The philosophy of survival

Author: Guo Ruyi

来源：商业人物（ID：biz-leaders）

70-year-old Zhong would not have thought that he, who has always been far away from the spotlight, would inexplicably encounter cyberbullying not long ago.

Because of the death of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, as the owner of the rival Nongfu Spring, he was almost drowned in saliva. After Zong Qing, there was a lot of mourning, and he had a lot of scolding.

According to the 2024 Hurun Global Rich List, Zhong has become the richest man in China for the fourth time in a row, with a wealth of 450 billion yuan. Last year, Nongfu Spring, which was listed in Hong Kong, had a net profit of 12 billion yuan.

However, the richest man is not easy to be, and his huge wealth has become a foil for some netizens when they criticize. Even Chung's mother, who died in March because she was worried about her son. It was only half a month since Zong Qinghou died.

In response to public opinion, as well as the resulting decline in stock prices and sales, Nongfu Spring put on a low posture and said that it would strengthen brand building, but Zhong may not be convinced - he was not defeated in the mall, but had to cater to public opinion.

Sitting in the position of the richest man, in addition to the scenery, this is also an inevitable price.

Over the past 20 years, China has produced more than a dozen richest people, and the list may be different from different wealth rating agencies, but as wealth information has become more and more transparent, the composition of this small group at the top has also been fixed. Especially before 2021, the real estate and Internet billionaires took turns to reach the top, becoming a scene in the battle for China's richest man.

Zhong became the richest man for the first time in 2021, when his wealth was assessed at 390 billion. So far, he has not let this honor go aside, and his wealth has risen by tens of billions.

2021 can be counted as a sign of the end of the era of the richest man, and the year before that, the richest man in China was Jack Ma.

Ma Yun was already famous at that time, and his status in the rivers and lakes reached its peak. If it weren't for the aftermath, his and Ali's fortunes might have been very different. It's a pity that there are no assumptions, and the richest man is no exception.

Jack Ma's first fortune summit came in 2014, when Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange and began his truly glorious years. The title of "Daddy Ma" was popular at that time. In the next three years, after being cut off by Wang Jianlin and Xu Jiayin in turn, Ma Yun has been firmly in this position from 2018 to 2020. In those years, he was too smooth.

In March last year, in the traffic of a tunnel in Hangzhou, "passers-by" casually took a picture of Ma Yun's figure, which was his reappearance after a long time. At that time, Ali's position was not so stable, and there were many internal and external crises, and Ma Yun's return also contributed to the subsequent "1+6+N" spin-off strategy. Ali claims to be the biggest organizational change since its establishment to regain competitiveness, and the outside world is also watching the giant's changes on the sidelines.

In this movement to reshape Alibaba, Jack Ma has never appeared in the foreground again. But apparently, all major decisions still do not detach from him. A year has passed, and Ali still seems to be looking for a suitable path, and the original plan for a large spin-off has been quietly adjusted, and the idea of independent financing of several subsidiaries has been shelved. Jack Ma's closest comrades-in-arms returned to take the helm of the company, while he himself continued to hide in the dust, except for the occasional revelation of an increase in his own shares, there was almost no public news.

This year, Ma Yun has reached the age of 60, which is not confused.

In the race for China's richest man, in addition to Zhong Sui, who is now in the limelight, the one who has won the title more times is Ma Yun, and the other is Wang Jianlin.

Wang Jianlin first became the richest man in 2013. Before becoming the richest man, he had a famous bet with Jack Ma - by 2020, if the share of e-commerce in China's retail market reaches 50%, Wang Jianlin will give Ma Yun 100 million, and vice versa, Ma Yun will give Wang Jianlin 100 million. In the eyes of these super-rich, 100 million is not a big bet, just a "small goal". This joking statement has become a footnote to Wang Jianlin's highlight period.

In 2016, dissatisfied with valuations, Mr. Wang delisted Wanda from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and planned to re-list on A-shares within two years. Hurun said at the time that if the return to A is successful, Wang Jianlin's wealth will reach 300 billion, entering the top ten in the world. But Wang Jianlin miscalculated, Wanda Commercial went around and around, and failed to land on A-shares for many years. Until the end of last year, Wanda Commercial Management (renamed from Wanda Commercial) was a mountain on Wang Jianlin's head. Fortunately, this gambling crisis has been temporarily resolved.

As of now, Wanda's financial situation remains a mystery, and under Wang Jianlin's leadership, Wanda has continued to sell assets and transfer equity to return to blood. His business empire is no longer what it used to be. Wang Jianlin not only failed to enter the top 10 in the world, but fell far behind in this year's Hurun rich list.

And Ma Yun also fell out of the top ten unconsciously.

China's richest men, many of whom are self-made, have a similar path: they reach the pinnacle of their careers through hard work, and then gain great fame with the help of increasingly developed communication media. However, the situation after that was different, some naturally faded out with the ups and downs of their careers, some were able to maintain the top of the rich list, and some suffered a major turning point and became the talk of the public.

Compared with the global rich, the change of China's richest man can be said to be much faster, and the stability is insufficient. Also in the past two decades, the world's richest man has actually been rotating between several people, and the name is familiar. Especially in recent years, this group of the richest people is very fixed, and it is rare to have such ups and downs as the richest man in China. For these Chinese tycoons, the more glamorous they are at the top, the more depressed they are at the trough. The disgraced face is light, the serious one, and the disgrace is ruined.

Now look at the late Zong Qinghou, who is considered to be the richest man in the group, who is very successful from his life to his death.

If you want to say that you are more sober about the aura of the richest man, Huang Guangyu is one. He became China's richest man in 2004 at the age of 35. In an interview, he said that the rich list is a wanted warrant, and whoever is on the list is unlucky. This image metaphor delicately presents the heart of the richest man. However, this sobriety failed to save Huang Guangyu, and he was later imprisoned until 2021, when he returned to freedom. When he was released from prison, the era of Gome Electric was long gone.

Huang Guangyu also thought about making a comeback, Gome has been saving itself in the past two years, but with little effect. According to the financial report just released by Gome Retail, the revenue in 2023 will only be 600 million, a year-on-year decrease of 90%, and the loss will reach 10 billion. Although Gome said that the management did not lie down and give up, it was too difficult for Huang Guangyu to turn over, considering the operating difficulties and huge foreign debts. The degree of difficulty may only be a little lighter than that of Xu Jiayin.

China's richest man has never been easy to be, and behind this phenomenon, there may be deep-seated reasons worth exploring. In any case, they are now tending to be cautious and low-key, and although the title of richest man can bring many intangible benefits, the cost of these benefits is increasingly being taken into account.

This is a clear turn of events.

The experience and lessons of our predecessors are so precious. As the richest man of the new generation, Zhong may be able to learn more philosophy of survival from it.

*Title image | Visual China