Chapter 8 Caring for Li Ning: Xiao Li is luckier than Lao Li

Now, let's ignore Li Jingwei's property rights tragedy and let's start with a story about a lucky man.This is a side branch growing from the big Jianlibao tree, but in the end it became a real fruit because of the foresight of the operator and the care of Li Jingwei. In the 1980s, Li Ning was the most famous sportsman in China.In the 6th World Cup Gymnastics Competition in 1982, this 19-year-old Chinese guy born in Liuzhou, Guangxi won 6 of the 7 gold medals in men's gymnastics, creating a myth in the history of gymnastics in the world, known as gymnastics prince. In 1984, at the 23rd Los Angeles Olympic Games, Li Ning won 3 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze, which was close to 1/5 of the total number of medals of the Chinese Olympic delegation and became the athlete with the most medals in the Olympic Games. In 1986, he won the men's individual all-around, floor exercise, and pommel horse championships in the 7th World Cup Gymnastics Competition... During Li Ning's 18-year career as an athlete, he won a total of 106 gold medals in major gymnastics competitions at home and abroad.

Li Jingwei and Li Ning met at the Los Angeles Olympics, which brought good luck to both of them.Li Jingwei has a bold personality and is good at strategy, while Li Ning has a simple personality and a quick mind. Because of their similar interests, the two men, who are 24 years apart in age, quickly became friends. At the Olympic Games held in Seoul in 1988, Li Ning suddenly fell from the top of idol.In the crucial ring competition, he accidentally missed and fell, and the gold medal passed by.This has become the most disappointing event for the Chinese Olympic delegation.After returning to Beijing from Seoul, Li Ning, who won the gold medal, no longer became the object of the media's swarming and chasing.Dejected, he quietly exited through a remote passage of the airport alone...

At the end of the dimly lit, lonely and empty passage, there was only a tall man standing, holding a handful of flowers with a smile, waiting for him. That person is Li Jingwei. Li Ning, who has tasted the bitterness of the world, announced his retirement. On December 16, 1988, under the sponsorship of Jianlibao, Li Ning held a grand farewell party at the Shenzhen Gymnasium.At the climax of the party, Li Jingwei came to the stage and gave him a pair of pure gold handguards. The two embraced and burst into tears.At that time, Li Ning faced many ways out. The Sports Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region invited him to serve as the deputy director of the District Sports Committee. Many countries hired him as the coach of the national team. Even the entertainment industry invited Li Ning to join him. Li Ning himself wanted to establish a gymnastics school in Shenzhen. .Li Jingwei said to him, you can't just rely on other people's sponsorship to engage in sports, why can't you build a sports enterprise by yourself?

A few months after joining Jianlibao, Li Ning proposed to Li Jingwei that he wanted to set up a sportswear factory.In terms of founding capital, Jianlibao, which is already rich and powerful at this time, could have appeared as an investor, but Li Jingwei suggested very tactfully: "If you can introduce foreign funds, don't use all Jianlibao's money." Perhaps, at this time, He has faintly felt the sequelae of unclear property rights.He accompanied Li Ning to go out to lobby and find investors.Perhaps because of the dual celebrity effects of Jianlibao and the Prince of Gymnastics, a Singaporean company quickly agreed to contribute.In this way, in 1990, the Sino-Singapore (Singapore) joint venture Jianlibao Sportswear Company, jointly invested by the three parties, was established. Jianlibao invested 16 million yuan, with Li Ning as the general manager, and its clothing brand was named "Li Ning".

Li Ning has long been familiar with Li Jingwei's legendary entrepreneurial experience.Therefore, his first market attack actually followed suit.At that time, the 11th Asian Games was about to be held in Beijing, and Li Ning won the right to host the Asian Games torch relay with 2.5 million yuan.During the entire Asian Games torch relay process, 200 million people directly participated, and 2.5 billion Chinese and foreign audiences learned about Jianlibao and "Li Ning Brand" from the news media. In August 1990, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world, Li Ning, as an athlete representative, wore a snow-white "Li Ning brand" sportswear, and took over the Asian Games torch from the Tibetan girl Dawa Yangzong.From this moment on, "Li-Ning brand" was really born.

Jianlibao sportswear company is developing very smoothly, and its annual turnover is growing at a rate of 100%. At the beginning of 1994, Li Ning met Liu Jipeng, an expert in joint-stock reform in Beijing.When Liu Jipeng made a diagnosis for the company, he pointed out that the unclear property rights of this company will have a fatal negative effect on future development.Therefore, he tried his best to encourage Li Ning to leave Jianlibao. In Li Ning's heart, Li Jingwei has the grace of rebuilding him.Therefore, for Liu Jipeng's suggestion, the most frequently asked question by Li Ning is: "If you leave Jianlibao, will others say that I am ungrateful?" Jianlibao is not separated from Li Jingwei, and besides, Jianlibao is not exactly equal to Li Jingwei.” In the end, the straightforward Liu Jipeng even pulled out his chair and stood up, and said to Li Ning: “If you don’t want to lose face, I’ll talk to Li Jingwei, Talk to the Sanshui City Government (in December 2002, Sanshui was withdrawn from the city and turned into a district)."

It was under Liu Jipeng's strong suggestion that Li Ning made up his mind to have a showdown with Li Jingwei and the Sanshui City Government.To Li Ning's surprise, Li Jingwei, who thought he would react strongly, was quite magnanimous and fully supported him to set up his own company.Because this clothing company is a subsidiary of Jianlibao, Li Jingwei has complete decision-making power. At the end of 1994, Jianlibao sportswear company successfully escaped from Jianlibao's parent body. The group invested a total of 16 million yuan, which was repaid by Li Ning in cash in three installments. Li Jingwei did not even ask for compensation for the value-added part. At the beginning of 1996, Li Ning moved the company headquarters from Guangdong to Beijing, and changed its name to Li Ning Sportswear Company, completely bidding farewell to Jianlibao.

In this way, Li Jingwei "supported the horse and sent him off", and brought his beloved junior friend Li Ning to a business road that was much smoother than his own. On June 28, 2004, Li Ning Group, already the most well-known and largest domestic sporting goods company in China, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.On the opening day, the opening price rose by 8%. The number of subscriptions for the public offering in Hong Kong was 132.2 times the total number of tentatively offered shares, and the international placement was also oversubscribed by about 11 times.The Li Ning family controls 46.29% of the company's stock, and its worth is as high as 1.6 billion yuan.Standing in front of many media, Li Ning, whose temples have turned gray, said lightly: "I am an entrepreneur with more than 10 years of business history, please don't regard me as a star idol."

When he said these words, his old friend Li Jingwei, who was waiting for him with a bouquet of flowers at the Capital Airport 16 years ago, was lying alone and humiliated in a hospital ward in Guangzhou.