Suning is out of Inter, and the super-rich second generation can't resist fate

Glacier think tank

2024-05-27 10:53Posted on the official account of Zhejiang Glacier Think Tank

Suning is out of Inter, and the super-rich second generation can't resist fate

When Wang Sicong, the "Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Entertainment Industry", was sitting in danger at the signing ceremony of a cultural tourism project, and when Zhang Kangyang had to give up his beloved Inter team due to the debt crisis, those rich second generations who had stood on the cusp of the storm still bowed their heads in front of the times.

Written by丨Chen Bai

Suning, which has not made headlines for a long time, has recently attracted attention at home and abroad because of the failure of the company's young owner, Zhang Kangyang.

After nearly eight years at the helm of the global football giant, Inter Milan in Serie A, Zhang Kangyang finally lost control completely because he was unable to repay the loan.

On May 25, Zhang Kangyang posted a farewell letter on social media, reflecting on his achievements in the eight years he has led Inter, in which he wrote: "Honestly, I am not ready (to say goodbye) and probably never will be. ”

Suning's reality that it has long been in debt and has no time to take care of itself is destined that no matter how reluctant Zhang Kangyang is, Inter Milan's "Suning era" is over.

Looking back at Zhang Kangyang's high-profile acquisition of Inter Milan with 270 million euros in 2016, Suning was about to usher in its peak moment at that time: three years later, in 2019, Suning's total assets exceeded 200 billion yuan, and the number of stores was nearly 9,000.

At the time, it was a success story that seemed to have achieved "cycle crossing".

Although the market was full of voices that were not optimistic about Inter's financial situation at that time, Zhang Kangyang, as the only son of Zhang Jindong, bought a declining European old giant team, even if he lost some money, what was it? might as well take a look at the wanton publicity of Wanda's son Wang Sicong bombarding the entertainment industry at that time, Zhang Kangyang is already relatively low-key and reliable.

However, in the face of the turbulent changes of the times, whether reliable or not, the rich second generation will not be able to decide their own fate in the end.

Objectively speaking, as a rich second generation, Zhang Kangyang's performance is much better than Wang Sicong.

In the early years, Zhang Kangyang used all his savings to buy Tesla shares, and soon doubled his earnings. It can also be seen from Inter's eight-year business performance that Zhang Kangyang is online in terms of work attitude and management ability. Since Suning took over Inter, they have won seven titles, including two Serie A titles, two Coppa Italia and three Italian Super Cups.

The outside world's evaluation of Zhang Kangyang is also very good. In 2018, at the age of 27, Zhang Kangyang became the president of Inter Milan, becoming the youngest club president in Italian football and even European football. In later years, the management of the Inter Milan club, led by Zhang Kangyang, was once considered by fans to be the "golden combination" in the history of the team.

Sports media have disclosed that Zhang Kangyang, as the chairman of the club, did not interfere too much in the specific business of the team, on the contrary, he adhered to the concept of "professional people do professional things", and in the stadium, whether it was the former coach of Inter Milan Conte or the current coach Inzaghi, they were given unreserved trust. The management of Inter led by Zhang Kangyang also successfully poached the legendary professional manager Marotta from Juventus as the club's CEO.

On May 12, 2022, Inter Milan defeated Juventus in the Coppa Italia final to win the title. Zhang Kangyang raised his arms in front of the 65,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium to celebrate the team's third time in a year to lift the trophy.

However, Zhang Kangyang probably didn't expect that it was the last glorious moment for him and this team.

In fact, when he posted the photo on Weibo, netizens did not share his joy as he would have liked. On the contrary, the former player of the domestic team Jiangsu Suning collected debts online - "We also won the championship trophy, when will the salary be paid if we are in arrears for more than a year?" ”

Later, it was not only Zhang Kangyang who was being collected for debts - because Suning's risk exposure began to be gradually exposed, the news that Zhang Jindong and Zhang Kangyang and his son were being collected by the world was also on the hot search at that time.

