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Liu Lirong, the founder of the domestic brand Gionee mobile phone at the beginning of this century, once he was obsessed with Go into a magic, its Gionee company for 11 consecutive years to name the domestic Go league, he himself in the career choice is also proud of the jianghu, known as the "chess saint" in the Chinese business community. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, because of the rise of smart phones, his shopping mall was frustrated, he switched to the gambling table, and finally lost his family.
Liu Lirong, the founder of Gionee Mobile, said that he had three things in his life: doing business, playing chess, and playing golf. Playing Go makes him mentally full and benefits a lot; playing golf makes him healthy and in a good mood, "Playing Go is the most balanced and harmonious, and doing business and being a person is actually the same." The happiness of life is not how much money is earned, but in the fullness of the spirit and the happiness of the body and mind. Playing chess and playing ball constitutes my fulfilling and happy life. ”
When he said this, he was already rich and worth 10 billion yuan, but a few years later, he became a gambling addict, and outside the country, he lost 700 million US dollars, equivalent to 5.6 billion yuan, and then disappeared into people's vision, which is regrettable.
01
It is the middle of winter in the north, far away in the corner of Shenzhen in the south, but it is still warm as spring, and the headquarters of Gionee Group is located here. As the founder and chairman of Gionee Group, Liu Lirong often has a modest smile on his face. However, behind the gentleness, he has a "restless" heart.
He often recalls his boyhood, in November 1972, he was born in Taojiang County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province, which is adjacent to the provincial capital Changsha, and also had a beautiful scenery, when the big wharf, the big ferry port is famous, people rush to praise "the money of the big pier has a waist deep", Yiyang is known as "yiyang cast in silver", Liu Lirong's parents hope that he can honor his ancestors, so he will be named "Li Rong". And liu Lirong's first half of life has always done well.
In the past, many people thought that reading was useless. At that time, people thought that as long as they could recognize a few words, they would write their own names. Therefore, when many of his peers went out to work, only Liu Lirong himself insisted on studying.
In September 1990, at the age of 18, Liu Lirong was admitted to Central South University (then known as Central South University of Technology) with excellent results. What kind of character Liu Lirong is in college life, we can get confirmation from the memories of his classmates at that time.
Li Sheng, a native of Xinhua County, Hunan Province, and liu Lirong, who were college classmates, recalled that when he returned to his dormitory after completing the registration procedures at the beginning of the semester, he saw a classmate playing Go alone, and he said: "Brother, shall we come to two games?" Classmates agreed and chatted with him while playing chess. Through the conversation, Li Sheng learned that the new classmate's name was Liu Lirong, who came from the countryside of Yiyang City. That afternoon, they played a total of 3 sets, and Li Sheng easily won them all.
After that, the two of them in the same dormitory often played chess and chatted after class. At the beginning, Li Sheng's chess skills were dominant, and Liu Lirong never won. However, Liu Lirong thinks carefully every time he plays chess, but Li Sheng believes that playing chess is to pass the time and is always careless. After such a semester, Liu Lirong's chess skills were actually much higher than Li Sheng's, which could make him 3 sons. Li Sheng asked very confusedly, "How can you improve so fast?" Liu Lirong said: "You play chess without thinking at all, how can you make progress..."
After graduating from university, Liu Lirong was assigned to work in a research institute in Tianjin, and even at that time, he could be smoothly assigned to work in a public institution in Tianjin, and had a very good income, which was also the envy of many peers.
However, perhaps because of the characteristic "dare to be the first in the world" personality of Hunan people, the young Liu Lirong soon became tired of the work and life of the institute.
"The director of our institute at the time was 50 years old, and what I can see is that I am 50 years old, it is best to be a director, but I am not satisfied with this result." This is not the future I want. The desire to work hard to start a business makes this 20-something boy more and more dissatisfied with the status quo of step-by-step. Therefore, after only one year of working in the research institute, Liu Lirong resolutely resigned and went south to seek development.
Like many young people, Liu Lirong's reason for resigning and going to the sea was simple and simple. It is also this simple belief that has achieved an annual sales of 25 million Gionee mobile phones. To this end, he decided to keep the envy of others. And he also began his life's gamble.
In 1995, Liu Lirong went south from Tianjin, and Liu Lirong entered Xiaobawang Electronics Company, which was also the first time in his life that he was exposed to technology other than professional. The new environment is very novel for Liu Lirong, and it has aroused his interest in research.
