The Anta billionaire clan in China is donating nearly $1.2 billion in stock shares to a community development foundation.
The Anta billionaire clan is made up of the Ding family, four men who jointly control Anta Sports, one of the largest sportswear businesses in the world. Chairman Ding Shizong, his brother deputy chairman Ding Shijia are the powerhouses at the head of the company. A cousin, Wang Wenmo, and the Ding’s brother-in-law Lai Shixian are both directors and shareholders. Together, the four are worth over $21 billion.
They announced on Monday that they would be donating 84.5 million shares in Anta to a charity. At the time of the announcement, those shares are worth HK$9.26 billion, or nearly $1.2 billion in USD.
The charity in question is the Hemin Foundation, which cooperates with the Ding family. The Ding family has pledged to donate a total of 10 billion yuan, or $1.6 billion to the community via the Hemin Foundation over the next few years. This donation, and the timing of it, is due to a current Chinese government “common prosperity” campaign.
In the past decade, China’s GDP has doubled and then some. In that same time, the collected fortunes of China’s 100 richest have increased six-fold. It’s not only China – the current state of capitalism worldwide has led to the rise of the megawealthy. There are many factors – stagnating wages, increased tolerance of monopolies, the incredible market power of social media – but the result is a broader gap between the rich and poor than has been seen since abolition. And China, despite its status as a communist nation, is no exception.
The “common prosperity” campaign is a government suggestion that China’s billionaires invest in community development, education, and health care to help narrow that wealth gap over time. Other billionaires participating include Tencent, Lei Jun, and Wang Xing.
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