March 2022 is another Month when countless Internet manufacturers can hardly sleep peacefully.
In the past half a month, Chinese stocks have experienced a nearly vertical downward downward situation. As of last week, nearly 90 Chinese stocks had fallen by more than 10 percent. Those hesitant Chinese stock investors dare not easily enter the market, nor dare to cut meat to exit.
No one knows whether the decline has reached the bottom, and no one knows whether the stocks in their hands are still likely to return to their capital.
Among them, the hearts of those Internet employees who hold the company's stocks and options are even more complicated. Most of them jumped to their current companies when they were full of confidence, many of them also dreamed of "buying a car, buying a house, and achieving financial freedom" when the company was listed, and some people bought real estate at the highest point of the stock price and took high loans.
For these people, the decline of Chinese stocks not only means the shrinkage of assets, but also the bursting of those dream bubbles. This issue of Micro Stock Markets tells the story of a group of Employees of a Chinese Stock Company holding the company's stocks, among them:
Some people are Ctrip employees, after the stock price fell, every day to see the numbers of the trading platform trembling, reduce the frequency of eating out, began to implement the "home open source throttling plan";
Some people are optimistic about the new energy automobile industry to jump ship to join Xiaopeng, signed the monthly salary and stock package and waited until the company was listed as desired, he will not speculate in stocks, he also specially downloaded the stock platform to pay attention to the company's stock price, but did not expect to wait for the moment when the company's stock price was cut;
Some are executives of Chinese stock companies, whose stocks were worth more than 2.3 million at the highest time, and now they have experienced a sharp decline, and their assets have shrunk to 230,000;
Some people work in listed companies in the education industry, have suffered from the impact of "double reduction" and the plunge of Chinese stocks, witnessed the process of the company's emergency change of CFO, and the year-end bonus has also "disappeared".
Here are the true stories about them:
Text | Macondo, Yang Jia, Wang Jiajia, Mistao
Edit | Shi Ningyu
Since the collapse of Chinese stocks, my wife and I have been brushing the green numbers on our mobile phones all day long, and the whole person is like falling into an ice cellar, trembling.
The working atmosphere in our department has also been very low in recent days. There is a technical colleague with a particularly outstanding work ability who can't sit still this week, mentions his resignation, and wants to jump ship to another company whose annual salary is twice as high as it is now.
The company dug him up years ago, but the reason why he didn't go was that he saw some equity in his hand and sat firmly on the Diaoyutai. Now that he has lost confidence in the stock market, he can no longer hold back his desire to leave.
I'm not an executive at Ctrip, but I also have a little stake.
When the momentum of our company was on the rise, I quickly bought a two-room house in Shanghai with salary, commission and this equity. For me from the countryside, this can be described as a carp leaping dragon gate.
After the epidemic in 2020, our company began a small scale of layoffs. At first, I was also panicked and had to work desperately, and luckily, when I was 30 years old, I was not unemployed.
When our company first went public, employees with equity could be described as overnight riches, and at that time, everyone was enthusiastic and determined to hand over their life's career to the company.
In the past few days, I have always seen a sentence said by Liu Chuanzhi before thinking about it, "When the general trend comes, the pig can fly into the sky; as soon as the wind stops, the pig will fall." ”
In recent days, my wife and I have been constantly reflecting, in case the wind is a little stronger one day, will we have to scrape our family without a trace?
Today, I am middle-aged, there are old people, there are small ones, and I have a mortgage of one or two million yuan per month. I was not as capable as the colleague who had jumped ship, so I could only stay here and eat my old roots.
As soon as the stock market was turbulent, the burden on my shoulders was a little heavier.
After thinking about the pain, I discussed with my wife that from now on, our family will open up and reduce expenditure.
On the one hand, to save money, do not spend money unless necessary, eat at home at home, and take the subway without driving; on the other hand, my wife also goes out to work, doing personnel work in a company opened by a friend, and can earn four or five thousand yuan a month, which can maintain daily living expenses.
Our previous life in Shanghai can not be said to be very high-end, but at least among the same age, it is very enviable.