In the small bully enterprise at that time, it can be said that it gathered talents from all directions. There are Duan Yongping, as well as some figures who also have extraordinary achievements in the future, such as Chen Yongming, Shen Wei, Jin Zhijiang and others. However, because Duan Yongping's request was not recognized by the group, Duan Yongping took these people to start a business.
And when Liu Lirong entered the Little Bully, he caught up with the opportunity to replace them. A few days after entering the company, Liu Lirong was promoted by general manager Yang Minggui with the accumulated experience and ability. Yang Minggui very much appreciated this Hunan Yiyang young man, but also liked that he had academic qualifications, insight, under his encouragement and recommendation, Liu Lirong rose all the way up, from technician to production minister.
Later, Yang Minggui also took Liu Lirong away from the business alone, the new start-up company is specialized in VCD, the company's name is Jin Zheng, Liu Lirong was the deputy CEO here for 2 years.
At the beginning of 2002, There was a change in Jinzheng Company, and after a failed equity competition, Liu Lirong left Jinzheng Company in a negative mood. At that time, the wave of China's information industry surged in the southern coastal areas, mobile phones and other communication products were hot for a time, under the encouragement of many Hunan villagers and dealers, in September 2002, Shenzhen Gionee Communication Equipment Co., Ltd. was formally established, began a decade of rapid development.
02
Liu Lirong is a perfectionist, only one thing has been done in ten years, he loves Go, he is good at talking about life in the enterprise with Go, he said: Good times or bad times, should be "life is like chess, no regrets."
His entrepreneurial path was generally smooth, from an ordinary employee of a production line, to the vice president of the company, until the establishment of Gionee Company, all the way smoothly, in just a few years. Talking about the establishment of Gionee Company, Liu Lirong laughed and said: "I was forced. After fading out of Jinzheng Company that year, some dealers and friends proposed that they hoped that Liu Lirong would enter the mobile phone industry, so they had the idea of "others can do it, why can't I do it".
You should know that in 2002, the rise of China's GSM domestic mobile phones has just emerged. Liu Lirong used the resources of his original Jinzheng VCD dealer to establish Gionee Communications Company and officially entered the mobile phone industry. It was established earlier than today's Huawei and Xiaomi.
It is said that the reason why Liu Lirong named the mobile phone brand "Gionee" stemmed from the fact that Jinzheng Company and his name "Liu Lirong" each had a word, which showed his feelings for Jinzheng Company and Yang Minggui.
On January 20, 2003, Gionee's first product, gionee303 mobile phone, appeared in major communication markets in South China, and it took only 5 months from the establishment to the launch of the product. Gionee mobile phone sales reached 800 million, and in 2004 sales doubled again.
But how could the ambitious Liu Lirong be satisfied with such insignificant sales for him? In order to sell more mobile phones, he began to learn Duan Yongping's marketing methods.
He first advertised for Gionee mobile phones, he threw down a lot of money to invite the most famous Andy Lau to endorse Gionee mobile phones, so an advertising slogan, "gold quality, the world" appeared in people's ears and became a lingering classic. Secondly, he also has to market nationwide, he promotes his brand to all parts of the country, almost all over the country's streets are full of Gionee mobile phone logo.
On March 25, 2004, Liu Lirong announced the establishment of Gionee Communication R&D Institute. The establishment of the "Gionee Mobile Communication Design and Research Institute" with an investment of 100 million yuan marks that its research and development work has stepped onto a new level and become a milestone in the R&D strength of Gionee mobile phones.
In 2005, he invested 100 million yuan to launch Gionee's first mobile phone - 1.8-inch flip phone, it is said that the style completely imitates the Xia Xin A8 at that time, but Gionee is 30% cheaper, as soon as it is listed, it is sought after by the market, and it sold 1 million units that year, and Gionee also ushered in a highlight moment. In 2006, Gionee's mobile phone sales reached 4 million units, and in 2007 it doubled to more than 8 million units in 2006.
In 2008, when gionee mobile phone sales peaked, selling a total of 10 million units, Liu Lirong at that time could be said to have become a top man overnight, becoming a leader among people, and his entrepreneurial story has become a good story.
In Liu Lirong's view, what Go brings him is a sense of responsibility for success or failure. Go is a sport that requires peace of mind, but the ultimate pursuit is not a process but a result, and there are few draws in Go. When running a business, what is needed more is a balance, a judgment, and a battle of certainty must be fought. This is based on a sense of responsibility to the business.
