The second-generation female successors of 4 well-known companies: do not follow the usual path, and the praise and disapproval are different

On February 22, Wahaha, a well-known private enterprise, issued a statement saying that Chairman Zong Qinghou was receiving treatment in the hospital. As soon as the news came out, many topics about Wahaha's successor and Zong Qinghou's daughter Zong Fuli rushed to the hot search. On the 23rd, the news that the daughter of the founder of the well-known domestic brand Metersbonwe "lost 3.2 billion after taking over" also rushed to the hot search. This series of news has highlighted the succession of the daughters of some private entrepreneurs in China. After decades of development, a large number of private enterprises have developed, the first generation of entrepreneurs is gradually getting old, and the daughters of the second generation of successors have become the focus of attention.

Wahaha's successor, Zong Fuli

Let the "middle-aged brand" rejuvenate itself

Recently, it was reported that Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, was being treated in the ICU ward of the hospital. On February 22, Wahaha officially issued a statement through its official Weibo, saying that Mr. Zong Qinghou is indeed being treated in the hospital for physical reasons, and his condition is currently stable, and the business of Wahaha Group is operating normally.

Starting from selling water in a school-run factory and gradually growing into a leading food and beverage company in China, Zong Qinghou has always been regarded as one of the iconic figures in Chinese business history, and has also won the Forbes list of the richest people in Chinese mainland several times. Zong Qinghou's illness immediately led the attention of public opinion to the issue of succession. According to reports, although Zong Qinghou is still the chairman of Wahaha Group, the successor of the group has already been finalized. In December 2021, Wahaha Group officially announced that Zong Fuli (Zong Qinghou's daughter) was appointed as the vice chairman and general manager of the group, and his father Zong Qinghou is still the chairman of the group. Zong Qinghou once talked about Zong Fuli on a talk show, and he can score 90 points for Zong Fuli's performance in Wahaha Group.

Zong Fuli. CCTV financial screenshot

Born in 1982, Zong Fuli went to the United States to study alone at the age of 14, and after returning to China, she started from workshop management and went all the way to the position of president of Hongsheng Beverage Group. Wahaha Group introduced Zong Fuli as follows: She entered the food and beverage industry in 2004, and has served as the president of Hongsheng Beverage Group since 2007, independently leading Hongsheng to grow into one of the top 500 private enterprises in China, and has served as the director of the brand public relations department of Wahaha Group since April 2018 and the deputy general manager of Wahaha Group Sales Company since March 2020.

In December 2021, Zong Fuli officially became the vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group. Although his father Zong Qinghou is still the chairman of the group, Wahaha's announced personnel appointments show that "Zong Fuli will be responsible for daily work". Starting from the production workshop, to the head of the brand public relations department, the deputy general manager of the sales company, and then to the "successor" Wahaha, Zong Fuli took 17 years. She boldly tested the water to break the circle, create IP, break through the circle, and a series of measures to give this "middle-aged brand" a new vitality. Traditional pillar products such as AD calcium milk and nutrition express achieved double-digit growth in 2021.

In addition to taking over Wahaha, Zong Fuli also has her own business. The Hongsheng Beverage Group she built has developed from a production line to a comprehensive beverage group with 20 production bases, more than 40 subsidiaries and a whole industrial chain layout across the country, and has been ranked among the "Top 500 Private Enterprises in China" and "Top 500 Private Enterprises in Manufacturing in China" for many times. Hongsheng Beverage Group is not only a downstream enterprise of Wahaha, undertaking product OEM business, but also expanding its own upstream and downstream industrial chain, and has now become a comprehensive beverage group.

Zong Qinghou has expressed his affirmation to his daughter many times, not only saying that Zong Fuli has become a more mature entrepreneur in recent years, but also showing a satisfied attitude towards the company independently managed by his daughter, saying "better than me".

Metersbonwe's successor, Hu Jiajia

With a cumulative loss of 3.2 billion in 7 years, his father took over urgently

Metersbonwe, which "does not take the usual path", does not take the usual path. When the second generation of the enterprise began to take over, it did not follow the routine and walked out of the pace of "the second generation abdicates and the founder returns". In January this year, Metersbonwe announced that Zhou Chengjian took over the position of chairman and president of the company, and Hu Jiajia, the former chairman and president, resigned. Hu Jiajia is the daughter of the company's founder, Zhou Chengjian, and in 2016, at the age of 30, she took over the family business from her father and became the chairman. According to the company's financial report, for more than 7 years, Meibang has performed poorly in her hands, with only one annual net profit being positive, with a cumulative loss of nearly 3.2 billion yuan. In the midst of the crisis, Zhou Chengjian chose to stand in front of the stage again and take over the "mess" from his daughter.