Our family had never cooked at home, and we ate outside because we were either busy or lazy and didn't want to do it. Please the babysitter, pay 7,000 a month. Private kindergartens for children also cost more than 100,000 a year in tuition.
Nowadays, if the stock price continues to fall like this, our life will be gone forever.
After my wife and I formulated the "Family Open Source Throttling Plan", we agreed to supervise each other and resolutely implement it no matter how red the bull market in the stock market will be in the future.
After all, if you encounter such a cold again, then you really have to go back to the pre-liberation period.
In 2020, I looked at the signal that the new car-making forces were going to the United States to be listed in the United States and then listed Hong Kong stocks, and decided to jump from internet companies to new energy automobile companies.
At that time, the situation was very smooth, I got Xiaopeng's offer as I wished, but because my salary was too low before, the increase could not exceed 30%, and finally negotiated with the company a total package of 500,000 yuan, consisting of cash and equity.
The cash part is not high for research and development with 4 years of experience, but what I value more is that the equity given by the company in the general contract can be converted into rmb and converted into shares, which is not a cake on the eve of the company's imminent listing.
Although the equity is divided into 4 years and is full of uncontrollable factors, most people believe in a theory: if you want to quickly achieve wealth freedom, part-time work is impossible, and option equity is the shortcut.
For young people like us who need to buy a house in a first-tier city, but have not paid enough down, this is an opportunity to "change bicycles into motorcycles". My girlfriend supported me too.
She works at Tencent, owns employee stocks, and has also bought the company's stock at a low price, and as the company's stock price rises, the book income has soared by hundreds of thousands of yuan overnight, offsetting the ordinary income of ordinary families who have been fortunate to suffer for a year. We all feel that equity is more attractive than a fixed monthly salary.
At that time, affected by the epidemic, many traditional car companies and airlines shrank in their business, and the new car-making forces that could give higher treatment in the outlet absorbed many managers from traditional industries.
Despite the different ways of doing things, cross-border leadership, there is always a lot of friction when it comes to rapidly developing projects. But everyone holds equity and can make a lot of money after waiting for the listing, so there is a "balance" within the team, and everyone is working hard for high performance and not being eliminated at the end.
In order to express my recognition of the company's prospects, I also ordered a company's products and recommended friends around me to buy them, hoping to contribute to the company's financial report.
In the second half of the year, the company and another friend successfully went public in the United States, and the stock price increased by more than 3 times.
The atmosphere within the team is even more subtly: everyone complains about the overtime work between colleagues, and at the same time, they are conscientiously and actively "performing" - everyone hopes to wait for the expiration of the 4-year period in the downward environment.
After the first year of equity issuance, I never paid attention to the stock market, and I also downloaded the stock trading software specifically, just to see the company's stock price.
Many times, when I sat in my workstation so busy that I didn't have the opportunity to eat, when I got up and walked vainly, and doubted the meaning of my work, as long as I opened the software and saw the company's stocks fluttering red, I began to have motivation. It seems that every overtime arranged by the company is to add bricks and tiles to its own small family.
As a result, the company's stock price began to fall in March this year, and every day was a green patch, and I suddenly felt that everything was nothing.
On the one hand, the major Internet companies have successively laid off employees, I may face a large number of high-paying personnel competition, on the other hand, after the stock price is almost "ankle cut", my assets have shrunk rapidly, and the dream of wealth freedom has been shattered.
A voice inside me constantly reminds me that what falls is not the stock price, but my hope for the future life.
As an Internet migrant worker who has been working in the Internet industry for more than ten years, I summarize the three opportunities for ordinary people to get rich in the past 10 years: buying a house early, entering a head company to get options and other listings, and buying excellent stocks at a low price.
The above three roads, no matter which one, the core is to be "early", but with the disappearance of the entire industry dividend, the first two roads have been difficult to sustain after missing the time advantage.
Taking buying a house as an example, the housing prices around the current large factory are rising, and the rent-to-sales ratio is not cost-effective, counting various taxes and fees and the policy of "housing not speculation", it has long been not a cost-effective deal.
