He has won 14 world championships, more than 100 gold medals, and even the FIG named him after his original action as a rings, and he is known as the world champion of the prince of gymnastics, Li Ning.
After suffering a tragic Waterloo, he retired from his career and single-handedly created the sports brand of the same name, with a market value of more than 200 billion Hong Kong dollars. Now that he has lost his halo, at the age of 60, he has become a new rich man with a value of 23.5 billion.
Why did he embark on the road of doing business? How did Li Ning and his brand get to where they are today? In this issue, the founder of Ziya Children's Fun Observation will take you into the story of Li Ning.
The prince of gymnastics who won glory for the country
In 1963, Li Ning was born in Liuzhou, Guangxi, and in 1969, Li Ning began to practice gymnastics at the age of 6, and joined the Guangxi Provincial Sports Team at the age of 14 and became a professional gymnast.
In 1977, Li Ning participated in the National Youth Competition and won the third place with a near-perfect Thomas spin.
In 1980, he successively won the third place in the free exercise of the National Gymnastics Competition, the runner-up in the all-around, and his outstanding performance was noticed by the head coach of the national team Zhang Jian, in 1981, Zhang Jian threw an olive branch to Li Ning, and Li Ning joined the national gymnastics team.
The following year, Li Ning went to the country and won 6 championships in gymnastics in the 6th World Cup, the only one that did not win the championship, and he was also the third, so he became famous and had the reputation of "Prince of Gymnastics".
Li Ning's dazzling achievements not only greatly inspired people, but also showed the world a new look of China, and he was called "a national hero who can write into history", which is well deserved.
In his 17-year career, Li Ning fought for the country in all directions, winning 14 world championships and 106 gold medals.
But at the 24th Olympic Games in 1988, Li Ning suffered a career waterloo. As he grew older, Li Ning's training injuries accumulated more and more, and he wanted to retire early, but the national team had no follow-up reserves, so Li Ning could only be injured and endure the pain.
In the end, because of a series of operational errors, Li Ning did not win a medal this time. In the face of the dissatisfaction and resistance of the masses, Li Ning announced his retirement, and after that, he did not accept the institutional work arranged by the state.
In 1989, Li Ning entered Jianlibao and worked silently for the national sports cause behind the scenes. Because of his outstanding ability, Li Ning was appreciated by Li Jingwei, the boss of Jianlibao, and supported Li Ning to establish his own brand.
Li Ning, anything is possible
In 1990, Li Ning founded his own eponymous sports brand "Li Ning" and began to focus on the production of sportswear. In the same year, China hosted the 11th Asian Games, which was the first large-scale international comprehensive event hosted by China since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Li Ning believes that for such an important event, the Chinese team should wear its own country's sports brand to highlight the style of the mainland.
And with the grief in his heart when he was an Olympic champion but wore a foreign country's sponsored costume on the podium, he successfully persuaded the National Sports Committee to become the designated brand of the medal uniform, and it was also the designated brand of the torch relay and Chinese and foreign journalists' uniforms.
Taking this opportunity, the Li Ning brand is popular all over the country and is highly sought after by the market. In 1991, Li Ning expanded its industrial scale to cover all aspects of sports business, from sportswear to sporting goods.
In 1994, Li Ning completed the transformation and completely separated from Jianlibao and became an independent enterprise. In the following years, although the company sat firmly in the position of the representative of the domestic sports brand, it has not developed much, and even in 1998, Li Ning also handed over the management rights and handed over the company to the professional management.
It was not until 2002 that Li Ning clarified its brand positioning, formulated a development strategy in line with the times, and pushed Li Ning into a period of rapid development.
In 2003, Li Ning's sales exceeded 1 billion yuan, and in 2004, Li Ning was listed in Hong Kong, with an annual revenue growth of more than 47%, and Li Ning's annual revenue has remained at about 30% since then.
In 2008, Li Ning entered the peak period of development. At the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, Li Ning wore his own brand of sportswear and lit the Olympic flame.
This free live broadcast has brought Li Ning himself and his brand to the attention of the world, and his personal reputation and company development have reached their peak. Since then, Li Ning has surpassed most domestic sports brands and sat on the position of the second largest sports brand in China.
However, the peak development was only 4 years, because of the impact of the backlog of inventory, Li Ning began to fall into crisis. In 2012, because major brands frantically seized the market, Li Ning was also involved in this dispute, and its revenue began to decline year by year, with an annual loss of nearly 2 billion yuan in that year alone.
In 2014, in the face of the company's difficulties, Li Ning returned to the company and saved the brand image by signing the main sponsor and star of the CBA league at a high price.
Later, the company was transformed into an "Internet +" business model and successfully completed the brand transformation. Since the return of Li Ning, the company's business status has begun to pick up, and the annual revenue of the Li Ning brand after the completion of the transformation has shown a trend of increasing year by year.
Don't forget the original intention and give back to the society
By 2021, the annual revenue will exceed 22.5 billion, and the market value of Li Ning will be as high as 280 billion Hong Kong dollars. The following year, Li Ning was shortlisted on the Hurun Global Rich List with a personal worth of 13.5 billion.
As a well-known domestic enterprise, Li Ning is well aware that its development and growth are inseparable from the big stage of China, so Li Ning has been actively engaged in public welfare undertakings to give back to the society.
In 1998, Li Ning donated 6 million yuan to the flood-stricken areas, when Li Ning was still in the early stage of independent development, even if he was still in the quagmire, he was still contributing to the society.
In 2001, Li Ning took the lead in establishing the "China Athletes Education Foundation" to promote the development of sports in China. In 2003, Li Ning donated another 10 million yuan to the flood-stricken areas.
In 2008, Li Ning donated a total of more than 12 million yuan in funds and materials to the Wenchuan disaster area. Since then, Li Ning Company and he have personally contributed to various public welfare undertakings of the country.
In 2020, Li Ning donated more than 20 million yuan to the new crown epidemic. This year, Li Ning also donated 20 million yuan of materials to the disaster-stricken areas in Gansu.
From a clothing brand to a sports brand covering all fields of sports, Li Ning's 33 years of ups and downs are not only the development of the enterprise, but also the development of China's sports industry.
In addition to Li Ning's personal Olympic champion halo, the brand's success also lies in his broad vision and sober business understanding, as well as his fearless spirit of daring to do things.
However, in the past two years, under the influence of the tide of domestic products, Li Ning has not developed much, although the annual income is 25.8 billion, but the income has not increased much.
In recent years, due to brand premiums and other reasons, the prices of many domestic products are unacceptable.
Nowadays, in the sports world, Anta took the lead, followed by Xtep, Hongxing Erke, Peak and so on, and the development of Li Ning has entered a slow period. It is hoped that Li Ning will not forget its original intention in the competition and carry forward this excellent brand.