The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chen Pingsheng returned to the capital.

He attended the opening ceremony of the Shuiyunjian Charity Hotel with his wife, Song Yanxi.

This employee welfare hotel, built with an investment of 200 million yuan, is the first of its kind in China.

On the day of the ceremony.

Not only did many senior executives from within the group attend, but also a host of local leaders came to participate in the hotel's opening ceremony.

It took more than a year to complete.

After shaking hands with each of the local leaders from Shijingshan District, Chen Pingsheng began taking photos.

In any case, Tengying Group originated from Shijingshan District.

They have also invested in Shuiyun Academy and public welfare hotels here, providing basic employee training and welfare facilities.

It will ultimately be of some help to Shijingshan District.

The hotel has three floors and eighty-nine standard rooms.

There are also restaurants, gyms, and all sorts of standard recreation rooms.

We guarantee that employees' families who come from afar can stay happily and enjoy the basic food, drink, and entertainment services provided.

After he came to attend the hotel's opening ceremony, Shanghai immediately announced an investment of 300 million yuan.

A welfare hotel for the group's internal employees in Shanghai.

The investment of 300 million is significantly higher than that in Beijing, and the scale of the completed project is undoubtedly larger as well.

Since it is a public welfare project, the land purchase price will not be too high, and it will not be located in the city center.

Instead, if they invest 300 million in a more remote area like JS District, they can guarantee that the buildings there will be comparable to real five-star hotels.

In terms of ensuring employee welfare, Tengying Group has extended its services beyond just providing full medical reimbursement for parents and close relatives.

They also invested heavily in food and accommodation.

It's important to know that Tencent Group's main businesses are concentrated in first-tier cities.

Anyone who has been to this kind of city knows that you can save on food and drink once you get there.

But if you want to find a place to stay, the starting price is over two hundred yuan a night.

Most rural parents wouldn't dare go, because they're unwilling to spend the money.

Only during the Chinese New Year will the children living far away in the city come home to visit them for a few days.

Parents are alive, so we shouldn't travel far. Earning money is difficult, yet we are forced to leave our hometowns.

Tencent's investment has been described online as the most meaningful employee welfare guarantee.

Because it truly allows parents to occasionally come to the big city to see their children.

Keep in mind that once the hotel is built, all the food, drinks, and entertainment inside will be free.

The entire cost will be borne by the group or by him personally.

The annual expenses are no less than ten million.

Besides hotels, he was more concerned about ensuring education.

Housing, healthcare, and education.

The three most unavoidable expenses in life.

Chen Pingsheng still has 800 to 900 million yuan in his hands, and if the employees in Beijing include those in the stores, the number exceeds 10,000.

He used to listen to his grandfather talk about it often.

Back then, a large state-owned factory was equivalent to a small society.

It's not just a place to make money; it also has kindergartens, nurseries, factory hospitals, and all sorts of welfare facilities—everything you could want.

With housing secured, the next step is to consider education.

On the same day, Chen Pingsheng also announced that he would invest 500 million yuan to build his own group's internal charity school in Shijingshan.

From kindergarten to primary school and junior high school.

Implement comprehensive popularization.

Young parents who are busy with work and unable to take care of their children can send them to the group's internal schools.

We will provide the best teachers and the best meals to ensure that all employees' children can stay within the group.

While working with peace of mind, you can also ensure that your children at home receive the best possible care.

Having made so much money, he must consider giving back to society.

That is, to create a guardian golden body.

The thicker the golden statue, the safer his personal wealth and property will be.

In simpler terms, it's about protecting your family and property from being targeted by malicious individuals.

Therefore, he chose to focus on internal philanthropy.

He used his personal achievements to help his company's nearly 100,000 employees obtain the rewards they deserve.

And harvest.

They invested 200 million yuan to build a charity hotel in Beijing and 500 million yuan to build a private school within the group.

They are all the same.

Of course, they will definitely build an internal public welfare school in Shanghai as well.

He is currently unable to donate over a billion yuan to charity at once, partly because he doesn't have enough money himself.

Their assets haven't reached that level yet.

Secondly, that would be too high-profile.

Let's first complete the basic welfare benefits here in Beijing.

He will only consider investing in Shanghai after the grand event at Shuiyun Pavilion is held.

However, he had just finished announcing a series of news.

The situation in the capital was immediately thrown into an uproar.

"The university's fall recruitment season is over. Tencent will probably come to our university for the spring recruitment season next March or April, right?"

"I don't know, same question."

"They should come. I heard that Tengying Group is developing very fast, and they should be recruiting a lot more people."

"I'm devastated. I made it to the second round of the job interview last time, but I was rejected."

