Chapter 12 Kelong: A "dragon" deliberately hunted

It used to be the most growing home appliance company in China, and it was also the most favored local company by investors. It took seven years from hammering out the first refrigerator to "National Sales No. 1"; it also took seven years from making a profit of 600 million yuan to a huge loss of 3.693 billion yuan. Economists say that Kelong's ending is time, luck, and fate.Want to cry but have no tears. The rise and fall of Kelon is related to the two male protagonists.Pan Ning and Gu Chujun. What we are about to see is how the company with the most modern temperament and the best asset quality in China's home appliance industry is dismembered and ravaged.Although many years have passed, we can still hear the sound of a huge flying beast self-destructing in the distance and clearly.

The sound of muscles being torn, the sound of bones being crushed, the sound of wings being snapped. That very long voice still floats in the depths of time like a ghost—— "It's a pity, Kelong." In 1984, in Ronggui Town, Shunde, Guangdong Province, Pan Ning, who only had a fourth-grade elementary school education, used parts instead of molds and soda bottles as test objects. The first two-door refrigerator in China was built under the conditions.There was a thunderstorm that day, and he rushed into the heavy rain alone and cried loudly. Pan Ning was the deputy director of the Industrial and Communication Office of Ronggui Town. At that time, starting a business was a common practice in Guangdong cities and towns. Many capable people came from grassroots cadres in townships.Pan Ning's refrigerators were technically supported by the Beijing Snowflake Refrigerator Factory, and the township government paid 90,000 yuan for trial production in terms of funds. Therefore, this factory became a "township collective enterprise". Ownership of property rights ultimately determines the tragic fate of entrepreneur Pan Ning.In October of this year, Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory was established. The brand of refrigerators was "Rongsheng", and Pan Ning was appointed as the factory director.

It is conceivable that the hardships of starting a business were quite discriminated against by the township and village enterprises at that time.When Pan Ning went to the most famous Xidan shopping mall in Beijing to sell refrigerators, a clerk crossed his legs and asked him, "What's the matter with Rongsheng? What level is it?" Pan Ning said, "We are a township enterprise." The staff immediately issued an order to evict the guest. In 1986, Pan Ning asked Hong Kong film and television star Wang Mingquan to endorse the refrigerator advertisement. Because Wang was a representative of the National People’s Congress, he had to ask his superiors for instructions before the advertisement was broadcast. It was broadcast on local TV stations, but not on CCTV.

These status discrimination and institutional suppression did not cause fatal troubles to Kelon. Just like all township enterprises at that time, Pan Ning and his team strengthened their ability to compete. In the mid-to-late 1980s, well-known Chinese refrigerator companies all started by introducing production lines. Zhang Ruimin, who started his business in the same year as Pan Ning, relied on his relationship with ministries and commissions to introduce the last "indicator" Liebherr production line. The most exaggerated thing is that nine companies introduced the Ariston refrigerator production line of the same model to the Italian Meloni company.In those years, 79 refrigerator production lines were introduced in China, which triggered a refrigerator war.Among these refrigerator factories, the Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory is the most humble one, but it gradually stands out because of its novel style, high quality and flexible marketing. Although Pan Ning is not an expert, he regards quality and technological progress as his life. He asked Wang Mingquan endorsed the advertisement, and the planners thought hard about a lot of fancy advertisements, but in the end he settled on the most plain sentence: "Sound and voice, quality assurance."

By around 1989, the equipment and scale of the Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory were not inferior to state-owned factories.In the winter of this year, a reporter from the "Economic Daily" wrote in surprise in his visit to the factory: "This township enterprise located in Ronggui Town, Shunde has 80 million yuan in fixed assets, 45% of which are imported equipment. Many large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises have It does not have such good conditions. The principle of the factory is to buy whoever is the best. The entire production line is six kilometers long and is composed of the best equipment from Europe, America and Japan. Enterprises can't catch up." In the Pearl River Delta, "Rongsheng" refrigerators have become the most famous brand of home appliances, and in the national market, a duo pattern of "North Haier and South Rongsheng" has formed.

In the initial stage of the company, a very important fact is that the growth of Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory is inseparable from the full support of Shunde local government. At that time, South China was the first to lead the trend of reform and opening up, and the local government spared no effort to support enterprises, which brought about a prosperous scene of "fires in every town and smoke in every village".Among all the cities and towns, Shunde, Zhongshan, Dongguan, and Nanhai are known as the "Four Little Tigers of Guangdong" because of their most active economies.Shunde ranks first among the four little tigers, and its full support to Kelon is exemplary.There is an example that has been talked about all the time: in the early 1990s, Pan Ning wanted to expand the factory area, but there was no land to acquire in Ronggui Town. It was razed to the ground and Pan Ning was asked to build a workshop.A reporter was deeply moved by this, saying, "If other local governments are so concerned about enterprises, how can there be any reason why the economy cannot develop?" Therefore, the title of the report was used "The Terrible Shunde People".

Due to the open-mindedness and full support of the government, Shunde at that time was indeed very "terrible". One-third of the country's home appliance production was in Guangdong, and Shunde accounted for half of the country. It was the country's largest refrigerator, air conditioner, water heater and disinfection bowl. The production base of cabinets is also the world’s largest manufacturing center of electric fans, microwave ovens and rice cookers. Rongsheng, Midea, Macro and Galanz are also known as the four golden flowers of Chinese home appliances. Among the top ten township enterprises in the country selected this year, Shunde actually Impressively occupied five seats.

The full support of the local government has created the Shunde enterprise group, and what is related to this is that the government also plays a very important and strong role in the business decision-making of enterprises. An intriguing detail is that many enterprises in the Pearl River Delta Entrepreneurs have half-official and half-business identities when they start a business. Pan Ning is the deputy director of the Industry and Communications Office of Ronggui Town, Shunde. Liang Qingde, who founded the world's largest microwave oven company Galanz, was the deputy director of the Industry and Communications Office of Guizhou Town, Shunde. He Boquan of Baishi was the secretary of the Youth League Committee of Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan before starting his business.

At the end of January 1992, Deng Xiaoping, who was on a southern tour in Guangdong and other places, made a special trip to inspect the Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory. This largest refrigerator manufacturing factory in China was equipped with the most advanced production lines in the world. Standing in the spacious and modern workshop, Deng Xiaoping looked very proud. Surprised, he asked: "What type of enterprise is this?" The attendant replied: "If you count by the administrative level, it is only a stock level; if you count by the economic benefits and scale, I am afraid it is also a corps level." Deng Xiaoping visited the factory area , I asked three times with emotion: "Is this a township enterprise?" It was also during this process that Deng Xiaoping mentioned the Deng's motto that would become famous throughout the country: "Development is the last word."

