2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 981 "The Troubles of a Billionaire"

"Zhang Yong is leaving?"

In the quiet night, after seeing off the guests and putting their youngest daughter to sleep, the couple finally had some private space. Putting aside their identities as the richest man and entrepreneurs, Tan Jincheng and his wife's daily life was no different from that of most couples.

They spend their time chatting about family matters and taking care of the children. Fortunately, the children have all grown up. Tan Jincheng's youngest daughter will soon be six years old, which is probably the happiest thing for the couple.

That's right, Tan Jincheng has become the richest man again. In the annual update of the rich list, Tan Jincheng once again surpassed Lao Ma and ranked first on the list.

The past nine months have been of great symbolic significance for the global wealth structure.

On the list of China's richest people, all of the top 50, except for those in the real estate industry, have seen their wealth skyrocket. The wealth of the top ten richest people has increased by more than 50%, with the highest growth rate going to the mineral water seller who ranked fifth this year.

Due to the listing of the main company and the soaring market value of the vaccine company, Mr. Zhong's wealth soared from 137.9 billion yuan in 2019 to 3596.5 billion yuan in 2020, an increase of 3458.6 billion yuan in one year.

The Tan Jincheng family's overall wealth increased by a staggering 77%, soaring from 2805.7 billion yuan last year to 4966.09 billion yuan this year, widening the gap with Ma Ying-jeou by 588 billion yuan.

If last year's gap of 500 billion yuan made Tan Jincheng's title as the richest man somewhat questionable, as he was overtaken by Jack Ma not long after the rich list was published, then this year's gap of over 50 billion yuan is indisputable.

In the words of the media, 2019 was like a year of change of hands on the rich list, while 2020 was the real year of a new king.

Tan Jincheng's wealth growth is comprehensive. E-commerce, cloud computing, and games were exceptionally active during special periods, driving the growth of Orange Group's revenue and stock price. Although physical enterprises such as Weilai faced difficulties in the first half of the year, Orange Group remained as active as ever.

In addition, Tan Jincheng's involvement in the medical industry through investments and other means, as well as the recovery in car sales in the second half of the year, have brought a huge increase in the wealth of the Tan Jincheng family, as can be seen from the changes in Liu Fangyi's wealth.

In 2020, Liu Fangyi ranked 297th on the wealth list with a net worth of 133.5 billion yuan. He also entered the top 50 of the domestic medical and health rich list, ranking 41st.

Besides industry participants like Mr. Zhong and Liu Fangyi who directly benefited from special events, even peripheral figures like Wang Wei of SF Express and Zhang Xupeng saw their wealth double. The explosive growth of Shanchi Technology's business and the listing of Bafang Electric brought about significant changes to Zhang Xupeng's wealth structure.

Old Ma's wealth growth was also quite staggering, exceeding 70%. However, due to his significant reduction in stock holdings, his publicly disclosed shareholding in Alibaba decreased substantially, ultimately placing him second with a wealth of 4377.2 billion yuan.

Ma Huateng remains in third place, looking rather pathetic. He's probably the one who "controlled his wealth" the most this year, keeping it below 4000 billion yuan. In fact, Tan Jincheng also tried to control his wealth, but he couldn't.

Whether it's the listed companies he controls, the listed companies he holds a large number of shares in, or the listed companies that have successfully gone public, they are all exposed to the public. Although he reduced his holdings in Orange Group and Weilai Group, it was to no avail.

All we can do is keep our wealth below 5000 billion yuan.

Speaking of Pony Ma's control over his points, we have to mention his shrewdness. This year is Pony Ma's first full term as "Boss Ma," and he has maintained a public appearance frequency of about once a month.

His identities include Alibaba's partner, a university president, and the chairman of an entrepreneurs' club, among others. In early July, Ma Yun sold more than 2.3 million Alibaba shares, directly netting approximately 430 billion yuan.