"By March or April of next year, even if Tencent Pictures doesn't do any promotion, I estimate that at least 100,000 people will submit their resumes to them."

"Damn it, just thinking about that number makes me feel hopeless."

"Just saying, let's not just focus on Tencent, the other Fortune 500 companies are pretty good too."

"Yes, yes, Tencent isn't the best either. Everyone should try to apply to Fortune 500 companies."

The crowd below unanimously expressed their agreement.

Such an obvious counter-espionage plot, I wonder how many people it can fool.

If next year, Tencent Film Studio still only recruits around 1,500 people.

That means you have to fight your way through a hundred resumes until you're the only one left.

Only then can we successfully enter Tencent Video.

Is this possible?
One in a hundred, that's almost as difficult as getting a civil service job, right?
Even civil servants only get this much treatment.

The company provides everything, and the salary is incredibly high. What more could you ask for?

No wonder the whole school is asking Tencent Film Academy's HR for their assessment tips.

No matter what, we have to give it our all.

……

First, they invested 300 million yuan to build a charity hotel in Shanghai, and then spent 500 million yuan in Beijing to build a private school for their employees.

Chen Pingsheng felt a small golden light appear on his body, but it was just a feeling.

With this golden light around him, he felt much more at ease.

If anyone comes to him asking for donations again, he can simply say that he will use all the money to build an internal charity school.

By the end of November, there were actually a lot of things to do.

Bai Xin took out a financial statement, which is the year-end bonus that the group gives to its employees every year at this time.

The specific amounts and figures all require his personal signature as the big boss.

That's why the back pay was added to the employees' payroll in January.

The group is now developing much faster, and it's not just the launch of Bobo Milk Tea that's happening now.

Even Boiling Sheep has completed its IPO.

The newly established Deer Antler Coffee has already invested two billion yuan.

Not to mention Teng Hui Department Store, they spend billions of yuan every time they enter a new city.

Before she knew it, her little secretary was attracting a lot of attention whenever she went out.

They always get to sit in the front row at meetings, which is very glamorous.

Bai Xin said, "Uncle, Fei Yang Yang, which includes Bobo Milk Tea, has set a year-end bonus of three months' salary for its store employees."

"This is the year-end bonus report compiled by the group headquarters. The specific figures are awarded according to the employee's level."

Chen Pingsheng took it and looked at it for a moment, then said:

“The stores don’t need to change, but the headquarters must change. Look at Shen Chengjun, his annual salary is already over ten million. Giving him another million or so in year-end bonuses won’t really make a difference.”

"Moreover, the higher the level, the higher the annual salary. If it is determined solely by level, then the salary for ordinary employees is actually very low, and it is not even very attractive."

"The significance of year-end bonuses should not be to further widen the income gap, but to make all employees in the company feel the goodwill from the group."

“Take this application report down. The year-end bonus will be calculated on an average basis, and everyone will get the same bonus.”

The 100,000 yuan bonus is meaningless if it ends up in the hands of senior executives.

When the prize money reaches ordinary employees, it can immediately improve their lives.

At least everyone can have a happy and good year.

If we calculate it on average, then it's relatively simple.

Excluding store employees who received three extra months' pay according to the standard, the headquarters includes the Shanghai branch.

The total number of employees is around 6,500.

The group has set a total of about 400 million yuan for year-end bonuses for its headquarters employees this year.

If it's split equally, then each person would receive approximately 50,000.

Executives won't feel much, but ordinary employees or new employees will be overjoyed.

Less than half an hour later, Bai Xin arrived again.

This time, however, she brought a question with her.

"Uncle, the 1,500 interns in Beijing are all newly recruited and just joined our group. The same goes for the interns in Shanghai. These people shouldn't be able to share the year-end bonus equally, right?"

According to the rules, year-end bonuses are only available after a full year of work.

If we remove these newly joined interns and also eliminate those who haven't completed a year, then...

With a year-end bonus of 400 million, those who have been with the group for a while will each receive at least 200,000.

This is absolutely a huge sum of money.

The amount of 400 million was set by Chen Pingsheng.

To be honest, the group is already making a lot of money.

This money wasn't taken out by him alone; it was drawn from the profits of various companies.

If you were to win a 100 million yuan year-end bonus like at Teng Hui Department Store, you wouldn't feel any pressure at all.

The same goes for Tencent Entertainment.

It simply means that he, as the major shareholder, earns a little less, while the employees earn a little more.

He received 200 million less, but he was able to ensure that thousands of employees could have a happy and prosperous New Year.

why not?

Chen Pingsheng thought for a moment and then said:
"Let them split the cost equally. It's not easy being a newcomer, so we should give them more encouragement."

