The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chen Pingsheng did indeed intend to groom his daughter-in-law, Su Xiaoxi.

Chen Lu's talent was too ordinary, and he himself had the kind of personality that had been laid-back since childhood.

I dislike too much infighting, and I especially dislike the business competition in the office.

With that kind of personality, it's absolutely impossible for them to acquire a controlling stake in Tengfei AI, including Tengfei New Energy, and Tengde Times, which has the world's largest market share in solid-state batteries.

Since they don't expect him to inherit the family's technology group, they naturally need to make plans for the next step.

With his existing business resources and capital, his children will earn at least tens of billions a year.

Although Erpiya is a bit lazy, she can still generate 20 to 30 billion yuan in net profit every year through investment.

He's already considered an absolute prodigy in the investment field, and a global one at that.

Despite the high profits, her annual investment amount is as high as hundreds of billions.

In other words, maintaining a profit margin of 20% to 30% annually on an investment of hundreds of billions is already quite impressive.

The larger the investment, the smaller the profit margin tends to be.

An annual investment of over 100 billion yuan, with a return rate of over 10% per year, is considered excellent.

If they can maintain a return of over 15%, they'll be considered top-tier investment banks globally.

If Er Ya can maintain a return of over 20%, many banks, including global conglomerates, will be eager to give her money.

She simply doesn't need it.

The amount of cash reserves in the household was higher than one could imagine.

Even without any bank loans or borrowing from anyone, Chen Pingsheng could readily allocate 300 billion yuan.

This is fundamentally different from virtual assets. For example, when you urgently need money, no matter how many houses you own, you can't immediately convert them into cash.

The ability to readily access cash reserves is the true source of a family's strength.

In the past few decades, the only person who could truly mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars in this area within a few hours was probably Hong Kong's richest man, Li.

Among global technology groups, Apple has cash reserves of up to $350 billion.

That's probably why they've always been incredibly strong.

It's easy to understand if you think about it: the group earns hundreds of billions of US dollars in net profit every year, and its cash reserves are as high as 1.5 trillion RMB.

With that kind of capital, what storm can't they weather?

Among Chen Pingsheng's technology groups, Tengfei AI has the highest cash reserves.

Last year, it had already reached 40 billion US dollars.

The main reason is that the new robot is selling like hotcakes in the global market.

Secondly, Tengde Times has $240 billion in cash reserves, Tengfei New Energy Vehicles has $180 billion, and even the least cash-rich Tengfei AI Phone has $120 billion.

Cash reserves are essentially the same as a family's bank account balance; the more savings a family has, the higher its ability to withstand risks.

The group's cash reserves are essentially a way to enhance its ability to withstand risks and better cope with market crises that may change at any time.

This is completely different from family reserves. Even Chen Pingsheng, the absolute majority shareholder, cannot misappropriate these group reserve funds privately.

The only money he could access was his family's savings.

This refers to the family funds accumulated each year through investments or project profit dividends.

Although the group only distributes 50% of its profits as dividends each year, meaning that for every 100 yuan earned, only 50 yuan is distributed.

The remaining fifty should be accumulated into cash reserves or used for future large-scale investments.

But his group is huge, with even more projects worldwide.

In 2029 alone, he cashed out Nvidia shares and used the proceeds to invest $750 billion in stable global projects.

This includes ports, large-scale infrastructure projects, and water and electricity projects for people's livelihoods.

Their family's annual global profits are definitely no less than hundreds of billions.

This does not even include the group's profit-sharing rights that have already been allocated to the three children.

The dividends from his and his wife Song Yanxi's global projects alone exceed 100 billion yuan annually.

To be honest, without his exceptional talent and decades of training, he simply couldn't have handled such a massive amount of wealth.

An'an and Erpiya each receive a portion of the group's profit-sharing rights, and then create more through their own abilities.

Erpiya is all about global investment, the kind that involves large investments and large returns.

An'an mainly focuses on steadily developing projects and building a group, increasing annualized returns through group value-added activities.

As for Chen Lu, he has mediocre investment talent, no interest in running a group, and no idea of ​​starting his own business.

No matter how much he tried to stimulate him, it was useless. In the past, the only thing that could motivate him to improve was Su Xiaoxi.