After Deng Xiaoping left the factory, relevant agencies in Beijing announced the national production and sales ranking list of household electrical appliances. Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory was crowned the "No. 1 refrigerator production and sales" throne. Deng Xiaoping's three exclamations made Panning famous all over the world.At this time, he was 60 years old, and he had reached the age of retirement by convention, but no one dared to raise this sensitive issue publicly.Even he himself did not feel that it was time to back down. In addition to the sensitivity of age, a more "unmentionable" topic is whether it is possible to clarify the ownership of the property rights of enterprises.Although the Pearl River Refrigerator Factory was founded by Pan Ning, its property rights belonged to the town government.Pan Ning’s situation at that time was very typical. The Zhujiang factory was growing day by day, but the management team did not have any equity. Pan Ning repeatedly asked, explicitly or secretly, that he hoped that the township government would consider this aspect, but the answers he received were all vague. word.Another thing that gave him a headache was that after Rongsheng refrigerators sold well in the country, since the ownership of this brand was owned by the town government, some township enterprises took the opportunity to use this brand to produce other small household appliances, which seriously disturbed and affected Zhujiang Refrigerator Factory. reputation, but Pan Ning had nothing to do about it.

So in 1994, Pan Ning decided to find another way. He transformed the company into Kelon Group, announced the creation of a new Kelon brand, and entered the air-conditioning industry.In his plan, the Kelon brand is owned by the company, which can gradually get rid of the strong control of the government.His "independence tendencies" of course attracted the attention of the town government.That is, from then on, the fate of Pan Ning and the company became very delicate. In 1996, Kelon Electric was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising 1.2 billion yuan, becoming the first township enterprise in China to be listed in Hong Kong.Pan Ning is so ambitious that he has built two production bases in Yingkou, Liaoning and Chengdu, Sichuan, which can greatly reduce the cost of logistics and transportation.A particularly important decision is that he announced that he will invest 1 billion yuan to establish Kelon's technology center in Kobe, Japan.The status quo at that time was that Chinese refrigerator companies relied on the "price cut-throat war" to quickly defeat the multinational companies that had previously gained the upper hand in the Chinese market by virtue of their brand advantages, but Pan Ning knew that to stabilize the market results of local companies, Must have core development capabilities technically.At that time, all domestic home appliance companies were actually assembly factories, and their core components still needed to be imported from abroad.The core technology of global refrigerators is controlled by Japanese companies such as Toshiba, Sanyo, and Panasonic. Therefore, extending the frontier of technology development to Japan is a costly but effective strategy.At a high-level meeting, Pan Ning said excitedly: "If we can't install a 100% Chinese refrigerator in our lifetime, our generation of refrigerators will be ashamed of future generations." It is a pity that Pan Ning's "decisive thinking" became so popular after he quit that ten years later, the core technology hollowing of China's refrigerator industry still has not been fundamentally improved. In 1997, Kelon achieved an operating income of 3.4 billion yuan and a profit of 660 million yuan. It was rated as the best management company in China and the best investor relations company in China by the Hong Kong "Asiamoney" magazine. It seems to be the hope of China's refrigeration industry and even the home appliance industry. Star.However, it was also from this time that the local government's control over Kelong became more direct.This company with a prominent brand and excellent profitability has become the best tool for government officials to control local resources. In the middle of 1998, in order to extend the industrial chain, Pan Ning planned to increase investment in the Kelon air-conditioning project.When the project was reported to the government, he waited for a very unexpected decision: the government wanted Kelon to acquire Huabao air conditioner in the same town. The rise and fall of Warburg Air Conditioning is another version of the "Shunde Story". Tao Guofeng, a senior reporter of "Economic Daily", once had a very detailed and wonderful report on this—— Huabao Air Conditioner Factory is the first enterprise in China to produce split-type air conditioners, and the first company in Guangdong's air conditioner industry to obtain ISO9001 quality system certification. In 1993, Huabao Air Conditioner sold 1.8 billion yuan, ranking first in the country in terms of production and sales. At the end of November of this year, without the knowledge of the management, Shunde Investment Holding Corporation, the state-owned asset holding company of Huabao, suddenly decided to sell 60% of the property rights to Shell Company controlled by the Weng family in Hong Kong. The total assets of Shell amounted to 1.8 billion yuan, while Shell's assets were less than 500 million Hong Kong dollars. It only paid 10 million yuan