Fosun chairman is “unreachable,” apparently missing

The billionaire chairman of China’s Fosun Group is “unreachable”, according to respected Chinese finance magazine Caixin.

48-year-old Guo Guangchang, known as “China’s Warren Buffett,” is worth an estimated $6.9 billion (£4.5 billion). His investment group, Fosun, owns Club Med and Cirque du Soleil among others.

Guangchang is a student of Buffett’s investment philosophy, pursuing insurance companies as a base for his investments.

Bloomberg reports that Fosun’s CEO said over text message that the company is “handling” the situation.

It’s not yet clear what any of this is about, but Guangchang was named in a Chinese corruption case back in August. Wall Street Journal reports that Guangchang was accused of granting favors to an executive of a Chinese state-owned company 12 years ago in exchange for unspecified benefits.

People on Twitter have noticed that Guangchang’s Weibo page has been emptied. Weibo is a Chinese microblogging site not unlike Facebook:

(Credit: @Edourdoo/Twitter)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is currently leading a crackdown on corruption and “gifting” in China. Caixin says it’s unclear whether Guangchang is being investigated or assisting an investigation.

Fosun’s net profit in the first six months of the year soared by 97% to 3.6 billion yuan (£372 million, $563 million), according to Forbes.

We’ll bring you more on this story as it develops.