Now that I'm married, I'm back to being laid-back.

His future will be as an ordinary employee in his own company; how high he can reach depends entirely on himself.

Su Xiaoxi will definitely need to arrange some businesses.

For families like theirs, it's unacceptable to simply sit back and live off their wealth; they expect to earn back at least twice as much money each year.

If you don't even have this much ability, you should check out Old Chen's spendthrift son's fund.

Chen Pingsheng had already spent 50 billion to create such a wasteful fund, which is really incapable of making any money.

He can only receive ten million from the spendthrift fund each month as a fixed living allowance.

No more.

This money can be received from the moment you come of age until the day you die.

If your own child is not yet capable of creating wealth, you can continue to receive benefits.

As the number of direct relatives in the Chen family increases, there will inevitably be many who will have to rely on the family trust to make a living.

Whether it's Hong Kong's top tycoons or those top families abroad, most of them have set up such family trusts.

This is to prevent future generations from squandering the family fortune.

In the early days of Hong Kong, some wealthy people made similar mistakes, accumulating family assets of over 10 billion by the 1990s.

As a result, after the first-generation founder left, the second generation inherited the family fortune, but in just over a decade, the family assets were completely squandered, and the third generation even ended up on the streets begging for a living.

It's clear how absurd and hilarious this is.

The "spendthrift fund" is different; it provides a fixed monthly allowance that cannot be withdrawn in advance, just like a salary card, which is paid out on time.

A monthly allowance of ten million is considered a standard of living even in Hong Kong, where housing prices are the highest in the world.

His own family hasn't yet produced anyone who can only receive a living allowance from a spendthrift fund.

But Chen Lu is showing this trend.

Once someone is deemed to be eligible only for the "spendthrift fund," it means they cannot start a business for the next ten years. After ten years, the family will assess their earning potential based on their individual performance.

Once it is back in place, it will be able to allocate another five to one billion to allow it to develop.

It can be said that in order to ensure the continuation of family wealth for more generations, various funds, including family wealth inheritance rights, have different thresholds and standards.

Chen Pingsheng only sent Erpiya to teach Su Xiaoxi a lesson because he knew that Chen Lu had this tendency to accept the spendthrift fund.

His only son ended up in a spendthrift fund, receiving a fixed monthly allowance of ten million, which is somewhat ironic.

However, the family rules were established five years ago.

It was jointly formulated by the family, including the highest-level group of the group's economic research institute.

The main issue is that the Chen family owns too many businesses. If their fortunes were to collapse due to the actions of the second or third generation, all of their businesses would be severely affected. As the saying goes, "a single hair can move the whole body," and to avoid market risks, the group increases its cash reserves every year.

Families should also establish a series of inheritance rights, including property distribution rights, to avoid risks for the second or third generation of successors in advance.

For the sake of his family's longevity, he took many precautions to prevent problems before they arose.

Su Xiaoxi's earning power will not be transferred to Chen Lu.

In families like theirs, they can completely judge whether a person has the ability to make money before the age of twenty-four.

If he doesn't have the necessary qualifications, he can only go to the Spendthrift Fund. Time is running out for Chen Lu.

If he really invests in the Spendthrift Fund, Erpiya will probably laugh herself silly in the bathroom.

I've seen stupid younger brothers before, but I've never seen a younger brother this stupid.

If Chen Lu were to enter this spendthrift fund, it would mean that he would be unable to receive any dividends from the group for the next ten years.

This means losing ten years of inheritance rights.

Of course, given his personality, he could live very well even if he were given ten million a month.

After all, he has no need to buy a car or a house, and he already owns a large villa wherever he goes.

If you have ten million a month just as pocket money, you can definitely live a very good life.

Chen Pingsheng had actually suggested to Chang Fu that they set up such a family fund, but the guy felt it would be meaningless since he only had one son, Chang Dalin.

In the end, all of his and Yang Qian's assets ended up in Chang Dalin's hands.

This guy has such a low risk awareness.

He only has one biological son, Chen Lu. If he didn't have the ability to create wealth, he would still only be able to enter the family trust.

The second generation doesn't need to work hard, which means they have unlimited free time.

Even in daily life, many people can develop all sorts of bad habits in order to pass the time.