to obtain control.Because the transaction was too "secret", it caused a strong backlash from the management. The chairman who founded Huabao immediately resigned. Other executives strongly resisted the Hong Kong side. The situation was hopeless, so he voluntarily gave up his equity on the grounds that "the air-conditioning market is sluggish, the macro-control has lengthened the recovery cycle of sales funds, and the number of competitors in air-conditioning production has increased."The Hong Kong side proposed that they had "invested 1.42 billion yuan with principal and interest" in Huabao, and they were willing to "bear the loss of 100 million yuan", and Shunde and Huabao should return all other funds.Obviously, this is a deal that made Shunde very angry. Not only did it pay more than 1 billion yuan in compensation, but it also caused Huabao's vitality to be severely damaged. Most of its market share was snatched away by Gree air conditioners in Zhuhai. In the eyes of some government officials, Huabao at this time has become a troublesome enterprise that cannot be lost.Therefore, when Pan Ning proposed a new air-conditioning project, someone proposed to assign Huabao Air Conditioning to Kelon in order to create an "air conditioning aircraft carrier." Pan Ning was quite afraid of Huabao, who was in trouble and had many internal conflicts. In his opinion, it was better to build a "new house" on an open space than to renovate an "old house" with a backward structure.The government, of course, hoped that he could take on this "heavy burden". For this reason, the mayor promised that after the merger, Kelon could be "allocated" to a listing quota, allowing it to be listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.Under the pressure of power and the temptation of listing indicators, Pan Ning chose to compromise. In this way, in October 1998, Kelon and Huabao Group announced their alliance, which was the largest enterprise alliance in the domestic home appliance industry at that time. The merger of Kelon and Huabao seems to have created a "big ship", but in fact the two companies have never really integrated. In terms of brand management, Kelon has no ability to do two different things at the same time. It is an air-conditioning brand with high quality, so it is expected that Huabao will be abandoned.What is even more worrying is that as Kelon grows in size, the government's control over it becomes more and more direct. In December 1998, just two months after Kelon announced the acquisition of Huabao Air Conditioning, without any warning, Kelon Group suddenly announced that Pan Ning resigned as the company's president. In April of the following year, he stepped down as director long.All his positions are taken by Wang Guoduan, his deputy for many years. According to the memories of many parties involved, Pan Ning was not mentally prepared for the announcement.Throughout 1998, he has been inspecting all over the country. He wanted to acquire the workshop of a military factory in Chengdu and transform it into a refrigerator production line. He also went to Hebei and other provinces to discuss the construction of a northern production base. Peking University professor Zhou Qiren observed, "Pan Ning was laid off. In fact, he was not prepared for this. He has been running around for more than a year." Pan Ning hardly gave any explanation for his resignation to the outside world, and he quickly made a decision to immigrate to Canada.In order to express his complete retirement, he made three agreements with Kelon: "No office, no penny of Kelon's pension, no shares of Kelon." His last speech to media reporters was, "Now I feel very honored to retire. Because of many well-known entrepreneurs, some have been promoted, some have no successor, and some have made mistakes, and very few of them have been executed. People like me who worked until the age of 65 Entrepreneurs are one of the few. I am honorably retired, and I am really honored." He announced that he has six "retirement plans": learn to play golf, learn photography, learn to drive, learn Tai Chi, read some modern history, and travel with his wife .An old Kelon department once recorded a detail: When Lao Pan said goodbye to Kelon, he left his subordinates as a commemoration: "Serving for rural enterprises for decades, home appliances are competing to be the first. Breaking through the restricted area and becoming a good business, a message Colleagues hold the whip." Some people pointed out that the sentence "anger strives to be the first" in the poem is a bit awkward, whether it is a clerical error of "struggle first" or "dispute first", Pan Ning said solemnly, it is this "anger", who strives to be strong Anger, grief and anger. After Pan Ning left Kelon, he never said a word to this company that he devoted his whole life to, despite the constant turmoil in the future.Every Qingming Festival, he would return home from abroad to visit his grave, and then leave the country quietly, almost having no contact with the old people in Kelong. Kelon after Panning entered a period of purge, they called themselves "Kelon Revolution". This is a radical and grand definition with unclear meaning.What kind of revolution is it?Who is the object of the revolution?What are the revolutionary goals to be achieved?No one can make it clear.The truth may be that in order to fill the huge gap in belief left by the entrepreneur Pan Ning, the successor had to use this seemingly violent method to gather people's