It took only five years for Hu Jiajia to join the company and become the chairman.  Network diagram

According to public reports, Hu Jiajia graduated from Aston University in the United Kingdom in 2010 with a major in marketing, and obtained a master's degree in fashion marketing from Istituto Marangoni in London in 2011. After returning from school, she entered the family company in various positions, and worked in the president's office, footwear development and operation department, brand marketing department, strategic development department and other departments, from joining the company to becoming the chairman, it took only 5 years.

In 2016, Hu Jiajia took over the "scepter" from his father, and at that time, Zhou Chengjian, who was only 51 years old, handed over the shift and sent an open letter of nearly 2,500 words to employees, detailing his consideration of this personnel adjustment. Zhou Chengjian said that this personnel adjustment is not just to push his daughter to the front desk alone, but the entire "second generation of the family" to fully debut: Zhou Chengjian's 28-year-old son Hu Zhoubin is the assistant to the president, and Hu Jiajia's husband is the company's vice president.

But by the time Hu Jiajia took office, Metersbonwe had already begun to decline. According to the company's financial report, the company's annual revenue has been declining since it approached 10 billion yuan in 2011. In 2015, the company ushered in its first loss after listing.

Hu Jiajia's prescription for salvation is rejuvenation. Metersbonwe's "Youfan" App has won the title variety show "Wonderful Story" three times, hoping to enter the world of "Wonderful Babies". In July 2017, Metersbonwe announced that it would change from a single brand to five major styles, namely casual style, trendy style, urban light business, street fashion and simple forest system, and also invited Guan Xiaotong, Zhong Chuxi and other 5 youth idols to endorse, and the slogan has also changed from "not taking the ordinary road" to "love how you are". The company has also tried to work hard in the field of national tide, but in the face of all this, young people now do not seem to buy it.

In recent years, the company's main tone has been to close stores and lose money. According to the financial report, in 2012, the total number of stores of Meibang clothing reached 5,220, including direct stores and franchise stores, of which there were 1,306 direct stores. And 10 years later, in 2022, the number of stores of Meibang Apparel is only 1,026, equivalent to 20% of its heyday. At present, the total number of clothing stores in Meibang is less than 1,000.

On February 2, Zhou Chengjian was interviewed by a number of media and responded to many questions. He said: "Although I have not been the legal representative in the past few years, I am still the actual controller of the company. In fact, I have also participated in the operation of Meibang in the past, but it is in a state of seeming management but not management, which cannot properly rationalize the management. ”

Starting from the second half of 2023, Zhou Chengjian has begun to secretly exert himself. In July 2023, Meibang Apparel 100% controlled the establishment of two live broadcast e-commerce companies, led by Zhou Chengjian himself, and in October, the office headquarters of Meibang Apparel moved out of Shanghai and settled in Hangzhou to learn live broadcast e-commerce, which was also led by Zhou Chengjian. Reflection, reform, and the return of the founder, Metersbonwe hopes to bottom out.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, pointed out: "The case of Metersbonwe shows that the succession of family business is not a simple transfer of power, but an all-round test involving corporate strategic planning, organizational structure adjustment, talent training and corporate culture reshaping. ”

Xu Yangyang, the successor of Dali Foods

Eight months of operation for the company to be listed in Hong Kong

On February 18, the 2024 Quanzhou Private Economic Development Conference was held, where more than 1,000 private entrepreneurs, financial institutions and industry association leaders gathered here, and 48 major projects of private enterprises were signed, with a total investment of 143.25 billion yuan, setting off a "good start" upsurge. Dali Food Group was commended as one of the top 100 taxpayers in the private economy in 2023, and Xu Yangyang, vice president and executive director of the group, took the stage to speak as a representative of private entrepreneurs. Xu Yangyang is also regarded as the successor of Xu Shihui, the founder of Dali Food Group. On the 2023 Hurun Female Entrepreneur List, Xu Yangyang and her mother Chen Liling ranked first in Fujian Province with a value of 23 billion, and once again became the richest woman in Quanzhou.

Xu Yangyang: In January this year, Xu Yangyang spoke on behalf of the company.   China News Network Map

When Xu Yangyang was 6 years old, his father Xu Shihui founded Dali Foods and started a business. Xu Shihui has single-handedly created a food business kingdom, such as Dali Garden egg yolk pie, delicious, cobik, priority milk and other products, carrying many people's childhood memories.

