Chagee shares rose 16% to close at US$32.44, giving Zhang a net worth of US$2.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is valuing his wealth for the first time. His fortune is solely derived from his stake in Chagee.
A 30-year-old Chinese entrepreneur has become an unlikely billionaire with the listing of his sprawling tea shop chain in the US, even as tensions between the two nations stoke an economic decoupling and market volatility.
With the US IPO market at a near standstill and some analysts questioning whether Chinese stocks will be booted from American exchanges, Junjie Zhang’s Chagee Holdings Ltd. is set to list on the Nasdaq on Thursday. The initial public offering raised US$411 million ($538.84 billion) and priced at the top end of the range.