hearts and stimulate market confidence. "Revolution" is a bloody word, unless the company is in an irreversible danger, and in desperation, it may use thunderbolt means to try.For an enterprise like Kelon, which is at the peak of its benefits, the sudden implementation of this unconventional strategy due to the earthquake of personnel can only lead to the fact that this revolution almost wiped out Kelon's own life. . From the perspective of representation, the "Kelong Revolution" during Wang Guoduan's tenure is divided into two levels of tasks. The first is the purge of personnel in the name of "organizational transformation". From March to April 2000, Kelon completed a management and personnel adjustment involving 2,000 people, reducing personnel by 35% and departments by 40%. All the above-mentioned cadres were recruited through competition, and 378 people competed for 245 positions.Wang Guoduan was very vigilant against Kelon's "aging personnel and concepts". He persuaded four veteran entrepreneurs at the vice president level to retire one by one. ·Song Xinyu, the general manager of Berger China, was appointed as the strategic director. With the arrival of a group of "airborne soldiers" and the purge of internal high-level personnel, Kelon's team suddenly took on a new look. The second is to change Panning's four-high strategy of "high investment, high profit, high income, and high development" to a conservative strategy of "digestion and weaning".Pan Ning has always spared no effort in the introduction of new technologies, new molds, and new accessories, which makes Kelon always in the forefront of the domestic industry in terms of quality and quality, and thus cultivates a modern temperament that surpasses everyone.In this process, there are naturally problems such as waste of introduction and high maintenance and depreciation costs.The successors believe that China's home appliance industry has entered the era of meager profits, and it is no longer realistic to obtain huge profits by holding high and high. Therefore, it is necessary to plan carefully and optimize internal mechanisms to ensure sustainable benefits.Reflected in the decision-making, it is to significantly reduce the introduction of new molds, abandon the construction of overseas scientific research bases, and require the parts companies within the group to conduct independent accounting and "find food" by themselves. For any strategic adjustment of a large company, it is difficult to make a right or wrong judgment at the beginning, and there is even no way to "replay the game" afterwards.The pros and cons of a strategy lie only in its appropriateness and resoluteness in its execution.It is difficult to describe Wang Guoduan's reform as a "revolution". He seems to have seen that the Panning style of management can no longer keep Kelon on the road of rapid growth, so he tried to save it in his own way.But its implementation effect is far from satisfactory.The "Kelon Revolution" hyped by the media and Kelon itself seems to be just to cover up the possible backlash effects of Panning's dismissal. Another more shocking fact is that during the "revolution" Under the name of Kelon, Kelon's asset situation suddenly deteriorated. In June 2000, Wang Guoduan, who had been in office for only one and a half years, unexpectedly resigned. Xu Tiefeng, the mayor of Ronggui Town, became the president of Kelon. President, there is no precedent for this before.The change of personnel caused a lot of exclamation. Perhaps it was also from this extraordinary behavior that the media sniffed out the drama of the Kelon incident. Xu Tiefeng continued to hold high the banner of "Kelon Revolution", and he seemed to spend a lot of effort to find "Kelon Culture" and "Kelon Enterprise Spirit". In December, "Kelon Electric" announced a pre-loss, and the April annual report of the following year was announced, and Kelon lost 678 million yuan. For this star company, which has been the leader in China's refrigerator industry for eight years, the huge loss is undoubtedly a big bomb thrown on the market, and the market's reaction to this can almost be described as "shocking".It is incomprehensible that in the past two years, despite the turmoil caused by Panning's retirement and the anticlimactic "revolution" of Wang Guoduan, Kelon's products still performed well in the market. "The turmoil in the store" did not affect consumers' recognition of the brand.Therefore, Kelon's loss has become a big mystery wrapped in clouds and mist. According to public explanations, Kelon's losses were caused by poor management.However, since 1997, Kelon's profitability has been maintained at more than 600 million yuan per year. In 1999, the net profit was 630 million yuan, the production of refrigerators reached a record 2.65 million units, and the total sales volume was 5.8 billion yuan. For three years, it was rated as the best management company in China and the best investor relations company in China. In November, it was also selected as the top 20 best small and medium-sized enterprises in the world by Forbes magazine.But why in the coming year, he turned around and lost nearly 700 million yuan, and how to explain the contrast of nearly 1.4 billion yuan?Moreover, the high gross profit margin of Kelon's refrigerators is a well-known fact in the industry. Zhou Houjian, president of Hisense Group, who started from color TVs and later invested in the refrigerator industry, once calculated an account. The gross profit margin