For Wang Jianlin and Wang Sicong, father and son, 34 years old seems to have some kind of "curse".
In 1988, at the age of 34, Wang Jianlin founded Wanda Group.
And 25 years later, relying on Wanda Group, he ascended to the throne of the richest man.
In 2022, Wang Sicong will be 34 years old, and he will also make a lot of noise.
That year, he stepped down from Wanda's board of directors and no longer held any directorship.
His exit means that Wang Jianlin has once again become the ruler of Wanda Group.
But this does not seem to be the end of the story, but the beginning of the gradual decline of a business empire.
Only a year has passed, and Wanda Group has sold a total of 9 Wanda Plazas.
It's only the end of December 2023, in just 5 days.
It sold the four Wanda Plazas in Taicang, Huzhou, Luogang in Guangzhou and Jinshan in Shanghai.
Among the 9 squares that were sold, 3 were located in Shanghai, which is equivalent to giving up the "golden gluttony".
Not only Wanda Plaza, but also Wanda Hotel, Wanda Film and Wanda Commercial Management have also changed hands.
According to the statistics of the 2023 "Hurun List", Wang Jianlin's net worth dropped from 100 billion in the previous year to 47 billion, falling out of the top 10 on the list.
Ma Huateng, Huang Zheng, who have been rising year after year, and Zhong Sui, who won the title of China's richest man, are in stark contrast to him.
Although Wanda Group's big move has attracted the attention of the outside world, 69-year-old Wang Jianlin is still busy and is still going out to inspect step by step.
But I'm afraid only he knows what it's like.
When Wang Sicong quit as a director, some people speculated that Wang Jianlin was afraid that his son would bear his own debts in the future, so he would kick him out of Wanda.
Some people also say that Wang Jianlin is playing a big game of chess.
Wang Jianlin's true purpose is unknown to anyone.
The only thing we know is that on the cusp of this collective decline in the real economy.
Wang Jianlin is indeed an enemy on his back.
01 Born in a military family
Wang Jianlin, who was born in the 50s of the last century, once took the path of life.
Because his father was an old Red Army, he participated in many battles and experienced the Long March.
His father's experience had a great impact on him.
At the age of 16, Wang Jianlin did not know that he would become a Chinese business giant.
But at this time, he already knew that if he wanted to get ahead, he must take the road of joining the army.
During his seven years as a scout, he underwent extremely hard training in the northernmost cold mountain forest.
And the position is also in training, step by step promotion.
Wang Jianlin originally thought that with his resolute and persistent character, he would be able to become a general one day.
But at the age of 28, he caught up with the "million disarmament".
At that time, many people felt that it was helpless for him to change jobs and return to the local area.
Otherwise, with his plan, he will inevitably stay in the army for the rest of his life.
But he said that this was an important life choice for him.
Because he was born as a scout, he clearly captured several important words in the leader's speech -- focusing on economic construction.
But he did not enter the business world for the first time, but became an office director.
He was waiting, waiting for an important opportunity.
Soon, a five-year suspension with pay was issued, and a policy to encourage public officials to go to sea to do business was issued.
Many people went to the sea for the first time, and Wang Jianlin naturally had a plan.
But before he officially goes to sea, he needs to solve his life events first.
02 Start a family before starting a business
When Wang Jianlin changed jobs, he was 33 years old.
He planned to start a business first, but his hometown always called him to start a family first.
After all, his father Wang Yiquan was over 70 years old at this time, and he wanted to feel the joy of his children and grandchildren around his knees.
So through a friend's introduction, he met Lin Ning, who was 4 years younger than him.
Like Wang Jianlin, Lin Ning's father was also a veteran of the Red Army, and participated in many important battles with great achievements.
The Lin family has 5 children, Lin Ning is the only girl in the family, and she has been the pearl of the family since she was a child.
But most of the girls who were born in Jiangmen are straightforward and generous.
Lin Ning is no exception.
Wang Jianlin, who was born in the military, was attracted to her as soon as they met.
At that time, the speed of the object can be said to be "god speed".
As long as you look at each other and look at each other, the next step is to talk about marriage.
After Wang Jianlin and Lin Ning settled on a relationship, they soon entered the marriage hall.
In the second year after marriage, Wang Sicong, the famous "Discipline Inspection Commission of the Entertainment Industry", was born.