The year-end bonus will be split equally.

This is his first time starting a business.

Senior executives certainly won't have much of an opinion, because most of them can enjoy corporate dividends.

It's only a few tens of thousands of yuan; they won't feel much difference once it's in their hands.

But they were assigned to the newcomers who had just joined the group.

Especially for interns who have just graduated from university and don't have much money at all.

This is definitely a boss they should worship at home. Anyone who dares to criticize their boss online will face their wrath and they'll be in endless online battle mode.

They'll insult you until you question your existence.

……

The last day of November.

Tencent Pictures Group published its 2015 year-end bonus report on its official website.

The company announced on its official website that it would hold its first annual meeting in Beijing on January 18, 2016.

All the employees from the Shanghai branch will also be attending.

The group will reimburse all accommodation and airfare costs.

This is the first formal group-level annual meeting held since the group was established three years ago.

The number of attendees is expected to be around 7,000.

The group has also officially opened registration for the annual meeting program, welcoming employees from all departments to register as a group.

Every time the group's president's office issues an announcement or notice, its employees can find it immediately.

It made a clanging sound.

Zhang Wanyi and Liu Qing, who were still in their internships, began to carefully analyze every word on the president's office screen.

Year-end bonuses are easy to understand.

It's the year-end benefits that companies give to their employees.

The group headquarters currently has approximately 6,500 employees.

Including the Shanghai branch.

Year-end bonuses reached as high as 400 million.

The group has approximately 6,000 directly operated stores.

This includes Boiling Sheep, whose IPO has already been successful.

Bobo Milk Tea has been listed on the stock exchange.

This also includes Tengsheng Fresh Produce, Tengsheng Fruits, Tenghui Department Store, Deer Antler Coffee, etc.

The total year-end bonuses payable by all the stores amount to over a billion yuan.

The profits that were already in store operations were intercepted in advance.

It will not impose any burden on the group's finances.

There must be a reason why the profit margin of stores like Boiling Sheep has been hovering around 3%.

The total bonuses awarded by the group this time amounted to approximately two billion.

That's quite an exaggeration.

Zhang Wanyi and the others weren't too concerned about those things, but rather about the following sentence.

They are of particular concern.

This year-end bonus distribution includes new employees and interns within the group.

Zhang Wanyi rubbed her eyes uncertainly, then took out her phone and sent a message to the interns' group chat:

Have you all seen the year-end bonus announcement?

"What about you?"

"What do you think after you've seen it?"

You're saying interns can get year-end bonuses?

"That can't be right. We haven't even been officially hired yet, and we've only been with the company for less than a year. Could the president's office have added an extra line to the announcement?"

It wasn't that she wanted to deliberately doubt it; she simply couldn't believe it.

That makes absolutely no sense.

"Are you stupid? What do you think Tengying Group is, and what do you think the president's office is?"

"The announcements from the President's Office always convey the top-level instructions from the CEO alone. They are repeatedly confirmed by the review team before being issued. Who would dare to joke about the top-level instructions from the CEO?"

"The key point is that I've never heard anyone say that interns can get year-end bonuses."

"Good news, ladies! One of our school's interns has been transferred to Tengying Entertainment on the sixteenth floor. She happened to run into Secretary Bai, who was down on business, in the coffee shop. Secretary Bai said that interns will also receive year-end bonuses. It's entirely the big boss's decision."

"As you know, our group's big boss is the only god; whatever he says goes."

"???"

"???"

A row of big question marks at the bottom.

Zhang Wanyi and Liu Qing were very lucky; they were both assigned to intern at Tenghui Department Store.

Its main responsibilities include managing the registration of goods entering and leaving the warehouse, as well as registering and modifying detailed purchase orders, price lists, and other related documents for all goods.

"Isn't this possible?"

"Our salaries are already this high, if we get a 50,000 yuan year-end bonus, I'm afraid my roommates at school will be so envious when I go back! (Silly grin emoji)"

"The big boss is truly a god forever (laughing emoji)"

"Our only idol."

"Speaking of which, the big boss has been making some pretty big moves in the last month. First, he spent 300 million yuan in Shanghai to build an employee welfare hotel, and now he has immediately spent another 500 million yuan to build a private school for employees in Beijing. I feel like it's not just because he wants to increase employee benefits."

"What do you know? At the level of the big boss, there are too many people coming to him for donations. Besides, there are assessments in various places at the end of the year. This is the big boss's way of showing his closeness to the government."

"Forget it, let's not discuss this anymore. My monthly salary isn't even over 10,000, and I'm trying to study big bosses. It feels a bit ridiculous."