Jack Ma himself made a fortune. On Qixi Festival, which was also Tan Jincheng's 35th birthday, Ant Group's application for listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board was officially accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

As the largest IPO in history, it attracted widespread attention from investors. Ant Group passed the review in just 24 days and officially submitted its registration on September 22.

According to the latest developments, the five strategic placement funds have closed their fundraising ahead of schedule, raising a total of 60 billion yuan. Public data shows that more than 10 million investors subscribed to these funds, which were launched on September 25.

In just one week, Ant Group raised 600 billion yuan, which shows how popular its IPO was.

According to Ant Group's prospectus and valuation calculations, Jack Ma's holdings in Ant Group are worth more than 1800 billion yuan. During the National Day holiday, many media outlets joked that Jack Ma's reign as the richest man in China might not last more than a month.

According to the plan, Ant Group will be officially listed at the end of October or the beginning of November. It is currently in the final preparation stage before the listing. Next, there will be online and offline subscriptions, followed by the opening of trading.

Jack Ma can be said to be enjoying immense success, but Alibaba has faced many problems this year, including a huge public opinion crisis caused by the president of Tmall's personal issues, with one negative news story after another.

Perhaps aware of the public relations crisis surrounding Ali, Pony Ma has become increasingly low-key and rarely appears in public.

Correspondingly, Tan Jincheng has not appeared in public many times this year, proving that even the richest man has his troubles.

Didn't you try to persuade them?

Tan Jincheng sighed and said, "How could I not have tried to dissuade them? But once we've made a decision, how many people can actually change our minds?"

Whether it was due to his lack of confidence in Nezha, his long-standing friendship with Zhang Yong, or Wei Lai's own interests, Tan Jincheng advised Zhang Yong to reconsider. In Tan Jincheng's view, he felt that joining Xiaopeng or even Wenjie would be better than joining Nezha.

Nezha's current business model seems fine, but its biggest problem is that Nezha's products lack a core selling point.

Li Bing's battery swapping model is his unique selling point, while Xiaopeng's selling points are intelligent assisted driving and a sense of technological fashion. Even second-tier brands like Leapmotor have launched their own self-developed features across the entire spectrum.

And what about Nezha? Its only selling point is its low price. In the automotive consumer goods sector, value can indeed touch consumers' purchasing psychology, but low price really cannot be a selling point. If that were the case, so many car companies wouldn't have gone bankrupt.

Besides lacking a core selling point, the turmoil in the major shareholders of Nezha Auto is also one of the reasons. In 2017, the largest shareholder of Hozon New Energy was China Fortune Land Development, which can be considered as having partnered with a real estate company that was quite powerful at the time.

In 2018, the real estate industry declined, and Hezhong's major shareholder changed to Yichun Jinhe, and in 2019 it changed to the Yichun State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

If this were the end of the story, Hezhong, having signed a concerted action agreement with the founder, could enter a normal development phase with the support of the local State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Unfortunately, this year, the major shareholders of Hezhong have changed again. In addition to the intervention of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Ningxia, there is also the "Red-Clothed Master" of 360.

Just from these dazzling changes in controlling shareholders, one can see Fang Yunzhou's operational strategy for Hezhong.

To put it nicely, they are playing both sides; to put it bluntly, they are opportunistic and will sell to whoever pays them.

In the capital market, this is actually the most taboo thing. It's not that you can take money from anyone, nor is it that anyone's money is so easy to take.

For example, if a local state-owned assets supervision and administration commission (SASAC) sets up a factory in Tongxiang and then receives investment from the SASACs of two other cities, and remains the absolute majority shareholder, then who should have control of the factory?

If a local state-owned assets supervision and administration commission only invests a small amount of money, it is basically considering financial investment or supporting industries.

However, if one invests a large sum of money to become a major shareholder, then the intention is definitely to relocate the factory to the local area and contribute to local development.

By bringing in three local state-owned assets supervision and administration commissions that have influence in the company at once, it seems like the company is very powerful, but it's really incredibly stupid.