However, the illustrious family background is destined that Lin Ning will not only be a housewife.
Long before marrying Wang Jianlin, Lin Ning founded his own Lin Group.
The scope of the company's business involves decoration, catering, entertainment, foreign trade and other fields.
Her business skills are outstanding, and her interpersonal skills should not be underestimated.
is not only familiar with foreign royal family members, but also has many friends in the entertainment industry.
Seeing that his wife had already shown his strength in the business world, Wang Jianlin, who had completed major events in his life, naturally couldn't wait.
After the birth of his son, he established his own Dalian Xigang Development Company.
And the field he aims at is the renovation of the old city.
03 Early days of business
When Wang Jianlin decided to go to sea, there were already many real estate companies.
But these companies have basically not done the renovation of the old city.
Although the renovation of the old city is just a big cake that no one has touched, it is not easy for Wang Jianlin to be the first person.
In order to get the development index, he begged his grandfather to tell his grandmother and ran countless times.
In the end, the city leaders were annoyed by him, pointed to the shantytown on the north side, and told him to change.
As soon as he heard about the shantytown on the north side, Wang Jianlin's heart was full of sighs.
The shantytown over there can be said to be the most dilapidated shantytown in Dalian. The city's three state-owned real estate companies have avoided this place.
He is a small company that has just been established, where can he undertake such a project?
Wang Jianlin hesitated, and the city leader spoke again: As long as the project is completed, all indicators will be approved for you.
For the follow-up development of the company, he could only take it head-on.
But no one thought that he would earn the first "10 million" in his life with this project.
Although he was a little apprehensive at first, he decided that he wanted to build a different house.
At that time, almost all houses in Dalian had no bright halls and toilets.
Wang Jianlin added a Ming Hall and a Ming Wei to each house, changed the wooden windows to aluminum alloy, and installed anti-theft doors for every house.
At that time, the house price of the best house in Dalian was only about 1,000 yuan per square meter.
As soon as Wang Jianlin's house was launched, it was sold for about 1,500 yuan per square meter.
The smooth start gave Wang Jianlin a lot of confidence.
But what he didn't know was that the test was yet to come.
In 1993, Wang Jianlin took over a half-completed project.
I thought I picked up a "big ingot" halfway, but I didn't expect it to be "a difficult bone".
Residents have been moved, and more than 2,000 households have not been moved.
The fact that the land was not vacated meant that he could not start the work.
If he wants to restart this project, Wang Jianlin must invest at least 20 million first.
He decided to apply for a loan of 20 million from the bank, but he ran back and forth for more than 50 years, and all he ate was "closed". Yes
In desperation, he went directly to the other party's house. However, the other party would rather hide at home for two days than let go.
Decades, he recalled the incident and said it was a "shame" and "too humble."
Because he never got a loan, Wang Jianlin, who was anxious, did not sleep for 9 days and 9 nights.
It is not good to take medicine, and injections are useless.
On the 10th day, his spirit began to be in a trance, and he fainted directly before the meeting.
Later, someone came up with an idea for him: to issue a high-yield bond.
Relying on this idea, the company, which has changed its name to Wanda, successfully survived the project.
survived.
04 Wanda Transformation
Wanda, which survived, gradually became bigger and stronger after a few years.
But at this time, Wang Jianlin realized a new problem.
The cause was that two employees of the company were suddenly diagnosed with cancer.
The cost of treatment for each person should be at least 1 million.
Wang Jianlin almost did not hesitate to pay for the medical expenses of his two employees.
But this incident made him realize that the company could not only work in the real estate field.
Because of the unstable cash flow of the real estate company, Wanda wanted to take out more than 2 million at that time, which can be called gritted teeth.
If the cash flow has been unstable, what should the company do if something goes wrong?
From this time on, Wang Jianlin began to try to set foot in other fields.
He ran a medicine, a supermarket, and a factory, but they all failed.
In the end, Wang Jianlin made a decision to take the road of commercial real estate.
But what he didn't expect was that the water in commercial real estate was "unfathomable".
However, in three years, he faced as many as 200 lawsuits, and almost all of his energy was spent on fighting lawsuits.
No, we have to find a new model.
The hard work paid off, and it really allowed Wang Jianlin to explore the development model of "urban complex".