of Hisense refrigerators was 7.73%, while that of Kelon refrigerators The gross profit rate is 29.17%. The reasons for this high profit phenomenon are firstly the high brand and high price strategy that Panning adheres to, and the second is the huge manufacturing scale effect formed by Kelon. From a financial point of view, there are three possibilities for Kelon’s loss: ——Sudden major vicious events in the market, sales have shrunk sharply, and huge deficits have been caused due to excessive operating costs.In fact, this situation did not happen at the time. ——Excessive receivables and huge bad debts form a financial black hole.Qu Yunbo, who was in charge of Kelon's marketing, disclosed, "When I took office in 2000, Kelon owed more than 200 million yuan in advertising fees. Before I came, Kelon's highest accounts receivable was 1.2 billion. When I first took office, it was 700 or 800 million. When I left at the end of 2001, only tens of millions of advertising expenses were left, and there were still 200 million in accounts receivable on the books, which should be within the normal range.”If Qu Yan is credible, that is to say, although the company's receivables were staggering around 2000, it did not form bad debts in the end. —— Major shareholders are suspected of transferring assets.After Pan Ning created the Kelon brand, his superior has always had a "Rongsheng Group", which is the major shareholder of Kelon Electric and is entrusted by the government to manage collective assets.Although Kelon has been listed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen successively and became a public company, the "Rongsheng Group" that really holds the asset rights has always been hidden behind.Qu Yunbo, who once joined Kelon's board of directors, kept his mouth shut after he left. He kept secret the real reason for his firm resignation. It was not until August 2005 that he said flickeringly in an interview with a reporter from the "Economic Observer", "From the beginning. Earning 700 million yuan in one year (actually 630 million yuan) and losing 700 million yuan in the second year (actually 678 million yuan), this has aroused great concern from everyone. It is 1.4 billion yuan every time. Unless it is Special circumstances, or they are specifically creating losses.” He also said, “I can turn losses into good things, and turn leadership changes into bad things into good things, but I don’t have the ability to turn things like stealing money into good things. Bad things turned into good things." What is the status of the assets between Kelon and the major shareholder? Although there are various speculations from the outside world, it has never been clearly explained.Some experts boldly speculated that by the end of 2001, Kelon Electric had been completely "hollowed out" or "consumed out". The owners began to think about finding a new home. At this time, a dreamer broke into the stage. The relationship between Gu Chujun and Kelon began in 1989. In March, the most influential economic newspaper in China at that time, the "Economic Information Daily" under Xinhua News Agency, published a headline on the front page saying that a young scientist named Gu Chujun, who was just 30 years old, invented the "Gu's cycle". Thermal Theory and Technology", it is said that his technology applied to refrigerators and small air conditioners can save energy by 20-40%, and does not use Freon. The newspapers admired his technology and distributed a very eye-catching comment: " Quickly grab the God of Wealth Gu Chujun". Pan Ning, who has always been hungry for new technologies, saw this report. He specially cut out the newspaper and asked his subordinates to take a closer look. A month later, his subordinates reported that Gu Chujun was young and vigorous, and claimed to have more than 100 overseas refrigerators. The company is in contact with him, and he is not willing to transfer the technology to domestic refrigerator companies, and it is understood that his technology does not seem to be as mature as the newspaper said, so the matter is left alone.No one expected that 12 years later, the "God of Wealth" scientist would take control of Kelon in an extremely ambiguous way, and finally send it to decline and no return. Let's first explain Gu Chujun's adventures before taking over Kelon.He was born in a small village called Cangchang in Tai County, Jiangsu Province. He studied internal combustion engines at Jiangsu Institute of Technology in his early years, and later was admitted to Tianjin University as a graduate student in thermodynamics.This is a stubborn and extremely proud person. Once talking about his mentor with his younger brother, he said, "It's not bad if he can understand half of what I do." At the age of 30, he "invented" a set of The thermodynamic cycle theory is directly named "Gu's Theory", and one can imagine the urgency of its good name.Although his new technology is sought after by the media, it is not favored by his peers. Even his mentor publicly wrote an article saying that what he is doing is "pseudo-theory".Since he couldn't find a suitable seller, Gu Chujun set up a small company with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan to sell his energy-saving technology. In 1991, when China's home appliance consumption boom began, he set up an air-conditioning factory in Huizhou, producing The Xiaokang brand air conditioner advertised itself as "the most energy-efficient household air conditioner in the world". At that time, it was