Guo Guangchang was born in Dongyang, Zhejiang, in 1967. In 1989, Guo received a BA in Philosophy and an MBA from Fudan University.

In 1992, Guo founded Guangxin Technology Development Company Ltd, with friends Liang Zinjun and Tan Jian, which was among the first to use scientific methods in market research in mainland China.

In 2007, Fosun International (00656.HK), the holding company of Fosun, was listed on the HKSE. Fosun has teamed up with IFC in reinsurance business, invested in Club Med of France, insurance company Fidelidade Seguros of Portugal and Folli Follie of Greece to jointly explore opportunities brought by the growth of China’s economy.

At the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Guo, together with 15 other Chinese entrepreneurs, funded the Chinese Private Enterprise Pavilion, which was the debut of China’s non-state-owned enterprises in World Expo.

On 11 December 2015, it was reported that Guo has been detained by police, was “assisting authorities with an investigation”, and had been “linked to a corruption court case in August”. It has been speculated that he may have been caught up in Party General Secretary Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption efforts. This has led to shares in his Hong Kong-listed subsidiary being suspended. On 14 December, Guo was released and appeared at Fosun’s annual meeting in Shanghai. It was Guo’s first public event since he was “assisting the investigation”.

In July 2016 Guo’s Fosun International purchased the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club a professional association football club based in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England for a reported £45 million from previous owner Steve Morgan, Wolves went on to clinch the 2017–18 Championship title, to return to the Premier League after a 6-year absence. Wanderers’s return to the Premier League resulted in a seventh-place finish in their first season back, their highest placing in the top division since finishing sixth in 1979–80.This position also earned them a place in the Europa League and their first European campaign since 1980–81.

In 2017 Guo was honored with the 16 Asia Business Leaders Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award by CNBC. He received the 2016/17 “Nobel Laureates Series-Asian Chinese Leaders Award” by Asian College of Knowledge Management, and the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 8th World Chinese Economic Summit in 2016.

As of 2019 he was listed as the 50th richest person in China by Forbes, with a net worth of $6.5 billion. He has been called “China’s Warren Buffett”.