That is, at the same time as the construction of Wanda Plaza, office buildings, commercial streets and apartments were also built around it.
After completion, the office buildings and apartments were sold to recoup the funds, and then they went to operate the commercial shops in the square.
Wanda Plaza is prosperous, which will also drive the appreciation of the surrounding office buildings and apartments.
This model can ensure a stable cash flow.
However, Wang Jianlin did not relax for long.
The catastrophe is coming.
05 Two crises
In 2017, "credit risk" blocked Wanda Group's capital chain.
As a result, he owed more than 400 billion in debt.
The board of directors of Wanda Group has asked Wang Jianlin to give a feasible plan immediately.
Otherwise, he will be removed from the chairmanship.
At that time, many people felt that Wang Jianlin was going to fall, and Wanda Group couldn't stand it.
But in July of that year, he immediately took the opportunity to sell Wanda's cultural tourism and hotel projects to Sunac and R&F.
It is said that when signing a contract with R&F on the same day, it was on the basis of a 6% discount negotiated between the two parties.
The other party proposed to bargain again, and Wang Jianlin was so angry that he dropped the cup directly.
Even if the funds are withdrawn, they are a drop in the bucket in the face of huge debts.
At this critical moment, Lin Ning stood up.
In order to stabilize her husband's control in Wanda, she took the initiative to transfer her shares in Wanda to Wang Jianlin.
Subsequently, she sold her calligraphy and painting collection at a low price and raised more than 200 billion.
relied on the support of his wife and his decision to break his wrist.
Wang Jianlin can be said to have survived this difficult time in a thrilling way.
Just when the outside world marveled at his decisiveness, the crisis swept again.
In 2023, there will never be any hope for Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management's listing.
In order not to shell out 38 billion, to buy back equity from investors.
Wang Jianlin sold Wanda Plaza, and at the same time gave away the equity of commercial management.
It seems that he is determined to survive by "cutting meat" in this wave of real estate winter.
Although he "cut meat" to survive, it is not the first time for him.
But now, he is about to turn seventy.
His son Wang Sicong doesn't seem to be able to take on the heavy responsibility again, and he is still addicted to the game life of partying with female Internet celebrities.
After carrying this crisis, can he make a comeback?
Epilogue:
It is said that it is difficult to start a business, and it is even more difficult to keep a business.
Not only Wang Jianlin, but almost all leading enterprises in various fields in China have experienced many crises.
Huawei and Ren Zhengfei encountered an existential crisis in 2002.
That year, Huawei's performance showed a rare negative growth, which caused panic among all employees.
At that time, Ren Zhengfei suffered from depression, so much so that he had nightmares for half a year.
More than ten years later, when he talked about the situation at that time, he still couldn't help but redden.
Look at Jack Ma 30 years ago, after experiencing the fourth entrepreneurial failure.
He finally couldn't help crying in the snow.
and Liu Qiangdong, who encountered capital chain problems in 2008.
Because of the fear of not being able to get financing, JD.com may dissolve at any time.
He turned white overnight.
and Yu Minhong some time ago, in order to deal with the "small composition" turmoil that suddenly broke out in the Oriental Selection.
Either stand up and explain, or apologize to the public.
The once dominant boss, in order to save the popularity of passers-by, put his posture to the lowest.
In fact, this is the worst of times, but it is also the best of times.
The bad thing is that it is full of crises, but the good thing is that there is a road to change.
In the past two days, the "cat and dog war" between JD.com and Alibaba can be said to have occupied the headlines.
The cause of this "big war" is that Alibaba forced operators to "choose one of the two" and was suspected of monopoly. JD.com filed a complaint against Alibaba.
In the end, Alibaba paid 1 billion.
But the final result of this "big war" is to prompt these e-commerce giants to shift from forcing merchants to competing for consumers.
Taobao and JD.com's latest "refund-only" is the best proof of this.
and Yu Minhong, who transformed from an education giant to the field of live broadcasting.
He can be said to have completed the Jedi counterattack.
The recent "small composition" turmoil prompted him to further promote the transformation of the company.
For example, gradually reduce Dong Yuhui's influence and enhance the brand effectiveness of Dongfang Selection.
Perhaps, this time after "cutting meat" to survive.
Should Wang Jianlin also think about Wanda's more possibilities in the future?