In order to marry a Chinese delivery girl, the British billionaire made a fuss about six relatives who did not recognize each other
Clarks, a British brand of shoes, must be known to everyone, there are his family's specialty stores everywhere in China. A large part of the brand's assets now belong to a Chinese girl, a Chinese girl who originally delivered food in the UK. What kind of story is behind this?
The wife of Lance Clark, the sixth-generation successor of Clarks, died in 2000 when Lance Clark was 63 years old. In 2006, at the age of 69, Lance Clark came to Warwickshire, England, for a holiday. At a Chinese restaurant in Dunchurch, Lance Clark met Zhou Ying, a 33-year-old Chinese girl who was a 36-year-old delivery boy.
Faced with the age gap, Lance Clark recalls that both men thought each other was attractive, and they became "very good and important friends." In the scene of constantly getting along, Lance Clark and Zhou Ying met a spark, became a couple, and lived a life like glue. It was also at this moment that Zhou Ying knew that the grandfather in front of him was the sixth generation head of the well-known world brand Clarks.
The daughter thinks that Zhou Ying seduced her father
Lance Clark's holiday is coming to an end, and he has to return to London to run the family business. Zhou Ying followed Lance Clark to London.
The two lived together in London and did not immediately marry. Lance Clark said to Zhou Ying that if Zhou Ying is pregnant, she can definitely get married. A few months later, Zhou Ying was really pregnant. Lance Clark was delighted with the arrival of the child and fulfilled his promise to prepare for marriage.
However, the marriage was thwarted by several children of Lance Clark from the beginning. The adult children all think that the old man's family is rich, and Zhou Ying is just a restaurant delivery boy. The identity and age difference between the two are too far away, it must be Zhou Ying who seduced her father, and it is Zhou Ying who wants to inherit her father's inheritance in the future.
Zhou Ying gave birth to three daughters for Lance Clark
However, the head of a family business, the helm of a world shoe brand, cannot give up because of a few words of opposition from his children. Lance Clark told his four children directly: there were two news, first, I was getting married, and second, I was going to be a father.
After the wedding, major British news media reported that Lance Clark, the head of the Clarks family, married a Chinese restaurant delivery girl.
Over the next few years, Lance Clark and Zhou Ying had three daughters. Zhou Ying's husband and godson. Such a life continued until 2018.
Zhou Ying became the first heir to the Clarks family business
In 2018, 81-year-old Lance Clark died of illness. There is no problem in the distribution of the inheritance, because he has made a will in 2014, which has a fair distribution of the property behind him, and everyone has a share, of course, Zhou Ying, as his wife, has become a major shareholder of the Clarks family business and the largest heir.
At the end of 2020, Hong Kong-based private equity fund Lane Capital acquired approximately 51% of Clarks Group for £100 million, becoming Clarks' largest shareholder. In March 2021, Viva China, a subsidiary of the Li Ning family, indirectly held 51% of the equity of Clarks Group with Lane Capital through the subscription of a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lane Capital at a subscription price of £51 million, and the remaining 49% of the shares are still retained by the Clarks family. At this point, although Zhou Ying no longer has the right to speak for Clarks Group, the shares she personally owns are still not small.
