The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Many companies face the challenge of cultivating successors to some extent.

The root cause is the lack of decentralization of power, or rather, the excessive desire of CEOs to concentrate power in their hands.

They did not want power to fall into other hands.

Otherwise, how could a company with tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands or millions of employees, fail to cultivate a few outstanding successors?

If this had happened during the Chu-Han Contention, Liu Bang would have already proven that if the talent in a county were used well, conquering half the country wouldn't be a problem.

Not to mention these large companies, which prioritize hiring top students from society during the recruitment process.

Among tens of thousands of people, it's not a problem to find an outstanding successor, but at least someone who meets the minimum requirements.

If she can't even be chosen, and yet she claims the company can't function without her, Chen Pingsheng would definitely fire such a company leader immediately.

However, cultivating senior executives and their successors involves a high cost of trial and error.

Now, due to the issue of succession among three generations, he needs to cut at least one-third of the senior executives in the entire group.

There will definitely be a series of fluctuations, or even errors, in the process.

This was all foreseeable and within the group's plan.

Chu Qiuyan's idea of ​​asking him to return as chairman of the group was destined to be disappointed.

She only has two years left, and there is a lot to do in those two years, the most important of which is to cultivate a good successor.

Training someone in her position would be incredibly time-consuming and expensive, not to mention the time commitment required.

Both she and Zhang Wanyi rose to prominence in this way.

Ordinary people face trial-and-error costs when starting a business, and so do these people.

At the headquarters of the Dream Fund, Chen Pingsheng not only explained the next steps for these departing presidents, but also granted them a high degree of freedom.

After achieving financial freedom, the meaning of life is not limited to work; there is a much broader horizon to explore.

This sky includes one's family, hobbies, and everything else.

Making money is only one aspect of life; it cannot be everything.

After these people go to the Institute of Economics, they may need some time to adjust, as there is no clocking in or out for work there.

You can leave work whenever you want, and no one will care what you're doing while you're on duty.

It is an extremely loosely organized industrial economics research center.

Even he, the dean, is just a figurehead. If he weren't officially a dean, no one would willingly call him dean.

No matter how impressive one's scholarship is, without practical examples, it is not enough to convince the public.

After everyone else left, Chen Pingsheng privately asked Chu Qiuyan, "How's Chen Lu doing lately?"

"He's doing fine."

Chu Qiuyan said, "In our group, only the president level knows his identity. Everyone says that Chen Lu is so down-to-earth that he is completely unlike your son. Many people have even suggested that he be promoted to the investment department as a manager so that he can be better trained."

"forget it."

Chen Pingsheng waved his hand and said, "I used the same method I used to train An'an and Er Ya, and gave him no less than 10 billion over three years. But after three years, not to mention how much he has grown, his self-confidence has been severely damaged."

Chen Lu lived a very ordinary life in Shenzhen during his junior high school years. He went overseas for high school. At that time, Chen Pingsheng taught him for three years and gave him more than 10 billion yuan to practice investing.

Chen Lu's investment record can only be described as very average, far inferior to that of his two older sisters.

As a result, his self-confidence began to suffer.

Chu Qiuyan thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Chen, Chen Lu is quite interested in charity. Perhaps you could consider letting him develop in the field of charity."

Chen Pingsheng shook his head, "Charity is no easier than making money. Let him stay with you for two years first, and then we'll see how he performs."

Two knocks sounded on the door.

The secretary came in carrying a folder and reported that the interview downstairs had ended. Mulanqing asked him if he wanted to go back together.

Chen Pingsheng had nothing else to do but wait until this group of presidents went to the Economic Research Institute to report for duty before he would go there to take a look.

Mu Qingqing and Mu Lanqing were already waiting for him in the lobby on the first floor. After Chen Pingsheng came downstairs, Mu Lanqing asked him, "Brother Chen, have you finished your business?"

"There wasn't much to it to begin with. How did your interviews go?"

"I'm very satisfied. I didn't expect Mr. Li to be so cooperative."

Mu Qingqing said happily, "Once the interview transcript is released, the outside world will definitely have a clearer understanding of the succession issue of the third generation of Tengying Group, and it may even affect the stock price to rise sharply."

