"The praise and rewards that others give me always give me the motivation to make endless progress, but if others criticize and educate me, it usually only makes me feel confrontational." This is the famous quote left by Luo Yonghao at the first e-commerce conference of ByteDance. A few days later, he had already practiced this sentence with his hand-torn creditor.
On April 14, Luo Yonghao posted a long article on Weibo entitled "Perhaps the most energetic and sunny entrepreneurial loser and stubborn debtor in history", tearing up one of his own creditors, an investor in the former Hammer Technology. Luo Yonghao claimed that in the financing process of Hammer Technology in 2017, when all other investors had signed and anxiously waited for the life-saving investment funds to arrive, the agency maliciously refused to sign, and very pretentiously took advantage of the danger of the company's life and death to force me to personally sign an agreement to force the repurchase of shares. As the founder of Hammer Technology, I finally had to sign this rogue agreement in order to renew the company's life.
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According to the court's enforcement information, Luo Yonghao's most recent execution was on April 12, the target of execution was 10.162 million yuan, and according to the analysis of the equity structure of Hammer Technology and combined with historical data, Luo Yonghao's exposure company may be a company from Qingdao.
According to reports, a number of financial legal industry insiders said that the compulsory share repurchase clause is one of the most commonly used methods in venture capital to achieve exit and ideal capital cash-out, and is a means to protect the interests of funds when they withdraw. In general, founders should be vigilant about this and try to raise the threshold for exercising the repurchase right as much as possible to reduce the impact of the exercise of the repurchase right on the business operation.
In contrast, some insiders pointed out that in the primary market, especially in the VC stage, it is relatively common for investors to require enterprises to bear repurchase obligations, but it is rare to require enterprises to bear unlimited joint and several liability.
Over the years, Luo Yonghao has been engaged in verbal confrontation with his "opponents", even if he is short of money now.
The business is yellow, and the pomp and circumstance are not lost
Such battles with Luo Yonghao, which has been torn apart for more than a decade, have long been commonplace, and in 2014, the first hammer mobile phone SmartisanT1 reached the hands of users, but it was caught in the vortex of poor quality problems. Fang Arkzi, who has a deep grudge with Luo Yonghao, questioned by sorting out consumer complaint information: "Luo Yonghao's hammer mobile phone began to ship, claiming that the first batch of daily shipments were between hundreds and a thousand units. However, according to netizens' calculations based on the invoice number posted by customers, the real daily shipment should be less than 300 units. Why are the first shipments so small? Luo Yonghao explained that it is because the quality control standards are very strict. ”
In July 2014, Fang Ark sorted out 14 quality problems of the hammer mobile phone: rough workmanship, low material, and worn frame; light leakage of the mobile phone; lack of protective glass on the back camera head, stains on the camera part; bad buttons; the back cover could not be removed; the SIM card could not be used; the back cover could not be taken out; the front camera was not in the right position; the battery was not durable; the heat was serious; the screen was broken; the trial snapping function, the mobile phone slipped off; and the quality of the accessories was also poor. "It is really not easy to make the mobile phone 'serious' into a whole body problem." In fact, this is also expected, MLM products, relying on lip service sales, but not by product reputation, how can it really control product quality? Fang Arkzi said in the review article.
Unfavorable, Luo Yonghao explained that the responsibility lies in the quality control department, and for the hammer mobile phone that has just been mass-produced, the expansion of the market has been greatly affected. On September 20, 2016, the prospectus of Chengdu Nibiru Technology Co., Ltd., a mobile game company, exposed the financial situation of Hammer Technology. According to the prospectus, the loss for the whole year of 2015 was 462 million yuan. In 2016, the loss of Hammer Technology was about 770 million yuan.
On May 15, 2018, Beijing Bird's Nest, Luo Yonghao released a new model Nut R1 and software system TNT. At the scene, Luo Yonghao personally operated TNT, but accidents were frequent, and then bad comments followed. Subsequently, the quality problem of nut R1 was reported, and the market sales were affected. Luo Yonghao told "People" afterwards: "I deserve it, I have problems, but it is true that I am doomed and lined up. Later, everyone did not dare to buy it, which meant that the most important (product) of the year was destroyed. ”
The product has no market, and the funds are lacking. At the end of 2018, the market reported that the capital chain of Hammer Technology was broken.
