The story
Founded by Guo Guangchang and Wang Qunbin in 1992, in Shanghai.1
1990s
Fosun Group was founded in 1992 as the Guangxin Technology Development Company by five graduates of Fudan University in Shanghai: Guo Guangchang, Liang Xinjun, Wang Qunbin (Chinese: 汪群斌), Fan Wei (Chinese: 范伟), and Tan Jian (Chinese: 谈剑). Fosun started its business by doing market research. The major holding company of the group, Fosun High Technology, was incorporated in 1994 in mainland China. Then Fosun extended its business into the healthcare industry (as Fosun Pharmaceutical), real estate, and steel etc. to i9
2000s
In 2004, a new holding company of the group, Fosun International Limited was incorporated in Hong Kong. In July 2007, Fosun International was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong as SEHK:656.
2010s
During 2011, the three major growth engines of Fosun, industrial profits, investment profits and asset management profits rose rapidly, enabling Fosun to make strides toward its vision of becoming "a premium investment group with a focus on China's growth momentum".
From 2010 through 2015, Fosun spent billions buying foreign firms in the healthcare, tourism, fashion, and banking industries in the US and Europe. These included France's Club Med, Britain's Thomas Cook Group, Canada's Cirque du Soleil, American clothing label St John, and Greek jeweler Folli Follie. At the end of 2014 Fosun acquired the US insurer Meadowbrook for around $433 million, marking the first full purchase of a US insurer by a Chinese company. Fosun also purchased Australian oil company Roc Oil, its first acquisition in the petroleum industry.
On 11 December 2015, the chairman of Fosun, Guo Guangchang, was reported missing. Guo however reappeared on 14 December 2015 at a Fosun board of directors meeting. During his disappearance, Fosun requested that trading of shares be temporarily suspended. The Fosun board of directors issued a statement saying that Guo was assisting in a government inquiry which, in their opinion, did not present a "material adverse impact" on Fosun's finances or operations.
In July 2016, Fosun bought the English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers from its previous owner Steve Morgan for an estimated £45 million. Under Fosun's ownership, Wolves have progressed from being a mid table side in the Football League Championship (second tier of English football) to finishing seventh in the FA Premier League, reaching an FA Cup semi-final and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.
In 2016 Fosun began to invest in India. Delhivery was one such investment made in 2017, in addition to previous investments in MakeMyTrip, India's largest online travel company and Gland Pharma. Fosun is also involved in the Indian real estate market.
On 28 August 2019, Thomas Cook Group announced that the group "had agreed the main terms of a rescue package that will see Hong Kong's Fosun Tourism take over its tour operations and creditor banks and bondholders acquire its airline". In early November 2019, Fosun said it would purchase the Thomas Cook brand for £11m. The company viewed itself as a "potential saviour" by purchasing the name.
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2020s
In March 2020, the company acquired a 55.4% equity interest in French jewelry brand Djula. They also signed an agreement in July 2020 with a high-end Italian jewelry group to develop the Damiani and Salvini brands in China. In August 2020, the company bought a 30% stake in Jinhui Liquor for $262 million.
In 2022, after has been severely hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and China's extreme lockdown policies, the Shanghai-based conglomerate divested many of its key assets to avoid defaulting on its short-term debts. By October 2022, Fosun announced that it would sell as much as $11 billion of assets within the next 12 months, amid efforts to bolster both its balance sheet and investor confidence.
From Wikipedia’s article on Fosun International, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5