catching up with the "air conditioning craze". Gu Chujun's air conditioners were low in cost and price, and each unit could basically earn 1,000 yuan. In the second year of setting up the factory, the output reached 60,000 units. After three years, he earned nearly 100 million yuan.Unfortunately, in 1994, the Huizhou Municipal Technical Supervision Bureau determined that the quality of Xiaokang air-conditioning products was not up to standard, so they sealed up the factory.In a rage, Gu Chujun sued the Bureau of Technical Supervision.He later recalled, "Before 1996, my life was almost fighting against the world." After defeating Huizhou, Gu Chujun immediately went north to build a new fluorine-free refrigerant factory in Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone, named "Greencool".In those few years, people gradually realized that the freon used in refrigerators and air conditioners was very destructive to the atmospheric ozone layer. Therefore, fluorine-free home appliances became a new concept that was sought after, and some provinces also fashionablely proposed to speed up With the slogan of no fluorination process, Gu Chujun's technology and factory just arrived at this node. In 1998, Gu Chujun’s time came, and Greencool’s refrigerant was approved by the State Environmental Protection Administration as a recommended product for environmental protection and practical technology. Provinces and cities such as Hainan, Hubei, and Tianjin also regarded his products as the first choice for fluorine-free substitutes. In 2000, Greencool was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of Hong Kong, raising 546 million yuan. In the prospectus, a director surnamed Wang was the recently retired deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration. Although Gu Chujun's experience of accumulating wealth is tortuous, it is not vague, but he wants to completely rewrite it.According to his own description, after 1989, he was invited by his British partner—he never disclosed the name of the company—to go to England to found Greencool, and then went to Wall Street to practice investment banking. During the time, he founded 9 companies around the world. Greencool refrigerant is the most expensive product in the international refrigeration market, and occupies 25% of the European market, 10% of the North American market and 50% of the Asian market. Gu Chujun brought huge wealth, so he often said, "Don't ask me where the money comes from, my money has an international background." In an era when the Internet has flattened the world, it is not easy for Gu Chujun to tell a story that never happened. He refused to provide even one witness to this experience, and even those who knew A detail was revealed, the person's spoken English could not reach the level of communicating with others.Gu Chujun's suspicious business activities, in addition to his ten years of "overseas experience", also includes Greencool's performance.In the first year of listing, Greencool announced that it had realized a profit of 269 million yuan, and its operating income had increased by 3,300 times in the past three years, ranking first in Hong Kong's GEM. In its annual report in 2001, the company announced that it had achieved an operating income of 5.16 100 million yuan, gross profit 410 million yuan, and net profit 340 million yuan. The Caijing magazine, which is famous for its rigorous financial analysis, directly stated that "its income is simply an unattainable figure." The 21st Century Business Herald reported, Greencool's so-called performance comes from a large number of false contracts. "The core of its story is to sign false orders everywhere, so many false orders can be packed in sacks." It is such an entrepreneur surrounded by many gray halos who walked into another Kelon in the gray fog. On October 31, 2001, financial reporters from major media across the country got a piece of news without warning: a little-known Greencool company became the largest shareholder of Kelon, a leading refrigeration appliance company.The former bought a 20.6% stake in Kelon Electric for 560 million yuan (the amount was later reduced to 348 million yuan).At the press conference, the mayor of Ronggui Town explained, "As the government, the best result for the company should be zero shareholding and zero debt. It should withdraw from the company and only abide by its own macro-control responsibilities." The reason for choosing Greencool is that it is "optimistic about its high-tech core technology, transnational business network, talents and market advantages." These high-sounding reasons obviously cannot satisfy the curiosity of the reporters, and are not even enough to solve any doubts: Why did Kelon sell?Why a targeted sale?Why choose Greencool?Why is it such a low price?All in all, what happened to Kelon all these years? Judging from the facts that happened later, even Gu Chujun, the buyer, didn't figure out what happened to Kelon. How Gu Chujun connected with Ronggui Town has always been a mystery. Gu's team has some well-connected officials who went to sea, and one of them was the director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. They should be the main facilitators. The author of "Gu Chujun Investigation" Chen Lei quoted an insider who used to be the secretary of the board of directors of Kelon Electric Co., Ltd. as saying that the important bargaining chip between Gu Chujun and the government is the large number of related transactions hidden