The story of Fosun International will sound familiar to Americans who love a good rags-to-riches story. Four Fudan University graduates pooled a few thousand yuan in 1992 and parlayed it into a $8 billion conglomerate that is now the largest privately owned company in China.
Much of the consumer demand in China comes from the new affluent class. Chinese consumers dominate global auto sales, at 26 percent of the entire world market. Same with sales of luxury goods: Chinese consumers buy 29 percent of the top-priced items. Fosun is determined to satisfy that demand by buying brands that appeal to the middle class and wealthy. Fosun CEO Liang Xinjun explains: