Chapter 12 The feast is over: when will the farce come to pass

In July 2004, it was the peak season for beverage sales. However, Jianlibao only achieved sales of 100 million yuan, far from the planned 300 million yuan. On the afternoon of August 23, just 5 days before Jianlibao’s 20th anniversary celebration, Zhang Hai, who was diving in Sanya, Hainan, received a text message with only a few words: “The board of directors has decided that you are no longer the chairman and president of Jianlibao Group.” This morning, in the absence of Zhang Hai, Jianlibao's board of directors removed him from his position and replaced him with "the kindest person in China" Zhu Weisha as the president of the group.

The following plot is like a farce without a protagonist: Zhu Weisha has only been the president for two months, but he has done a lot.He first published the "Statement" in the newspaper, announcing that "Mr. Zhang Hai has never been the controlling shareholder of Jianlibao Group."As soon as this statement came out, the internal contradictions were exposed to the world, which not only caused a momentary uproar in public opinion, but also attracted an army of debt collectors from all over the country.For a while, people from the Sanshui production base and the Guangzhou headquarters roared to the door every day, and the excitement was comparable to the scene of queuing up to pick up the goods back then.Then, he felt that Zhang Hai's product positioning was wrong, and he should not make a "fifth season", but should make a series of health power such as "Jianlishen". The 200,000 boxes of products in the warehouse were destroyed.The next step is to "clear the roots and clean up the troops."He believed that Zhang Hai's people were suspicious, so he resigned the purchasing director, forced out the marketing vice president, and became the sales director himself. The entire senior management was cleaned up.Finally, there is the announcement of a suspension of production.

This "kindest man in all of China" was soon found to be ineffective, so a new sale plan was hatched.After the National Day, there was news that Taiwan Uni-President Group had agreed to acquire Jianlibao, with an asking price of US$100 million. On October 10, people from the unified side moved into the Sanshui and Jianlibao buildings, and even Zhang Hai's office was taken by the new owner.This is a good result for the speculators. After two and a half years of tossing around, they finally got more than double the income.However, God still seemed unwilling to allow poor Jianlibao to settle down, and unexpected incidents still happened.After the news of the acquisition came out, it aroused strong repercussions in the dealer system. There are two reasons: one is the conflict in the distribution system. Jianlibao’s dealers have been fighting with unified dealers for many years. There is a lot of grievances.

Second, Jianlibao has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for 20 years, and dealers have a high degree of loyalty to it.Distributors from all over the world wrote a snowflake of petitions, shouting: "We can't imagine, if this is an established fact, when we pick up a bottle of Jianlibao drink again, how can we swallow it!" They sent representatives The delegation went to Sanshui to negotiate with the district government.At the dialogue meeting, the dealer made an unprecedented proposal to voluntarily raise 200 million yuan in cash to solve Jianlibao's shortage of funds, help the company resume production and pay employees' wages.Some people even took the lead in shouting at the venue: "We must live and die with Jianlibao!" In many people's minds, the haze of Li Jingwei's resignation has not dissipated, and there is nowhere to vent their grievances. , is really annoying.Faced with such a scene of heated public sentiment, the Sanshui District government seemed helpless, and had to announce on October 18 that the merger intention with the Uni-President Group had broken down.