under the books between Kelon Electric and its parent company Rongsheng Group , "Gu told the government that if he was allowed to buy it, Rongsheng Group would not have to pay back the money owed to Kelon." Financial journalists all over China and people who are concerned about the Kelon turmoil believe that this unknown Gu Chujun used some means to steal a big gold brick.Even Gu himself was probably so secretly pleased at the beginning. He later recalled in detail the situation before and after the acquisition of Kelon: “When we signed the contract on September 27, 2001, we only knew that we might lose 100 million yuan. By the end of November, we were told that the loss might exceed 600 million yuan. The signed agreement has been announced. In this case, we went back and held a meeting, and finally concluded that Kelon’s cost control has a big problem. If it is done very strictly, it is possible to make a profit. I was in 2002 Entered Kelon in January, and when the audit report came out in March, Kelon had a loss of 1.5 billion yuan. The initial report was 1.8 billion yuan. We were worried that such a large loss would make creditor banks lose confidence, so we decided to go through mergers and acquisitions (Author’s note: In fact, it was through some financial management methods. Gu Chujun’s skillful operation and unscrupulous operation in this area will pave the way for future mistakes.) 300 million was recovered. It took about half a year to eight months for the bank to accept Kelon. It’s all about taking money and not lending.” In April 2002 after Gu Chujun took over, Kelon Electric announced its annual report as usual. Although the market had no illusions about its performance, the data it heard still made people jump off their stools: the loss in the previous year was more than 600 million On the basis of RMB 1.5 billion, the company continued to report a loss of RMB 1.555 billion for the year, and a loss of RMB 2.2 billion for two consecutive years, setting the record among listed companies in China's home appliances. Analyzing the annual report, it can be found that the composition of the loss is as follows: a huge bad debt provision of 172 million yuan was accrued for the 800 million yuan owed by Rongsheng Group, a large increase in other bad debt provisions and depreciation and impairment of fixed assets, and a huge amount of 160 million yuan was withdrawn Advertising expenses and so on, but Kelon Electric's operating expenses and management expenses are as high as 2.117 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 568 million yuan from the previous year, accounting for almost half of its main business income.All the above-mentioned expenses are either not related to the company's production and sales revenue, or are exaggerated to the point of astonishment. It is basically a financial treatment like a surgical operation.In the future, when Hong Kong professor Lang Xianping commented on Kelon's loss, he directly criticized it as "taking a big bath". From these data and memories, one can draw a conclusion: the Kelong that Gu Chujun got was already a hollowed out weak body, and before he entered, he did not get accurate information about the bad financial situation. There has never been an entrepreneur like Gu Chujun who walked forward with such a strong and difficult to resolve suspicion.他的任何行为都被打上问号，他的每个言辞都被猜测用意，他的所有数据都被看成是不可靠的。在很大程度上，人们将自己对潘宁的同情和对科龙的惋惜之情都“异化”成了对顾雏军的排斥与仇恨。他在各类媒体上得到了一连串尴尬的称号：“寡助者”、“越界者”、“职业说谎家”、“强盗男爵”、“超级掮客”，等等等等。有一次，顾雏军委屈地说，“我是企业界的孙志刚。” 在转型的中国，很多企业家在创业初期都有过一段不可告人的原始积累阶段，它们如恶梦般地潜伏在那里，随时有可能发生可怕的引爆。对这段原罪经历的反思、忏悔与洗刷，考验着企业家们的中国式智慧。顾雏军用的方式也许是最“笨拙”的一种，面对媒体的种种质疑，他总是采用激烈对抗和不予解释的方式，在回答钱的来历的时候，他不耐烦地说，“钱不是问题，只要有好的项目，我会毫不犹豫地买下来。”这种很“江湖”的应答，只能让人产生最大的疑窦和反感，这让他在丧失了基本信用的情景下走到了人们视线的中央。 其实，顾雏军在科龙一役中损失惨重。为了筹资购股，他减持8000万股格林柯尔股票，套现2.48亿港元，在宣布收购科龙一个月后，《财经》发表新闻调查《细探格林柯尔》，指出公司惊人业绩的多处重大疑点，当日股票大跌，一个月内股价跌幅逾60％，市值蒸发20亿港元，顾雏军身家损失超过13亿元。在这个意义上，他收购科龙的成本远远大于3.48亿元。因此，在北京长城饭店的一次记者见面会上，他不无沮丧地说，“有人说我一战成名，但是我成名的代价太大了。三天之内损失了13个亿，我是今年商界最倒霉的人。” 尽管入主科龙手段暧昧，不过持中而论，顾雏军当家后却展现出他拯救危难的决心与高超手段。自潘宁之后，他也许是第二个真正把科龙当成是自己企业的人。 他对科龙的基本判断没有错。尽管这已是一家被内部掏空的企业，但是销售网络依然健全，品牌形象仍无大损，其在制冷行业的技术领先地位还没有丧失，所以，只要进行严厉的成本控制和优化管理，它还是一个可救之局。于是，进入科龙后，他迅速展开了“顾氏新政”。 他先是在成本控制上狠下猛药。他常挂在嘴边的一句话是，“花科龙的一块钱，里面有我顾雏军的两毛。”经过潘、王、徐等三轮折腾，科龙的内部管理已乱成一团，管控失效、内贼牟利的现象比比皆是，顾雏军铁面行事，重整秩序。他先将财务统了起来，然后对科室部门进行撤并，在部件采购等容易产生腐败的环节上实行透明化。这些措施一实施，半年采购5000万元的部件，就比以前节省了1000万元。他还大砍行政和营销预算，据《红黑科龙》一书作者何志毛记录，徐铁峰时期，副总裁以上坐的都是奔驰车，每年每车的维修费近20万元，顾入主半年后，同类车辆的维修费同比下降了70％，而营销部门的营销费用则比以前下降了30％。在生产一线，他大力推行“价值工程”，对产品的功能和性能进行全面剖析，剔除过剩功能，从而合理节约原材料或加工成本，有一款F型冰箱，经他重新规划流程，每台成本就下降了70-80元。在中高层会议上，他说，“我来了，能够毫不留情地处理问题。要么你能降低成本，要么你下课。过去有人打招呼，你不能不给面子，现在连打招呼的人都没有了。”他还半开玩笑半认真地对跟随他进入科龙的干部说，“你们一定得搞好，否则，我跳楼之前，得先把你们推下去。” 顾雏军的效率之高让人吃惊，在到任的第三个月他就推出了两款新产品，分立循环冰箱和制冷制热双高效冰箱，其广告口号颇似当年他做小康空调时的耸动性语言——“全球冰箱划时代技术”，他声称采用了格林柯尔制冷剂的新冰箱在能效比上大大的超过了全球公认的日本节能冰箱。同时，他将旗下的华宝空调全面拉低价格，降幅高达40％，以价格战的姿态重新卷入激战中的市场。冰箱、空调原本就属同一营销渠道，靠高科技概念拉抬科龙冰箱、用超级低价的华宝空调刺激经销商，这显然是非常高明的整合策略，一拉一冲立见成效，一度委靡的科龙产品重新回到市场主流行列。 在他的强势领导下，一大批科龙旧臣纷纷离去，而企业运营则日渐正常化。从他正式上任的2002年3月起，半年内，科龙内部设置从11个部门缩编为7个，科室从34个变为22个，查出内部违规款项2.6亿元，空调成本下降了25.3％，冰箱成本下降了40.6％。年度中报披露，科龙电器盈利1.12亿元，一举扭转了几年亏损的态势。也是在这半年里，顾雏军生出半头白发，看上去比实际年龄几乎老了十岁。 顾雏军出事之后，有很多媒体记者接触科龙人员，尽管他们对此人褒贬不一，但是几乎所有的人都对他在成本控制及铁腕管理上的用心颇有认同。 在顾雏军入狱之后，很多人一直在猜测他收购科龙的动机，试图从一些蛛丝马迹中论证他的阴谋。 当一个企业家开始一项重大投资决策的时候，影响他作出决定的因素往往是多元的，有战略理性的决断，有逐利的冲动，有迎接挑战的激情，也有如火欲望的驱使。当顾雏军收购科龙的时候，他也许并没有很清晰的进退版图，他只是直觉地认为这是一块被低估了的“蛋糕”，或者，仅仅是经营科龙这样的明星大公司已足以满足这个极端自负者的荣光之心。 他入主科龙后的种种行为表明，他渐渐的喜欢上了这家公司。在中国商业界一直寂寂无名的他很快找到了领导一家大公司的领袖感觉，有一次，他很有感慨地说，“有了科龙，我可以和伊莱克斯的老板平起平坐，没有科龙的格林柯尔，是一个没有灵魂的系统，没有科龙的顾雏军，就只是一个三流企业家了。”