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. Suning has more than 10,000 stores nationwide and its e-commerce platform, ''Suning ...

, headquartered in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. 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. Ac ...

, 65% stake in Suning Real Estate as well as 48.1% stake in Suning Appliance Group as the second largest shareholder. His company also was the majority owner 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 Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

until May 2024. 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 is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...

in 1963. He graduated from Chinese department at

Nanjing Normal University Nanjing Normal University (NJNU; zh, p=Nánjīng Shīfàn Dàxué, c=, s=南京师范大学) is a provincial public university in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Jiangsu, and co-sponsored by the Ministry of Educati ...

. 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 (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

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 Suning Real Estate 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 Suning Appliance Group 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) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

, 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 (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

. On 6 June 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 wo ...

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

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...

, 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 (Steven) owns a 10% stake in Suning Real Estate, 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