Recently, there is a joke about Wang Sicong circulating on the Internet, it is said that someone asked: "Your family has changed hands, Wanda has been sold short, does it mean that the past is gone, and the autumn wind is bleak"?
Everyone thought that Wang Sicong would reply, but they didn't expect Wang Sicong to respond very calmly: Even if we sell our shares, sell our hotels, and sell our land. But we did not betray the country and did not throw our burdens on society. ”
As for whether this joke was said by Wang Sicong himself, we didn't find a specific source, so everyone should think of it as an entertainment joke compiled by a netizen.
But one thing that cannot be denied is that although Wang Sicong seems a little bohemian, his three views have always been very positive. When Wanda was facing a difficult situation, some of the choices they made were also awe-inspiring.
Wanda was founded by Wang Jianlin, who, at its peak, was once the richest man in China, even surpassing Li Ka-shing to become the richest man in Asia.
However, in the face of huge wealth, Wang Jianlin is very calm, as early as around 2017, they began to actively transform, began to de-real estate, reduce the development of commercial real estate, and turned to commercial management, for which they have successfully avoided the real estate crisis in recent years.
However, in the context of the overall industry entering a deep adjustment cycle, Wanda is also facing some challenges, especially the failure of the bet, which makes them face great pressure.
In September 2021, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management signed share transfer agreements with 22 investors. These 22 institutional investors hold a total of about 21.17% of the shares, and Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management has received about 38 billion yuan in financing.
But behind the 38 billion yuan financing is a VAM, according to the agreement between the two parties, if Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management fails to successfully list by the end of 2023, 22 investors can ask Wanda to buy back all or part of the equity according to an annual yield of 8%.
However, from 2021 to 2023, the time is just the time of deep adjustment of the real estate industry, and the stock exchange has become more and more strict in its review of the real estate sector.
In order to fulfill the VAM agreement, Wanda can only sell everywhere, and even the Beijing Wanda headquarters has been sold, which many people say that Wanda can't do.
As for whether Wanda can do it or not, only they know for sure, but one thing is for sure is that every time Wanda faces a debt dilemma, the first thing they do is not to throw the responsibility to the society, let alone lie flat, but to actively seek various ways to save themselves, the most important of which is to sell assets to pay off debts.
As early as 2017, Wanda was already facing debt pressure at that time, and in the face of hundreds of billions of debts, Wanda also saved itself by selling various assets.
In July 2017, Wanda's commercial real estate sector transferred 77 hotels to R&F Properties at a price of 19.906 billion yuan, and transferred 91% of the equity of 13 cultural tourism projects to Sunac at a price of 43.844 billion yuan, so as to recoup funds and reduce the burden on the company.
After several years of hard work, by 2020, Wanda has basically gotten rid of its debt predicament, and because of the timely adjustment of the asset-light model, Wanda has also escaped this round of real estate adjustment cycle.
From 2020 to 2023, the entire real estate industry is not doing well, and the revenue and profit of many companies have declined sharply, but the overall revenue and profit of Wanda Commercial Management have continued to grow.
From 2021 to 2023, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management's after-tax income will be RMB23.5 billion, RMB27.1 billion and RMB29.3 billion (estimated), with an average annual growth rate of about 12%, and its after-tax profit will be RMB5.3 billion, RMB7.5 billion and RMB9.5 billion (estimated), with an average growth rate of 34% in the past three years. In addition, in the past three years, Wanda Commercial Management's light asset management platform has distributed nearly 20 billion yuan in dividends to shareholders.
Although revenue and profits continued to grow, because it was not able to go public, it ended in a failed VAM, and Wang Jianlin could only fulfill his promise to recover his shares with an annualized income of 8%.
In order to raise funds to recover the shares, Wanda could only break his wrist and sell assets again to save himself.
On the one hand, it has sold 15 Wanda Plazas, including the Wanda headquarters in Beijing, and has successively withdrawn from the management of light assets such as Foshan Shunde Wanda Plaza, Xiamen Huli Wanda Plaza, Xiamen Lugang Wanda Plaza, and Nanning Chengxi Wanda Plaza.
On the other hand, at the beginning of December last year, Wanda Group sold part of the equity of Wanda Film for 2.155 billion yuan, and Tencent's "Confucian Department" became the largest shareholder of Wanda Film, and Wanda lost control of Wanda Film.
The other is Wanda Culture and Wanda Investment, controlled by Wang Jianlin, which reduced its stake in listed companies through block trading and centralized bidding.
Through the above operations, Wang Jianlin successfully raised tens of billions of funds and completed the repurchase of the equity of the VAM agreement.
Judging from Wang Jianlin's attitude towards the handling of these two debt crises, it can be seen that he is very responsible, did not lie flat, but took the initiative to seek a way to solve it, and what he can solve by himself will definitely not be lost to the society.
Wang Jianlin's iron-fisted measures and conscience have once again been recognized by many investors, and after Wang Jianlin completed the equity redemption, some investors led by PAG invested in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management again.
At the end of March this year, Wanda's newly established light asset management platform, Xinda Alliance, received 60 billion yuan of war investment from PAG, CITIC Capital and Middle East Capital, which allowed Wanda to solve the capital crisis.
Although Wanda Group's stake in the asset management platform fell from 78% to 40% after this operation, at least Zhuhai Wanda did not explode.
As for the rumors circulating on the Internet that Wang Jianlin lost control of Wanda, it is not entirely accurate, and Wanda Commercial Management is currently divided into two models: self-owned property and asset-light.
As of the end of 2023, Wanda Group manages 498 large-scale commercial centers across the country, of which 204 are third-party asset-light commercial centers, and asset-light projects account for 40%, which means that Wanda's self-owned properties still reach 60%, and Wanda Group still has absolute control over these self-owned properties.
On the whole, although Wang Jianlin's Wanda shares have declined, at least he has not put it badly, let alone pit investors, nor pit customers, and it is worth giving everyone a thumbs up from this point of view.
Regarding Wang Sicong's joke circulating on the Internet, "We sell shares, sell hotels, and sell land." But we did not betray the country and did not throw our burdens on society. We don't know if this passage was said by Wang Sicong himself, but their actions speak for themselves.
In fact, although Wang Sicong has always been a bit of a playboy, his three views have always been very positive.
For example, once in a program, Wang Sicong said that when he went to study in the UK, his father personally sent him to the airport, and when he was leaving, Wang Jianlin gave Wang Sicong 4 big words "Revitalization of China".
It can be seen from this that Wang Sicong's education and values are very positive, and judging from his words and deeds, his three views are indeed very positive.
Although Wang Sicong is known as the secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection in the entertainment industry, he scolds the air, but there is one thing he never complains about the society, nor does he scold the poor.
And Wang Sicong, as a super rich second generation, has always been very down-to-earth, often going to roadside stalls to make skewers, and once when he went to a roadside stall to eat, he personally took charge of fried rice.
For a rich second generation like Wang Sicong, although many people don't like him, everyone can't find a reason to hate him.