This is where the significance of a "spendthrift fund" comes in.

Regardless of your habits, that's all the money you'll have each month. All family business assets will only have the right to use them, and you won't have the right to resell or use them as collateral for loans.

This is equivalent to cutting off all the root causes of squandering wealth at the source.

Given the current assets and reserves of the Chen family, even if some of their descendants become spendthrifts.

As long as there is a fund for the spendthrift son, the family can continue to exist normally for more than 500 years.

If you don't have this, it might be squandered by you in one or two generations.

Erpiya is good at spending money, but even better at making it.

She would be extremely unhappy if she didn't spend tens or hundreds of billions of yuan every year.

Chen Pingsheng also found it hard to understand why she spent so much money in a year.

Buying an airplane is like buying a toy; nowadays, people abroad drive flying cars.

The technology is also available domestically, but due to the dense population, there are still too many restrictions on air travel.

A car crash on the road is fine, but if a car crashes in the air, who knows how many people will be killed by falling debris.

Those top-tier cars are no longer limited to simple land-based supercars.

Fate has become commonplace.

With domestic flights restricted, she can only travel abroad.

When Su Xiaoxi came to find her, both of them were pregnant, so they had a lot to talk about.

Erpiya also taught with all her heart. Although she laughed at Chen Lu's talent in her heart, if her only younger brother really got into the spendthrift fund, the people who would be the most embarrassed would not be anyone else, but her parents.

The only son in the Chen family can only rely on receiving ten million yuan from the family every month for living expenses.

This would be a laughing stock if it got out, and it would make everyone lose face.

But once rules are set, they are set. If rules can be easily broken, can they still be called rules?

For example, there was a rule established by the group in its early years that prohibited all relatives of its senior executives from rejoining the group.

What do you mean?

In other words, any relative of someone holding a management position in the group will lose the opportunity to join the group.

When this group's regulations were issued, the entire management team remained silent.

What do you mean?

Everyone is against it, with a whole host of reasons and various excuses.

They can list a million bad things about you, but you still carry them out anyway.

There's only one reason: as the group grows larger, many people's selfishness has become rampant.

Every two years, the group regularly cleans up all sorts of cronies and associates.

And these people with connections are the quickest to band together.

This has had a significant impact on the entire group, affecting the fair and just system for selecting and promoting personnel.

Subsequently, the Economic Research Institute and its advisory group were unable to implement this regulation, and they had no choice but to bring Chen Pingsheng back into the fold.

Given the numerous difficulties and the unanimous opposition from management, including the senior executives, the proposal could only be implemented by Chen Pingsheng.

Only he possesses the absolute prestige to effectively implement this suggestion, which is unanimously opposed but is undoubtedly beneficial to the group's long-term development.

The only family that could circumvent this regulation was the Chen family.

There are many conditions for avoiding the prerequisites. For example, Chen Lu, even after joining the group, is subject to the combined influence of the advisory group, management, and the Economic Research Institute.

Without that ability, even if he is Chen Pingsheng's only son, he still cannot hold a high position or obtain any executive control of the group.

This is a constraint imposed by multiple parties.

He prevented relatives of management from joining the group, and the management could also restrain the behavior of people with the surname Chen within the group.

Only when you reach this stage can you truly experience what it means to be creative but difficult to maintain a business.

Chen Pingsheng, who is over fifty years old, is now fully retired.

But he always attends the annual top-level conference for private entrepreneurs in Beijing.

In addition, he would take An'an and Erpiya to visit some retired bigwigs from time to time.

Many of the people who had a close relationship with him, and even early supporters of the Tencent Group, have retired due to age.

The person has left, but the impact hasn't diminished much.

A large family, or even a top family, cannot be decided simply by retiring from a position.

He has long maintained good relationships with the true power holders of some of the top families in China.

They would even sit together often to discuss the global economy, including issues related to the continuation and development of their families.

He can provide extremely high commercial influence, and others will also exchange certain political resources with him.

Chen Pingsheng no longer needs to use these political resources on himself; his power is far greater than a fraction of what he possesses.

All the resources associated with Zhengzhi were used by him to support the advancement of the family system.

In other words, to assist Xiao Ya, including Xiao Le, and the Chen family members who later entered the system to make progress together.

(End of this chapter)