It is more difficult to enter a potential company to get options, even if it is difficult to enter a reliable company, the exercise of the right will have to wait for several years, and it is not known how much to dilute. In contrast, it is not difficult to become a "minority shareholder" of those Internet companies.
Moreover, most of those companies are more optimistic, and the initial investment funds do not need to be so large. In 2014, I made my first money on the stock market.
At that time, I had just graduated for two or three years, and I bought a hand of Fushun Special Steel with my savings, and the next day I found that the stock had risen, and I had more than 3,000 yuan on the book. You must know that my salary was only in my early 8,000s at that time, and I earned nearly half a month's salary in one night.
Later, the Internet entered a period of rapid development, and many companies opened sharply when they went public in the United States, and I focused on the stocks in the research.
In addition to the stocks in the company's general package, I also buy Chinese stocks, and I have the same idea of the peers are not a few, we also formed a new group, everyone in the group to exchange investment views.
I repositioned Tencent, Meituan, Pinduoduo, Kuaishou, and although many peers in the industry complained that it was a sweatshop, the financial report at the beginning of the listing was indeed eye-catching, and many people also followed the trend to become "minority shareholders". When Tencent stock was 751 Hong Kong dollars in February 2021, the book income directly made me have the illusion of "wealth freedom", and even felt that I could climb again, so I did not sell, after all, there were several stocks in the big A shares that doubled several times in a short period of time.
Figure | My stock performance in 2021
Figure | This is my earnings in January
Looking at the green and oily piece, I gritted my teeth and added a position a few days ago, the Chinese stock plunged, my book shrank by hundreds of thousands compared to the peak, and the loss was enough to buy a house in a small city.
But because my bid price is low, I can still hold out for a while. In contrast, many people who chased the wind and took over the market when the Chinese stock rose to a high level could not resist. After all, smelling the smell of meat, the meat and soup were not divided, but they were embarrassed.
However, in the past few days, after the plunge, Chinese stocks have begun to rise again, all by fighting for entry time and whether they can hold their breath. Sometimes I also feel that this Chinese stock has ups and downs, just like life, let it go.
The dividend period of the Internet has long gone, and most Internet companies have entered the normal operation stage, and they will develop to refinement later.
In the face of such a situation, young people still have the opportunity to start all over again, and it is too difficult for an elderly person like me to get out of the comfort zone and re-enter a new industry.
Do you want to go, or stay? It became a conundrum that I didn't want to face.
Our company now has only 8 middle-level employees left, about 80% of the employees have been laid off, only 2 executives have gone, and the turnover rate is low. Walking, there is no place to go, staying, is certainly not optimistic about the company's development prospects, but losing the courage to step out of the comfort zone.
I entered the company through headhunting three years ago, and the salary consists of three parts: basic salary + 4 months of year-end bonus + stock, which is about 1.2 million yuan in annual salary and equivalent to 2.3 million worth of stocks.
But last year, I was told that the year-end bonus was gone and the performance was not up to standard.
At the end of the year, I reported my business situation in the system according to the company's goals set at the beginning of the year and passed it, which means that I am qualified.
For this reason, I have also sought out leaders, but the feedback from leaders is that the company can't make so much money, first of all, it doesn't recruit new employees, layoffs, or it doesn't work, there are only reduced benefits and other ways.
This year is even worse, with the S&P 500 falling 0.74% in the early morning hours of March 15 as U.S. stocks plunged. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index, which measures the overall performance of the stock, plunged more than 10% for the third consecutive trading day, closing at 11.7%, and also broke a new record for declines during the 2008 financial crisis.
The company's stock is down 90 percent, from $38 last year to $3.8 now. My assets changed from 2.3 million to 230,000, I was very panicked, the assets shrank hugely, it is estimated that the company's delisting is also a matter of time, I dare not hold out any hope.
But I'm 44 years old, and it's impossible to find a company that used to be so well treated, and I only have experience in Internet operations.