In April 2019, just as Luo Yonghao was struggling for the last time, wu Xiaobo, a well-known financial writer, commented on Luo Yonghao's "failure" in a public speech that Mr. Luo had made two mistakes: one was to enter the wrong line, and the other was to dream too big. He made mobile phones in May 2014, and in 2013 China sold 350 million smartphones, an increase of 84% year-on-year. When it grows by 84%, the market has nothing to do with you. Everyone sees the possibility of smartphones, smartphones are a big market, a lot of capital, a lot of technology is starting to pour in. In 2011 and 2012, Xiaomi made smart phones, and there are still opportunities, but Xiaomi will start a mobile phone in 2013 and 2014, will you feel that there is a chance? There's no chance either. In this industry, the blue ocean runs in to see, and when it is already the red ocean, you don't run in.
Luo Yonghao later personally admitted that what Wu Xiaobo said was reasonable, but his disposition still could not listen to this somewhat harsh remark. In October 2019, Wu Xiaobo's self-media backdoor listing failed, and Luo Yonghao commented: "The reason for Wu Xiaobo's failure is actually very simple: 1. The dream is too big but he is listed? ...... Am I mistaken? 2. Entering the wrong line, it was originally an afterthought (I mean after the repetition of the surname, the name Zhuge Liang)..."
Even after transferring the mobile phone business to ByteDance, Luo Yonghao still stood proudly on Weibo with a hammer technology that was similar to an "empty shell". When some netizens angrily exclaimed, "Luo Yonghao is a fool X, he can make a great enterprise in this life, I eat Xiang", Luo Yonghao actually replied at 3 a.m., "By the way, you can't eat Xiang live." ”
In the execution incident on April 12, Luo Yonghao's "hard" statement was: according to the contract, the money for the compulsory repurchase of shares will definitely come out, after all, the commitment to XX is also a commitment. But in terms of priority, it must be paid last after all other debts have been paid off, otherwise it will be unfair to the creditors in the true sense of the word.
Bring the goods to pay back, but not as desired
Unlike Jia Yueting, who also bore huge debts, Luo Yonghao did not choose to leave, but took the initiative to bear 600 million yuan of debt. "She (Luo Yonghao's wife) said that if we don't go to the United States, don't come back." I said that the acquisition of Apple can not be put back, slow down and then go, okay? Luo Yonghao joked during a talk show performance.
According to the debt repayment progress announced by Luo Yonghao, after the Spring Festival this year, the historical debt repayment rate of Hammer Technology is about 10 million yuan to 20 million yuan per month, and it is expected to be repaid around the end of the year.
In the past year, Luo Yonghao began to perform "True Return" and worked harder to earn money.
On February 3, 2020, Luo Yonghao's company "Make a Friend" signed a contract to settle in Hangzhou Binjiang Internet Town. On April 1, he waved his hand like a leader into the live broadcast room and broadcast it for the first time on Douyin. The sales of the first live broadcast reached 110 million yuan, and the cumulative number of viewers was 46.669 million. According to the performance at that time, Luo Yonghao's performance can already rank among the top anchors of Douyin.
Luo Yonghao's live broadcast career is not smooth sailing, after the first live broadcast, Luo Yonghao in a month, the number of onlookers has dropped from more than 40 million to more than 6 million, sales have also plummeted.
According to today's Internet celebrity data, In 2020, Luo Yonghao achieved a cumulative sales of 1.971 billion yuan in live streaming, ranking 12th. Compared with Wei Ya (31.09 billion yuan) and Li Jiaqi (21.861 billion yuan), which ranked first, it is less than one-tenth of the latter.
