On August 27th, in a written statement, the Chinese beverage giant Wahaha Group responded systematically for the first time to the ongoing equity dispute that has been attracting public attention since the death of its founder, Zong Qinghou, over a year ago. As Zong Qinghou’s daughter Zong Fuli officially took over as chairman of Wahaha on the first anniversary of his passing, Wahaha and Zong Fuli addressed the questions from the public.
According to the latest industrial and commercial registration information, Wahaha Group’s current equity structure shows a tripartite pattern: Hangzhou Shangcheng District Wenshang Travel Investment Holdings Group (state-owned) holds 46% of the shares, Zong Fuli holds 29.4% personally, and the staff shareholding association has 24.6%.
Regarding the controversial issue of the actual control of the staff shareholding association, Wahaha disclosed for the first time that currently, the staff shareholding association has only one actual member, Zong Fuli. The group explained that in a large-scale equity restructuring led by Zong Qinghou personally in 2018, all employee shares were repurchased in full by the staff shareholding association at three times the market price, transforming the original shareholders into “dry stock” holders, who no longer have actual equity but can still receive corresponding bonus income.
Wahaha emphasized that Zong Fuli’s inheritance of the 29.4% equity directly held by Zong Qinghou went through a completely legal and compliant process, with relevant wills formally confirmed by notary institutions and all business registration procedures completed.
In an article dated August 27th, Zong Fuli, the chairman of Wahaha, outlined her personal management philosophy in an interview for the first time. She expressed her disagreement with the notion of the “Zong Fuli era” suggested by outsiders but admitted that she would actively promote decision-making mechanisms and team-building schemes that align with the company’s reality.
Data shows that Wahaha returned to a business scale of 70 billion yuan in 2024. Zong Fuli acknowledged that her father’s passing brought unprecedented attention to Wahaha from various sectors of society and anticipated that this year’s performance might not reach the level of the previous year. She clarified specifically that considering Hongsheng Beverage Group and Wahaha Group as in a competitive relationship was a complete misunderstanding by the public.
Regarding the previous cross-border lawsuits, Wahaha responded by stating that the lawsuits filed by Du Jianying and others in the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court did not directly involve the ownership of Wahaha Group’s equity and believed that the court would make a fair and reasonable judicial judgment on the legality and validity of relevant evidential documents.
In July this year, three individuals claiming to have a “half-sibling” blood relationship with Zong Fuli separately filed lawsuits against her in the High Court of Hong Kong and the Intermediate People’s Court of Hangzhou, vying for control of offshore trust assets worth up to $2.1 billion. The complicated internal family relationship network of the Zong family has been fully exposed. In response to this major inheritance dispute, the Financial Bureau of Shangcheng District, Hangzhou City, specially established a task force to coordinate and handle the related dispute events. “Half-sibling” here refers to Du Jianying.
On August 1st, the High Court of Hong Kong approved an order prohibiting Zong Fuli from using the trust funds of 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars in her account and also required her to provide information on related transactions and current balances.
Bloomberg reported on August 19th citing sources familiar with the matter that Zong Fuli, embroiled in a family inheritance dispute, is seeking to appeal against the two court orders against her.
According to reports from Phoenix News based on information from various sources, besides the publicly acknowledged daughter Zong Fuli, Zong Qinghou also had three children with Du Jianying, a senior executive of the Wahaha Group: Zong Jichang (born in 1996), Zong Jielie (born in 1998), and Zong Jisheng. Zong Qinghou’s marriage with Zong Fuli’s mother Shi Youzhen officially ended around 2000, and they later divorced around 2005. Following this, Zong Qinghou and Du Jianying registered for marriage, but their relationship also ended in divorce.
With the continuous exposure of these sensitive information, Zong Qinghou’s previously carefully crafted image as a modest national entrepreneur with “one wife, one daughter, and one cloth shoes” by official media has faced serious scrutiny. His complex family relationship network and overseas asset allocation strategies have gradually come to light, adding more uncertainty variables to this transnational family property dispute.
After Zong Qinghou’s passing, some retired and resigned employees strongly questioned the legality of the 2018 signed equity repurchase agreements and formally brought lawsuits to the court. However, the trial process of the case took an unusually convoluted path, attracting widespread attention.
Wahaha’s legal department revealed that the Shangcheng District Court handled the filing process for this case slowly, as only in April 2025 did they formally deliver the lawsuit materials to all relevant parties. After the pre-trial conference on June 13th, the court refused to give a clear response on the formal scheduling of the trial date, and the case might face the risk of exceeding the statutory six-month trial limit.
Wahaha expressed that the ongoing online public opinion had substantially damaged the corporate brand reputation and strongly urged the court to expedite the trial process to eliminate adverse social impacts as soon as possible.
Due to the fact that the litigation case has not yet reached a final conclusion, the industrial and commercial registration process of the staff shareholding association has been temporarily suspended, adding uncertainty factors to future equity structure adjustments for Wahaha.