Kidnapping mission as in the movie: The founder of Midea was confined in the mansion, his son swam across the river for help.

Last weekend, the billionaire founder of Midea Group, one of the world’s largest home appliance manufacturers, was rescued from kidnappers breaking into his luxurious mansion in the south of China.

He Xiangjian (77 years old) owns a fortune of about 25 billion USD and is ranked 6th richest man in Forbes by Forbes. Local media reported that He was recently detained by criminals who carried explosives into his mansion in Foshan, Guangdong province.

According to online news site TMTPost, his only son, He Jianfeng (55) sneaked out and swam across a nearby river to alert the police. After receiving the notice at 5:30 pm on June 14, the local police quickly deployed forces. By 5 am on June 15, they successfully arrested 5 suspects. Thankfully no one was injured in the kidnapping.

Confirming the incident, Midea Group sent thanks to the police force, the media and other stakeholders.

In photos and videos spread on social networks, a police team was dispatched to the European-style two-story mansion of billionaire He. Nearby is a small river about 5 meters wide.

A video cut from the video of the mansion after the abduction.

Police have blocked the entrance and residents in the surrounding area are not allowed to leave from the evening of June 14 to June 15. There are at least two security stations outside Mr. He’s mansion with 24-hour security guards. Employees working at Midea headquarters are required not to work on June 15 for the company to conduct a risk assessment.

“I was so scared because I always thought the security here was better than the other areas,” an unnamed resident said.

The dramatic rescue has drawn public attention about Mr. He’s wealth. Like many first-generation entrepreneurs in China, He Xiangjian has a normal background. He started building the Midea empire – now listed in Shenzhen with a market value of 419 billion yuan (about $ 59 billion) – when he was 26 years old.

After finishing primary school, he quit school and worked in factories and farms. While struggling to make money in Foshan, he came up with the idea to start a small production line.

In 1968, he spent 5,000 yuan to produce plastic bottle caps. His facility has 23 workers. To save money, he only drinks sugar water for breakfast and sleeps at the station when traveling.

He experimented with manufacturing various products, from glass tubes, car accessories and generators, to the trend of electric fan production in the late 1970s. This product is a gift for loved ones.

He named his fan factory Midea in 1981 and developed an all-plastic model in 1984. This gave the company a strong foothold in the industry and started manufacturing air conditioners a. the following year. Another breakthrough took place in 1988 when Midea won the right to export air conditioners to overseas markets and achieved a production worth 120 million yuan.

Midea conducted an IPO in Shenzhen in 1993. He Xiangjian retired in 2012. His family still controls about 1/3 of Midea. In addition, they control six other companies, including Midea Properties in Hong Kong and Kuka, the German robotics company.