It seemed that overnight, the walls of the Suning Empire were loosened everywhere.

Just two months after Inter Milan's victory, Zhang Kangyang was defeated in an international financing case in a Hong Kong court, demanding that he repay a $255 million (1.719 billion yuan) loan.

The dominoes began to fall.

The annual report shows that in 2021, Suning's net loss will exceed 40 billion, and on May 6, 2022, Suning was officially "capped" by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on the grounds of insufficient ability to continue operations, and Suning Tesco became "ST Tesco".

As of July 25, 2022, the share price of Suning Tesco, which has been ST, is only 2.46 yuan, and the market value is less than 20 billion yuan, compared with Suning's market value of 159.8 billion yuan in 2015, Suning's market value at that time was only one-eighth of its peak.

In fact, the seeds of the crisis have already been planted.

In the years when the market value skyrocketed, Suning acquired assets everywhere - in 2013, it took over PPTV at a high level, and then spent money to acquire Manza.com and Tiantian Express; In 2016, he bought Inter Milan, which had been losing money despite winning the championship in those years; In 2019, Suning Tesco also bought 80% of Carrefour China's shares for 4.8 billion yuan......

Today, most of these acquisitions have failed.

In addition to buying everywhere, Suning's main business retail is also a variety of tosses. Suning's offline stores and online e-commerce business layout have become a huge burden on Suning's cash flow.

According to the analysis of research institutions, since 2014, Suning has not made a penny after deducting non-recurring profits and losses. The net profit on the book is positive, and it is only the way to sell its subsidiaries to the parent company, Suning Group, to maintain the surface profit of the accounts.

However, this analysis is not entirely correct.

In 2018, Suning sold Alibaba's shares and realized investment gains of 11.3 billion yuan, accounting for 89% of its net profit in the same period. Judging from the current Alibaba stock price, Suning was almost sold at the highest point at that time, which is a wise investment decision.

But no matter what, Suning's income is quite ironic.

In the year that Suning sold Ali's shares, Pinduoduo was listed on the U.S. stock market, and the eyes were on Ali Jingdong Suning at that time, and it is estimated that no one thought that five years later, the world would change so dramatically.

The key turning point in history is often always a gray line and a thousand miles away.

Many believe that Suning's failure stemmed from its blind overexpansion and its poor investment decisions. These are of course important reasons, but they are not the decisive ones. What really affects Suning is the huge changes in the market.

Although Suning has been buying and buying a lot in those years, its business territory seems to be covering various fields. But judging from its financial report, Suning is essentially a home appliance retail platform. In the past, Suning may still have a part of the 3C business, with the squeeze of brand self-operated stores and e-commerce sales, there are now a small number of customers who still go to offline self-operated stores to buy mobile phones and computers, not to mention non-brand self-operated stores such as Suning.

Behind the demand for goods such as home furnishings and home appliances, it is mainly home purchase and decoration. When the real estate market is down, how much can Suning's home appliances sell?

What's more, in the years of rapid expansion, Suning not only had a large real estate business of its own, but also invested heavily in offline stores and convenience store business. Either way, when taken out alone, it means huge cash flow and cost pressures.

What's more, who would have thought that a "black swan event" like the new crown would come?

At the end of 2023, Zhang Jindong said in a letter to Suning: "Suning, who has experienced the darkest, is fearless. In 2024, he chose to return to Suning's stage.

In fact, not only Zhang Jindong, but also the first generation managers of well-known companies such as Alibaba, JD.com, and Metersbonwe have recently shown signs of returning to the front of the stage.

Back then, Ali acquired RT-Mart, and the comment of industry insiders that "(RT-Mart) won all its opponents, but lost to the times" was embarrassing.

Now, this sentence is also very suitable for Zhang Kangyang and his eight years at the helm of Inter. When Zhang Kangyang led Inter Milan to be invincible in football again and again and revive the glory of the giants, Suning behind him waited for his father Zhang Jindong to come back to the horse.

It's only been 20 years, the rivers and lakes are still there, but the heroes are twilight.

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