"You're being too optimistic."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Putting aside the fact that the current external turmoil is partly due to the significant influence of Tengying Group, the most important reason is that many companies do not want it to complete the smooth succession so quickly. The transition of power in any major situation cannot be completed in a short time. Shareholders will also adopt a wait-and-see attitude during this process, and many people may even hope that its stock price will plummet so that they can buy at the bottom again."

"Hey... that's a pretty fresh perspective. You weren't one of the vice presidents at Tengying Group who got eliminated before, were you?" Mu Qingqing asked curiously.

"You're overthinking it. If I were the vice president, I would have let you interview me already."

"It's a pity."

Mu Qingqing asked him again, "According to what you're saying, does that mean Tengying Group will experience a long period of decline? If I buy at the bottom, will I make a fortune?"

"All the experts die trying to buy at the bottom; go ahead and do it!"

Chen Pingsheng advised her, "Don't think about those things. Do you know how many listed companies the entire Tencent Group has? More than you can imagine. Do you think all these companies can get through this kind of large-scale power abuse issue safely?"
"Let me tell you the truth, it would be very good if two-thirds of the companies could pass safely. The remaining third would most likely be eliminated by the market, either sold off or facing a major crisis due to the power struggles between the old and new leaders within the group."

"That's impossible. President Li said that all of them withdrew voluntarily. How could there be internal strife?"

"You're being naive. The 'President Li' you're talking about should be Li Xiaoman, right? She's been with Chu Qiuyan for over twenty years and has worked at Tengying Group for no less than twenty-five years. She achieved financial freedom with Chu Qiuyan right after graduating from university, and then followed the group's investment plans step by step. Do you know how much wealth she has?"

"How many?"

"Commercial assets of no less than 5 billion, not including her shares in the group."

Chen Pingsheng said, "If you calculate Li Xiaoman's total net worth, it will not be less than 10 billion. Do you think that if she voluntarily withdraws, the management who have been following her will also be willing to withdraw?"

"People who are financially free may be fine, but the key is that there are too many people under her who are not financially free. These people will try every means to prevent the smooth handover of power between the old and new leaders in the group, and they may even side with other people again. Which vice president doesn't have a large number of people she promoted? What you see now is only the smallest part of those who voluntarily withdrew. There is a large part that you can't contact, and they won't tell you their true thoughts."

"With this factor in place, are you sure you're not buying at the peak when you buy at the bottom?"

"This……"

Mu Qingqing was speechless for a moment. She retorted, "If you can understand this, how could Tengying Group not understand it? How could they not be aware of this?" "Tengying Group is certainly aware of it, but you've forgotten one thing. To outsiders, a listed company is already a behemoth, but for the entire Tengying Group, the collapse of a dozen or twenty affiliated listed companies in a year or two won't cause any serious damage. They were already prepared for this kind of sacrifice when they took this step. It's just a matter of having a dozen or twenty listed companies file for bankruptcy. This is nothing to Tengying."

"How can this be?"

“It’s not impossible. Cultivating new successors and power within the group inherently involves high trial-and-error costs. These cannon fodder listed companies are the trial-and-error costs of the transition between old and new power.”

Chen Pingsheng drove his Maybach slowly all the way; he couldn't go fast because there were cars all in front of him.

Mu tilted her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly realized that what he said made a lot of sense.

She just didn't want to admit it, and she wondered if using dozens of listed companies as trial and error costs for replacing senior executives was too high a price to pay.

"Even if you're right, I don't think their founders could possibly give up so many companies?"

"Do you have some misunderstanding about the founder?"

"There's no misunderstanding. They're so smart, it's impossible for you or me to see through them."

Chen Pingsheng didn't dwell on the topic any further, but simply said, "After you finish writing your article, you still need to review it before it can be released to the public. Here's a little tip for becoming famous: you can add your own hints to the article. The stock price fluctuation cycle will probably last between three and six months. During this period, whether you're buying at the bottom or shorting in and out, it's all speculative behavior, which can also be understood as gambling."

Mu Qingqing thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so she decided to wait until she got back before discussing it further.

