The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

When times change, everyone needs to adapt in a timely manner.

Chen Pingsheng, who underwent asset restructuring as early as February, is an example of this, as is Xu Daipi, who announced an investment of 300 billion yuan to manufacture cars.

On March 1st, Chen Pingsheng received a special guest at his headquarters.

Wang Jianlin, a real estate tycoon who once topped the Forbes list of China's richest people for two consecutive years, has a glorious history dating back to the 1990s.

From the east, west, south, north, and center, come to Guangdong to make your fortune. First, set a small goal: Wanda Plaza is the city center, etc.

These are all Old Wang's slogans.

Old Wang, a former soldier, experienced the biggest setback of his life last year.

Many people may not know why Wanda suddenly took such a sharp turn for the worse.

Putting aside some reasons that cannot be discussed in detail, the key issue is that Lao Wang transferred a large amount of the money he borrowed from the bank overseas.

In just 17 years, he planned two projects worth tens of billions of US dollars.

One is investing in Bandar Malaysia, and the other is investing in Indonesia.

Looking back at Wanda's investments over the years, it can be said that they have been primarily overseas investments.

If it were all his own money, then it wouldn't be a problem.

The key issue is that he borrowed all of this money from banks, and his debts amount to as much as 400 billion.

Under such circumstances, it would be impossible for the authorities to allow him to easily transfer such a large amount of funds overseas.

After banks tightened credit, Wanda faced its tough times.

Old Wang has been selling off assets since last year, not just hotels, but also his department stores and other businesses.

Many of these are high-quality assets.

He came to Chen Pingsheng in order to successfully list Wanda Commercial on the A-share market this year.

If this succeeds, all his debts will be resolved.

If this fails, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) had already called for an investigation into the risks of Wanda's overseas acquisitions as early as June last year.

What is a company with a debt ratio of over 70% planning to do by investing 20 billion US dollars overseas every year?

I'm afraid everyone would be tempted to ask that question.

It's a pity that Chen Pingsheng's current strategy is to tighten his belt and operate prudently.

Even if the cake is the most delicious, he wouldn't spend billions to buy it.

Don't be so arrogant as to think you've found a big watermelon, only to lose your own base of operations in the process.

Old Wang was destined to leave disappointed.

He can't possibly spend tens of billions to buy discounted assets that are meaningless to him right now.

Old Wang is now facing two major challenges; whether he can recover depends entirely on his own efforts.

Those who continue to expand now will likely face dire consequences in a few years.

Let alone the real estate industry, the internet era that ushered in mass innovation and entrepreneurship is also coming to an end.

The waves of time come one after another.

No one can guarantee that they can always ride the waves, and he is no exception.

After he finished receiving Wang Jianlin, Zhang Wanyi brought him his work schedule for the next few days.

It was nothing but meeting with people, mostly local leaders.

A small portion of them are business tycoons like him.

"Uncle Chen, the vice presidents below all hope that you can meet with these leaders from various regions. It would be of great benefit to their work."

"Can't I carry out my work if I don't see them?"

After Chen Pingsheng replied, he filtered out some more people from that list.

“My daughter starts school in a couple of days, so I won’t have time to see so many people. Also, please announce to the public that I will be away for a long time and will not see anyone during this period except for special matters.”

"Okay." Zhang Wanyi held a thick folder. "Uncle Chen, may I ask where you're planning to go?"

"The group's assets are about to be restructured. If I stay here every day, I'll be meeting this person or that person. It's better to disappear for a while. As for where to go, that depends on where my daughter likes to go."

Alright... The big boss only comes to the group headquarters at crucial moments; otherwise, he's out taking care of his daughter. As for the specific schedule, she'll naturally receive the news once the next steps are arranged.

At this point, there's no need to ask too many questions.

The development of Tengying Group is now fully on track. If he can successfully turn Tengfei New Energy into a Fortune Global 500 company, then he will have completed more than half of his business plan.

Chen Pingsheng drove his black Volkswagen home, and when he passed by Lao Yang's steamed bun shop, he bought two large steamed buns.

This elderly couple worked hard their whole lives to raise their son, only to have him completely dominated by his wife.

Not only did they take out their life savings, but their daughter-in-law also refused to let them move in.

If Chen Lu, the mistress, continues to behave like this, he'll be furious.

I ran into that rich kid who stole my brother's girlfriend in the elevator again. He's still so cocky, probably unaware that his father has been reported by the group's shareholders.

He might be arrested and imprisoned at any time for embezzling public funds or transferring company assets.

Why are all these people he sees now just spendthrift brats who are a disgrace to their fathers?

Chen Lu, the mistress, was fast asleep, and his second sister, unusually, didn't come to cause him any trouble.

Erpiya keeps asking her grandma and maternal grandma a million questions all day long.

This age is really too much of a hassle.

As for her sister Chen An'an, after receiving the 200 million yuan bank card, she didn't spend any of the money.

That's really strange.

If you ask her why, she'll say she doesn't know how to spend the money.

I donated some to charity, and the next day I saw news about Guo Meimei.

He was furious.

She even wanted to get the little money she had donated back.

Spending money isn't an easy thing either.

Instead of donating to charities, it's better to donate directly to those who truly need help.

It's a pity that she can no longer find any impoverished children around her.

These people are unlikely to appear in international schools.

For the first time, Chen An'an was troubled by spending money. Chen Pingsheng told her not to worry and to take her time to find a solution.

As for himself, he wanted to experience a different kind of life.

This can also be seen as a way to gain experience for my daughter.

Even when Chen An'an asked him, he didn't give a specific answer.

"Dad, do you still need to experience life now?"

"Of course we need it."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Life is so long. Besides selling durians on the street and working as a truck driver, I started my own business and became my own boss. I've done all sorts of things, but I've never been a wage earner."

"Dad, are you going to become a factory worker?" Chen An'an's eyes widened.

"I'll go there for a while to experience it. Tencent Media has been developing faster and faster this year, so I might go there to lie low for a while and experience the daily life of an ordinary worker."

"Then do you want to take me with you?"

"I will definitely take you with me."

Chen Pingsheng's purpose was not merely to experience the daily life of a working person; his most important goal was to help his daughter overcome numerous obstacles.

Only through experience can one truly see the path ahead.

It also helps you understand the path you should take.

If you want to be a good boss, how can you avoid experiencing the daily life of an employee?

He has to teach his daughter himself; relying on a teacher alone is not enough.

(End of this chapter)