The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

After Gao Hu received Chang Fu's call.

I smoked three cigarettes and still couldn't figure it out. Friends was doing so well, why was it suddenly sold off?
Although he was unwilling, that's what Old Chen said, and he had no doubt about his judgment.

Over the years, thanks to his self-discipline and integrity, he has never made a mistake!

Many people actually wanted to invest in Friends, but now they can only wait and see.

Those who used to be willing to pay high prices for his store can now only offer cost price.

Once the opportunity is missed, it's gone forever. When he looks back, he realizes that human resources are truly limited.

He wanted to try, but he no longer had the chance.

He wasn't the only one like this; countless other restaurateurs felt the same way.

Gao Hu went to see Xiao Chun again, and she was still working diligently as a waitress.

The difference is that their store manager is pursuing her. If this were before, Gao Hu would have definitely driven his Mercedes-Benz aggressively and parked it in front of him.

She wouldn't even glance at him and would say, "What right do you have?"
Now, however, he can't say anything.

Despite everyone's incomprehension, Gao Hu sold the shop, and no one knows what the future holds.

He closed it relatively early; if it had closed any later, I'm afraid no one would have taken over such a large restaurant.

The situation is serious; the trending topics list used to feature all sorts of entertainment news.

But now everything is gone, except for Wushi, which is still on everyone's mind.

That's the way things are these days; nobody knows what will happen next, so we can only cherish the present.

Even after returning home, Chen Pingsheng gave a brief answer to everyone's questioning gazes.

Most of them are closely related to Wushi.

With New Year's Day approaching, Big Pippy and Little Pippy are both on holiday. They still have no worries and can play however they want.

Days passed by, but Wu City's influence extended throughout the world.

Whether on the main street or in the alley, everyone is talking about this wave of the epidemic.

Everyone was shouting "Go Wuhan!"

Everyone is eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Spring Festival travel rush as the year draws to a close.

After a year of hard work, everyone rushed to catch the trains home.

Moreover, it was a year of heavy snowfall.

In Wushi, Tengying Group evacuated 10,000 employees ahead of schedule.

These employees are idle at home every day, and their daily wages are no less than ten million.

If you factor in all sorts of expenses, well, they probably lose around 500 million a month.

It's not that high, because the entire group is bearing the burden.

Wushi is a mirror; whenever outbreaks occur elsewhere, the drawbacks of traditional enterprises like theirs become apparent.

This is a natural disaster, and an unprecedented one at that.

These days, let alone making money, just being able to pay employees on time every month is considered very good.

Chen Pingsheng set the highest standard at the group headquarters: no matter what, ensure employees' income first.

When Gao Hu returned to Shanghai, he realized that Chang Fu had been too lenient with him. If he had dared to delay selling the shop even a little bit, he would have been in trouble.

It's absolutely devastating that he's questioning the meaning of life.

The number of offline stores that Tengying Group used to have is now its biggest burden. Their only wish is to eliminate all hidden dangers in Wushi.

But the truth is that it's impossible, at least Chen Pingsheng thinks it's impossible.

He also convened a global shareholders' meeting of Tencent Pictures Group immediately.

Whether it was Tong Zhelan, who was far away overseas, or Shen Nanpeng, these early investors immediately participated in this shareholders' video conference.

At the meeting, Chen Pingsheng bluntly announced that he would personally contribute 20 billion yuan in cash to deal with the potential for a full-blown crisis. Other shareholders would also contribute proportionally; those unwilling to pay cash would relinquish their shares.

It can only be this way.

After hearing his explanation, almost everyone agreed to give up their shares.

In this situation, the best options are either layoffs or pay cuts.

Like in Wushi, it loses more than 300 million yuan a month in employee salaries.

These people can handle it.

If Chen Pingsheng disagreed, then no one would pay in cash. In the end, he was the only one who had to pay, and everyone else would give him their shares proportionally.

Without a doubt, this is the wisest choice. Any normal person knows that in this situation, the first priority is to protect the company's cash flow. Nobody has more than one or two listed companies.

If we really consider the worst-case scenario, many listed companies will become dirt cheap in less than a year.

It would be a blessing if someone were willing to take it on; the worst thing would be if no one was willing to take it on.

Chen Pingsheng doesn't have many shares left, but he still has absolute control. He personally contributed 20 billion yuan in cash. If you calculate it proportionally, how much would he have to contribute?

Other shareholders had no choice but to sell their shares.

Most of the shares he had sold before have returned to his hands.

If they weather the crisis, these things will still be highly sought after; if they don't, they'll become a hot potato.

Not worth a penny.

Chen Pingsheng had no choice but to spend money, whether it was from Deer Antler Coffee, Tengying Entertainment, Bobo Milk Tea, Snack Run, etc.

In recent years, they have been expanding rapidly and have accumulated a lot of cash reserves, but this is absolutely not enough to withstand such a major natural disaster.

Especially Fei Yang Yang Catering, it's an absolute rip-off.

Gao Hu pulled off a major attack before, and just as he was recovering, an even more powerful one came along.

If he doesn't pay up, the tens of thousands of employees of Boiling Sheep will definitely not be able to survive this wave of market crisis.

They will absolutely die a horrible death.

Others depend on the timeframe, but Boiling Sheep needs financial assistance and can't wait even a day longer.

Many people were shocked when they heard that he had produced 20 billion yuan in cash.

Before the outbreak in Wushi, it seemed that Tengying Group knew what was going to happen and announced a city-wide evacuation order in advance.

Apart from Wushi, other places haven't really seen much of a reaction yet. Goodness, he held a global shareholders' meeting and directly pulled out 20 billion in cash, shouting that he'd weather the storm.

Bro... you're already ridiculously strong, and now you need another 20 billion to get through this.

What are we going to do?

To be honest, many traditional companies, despite having a market value of tens of billions, don't even have billions in cash.

They can't even come up with three or five hundred million; they just invest their money here and there.

Otherwise, the boss might be carrying a bag and a minor celebrity, doing charity work everywhere.

When this crisis hit, the first thing that came to mind was to cut salaries, cut salaries, and cut salaries again.

The demotions weren't mainly for management; they primarily affected employees.

Chen Pingsheng couldn't make that choice.

He didn't know how long this wave of the disease would last.

In short, as the boss, having enjoyed the fruits of the employees' labor and hard work over the years, we must share the burden when a crisis arises.

This is not just a crisis for one company, but a crisis that the entire city of Shanghai must share.

If these companies' first thought is to cut salaries and lay off employees, how many people will lose their jobs?

(End of this chapter)