Text: Xiao Jie
Pinduoduo has achieved good results and become the only state-owned enterprise on the list of "Top Ten Innovative Logistics Supply Chain Companies in 2022"! On March 8, according to the list released by the world-renowned business magazine Fast Company, Pinduoduo passed multiple tests such as creative business concept, growth rate, and social welfare, and successfully debuted in the "Top Ten Innovative Logistics Supply Chain Companies in 2022".
The list has long been regarded as a vane for annual business value and investment, and Shen Nanpeng, the founder of Mainland Sequoia Capital, has invested more than $300 million in Pinduoduo. Shen Nanpeng is a big man in the investment industry, has been named "Forbes Global Best Venture Capitalist" for three consecutive years, and he has single-handedly invested in 6 companies of 100 billion US dollars. Whether it is Ali, JD.com, Pinduoduo, or Meituan, Kuaishou have sequoia behind them.
Beginning in 2017, Sequoia invested $370 million in Pinduoduo through three rounds of private financing at an average purchase price of $1.22 per share. Pinduoduo, Taobao and Jingdong are undoubtedly the 3 giants of today's e-commerce industry, in the market share of e-commerce retail platforms in 2021, Taobao ranks 1st with 51% market share, followed by Jingdong reached 20%, and Pinduoduo, ranked 3rd, occupies 15% of the market share, and it is still difficult for other brands to catch up.
Huang Zheng founded Pinduoduo at the age of 35, listed on The Nasdaq at the age of 38, and the market value of Pinduoduo jumped to $230 billion at the age of 40. Huang Zheng's value once surpassed that of Ma Yun, who also belongs to Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and became the richest man with 410 billion yuan. Shockingly, Huang Zheng gave up his position as the richest man at this time, but instead resigned as chairman at the age of 41 and donated shares worth hundreds of billions of yuan to study life sciences.
Unlike Ma Yun's retirement at 55 and Liu Qiangdong's retirement at 46, Huang Zheng's departure is more like a "resignation". The most critical thing is that when Huang Zheng left, the number of users of Pinduoduo just exceeded that of Ali. After brushing his clothes and hiding his merits and fame, some people lamented that he "retired early at an early age", but he showed no worries and became a legend of the rapids.
Huang Zheng was born in 1980 to an ordinary family in Zhejiang Province. Because of the relatively poor family conditions, he had to often wear the old clothes of relatives and children. However, he was very intelligent from an early age, and was called "someone else's child" by many parents, and was sent to Zhejiang University at the age of 18. After graduating from college, he was not in a hurry to enter the society, but instead entered the University of Wisconsin, which ranked 8th in the world.
Huang Zheng's academic success also attracted many big men for him. At the age of 20, he attracted the attention of NetEase founder Ding Lei for his excellent insights on technical issues. Ding Lei introduced him to Duan Yongping, known as "China's Buffett." It can be said that Duan Yongping contributed money and efforts to Huang Zheng's entrepreneurial road, not only taught him entrepreneurial spirit, but also taught him a lot of knowledge, which can be called Huang Zheng's life mentor.
Later, Duan Yongping spent $620,100 to photograph Buffett's lunch and took Huang Zheng with him. For Huang Zheng's strength, Duan Yongping also gave a high evaluation, "extremely high understanding" and "give him 10 years, everyone will see his strength". Even with such a high evaluation, it seems that Huang Zheng is still underestimated.
In 2015, with the help of Duan Yongping, Huang Zheng founded Pinduoduo. As far as the e-commerce market at that time was concerned, the overall situation was relatively saturated, and it was very difficult for Pinduoduo to get a piece of the pie, but this did not overwhelm Huang Zheng. In just 3 years, he led Pinduoduo to gain a foothold in the chaotic e-commerce market. In 2018, when Pinduoduo was listed on the NASDAQ, its valuation soared to 230 billion.
On March 18, 2021, Huang Zheng resigned as chairman of Pinduoduo and gave up super voting rights. He divided 7.74% of the shares to Pinduoduo Collective, 3.77% to Duan Yongping, and 3.37% to the charity foundation, and established a foundation called Fanxing Charity. After these donations, Huang Zheng's own stake in the group fell to less than 30%.
Overall, the stock he donated was worth nearly $100 billion. What is even more shocking is that after this retirement, Huang Zheng's next plan is to devote himself to the cause of science. He donated $100 million to his alma mater and established three related laboratories, including three experimental projects: agri-food, biomedical, and advanced computing.
In the face of the lament of "early departure", Huang Zheng appeared very calm, and said that he "wants to do some research in the field of life sciences" and "touch the stones on the road in 10 years", hoping to promote basic research and cutting-edge exploration in the fields of biomedicine, agriculture and food. In August of the year of his retirement, Pinduoduo announced that it would invest 10 billion yuan to set up a "10 billion agricultural research project".
At the beginning of the establishment of Pinduoduo, it was to create value by helping agriculture enter the digital economy. The goal of the 10 billion agricultural research project is not commercial value and profitability, but only to meet the main needs of agriculture and rural areas, and continue to promote the progress of agricultural science and technology and the popularization of science and technology. Use science and technology to promote the development of agricultural products, let the digital economy serve more rural communities, and further improve the efficiency of the agricultural product supply chain.
At present, Pinduoduo has invested all the profits of the second and third quarters of 2021 into the special project. Pinduoduo has connected more than 850 million users with more than 16 million farmers, rebuilt China's original agricultural product logistics infrastructure, established a new cold chain transportation route, and greatly shortened the circulation of agricultural products.
The internet moguls' shift to life sciences is somewhat surprising. However, the achievements of Pinduoduo illustrate the results, that is, for the sake of great agriculture. In fact, whether it's Musk, Bezos, or Hong Kong's Lee's long-sitting rich list, life sciences play an important role in the business landscape.
Perhaps Huang Zheng chose the right direction again. Wall Street brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch has predicted that the forward market size of the life sciences sector will start from trillions. In the face of this trend, Ma Yun's Yunfeng Fund is paying close attention to the layout and betting on the cutting-edge team "Times Faction" to divide the high-end anti-aging market. Of course, there is also a theory that Huang Zheng's resignation is a tribute to his mentor Duan Yongping.
That year, when Duan Yongping introduced Huang Zheng to Buffett, he made the business genius famous. Coincidentally, 40-year-old Huang Zheng also chose to retire, and a similar age has made many people question. But whatever the reason for Huang Zheng's retirement, his business acumen, talent, and foresight are unmatched by most people.