This is like a company simultaneously having both Ali and Tencent as major shareholders with significant influence; whose opinion should be followed?
"Few people can be good at navigating social situations; most are dancing on the edge of a knife. So their company's biggest problem right now is the uncertainty of the major shareholder's say."

Tan Jincheng used this reason to persuade Zhang Yong, but at the time Zhou Hongyi planned to invest, and Zhang Yong used this reason to explain it away.

Zhang Yong hopes that Zhou Hongyi's involvement with internet capital can help regulate the relationship between local state-owned assets and that internet capital can provide more funding to bring development opportunities to the company.

Although Zhou Hongyi has fallen behind among the internet giants, 360 still has considerable strength and relatively abundant cash flow.

This line of thinking is actually not wrong. Among the emerging brands that are doing well, they all have the support of internet capital.

Baidu is a joint venture partner of WM Motor, Ali is a joint venture partner of Xiaopeng and Zhiji (a sub-brand of SAIC), while Tencent has invested in Wenjie from the beginning and currently holds 15.1% of Wenjie's shares, firmly holding the position of the second largest shareholder.

The top three emerging electric vehicle companies all have the support of internet capital. Even companies like Weilai have been labeled as internet-based car manufacturers because of Tan Jincheng.

Unfortunately, both of them bet on the wrong horse. The "Red-Clothed Master" is not like the three BAT companies.

"Are you going to talk to General Manager Zhang about this?"

"How am I supposed to say that he's a fake? Old Zhou really did invest 29 billion yuan, I don't want to challenge him to a fight."

"Besides, I don't have any evidence."

Tan Jincheng would never do something like cutting off someone's livelihood, as it wouldn't benefit him either. His advice to Zhang Yong was only from the perspective of camaraderie.

The other party has their own ideas and has made their own decisions; there's nothing that can be done if they don't listen.

Gu Qingqing chuckled: "Why do you keep bringing up other people's embarrassing past? That happened so many years ago."

Tan Jincheng didn't have much contact with Zhou Hongyi, but as a senior executive at Orange, Gu Qingqing had attended many internet industry events over the years and had some contact with Zhou Hongyi.

Orange Group also has some cooperation with 360 in the field of security.

"To be honest, his approach to the automotive industry is really not going to work."

Tan Jincheng spread his hands, and his right hand inadvertently touched his wife's plump breasts. Gu Qingqing, 33 years old, had given birth twice and her figure was somewhat plump.

However, her slightly plump figure, combined with the charm of a young woman, made her even more attractive, making Tan Jincheng's heart itch with desire.

"Go to sleep."

Gu Qingqing also noticed Tan Jincheng's aggressive gaze. Her eyes flickered, and she curled her lips into a half-smile.

"Okay, go to sleep, let's not talk about him."

Silent all night.

The next day, the couple both woke up a little late. Gu Qingqing went to work at Orange's headquarters as usual, as the special event delayed the rise in the online entertainment market.

On average, each mobile phone user across the country spends more than 24 hours a month playing games, an increase of at least one hour compared to last year.

The stability and activity of users participating in online entertainment have been further improved, and the commercialization of 5G has also driven cloud gaming to become a primary emerging industry.

With the first three quarters completed, according to Sensor Tower's monitoring data, Honor of Kings' global revenue this year is expected to approach $25 billion. This represents a growth of over 40% compared to last year. As the world's best-selling mobile game, Honor of Kings steadily provides a cash flow guarantee for Orange Group.

Gu Qingqing's reputation as the "Queen of Games" is growing louder and louder, and she is getting busier and busier with work.

Of course, you'll get just as much criticism as you deserve. That's how the gaming industry is. You'll earn as much money as you deserve, but you'll also get just as much criticism, no matter who you are.

"By the way, tell Lao Cheng and Lao Lu not to compete with Ali in marketing lately, and not to stand out too much."

