughter in Chinese – was in the spotlight and how it could affect privately-owned Chinese businesses and the nation’s economy.
How did founder Zong’s rags-to-riches tale inspire Chinese people?
Zong was born in 1945 and had to drop out of school because his family was poor. He worked in a salt processing firm, before becoming a school teacher in Hangzhou in 1979. He started a milk business in 1987 with two retired teachers with the help of a 140,000 yuan (US$19,488) bank loan.