Fortunately, our circle has many information channels, the sources are relatively extensive, the investment channels are also diversified, I also have investment in industries such as collection and gold, and the ability to resist risks is still stronger than that of ordinary people, not to empty the family foundation, the big deal is to eat the old book.
I am also so old, what a wonderful life can I have, just mixed up, live a day to count.
During the epidemic, there is no future for investing in other industries, and the international situation also has an unstable side, so I also withdrew some investments, realization is the king, and the rest is resigned to fate.
Many industry leaders have resigned a lot in 21 years, retired retirement, entrepreneurial entrepreneurship, and have found a good way out for themselves.
At that time, it should be withdrawn, stability is everything.
Fortunately, at present, I still have some places to go, and there is a high probability that I will seek stability in the second half of my life and go to the university as a teacher of Internet professional operation.
Because of my rich experience, the school also offered me a variety of annual salaries that add up to about 800,000 salaries, although it is incomparable with before, but it is also a good choice, anyway, as long as it is no longer up and down is my biggest pursuit.
The first half of my life was too hard, I didn't spend time with my family well, and it was also my biggest debt, and now I have time to accompany them, which is also my greatest happiness.
These days, my mentality has followed the ups and downs of Chinese stocks, ups and downs, like riding a roller coaster that does not know where the end point is.
Three years ago, I was recruited by headhunters to this Internet company to lead technology research and development. My annual salary is almost more than 1 million = basic annual salary + benefit annual salary + reward annual salary (of which the basic annual salary accounts for 60%, the benefit annual salary accounts for 30%, the reward annual salary accounts for 10%) + stock options = (4× annual salary × job coefficient) yuan / per share option price, the average monthly hand is almost 50,000 to 60,000.
The company mainly does Internet online education and IP manufacturing. After more than a year of joining the company, the company went public, and I also became a person who enjoyed the fruits of labor, and the stock options added up to more than 400,000. However, stock options have certain exercise rules, restrictions and use ratios, and it takes several years to fully cash out. I originally didn't have much concept of equity, but after the listing, I tasted the sweetness of "flying windfall", and my heart was also very beautiful.
But then, my mind was also held by the company's stock price, it rose, and I fantasized that I could rely on this money to buy a house and a car as soon as possible and realize my wealth freedom. It was a loss, and I sighed and wondered if I would continue to work in this company. For example, in March last year, the company's business was hit by a "double reduction", not only the stock price fell seriously, but also began to lay off employees in the business, the public relations department only left 1 person, and even the technical department also went to great lengths to go away more than a dozen.
Within a week, the seats in the next department were empty and panicked.
After that time, the company announced a change of CFO. When Chinese stocks plummeted again this year, the company atmosphere began to be tense again, and although the top executives did not disclose too much with their emotions, they still felt anxiety from their words and looks.
On the contrary, some of the new employees who came later were very calm about the current capital dilemma, and for them, a small number of stock options were not too tempting. The income we receive is also affected to some extent.
The company's financial data can only be obtained when the finance, audit department, and public relations responsible for the corresponding work are made when making project declarations, and the company keeps other employees confidential, but I also see the problem with the number of year-end awards. Compared to when I first started, my year-end bonus shrank by nearly 120,000. If it continues, the value of employees' options will shrink and it is likely to become a piece of waste paper.
When I chatted with my colleagues after dinner, I learned that there are actually several listed companies under the group, and some senior executives and old employees have also divided several rounds of stocks and options. But when the time comes, the company's business slowly stagnates, and it is quite chicken that it cannot be realized or can only enjoy a small dividend.
Fortunately, after the Chinese stock experienced a sharp decline on the 14th, the 16th suddenly counterattacked strongly, which made everyone reverse from surprise to excitement and cheering. But I still lost my initial sense of security. While stock prices show that most investors have been waiting and watching, without losing confidence in panic, who knows what the future holds?
I need to think about new development goals. Whether it is job hopping or waiting for the storm is an impermanent risk, I warn myself, do not have a psychological gap because of this, work hard and live, after all, physical and mental health is the most important. (At the request of the interviewee, the above characters are pseudonyms)