"Also, Orange Group should not get involved in the online mockery of us."

Before leaving, Tan Jincheng told Gu Qingqing that they had originally planned to discuss this matter last night, but the conversation couldn't continue.

Currently, Cheng Hao, one of the two core executives of Orange Group, is mainly responsible for Orange Products Club-related businesses, while Lu Qi is in charge of big data, cloud computing, AI and other aspects.

The recent online mockery of Tan Jincheng as the richest man bears a resemblance to Ali the Fox. While Ant Group's IPO and financing have been a resounding success, they have also been met with considerable skepticism.

The shareholder list in particular has been met with constant questioning since its official release, especially now that it's the quiet period before the IPO.

Ali's attempt to divert public attention through other trending topics is a normal public relations tactic.

If you confront them, you'll fall into their trap. Besides, people like Tan Jincheng know far more information than what's being reported.

The largest IPO in history was finalized in less than a month, which could not possibly be a simple matter of special handling.

"I know, I already told them. You should also tell Lao Zhang not to discuss this with Flashspeed."

"Yes, I'll talk to him about it today."

Tan Jincheng nodded, said goodbye to his family, and then went to his company with Gu Qingqing to begin their day's work.

Upon arriving at the headquarters of Weilai, Zhang Xupeng was also present. FlashTech Technology had recently become involved in the restructuring of Zhidou Auto.

Mr. Zhang, whose net worth also skyrocketed, participated throughout the process, partly to keep an eye on Shan Chi and Tan Jincheng, and partly to learn from them.

"Wow, you look radiant, the richest man."

As soon as he entered the office, Zhang Xupeng, who was already waiting, started teasing him, which made Zhao Xinyi secretly chuckle.

We've all been there; Boss Tan is rarely late. Just look at his expression, and everyone knows what's going on.

Tan Jincheng laughed and scolded, "Go to hell, tell Flash's PR department not to respond to this. Let Old Ma take the blame."

If Ant Group successfully goes public, then no one in China will be able to challenge Jack Ma's position as the richest man, not even Zhang Yiming.

Unfortunately, Tan Jincheng knew in the end that this year would be a tough year for the internet companies, or rather, for the leading companies like BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent).

Of course, she earned every penny she was entitled to, which is why Tan Jincheng wanted Chengzi to keep a low profile.

"We know, it's a way to divert attention. How could we not understand such a childish public relations tactic?"

Although obvious, it was indeed effective. The debate over who is the richest man, which started on the first day of the National Day holiday, spread rapidly during the holiday and did indeed shift a lot of attention and traffic to Tan Jincheng.

This is an open conspiracy, and there's no way to resolve it. The only thing the group and Tan Jincheng's personal team can do is ignore it.

"Stop laughing. Go and find Li Xiang, Hu Zhengnan, Thomas, and the others. We need to have a meeting. Oh, and Mr. Wang too."

Zhao Xinyi chuckled and turned to leave.

"Is Mr. Zhang really leaving?"

Zhang Xupeng is also a member of Tan Jincheng's personal team and has recently been deeply involved in the restructuring of Zhidou Auto, so he also knew about Zhang Yong's departure.

"Yes, so we need to discuss the selection of a successor for CEO of Weilai. You can listen in as well."

After saying that, Tan Jincheng smiled wryly and said, "We have made many preparations in terms of technical talent. Originally, I was wary of Lei Jun."

"Who knew that Lei Jun hadn't made a move yet, but Zhou Hongyi had already made her move first."

As a leading company in the new energy vehicle sector, Zhang Yong's departure has made Tan Jincheng increasingly aware of the company's personnel changes.

Whether it's Xiaomi, which is secretly preparing to build cars, or Huawei, or other car manufacturers and new players preparing to enter the market.

There have been many people keeping an eye on Wei Lai. Although they have been on high alert, they have indeed lost a lot of middle and lower-level management and technical personnel, both in the vehicle and battery sectors.

