Zhang Jindong (; born March 1963) is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur. He is one of the founders and the current honorary chairman of the

Suning.com Suning.com Co., Ltd. formerly Suning Commerce Group Co., Ltd. is one of the largest non-government retailers in China, headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Suning has more than 10,000 stores nationwide and its e-commerce platform, ''Suni ...

, headquartered in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

. He also owned 100% stake in

Suning Holdings Group Suning Holdings Group Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese privately held company. The company shared the same founder Zhang Jindong with the listed company Suning.com, but Suning Holdings was the unlisted portion of Zhang's unincorporated Suning Group. Acc ...

, 65% stake in

Suning Real Estate Suning Real Estate () is a Chinese real estate company. It was privately held by the founder of Suning.com, Zhang Jindong, for 65% stake. Suning Plaza, Zhenjiang and Nanjing Olympic Suning Tower were under construction by the company. Suning ...

as well as 48.1% stake in

Suning Appliance Group Suning Appliance Group Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese holding company that is the third largest shareholder of Suning Appliance (also known as Suning Domestic Appliance in 1996, Suning Appliance Chain Store (Group) in 2001, Suning Commerce Group from ...

as the second largest shareholder. His company also holds the majority of shares of Italian football club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

. He was also the managing director and general manager of Suning Holdings Group, chairman of Suning.com.

Biography

Zhang Jindong was born in Tianchang,

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

in 1963. He graduated from Chinese department at

Nanjing Normal University Nanjing Normal University (NNU or NJNU; ) is a public research university in Nanjing, China. Founded in 1902 as Sanjiang Normal School, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious higher normal schools in China, and has become a research-intensi ...

. Zhang Jindong together with his older brother Zhang Guiping () opened a shop on Ninghai Road () corner Jiangsu Road in Nanjing, selling

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

and related products in 1990. The brand Suning came from choosing one word each from Jiang-su and Ning-hai; the roads themselves were named after the city and province of the same name. Later Zhang Guiping exited the business and shifted into real estate, now known as Suning Universal. Zhang Jindong did however, also start his own real estate company

some time later. Zhang Jindong further developed his small shop into a business group, the Suning Group, within 15 years. He also founded and co-founded

and

respectively, as unlisted portions of his collection of businesses, leaving

(was known as Suning Commerce Group and other names) as the only listing company. In 2013's Hurun Report's China Rich List, Zhang was ranked No.9 with $6.4 billion. Zhang Jindong was ranked 28th in 2015 Forbes's China Rich List. He was also elected to the National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

, a senior governmental body. He was a member of the Provincial People's Congress, but not a member of the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

. On June 6, 2016, Zhang Jindong, via his own private holding company

, signed a contract to purchase the majority stake in Italian football club

, by purchasing existing shares and through recapitalization. The deal was approved by the

extraordinary general meeting An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wou ...

on June 28, 2016, which after the deal, Suning Holdings Group owned 68.55% shares. In July 2021, Zhang Jindong stepped down as

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

, in which he holds the role of honorary chairman. ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth to be around US$7.4 billion in 2021.

Personal life

His son

Zhang Kangyang Zhang Kangyang or Steven Zhang (; born 21 December 1991) is a Chinese businessman and chairman of the Italian football club Inter Milan. Biography Born in Nanjing, Zhang is the son of Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong, founder and chairman of t ...

(Steven) owns a 10% stake in

, one of his privately held companies. Suning Holdings Group acquired a majority stake of

football club in 2016. After the acquisition, his son Steven became a member of Inter's board of directors and since 2018, its chairman. Jindong is not a member of the board himself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Jindong 1963 births Living people Chinese billionaires People's Republic of China politicians from Anhui Businesspeople from Anhui Nanjing Normal University alumni Politicians from Chuzhou Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Inter Milan chairmen and investors Chinese football chairmen and investors Businesspeople in electronics