"Yeah, there's always a reason why the big boss does things. Tell me, aren't you looking forward to it?"

"Of course I'm looking forward to it. My parents are coming to Beijing for medical treatment in a couple of days, so I applied to stay at the Shuiyunjian Hotel, and it was approved immediately."

"As long as there are rooms available there, applications are approved instantly."

"Can this still happen?"

"Of course you can! But please don't try it blindly. If you book in advance and then don't go, it will prevent other employees' families from booking rooms."

Okay... Zhang Wanyi chatted in the group for a while and finally confirmed that interns could receive benefits.

After finding her parents' numbers, she immediately dialed them.

Such good news, of course I have to tell my parents!
She also let them all know that she was very lucky to have found a job at a very powerful large corporation.

There is still a month and a half until the year-end bonus is distributed.

Most of the employees began to look forward to this day.

……

November 2015.

Many significant events have occurred.

Chen Pingsheng summed up his work for the past month as simply being lucky.

This month, Bobo Milk Tea, which had already been launched, successfully transformed into a crossover collaboration of milk tea and ice cream.

This makes it a unique presence in the milk tea industry.

Leading its peers by a wide margin, Boiling Sheep then took the crucial step of completing its IPO.

Boiling Sheep was the first catering brand he supported, and it took three years to reach its current splendid state.

That's pretty good.

The third and crucial step was to formally define the collective development goals.

With Tencent Entertainment as its core traffic driver, it vigorously supports its subsidiaries and brand projects.

Go hand in hand.

As it turned out, his initial strategic plan was very successful.

of course.

This process has been repeatedly imitated. First, Wang Yanfeng followed the example of Fei Yangyang and launched his own Juxianzhuang Hot Pot.

It was initially established with the help of traffic and large capital.

Just a pity.

Because of its extremely high price, it was eliminated by the market after attracting the initial wave of traffic.

Then, the famous actress Yang Baobei imitated Bobo Milk Tea in the same way in Shanghai.

While a celebrity's popularity can certainly drive a company's early growth, it's not enough to consistently outperform the market in the long run.

The most important thing is customer word-of-mouth.

It's clear that neither of them ultimately won the client's approval.

From imitation to failure, it took less than a year.

After receiving the money from the IPO of Boiling Sheep.

Although Chen Pingsheng invested 700 to 800 million yuan in employee-run public welfare hotels and schools.

But most of the money was used to expand Teng Hui Department Store and Deer Antler Coffee in Shanghai.

As the group grew larger and larger, he never believed that he had achieved all of this because of his own abilities.

in contrast.

He felt that the development of the times had given him everything.

Everyone should maintain a sense of awe for the times and be constantly vigilant about themselves.

Never let pride and arrogance lead to blind self-confidence.

And, they don't listen to the opinions of their subordinates.

of course.

He also did something that surprised everyone last month.

That is, there was a PhD student from Tsinghua or Peking University who joined the group less than a month ago.

He actually wrote a lengthy document about the group's strategic development.

He also faced severe criticism on many aspects of himself.

It seems that in the eyes of that doctoral student, Tengying Group was a complete mess.

If we don't follow his lead, the group will only get worse and worse.

After receiving the lengthy letter, Chen Pingsheng's assessment was to expel the author.

That's a lunatic.

The group was quite surprised, and he specifically asked Bai Xin to issue an announcement on the official website to explain.

This made everyone understand.

In short, Tengying welcomes reasonable suggestions from all its employees.

However, we must never allow empty talk or a culture of armchair theorizing to emerge.

Imagine a store that hires a waiter one day.

He hasn't even done his job as a waiter properly, yet he spends all his time thinking about things that the boss should be considering.

They even take things out of context and criticize the boss's work in a haphazard way.

This was to show that he stood out from the crowd.

This kind of person can only be described as living too arrogantly.

The group has set clear standards for employee suggestions, requiring them to be promoted one level.

All collaborating departments can raise suggestions, but it's more important to consider things from your own work perspective.

Offer suggestions for improvement based on your own job position.

As the group developed rapidly, it inevitably hired some top students from prestigious universities.

But these people, if they can first shine in their own positions, will be even better.

Then I stayed with the group for a year or two and witnessed its development.

He welcomes it when he proposes a strategic direction.

They haven't even done their own jobs properly, yet they come to propose seven or eight major points for the group's highest strategy.

This kind of person can't think of anything else besides eating rice.

After this group announcement, the newly joined interns finally got to know their boss.

What kind of employees do you actually like?

To put it bluntly, we still need to be pragmatic.

Only by being pragmatic can we truly achieve something tangible.

(End of this chapter)