However, the middle and senior management levels have remained very stable. Zhang Yong's departure set a bad precedent, giving other companies in the industry an opportunity.

"Is Li Xiang the one who will take over?"

Li Xiang said he came to report on his work, but he had been stuck in Ningbo for a week. During that week, Li Xiang stayed at the headquarters in Weilai to work, and Tan Jincheng prepared a temporary office for him.

This is obviously not normal.

Tan Jincheng didn't shy away from the topic and nodded, saying, "Yes, it's Li Xiang. The main reason I called them over today is to give them an internal notification and also to discuss the successor to the CEO of Lotus."

Soon after, all of Wei Lai's senior executives except Zhang Yong arrived, and these people also knew about Zhang Yong's departure.

It wasn't that Tan Jincheng didn't want to call Zhang Yong, but rather that Zhang Yong was currently on vacation. After years of being busy, Zhang Yong had almost never had a complete vacation.

During the most difficult period this year, Zhang Yong stayed in Luzhou to ensure the safe production of the Luzhou industrial base.

During Wei Lai's last extended vacation during his tenure, Tan Jincheng was not so heartless as to give Zhang Yong a proper break.

"Just to announce, Mr. Li will succeed Mr. Zhang after his departure. However, this is currently only known to a few of us. If Mr. Zhang asks, we can let him know."

"But don't say anything about it now. Lotus is going through the IPO process, so let's not cause any turmoil."

Hu Zhengnan and Wang Fengying were both taken aback, then congratulated Li Xiang.

No one expected the boss to be so decisive, and Li Xiang accepted the responsibility without any doubt.

"It seems the boss came prepared. So, the reason he called us here is probably to discuss the successor to the Lotus CEO, right?"

"Yes, does anyone have any opinions?"

Wang Fengying smiled and said, "President Li is the most qualified to speak on this matter. He is most familiar with Lotus. Let him speak."

Li Xiang had already processed the previous shock. When Tan Jincheng talked to him before, he also asked him to recommend a new candidate for CEO of Lotus.

He had considered this after he returned.

"There are several options. The first is to bring back Mr. Li from Proton. Mr. Li has been overseas for so many years and has achieved a lot, so it would be reasonable to bring him back."

Li Chunrong is the CEO of Proton. Over the years, he has managed Proton well, and Proton's sales in Malaysia have now returned to the 100,000-unit level.

This year, Proton is the only car company in Malaysia to achieve sales growth, with its market share returning to 20%.

Compared to Proton's historical low of 10.8%, it has almost doubled in just a few years, with Proton's market share reaching 21.3% in September.

Both SUVs performed exceptionally well, and the export business also saw strong growth. This year, Proton plans to add 20 3S/4S service points, bringing the total number of outlets to 144. This has optimized the supplier and dealer system and improved users' perception of the brand.

For Proton, it's quite difficult to have developed to its current state; Malaysia's supply chain system is simply incomparable to that of China.

Li Chunrong made outstanding contributions.

Tan Jincheng shook his head and rejected the idea outright: "Forget about it. Proton needs him more, and Proton's strategic position is relatively higher than Lotus's."

Li Xiang smiled and said, "Then there are only two options left. One is to promote from within, but I don't really recommend that. I'll explain why later."

"Besides internal promotion, the remaining option is external recruitment. I have three candidates in mind. Boss, please take a look at the third option first."

Li Xiang came prepared. Of the three candidates he submitted to Tan Jincheng, the first was Murong Tao, who is currently the CEO of Aston Martin.

By the way, Murong Tao is German.

The second is Stephen Winkelman, the current president of Bugatti, and the third is Robin Danholm, the chairman of Tesla.

In addition to these three, Ferrari's Greater China President, Bai Bei, was also on Li Xiang's proposed shortlist.

They are all heads of luxury car brands and have a deep understanding of both domestic and international markets.

(End of this chapter)