Watching Lao Luo live, especially watching him shave, it was quite sad and emotional. When I did Niu Bo Network, I saw the real Lao Luo; when I made the hammer mobile phone, I also saw the real Lao Luo; when he was live, I couldn't see Lao Luo. Understand his difficulties, but more expect him to pursue the pixel level of the hammer mobile phone, betting on the sale of goods. A "Luo Fan" previously told the media.
Luo Yonghao told the media: "The goal I gave myself this year is to try to pay off the debt before the end of the year, which is actually a lot of pressure. The goal for the team, of course, is also a significant increase in performance, we have now achieved 6 broadcasts a week, and in the future, we will expand to 7 broadcasts a week, as well as open up vertical categories of live broadcast rooms. ”
"When I held a conference call with my partners to discuss the next outlet, a friend who did e-commerce 'brainwashed' me, saying that live e-commerce is a big opportunity." In an interview with the Daily Economic News, Luo Yonghao admitted that at that time, he was not interested in being an Internet celebrity with goods, because he was worried that fans would think that he was using his internet celebrity identity to make quick money. "At first I was resistant and wasted some time."
Back to technology, the outlet has passed
After taking out the goods and paying off the debt, Luo Yonghao said in February this year that he would go back to revive hammer technology during the live broadcast, and recently told the media that if the energy allows, he will try to go on variety shows and make music.
On the last day of 2020, Luo Yonghao and Zuo Xiaozu formed the Zorro Band, and the last paragraph of their first song "Mortals Have Light" wrote: "There is no river in the world that cannot be crossed, and the forced growth makes the growth more weighty, back on the road, the heart is calm and frank, this mountain and sea are unharmed, only because those mortals have light." ”
However, in the field of science and technology, Luo Yonghao's opportunities had long been lost in the rolling red dust. The attack of black powder is probably still inevitable.
In addition to the mobile phone hardware business, the "software-driven" Hammer Technology has created an App that sensationalizes the capital market and netizens in 2018 - Bullet SMS.
"In just six days, 51 VCs, 7 tech giants (how many 'tech giants' are there in China?). Strategic Investment Department. Luo Yonghao said on Weibo. Not only is it hot in the capital market, the data shows that the number of users of bullet SMS in the first month exceeded 7 million, which was highly sought after by users of "bitter WeChat for a long time". However, due to problems such as difficult user migration and poor privacy protection, the number of users quickly declined, and the popularity began to decrease from September.
Due to the shortage of funds and weak revenue, Hammer Technology is looking for a new outlet. According to the Securities Times, the Wind data e-cigarette index has increased by 10.74% since 2019, and the shares of Shunhao, which has both the concept of industrial hemp in the sector, have risen amazingly, reaching 183.11%. In April 2019, Hammer Technology invested in the e-cigarette business.
In the face of the question of the e-cigarette platform, Luo Yonghao responded on Weibo: "1. It is not the platform, it is fully engaged. 2. E-cigarettes are harm reduction products for smokers, can not be used to quit smoking, tobacco addiction is mainly caused by nicotine (of course, the harm is mainly caused by tar and other combustion harmful substances), some e-cigarettes have a higher nicotine content than tobacco, so it is nonsense to talk about smoking cessation. ”
Fang Arkzi "seized the opportunity" to comment on Luo Yonghao's post: "Luo Yonghao said that he sells e-cigarettes to sell 'harm reduction products', so that the seller of cocaine can also be said to be the 'harm reduction product' of heroin." Selling drugs can still be said to be so grandiose, and Luo Yonghao can say it. ”
Compared with the pressure of public opinion, the arrival of e-cigarette supervision at any time is the biggest risk of this business.
On 22 March, the Department of Industrial Policy and Regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Decision on Amending the Regulations for the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Solicitation of Comments"). The Draft for Comments decided to add an article to the supplementary provisions of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law as Article 65: "New tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes shall be implemented with reference to the relevant provisions on cigarettes in these Regulations." This means that e-cigarettes may refer to the provisions of cigarettes on the scale of taxation and supervision, and the profit margins have become confusing.
What Exactly Luo Yonghao wanted to do under the gaze of black powder was probably a question he needed to seriously consider in the future.
Author | Wang Xin
Editor| Zhang Yixiao
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