在接受《中国企业家》采访时，他说，“如果有一天老了，走到街上有人说，这个老头是做冰箱的，他对中国冰箱产业还是做了些贡献的，那就没有白做。” 这番话颇为煽情，当他说出来的时候，一定也被自己感动了。然而，言犹在耳却很快被风吹散，他没有专心地成为一个做冰箱的人，欲望——一种说不清道不明的内心之魔——让他很快踏上了另外一条冒险之路。 观察二十多年来的中国企业败局，可以发现，很多企业的崩塌都不出意外地与两个因素有关，一是违背了基本的商业规律，二是企业家个人欲望的膨胀。顾雏军得手科龙，本来就因于一些特殊而不正常的机缘——如果潘宁不出局，哪有后来的这番乱世，他动用的又是非常之手段，基本上也违背了正常的商业逻辑及超出了他的资本能力，然而又由于特别的原因以及命运的偏爱眷顾，让他仅花一年多时间就将之拉出亏损泥潭——他要感激的是，当年潘宁打下的江山底子实在殷实，科龙即便被大把掏空，仍然能阵脚不乱，仅仅“晕厥”片刻，稍事重整便已恢复了元气——其前后始末简直算是一起百中有一的“异常事件”。顾雏军如果老老实实做科龙，数年之内或可证明自己，赢得尊重，也许连他在格林柯尔时期的种种灰色记录也会被洗白或被人们淡忘，毕竟这是一个以成败来论英雄、很多罪恶都会被财富的光芒掩盖的商业年代。可是，就在这样的时刻，过于膨胀的欲望控制了顾雏军。 就在科龙立足未稳之际，顾雏军把手伸向了江西，2002年5月，他宣布将在南昌投资3.6亿美元建造占地2500亩的格林柯尔科技工业园，信息一发布，不但没有为他带来喝彩，却更增加了人们对他的资本投机商的观感，就在当时，托普的宋如华正把招聘5000名软件工程师的广告牌挂遍长三角的高速公路两旁，顾宋一时辉映，顿成做秀炒作的标本。三年后曝光出来的事实也正是，顾雏军在南昌实际投资1亿元，却从江西两家银行贷走4个亿。5个月后，顾雏军宣布以3亿元收购吉林的吉诺尔冰箱厂，12月，以1000万元接手上海上菱电器的两条冰箱生产线。 2003年，是顾雏军职业生涯中短暂而耀眼的一年。科龙电器在他治下已恢复正常，全年实现营业收入61.7亿元，重新回到家电一线企业的地位。而顾雏军一次接一次进入公众视野的，却是他近乎疯狂的收购行动。 5月，他在江苏扬州宣布以4.18亿元，控股上市公司亚星客车，并将在扬州征地1095亩，建造一个总投资4亿美元、年产冰箱360万台的科龙基地。 6月，他现身安徽合肥，宣布以2.09亿元受让美菱电器20.03％的股份，成为其最大单一股东。这一新闻轰动全国，它意味着顾雏军在一年多时间里竟将中国冰箱行业“四大家族”中的两大巨头拢入囊中，他手中握有的年冰箱生产能力已达800万台，在全球仅次于伊莱克斯，在中小容量的冰箱领域已是独步天下，他宣称，“我现在可以说，我能控制全世界150升以下的冰箱。” 他入主美菱，也跟收购科龙一样，充满了灰色气质，后来的事实表明，当时的美菱电器与其母公司美菱集团有大量的债务关联，其现状十分类似科龙电器与容声集团，顾氏承诺进入后将一切都“既往不咎”。为了让这起交易显得更有说服力，顾雏军宣称投资24.9亿元在合肥建设格林柯尔——美菱工业园，它成为当年度安徽省最大的招商引资项目。 8月，科龙宣布收购浙江最大的冰箱企业杭州西泠电器70％的股权。秋天，顾雏军突然又频繁飞赴湖北十堰，洽谈收购上市公司襄阳轴承的事宜，有媒体预先得知，他有可能收购29.84％的国有法人股。至此，他的麾下已拥有科龙电器、美菱电器、亚星客车、襄阳轴承等四家国内上市公司，赫然构成了一个规模惊人的“格林柯尔系”。 12月，志得意满的顾雏军当选中央电视台评选的“2003年中国经济年度人物”，与他同时入选的有刚刚当上中国首富的网易丁磊、中国TWO谈判的功臣龙永图以及靠创办蒙牛而受人注目的牛根生等人。在颁奖典礼上，主持人杨平问他，“我们知道顾雏军先生想打造制冷王国，现在这个目标实现了吗？”顾雏军没有思考一秒钟就大声回答道，“这个目标基本上已经实现了。” 摄影棚内掌声雷动。顾雏军作为企业家的声誉在这一刻达到了巅峰。 不过，在摄影棚外，媒体的评论却要冷静得多。刚刚创办的上海《东方早报》在评论文章中说，“43岁的顾雏军需要证明自己的东西很多：他的钱是从哪里来的？他是一个高明的资本猎手吗？他有从事实业的耐心和能力吗？在过去的一年多时间里，顾雏军先后将科龙、容声、华宝、康拜恩、美菱等品牌纳入旗下，俨然成为中国家电业继张瑞敏、李东生之后最值得期待的家电大王，他甚至宣称，我要整合的不仅是冰箱行业，而是整个制冷产业链。在一次采访中，顾雏军说自己的梦是成为民企中的第三代企业家领袖。显然，他的故事还在路上。” 他的故事真的在路上。而且是在一条布满了荆棘和地雷的路上。 顾雏军的每一起购并对象都是老牌的国营企业，而其谈判过程之诡秘、成交速度之快捷都让外界充满了种种的猜测与想象，而他本人似乎对此毫不掩饰，在一次与记者的交谈中，他十分率性地说，“国有企业好进入，如果我不要的话，浪费也是浪费了。” 这些言论的刊发，一次又一次地刺激着人们的神经，在某种意义上，日后如龙卷风般爆发的灾难是顾雏军自己发动和酝酿的。 2004年8月，东征西伐的顾雏军又手起刀落连续完成了两起收购行动，他以1.84亿元收购商丘冰熊冷藏设备公司，并承诺投资15亿元搞制冷工业基地，然后又收购了上市公司华意压缩。这个月的9日，香港科技大学教授郎咸平在复旦大学演讲，题为《格林柯尔：在“国退民进”的盛宴中狂欢》，直指顾雏军使用“七板斧”伎俩，在“国退民进”过程中席卷国家财富。数日内，国内各大报刊、网站将郎咸平的演讲内容广为刊登，舆论一时沸腾。 正在购并兴头上的顾雏军显然没有意识到来者之大不善，他一贯喜欢用高压和激烈的手段对抗外界的任何质疑，此次当然也不例外。8月13日，顾雏军向郎咸平发出严厉的律师函，声称其演讲造成了诽谤。郎咸平在三天后召开媒体见面会，公布了律师函，声明“绝不会更改或道歉”，并控诉“强权不能践踏学术”。第二天，顾雏军当即向香港高等法院递交了起诉状，以涉嫌诽谤罪起诉郎咸平。两个相差三岁（顾雏军出生于1959年，郎咸平出生于1956年）、都有着一头灰白头发、性情俱很刚烈的中年男人开始了一场针锋相对的战争。 郎咸平对顾雏军的诸多指责主要集中在两个方面。一是在收购过程中，格林柯尔与原来控股大股东之间存在关联交易，“收购当年大量拔高各项费用，造成上市公司巨亏，第二年压低各项费用，使公司一举扭亏。”在这一条上，郎教授说对了事实骂错了人，顾雏军其实也算是半个受害者，无非他拿人公司替人化灾，一肚子的有苦难言。二是动用科龙电器强大的现金流来完成各项收购，郎咸平通过财务计算得出，顾大量挪用科龙的资金进行收购，他利用某些地方急于加快国企退出的思路，将收购与改制打包在一起，仅用9亿元的资金就换走了价值136亿元的国有资产，玩了一把双方互惠互利的双赢游戏。 郎咸平由科龙现象得出结论，“中国在国退民进中出现的问题和当初俄罗斯私有化过程中出现的问题极为相似，都是利用法制不健全，合法地侵吞国有资产。”此论一出，对顾雏军的质疑很快升级为传媒界、学术界乃至政界对“国退民进”战略的激烈争论，一时间观点锋矛相对，一些学者认为郎论偏颇，对中国企业变革的大方向有误读，不够宽容。北京大学教授张维迎还发表演讲，为顾雏军缓颊，呼吁舆论环境要“善待企业家，不要把他们妖魔化。”同时，也有一些以“新左派”自居的学者则为郎咸平大声叫好，中国社科院研究员左大培等十多人甚至联名发表声明“声援郎咸平”。这场大论战顿时掀起惊天骇浪，中国经济界几乎所有重量级的学者都发表了自己的观点，护顾卫郎，鲜明对立，构成近二十年来经济理论界规模最大、火药味最浓的一次大论战。 局势突变至此，显然大大的出乎顾雏军的预料。在风波之中，他和格林柯尔成了双方论战的“道具”，尴尬无比。任何一位被公众关注的企业及企业家，其成长经历如同一个被很多块大大小小的积木垒高起来的塔，哪怕其中有一块是不牢靠的，都有可能造成整个积木塔的动摇或倒塌，而顾雏军的经历中则有实在太多可疑的、经不起推敲和实证的“积木”，即便在平时已是摇摇欲坠，又怎么应得起郎咸平们疾风骤雨般的追打拷问。 10月24日，“风暴眼”中的顾雏军在北京的一次研讨会上露面，他说，“我这次是因为莫名其妙卷进不应该由我们企业界讨论的事，再次当了所谓中国经济改革争论的一方，我根本就不想参加这个争论，也不想讨论这个事。”四天后，“不想讨论”的顾雏军却再次高调做出了反击，他邀请国务院发展研究中心企业经济研究所协办，举办了“科龙20年发展与中国企业改革路径”的研讨会，会上，企业经济研究所罕见地为科龙出具了一份验明正身、全面肯定改革经验的报告书。第二天，这个报告书的摘要以广告的方式被刊登在各大财经媒体的版面上，顾雏军颇有点得意地说，“外面很多评论让我恍若隔世，仿佛回到文革年代，现在又是一夜之间，许多经济学家认为我没有问题。” 从事后的效果看，这次研讨会、报告书及软文广告起到了负面的效应，顾雏军好象越描越黑，在公众印象中，他显然已经成了侵吞国有资产的符号化人物。就在研讨会召开的同时，国家审计署悄然进驻科龙电器，展开调查，11月，深交所与香港联交所一起进驻科龙总部，对其财务问题进行集中核查。2005年1月，香港联交所以关联交易为名对顾雏军进行公开谴责。科龙股价应声大挫。 此时的顾雏军兵败如山倒。公众舆论的指斥，终于影响到家电业务，在2004年的前9个月，科龙还产生了2亿元的利润，而第四季度剧烈的销售滑坡把全年业绩再次拉入泥潭，2005年4月，科龙电器发布预亏公告，称全年亏损约为6000万元。5月，中国证监会以涉嫌违反证券法规为名正式宣布对科龙电器进行立案调查。公司的正常经营业务顿时乱成一团。所有银行均对科龙全面停贷，有的甚至直接截留经销商的回款，6月起，全国空调、冰箱供应商陆续停止对科龙供应原材料，生产线开始逐步停工。有记者前往科龙顺德基地采访，他写道，“半年前还热火朝天的车间突然变得死寂，从空旷的生产线边走过，仿佛嗅到了坟墓的气息。” 这段时间，顾雏军一直在北京四处奔波，他知道溃败已成定局，现在唯一可做的是将科龙尽快出售，以求全身而退。他先后向长虹、海信等业内同行抛出绣球，不过他又明确地对外表示不会卖给TCL和海尔，因为“他本人不看好这两家企业的发展”，即便身处绝地，此人亦不改张扬无忌、好指点江山的本性。7月29日，顾雏军突然与所有的部下失去联系，第二天他们被告知，“顾被佛山市公安人员带走控制起来了。” 声誉扫地的顾雏军已回天乏力，身陷囹囵的他，眼睁睁地目睹这些年来处心积虑得来的“遗产”被众人瓜分。9月，他在看守所里与青岛海信的代表签署了股权转让协议。这家山东的彩电企业最终以6.8亿元的出价意外地成了科龙的新主人。收购合肥美菱是顾雏军继科龙之后最得意的手笔，10月，上海的《每日经济新闻》率先披露，老牌彩电企业四川长虹有可能收购格林柯尔手中的美菱电器股权，这项交易最终在2006年春季达成。被顾雏军收入囊中的亚星客车也很快逃离将沉的大船，扬州市政府迅速冻结了格林柯尔所持的股权，一年后，东南汽车成了新的收购者。所有被顾雏军染指过的公司中，襄阳轴承也许是受伤最轻的一家，顾被拘留的新闻一传出，襄阳政府就宣布解除与格林柯尔达成的股权转让协议，该协议一直没有得到中国证监会的正式批复，此时因祸得福。 10月26日，证监会对科龙电器的调查结果正式曝光，据报告称，“顾雏军等人及格林柯尔系有关公司涉嫌侵占、挪用科龙电器财产累计发生额为34.85亿元。”2006年1月，毕马威会计事务所对科龙集团的现金流走向进行调查，发现不正常的现金流量累计超过75亿元。8月，一拖再拖的科龙电器2005年的年报终于千呼万唤始出来。这又是一个挑战股东心理极限的数字：高达36.93亿元的巨额亏损，一举刷新了当年度内地上市公司亏损记录；牵涉93宗诉讼官司，数目之多也创下近年来内地上市公司涉案之最，公司的净资产则为负10.90亿元。 就这样，从潘宁“被迫”退休的1998年冬天算起，七年之间乾坤倒转，中国效益最好、最具现代气质的家电企业沦落为一家巨亏累累、官司缠身的“烂公司”。 在顾雏军出事后，与潘宁有过交往之谊的北京大学周其仁教授发表评论认为，“不是科龙改制才给了格林柯尔机会，而恰恰是没有及时改制。科龙的主要教训就是潘宁时代没有及时发起并完成产权改革，否则顾雏军就没有入主的机会。”他在一篇专栏中写道：“读科龙的报道，被一个问题折磨：要是还由创业老总潘宁那一代人领导，科龙至于落到今天这步田地吗？知道历史不容假设，可忍不住就要那样想，科龙的结局似乎是时也，运也，命也。欲哭无泪。” 周其仁给专栏文章起了一个很特别的标题，这是严谨的经济学家们很少采用的语式——《可惜了，科龙》。 1984年10月，潘宁在十分简陋的条件下打造出中国第一台双门电冰箱。顺德珠江冰箱厂成立。 1986年，潘宁聘请香港影视明星汪明荃代言冰箱广告，是为港台明星代言第一例。 1992年1月底，邓小平视察珠江冰箱厂。年底，珠江冰箱厂荣登全国冰箱产销量第一的宝座，在这个位置上，它一直稳稳地坐了八年。 1994年，珠江冰箱厂改组成科龙集团，新创科龙品牌。 1996年，科龙电器在香港联交所上市，融资12亿元，成为全国第一家在香港上市的乡镇企业。 1997年，科龙实现营业收入34亿元，利润6.6亿元，被香港《亚洲货币》杂志评为中国最佳管理公司和中国最佳投资者关系公司。 1998年10月，科龙