Born in 1983, Xu Yangyang graduated from Xiamen University in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in international economics and trade. She then went to the UK to study until 2008, when she returned to China and worked in the family business. However, she did not enter the management at the beginning, but went to the grassroots to exercise. She has served as the chairman of the trade union, workshop director, deputy factory director and other positions, and in 2010, Xu Yangyang became the vice president of Dali Park Group. At the end of 2014, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of High Fashion Foods. In 2012, the Xu family had an accident, Xu Shihui's son Xu Liangliang unfortunately passed away in a car accident, he was overly sad and fell ill, and his daughter Xu Yangyang took on the responsibility of the successor of Dali Group.

In 2015, Xu Yangyang was responsible for the listing of High Fashion and successfully listed Dali Food Group in Hong Kong within eight months, making it the largest IPO of a global consumer goods project that year. Xu Shihui became the new richest man in Fujian, and his entire family net worth reached 50.6 billion yuan, an increase of 622.9% year-on-year. With him, there is also a richest woman, the 32-year-old daughter Xu Yangyang.

A few years later, in July 2023, Dali Foods and Rongshi International Investment Co., Ltd. issued a joint announcement, saying that they planned to start privatization and delisting. As of the announcement date, the family trust of Xu Shihui, chairman of the board of directors and actual controller of Dali Foods, holds 85% of the shares of Dali Foods, and Rongshi International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xu Shihui. As for the reasons for the delisting, Dali Foods said in the announcement that the main reasons include: the stock price is sluggish, the company has lost the advantage of maintaining its listing status, and the ability to raise equity is limited, the unsatisfactory stock price performance has an adverse impact on the company's business development, and privatization is conducive to the company's implementation of long-term strategies.

Regarding the plan after the delisting, the announcement shows that Dali Foods will continue to operate its existing business and does not have any plans for major asset restructuring. Therefore, for consumers, there is no need to worry about the disappearance of many products of Dali Foods from the shelves of supermarkets, but Hong Kong stocks have lost a food giant since then.

New Hope's successor, Liu Chang

"Inheritance is to cultivate a team of new farmers"

On May 24, 2023, New Hope Investment Group Co., Ltd. underwent industrial and commercial changes, and Liu Yonghao's position was adjusted from "executive director, general manager" to "general manager, director", and Liu Yonghao's daughter Liu Chang was added as chairman and director.

According to the enterprise investigation, New Hope Investment Group Co., Ltd. was established in June 2015, the legal representative is Liu Yonghao, and the registered capital is 700 million yuan. In addition to the title of chairman of New Hope, Liu Chang also has another identity - the daughter of Liu Yonghao, the founder of New Hope. 10 years ago, Liu Yonghao stepped down as chairman of New Hope, handed over the agriculture, animal husbandry and food sector of New Hope's main business to his daughter, and officially opened the handover of the scepter.

In April 2023, Liu Chang attended the "19th High-level Forum on Animal Feed Technology and Economy (Global)" to share her thoughts as a new generation of successors. She believes that inheritance is not passed on to one person, but to cultivate a team and a generation of new farmers.

Liu.    Network diagram

According to New Hope's annual report, in 2022, New Hope will achieve operating income of 141.508 billion yuan, an increase of 15.246 billion yuan year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of -1.461 billion yuan, an increase of 8.130 billion yuan year-on-year, with a loss reduction of 84.77%. In the first quarter of 2023, New Hope achieved revenue of 33.907 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.92%.

On January 30 this year, New Hope held its 2023 annual meeting, and the company's chairman Liu Chang appeared in a red dress, and her important messages to employees included: We must believe in agriculture, believe in this industry that can last for a long time, and thank pig farmers for their persistence at the bottom of the cycle. She said: "Today has come to fight bayonet, this year's competition for feed is very strict and fierce. Keep the customer, surround the customer, stick to the customer, let him not leave, so that he will not leave. What kind of products do my customers want, what kind of costs can we accept, and what needs can we meet? What if not? I think everyone understands that we have to put the customer first. ”

Liu Yonghao is quite satisfied with his daughter's performance. In September 2020, he said in an interview with the media that he was quite satisfied with the work of his successor's daughter Liu Chang, "scoring more than 85 points". At the closing meeting of the Yabuli Entrepreneur Forum held not long ago, Liu Chang made a speech. Liu Yonghao said that after the forum speech, he received information from many entrepreneur friends, and it was generally believed that Liu Chang was very mature. "She's leading a group of people to innovate and change. Behind her is the growth and progress of more than 2,000 middle-level managers around the age of 30. ”

Upstream news is based on Xinhua News Agency, National Business Daily, Chao News, China News Service, The Paper, Orange Persimmon Interactive, China Entrepreneur Magazine, Global Figures, etc