Time flies, and several days have passed in the blink of an eye. Mu Qingqing's article was published soon afterward.

The phrase "business empire" was removed, but all original interview content was retained.

This is both a statement and an explanation.

The Tencent Group has too many affiliated companies; even a slight fluctuation every day would result in a loss of at least tens of billions.

These aren't just virtual numbers; they're the money in investors' pockets.

A story about "Uncle Chen" has become familiar to the public again.

Unfortunately, aside from publishing this interview, Tencent Pictures has not offered any further explanation.

Outsiders can hardly see anything inside.

Mu Qingqing's article became unique, which greatly increased her reputation among financial journalists.

She became famous and the envy of many.

On the other side, Chen Lu was still working as a market researcher. He had naturally seen the news from the outside world, and when he opened his phone, it was full of Tencent News.

This has caused him some trouble in his recent stock trading. Most of his stocks have fluctuated too much, and sometimes they surge in a single day, earning him hundreds of millions or even millions.

More often than not, it's a sharp drop.

Chen Lu likes to trade short-term, which makes it extremely difficult to maintain stability.

Most of them are in the same situation as him; the market is affected by fluctuations in internal senior management, and it just keeps going up and down.

The overall trend is still downward.

The transfer from above doesn't affect the employees below much.

He and Zhao Kai sat on a chair by the roadside.

Zhao Kai discovered a huge secret. Not only did he discover it, but all the departments under the Dream Realization Fund also discovered it. It even became the most talked-about topic of conversation among everyone.

"Fourth brother, look at this interview article. It says that our founder's only son works in the market research department of Yuanmeng Fund, just like us. Is this heir even sleeping in the same dormitory as us?"

"That's certainly possible, Third Brother. If you were that Crown Prince, what would you do?"

“Me?” Zhao Kai said boldly, “If I were him, I would definitely have all the beauties in the world. With a father like that, do you think he can’t get any beauties?”

"He's already married; he's looking for an ideal woman instead."

"You got married, but to which rich lady?"

Zhao Kai thought for a moment and said, "Since the beauty isn't interested, then naturally he should do all the good deeds and let the whole world know his name. Only then can he live up to his status. Otherwise, what would he do with so much money? Could he spend it all by himself?"

“Indeed, you can’t spend it all. I think you’re absolutely right.”

Chen Lu stood up and patted his pants. This was the second time Zhao Kai had read this interview article, and it would be a lie to say he had no suspicions.

Being a market researcher at the Dream Fund might seem like a pretty good job to outsiders, but it was just too ordinary for that person.

Only someone with the status of a prince could spend over eight million without batting an eye when treating colleagues to a meal.

How could an ordinary person possibly do that?

Moreover, Chen Lu managed to win over the goddess Su Xiaoxi during his university years without doing anything, and even got her pregnant and forced to take a year off from school to give birth.

Su Xiaoxi drinks millions of dollars worth of supplements at home, and she drinks them frequently.

Even with these conditions, a family worth billions wouldn't be enough.

If Chen Lu weren't a princeling, he'd be cooking himself in an iron pot on live stream.

The most crucial point is that Chen Lu feels at home at Tencent Film Group, and can go wherever he wants.

He changed three jobs in six months, all seamlessly transitioning between them, and he could still take him everywhere he went.

How could this be if he weren't the heir to the group?

Zhao Kai knew it in his heart, but he didn't need to say it out loud. When Chen Lu said it himself, the meaning would be completely different.

Other departments might have remained indifferent, but their market research department unexpectedly became the hottest topic of discussion in the entire group within a single day.

Even the unmarried and beautiful girls in the group often come to visit them.

Every time there's a meeting, a large group of employees wait outside. If you ask them why, they all want to see the young master's true face.

Chen Lu was overlooked the fastest because he was too ordinary and people didn't know his past.

No matter how much the news spread, no one dared to use such false information to harass colleagues within the group.

If any market researcher is found to be using the founder's only son's name to pursue a girl, even in the slightest way, they will be dealt with immediately.

Chen Lu has also come to a profound understanding of what it means for a giant to make a comeback, causing a massive upheaval.

(End of this chapter)