03
After becoming famous, Liu Lirong entered the domestic Go circle, named the Go League, and successively played against Professional masters such as Chen Zude, Wang Runan, Hua Yigang, Chang Hao, Gu Li, Kong Jie, etc. Wang Yuhui played more than 100 games of chess with him in the seventh dan, and his chess strength has improved by leaps and bounds, rising from online 5D to 8D. He has two secrets to long chess: serious dedication and master re-explanation.
Usually amateur chess players play chess, mainly entertainment, the whole plate is casual, the spoon is flying all over the sky, so that the next game is the same as the next hundred games. Liu Lirong every game of chess, just like the professional master game, even if it is playing on the Internet, it is not slack, every game, the master explains the review for him, a half-understanding, after the explanation, it will be clear in the chest, touch the bypass, suddenly cheerful.
Liu Lirong is so devoted to chess, will the plaything lose his mind? Liu Lirong said: For the company's decision-makers, the specific operation has been secondary, and the most important thing is to grasp the overall situation and make major decisions. Go can make people calm, rational, keep thinking alive, concentrate mental strength, and help companies make decisions. In the past 9 years since the title sponsored the Weijia League, Gionee has become stronger and stronger step by step, which is also the best proof.
"Prosperity will decline", if Liu Lirong is known to use his Go perspective to understand Jin Li and his own life at that time, there will be no dismal situation behind.
A person close to Liu Lirong commented to the "Daily Economic News" reporter: "Sustained success is like a car driving on a straight highway at high speed, once an accident is fatal."
When the domestic market of Gionee was booming and overseas flags were planted, the mobile phone was surging with undercurrents. The crisis has also quietly arrived. In 2011, mobile phones entered the intelligent era, Huawei, Xiaomi, Apple have followed the situation, increased research and development, rapid launch, and constantly replaced new models, and have already had a place in the market.
One crisis is the threat of copycats, and the other is the "Enlightenment" of Chinese mobile phones triggered by Apple's iPhones. At the end of 2006, Meizu held an annual meeting, Huang Zhang said that Meizu decided to transform into a mobile phone; since 2009, Lei Jun has also been fascinated by mobile phones, and has "popularized" smart phones to people everywhere.
Functional machines have entered a period of decline, and the channel relationship of distributors cannot escort Gionee. The mobile phone market suddenly changed overnight. "China Cool Union" relies on the rapid rise of operator channels, OPPO/vivo painstakingly cut down hundreds of millions of dollars worth of inventory, and comprehensively transformed smart machines.
In this round of tide, Xiaomi through the "fever", cost-effective Internet model, only two years to successfully rank among the top three Chinese mobile phones; by the time Liu Lirong realized, the market has changed, he is not willing to fall behind, spend huge amounts of money on marketing, crazy expansion of overseas factories, a year spent 6 billion advertising costs, leaving a great hidden danger to the company's development. He self-evaluation said: "I don't understand technology, in fact, I don't understand marketing, I have my own opinion." ”
Liu Lirong hired Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau as a product spokesperson, the phrase "gold quality, the world" also dominates the screen on TV, but also makes gionee mobile phone annual sales reach 40 million units, but the high cost of sales, so that the company's profits are diluted to the end.
According to Liu Lirong himself, Gionee has lost money for consecutive years since 2013, starting with a monthly loss of not less than 100 million yuan, and by 2016 and 2017, the monthly loss was not less than 200 million yuan, and the cumulative loss was 8 billion yuan.
Liu Lirong is also under great pressure, it is at this time, he was originally gentle and elegant, like to play Go, golf, began to participate in gambling.
Liu Lirong himself said in an interview with securities times that he did gamble in Saipan, losing more than a billion yuan and embezzling more than a billion public funds. Liu Lirong has been to Saipan twice. The first time it lost 2 billion. The second time, several friends who had a very good personal relationship with Liu Lirong personally flew to Saipan to try to persuade him to turn back, but what they did not expect was a mountain of chips on the gambling table.
"The last hand was a hand, and he lost $700 million at a time, equivalent to 5.6 billion yuan." The smartest people walked Go, the most desperate people were in the casino, and it was obvious that in Jin Li this game of chess was Liu Lirong who lost to the sky.
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About the author: Governor June 1, Winner of the Ford International Scholarship, freelance writer after the 70s, focusing on excavating the history of the rich list and unlocking the wealth key for ordinary people, welcome to pay attention. Original content, please do not reprint in any form without authorization!