The plan of the unified group was stranded, and the speculators group immediately looked for a new home.At this time, Li Zhida broke into the room.Li Zhida is the founder of Shenzhen Little Nurse Cosmetics. Not long ago, he sold the company to L'Oreal in France, and it is said that he has 2 billion yuan in cash.Just one month after the Uni-President Group was eliminated, Zhang Hai, Zhu Weisha and others signed an equity transfer agreement with Li Zhida. On November 18, Li Zhida's team entered Sanshui and took over the company in an all-round way.However, this equity transaction made the Sanshui District government very angry, because the whole process was carried out quietly without telling the district government.The officials have already regretted the "wrong marriage" of Zhang Hai, and now another Li Zhida suddenly fell from the sky. No one knows what they plan to make Jianlibao look like.Although the shares in the hands of the district government were only 8.9% at this time, they still decided to intervene forcefully: the district court subsequently sealed up Li Zhida’s investment company in Sanshui; Resume production”; on December 8, the court sent more than 10 bailiffs into the Jianlibao Building, seized all accounts and official seals, and froze the company’s accounts. All personnel sent by Li Zhida to the Sanshui base were “gifted out of the country.”This dramatic repetition made everyone dumbfounded. Many people in the media and economic theory circles believed that "it is a retrogression for the government to use administrative power to intervene in equity transactions as a minority shareholder."

In this way, Jianlibao was like a racetrack, several princes took turns to kill, and the few vitality they had were about to be lost.A reporter asked Jianlibao employees: "Do you know who is the president of the company now?" The employees replied indifferently: "I love so and so." On December 7, while driving Li Zhida away, the Sanshui District Government held a general staff meeting at the Sanshui Base in the name of the "Resumption Coordination and Leadership Working Group". The guilty Li Jingwei appeared in the auditorium in a wheelchair.Someone recorded the scene at that time: "He was sitting in a wheelchair, laughing non-stop, and waving to everyone. The people in front desperately wanted to shake hands with him, but the people behind couldn't squeeze through, so they followed behind and clapped their hands." Surprisingly, the three vice presidents who were "shuanggui" and arrested together with Li Jingwei also appeared on the rostrum, and they were announced to resume their old positions.

Jianlibao finally resumed production after six months of suspension.However, Li Jingwei's return is only a symbolic event.The next day his son declared to the reporter, "I went to Jianlibao to cooperate with the government's work."Soon after, the scheme activated by the dealer's capital injection also fell through due to lack of operability.After Zhu Weisha stepped down, Ye Honghan, who entered Jianlibao at the same time as him, took over the company that was full of holes. On March 23, 2005, Zhang Hai was criminally detained by the police in Guangzhou.He had just finished a dinner with two friends, and they spent 4,000 yuan for that meal.He was detained on the grounds of "suspected embezzlement of funds". In November 2006, the procuratorate instituted a public prosecution on the grounds of "employment occupation and misappropriation of funds of 238 million yuan". Three months later, the Foshan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Hai to 15 years in prison.During the trial, Zhang Hai, who was always calm and smiling like a lotus flower, wept.He said excitedly and aggrieved: "After Jianlibao is sold, I wish Weisha and others will get hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits, but I will go to jail here. If it is for the loyalty of my friends, I can be a scapegoat, but I don't want to be a scapegoat "The Economic Observer asked meaningfully in the report: "In this ambiguous capital game, is Zhang Hai a chess player, or a pawn being played?"

Various signs in the future show that the Taiwan Unified Group finally became the new owner of Jianlibao, but in order to avoid "unexpected interference", all parties in the cooperation appear to be extremely low-key.Today's Jianlibao is no longer what it used to be, and its brand appeal and status in the world are no longer so important.In China's beverage market, the dominance of Coca-Cola and Pepsi is increasingly unshakable. Wahaha's sales have exceeded 18 billion yuan. Taiwan's Master Kong and Uni-President have gained more in the tea beverage and fruit juice beverage markets. With the unique advantage of milk source, it has sprung up suddenly.Especially Mengniu, relying on the popularity of "Super Girl", has become the most dazzling upstart in the industry, and its sales in 2006 reached 13.9 billion yuan.Compared with these giants, Jianlibao, the former leader, is no longer as brave as it used to be, and people have gradually lost interest in the stories that happened to it.

This is the record of the rise and fall of "China's No. 1 beverage brand" Jianlibao.A crazy capital feast based on the platform of an industrial company ended in chaos. The Jianlibao case can be described as a classic example in the tide of reform of property rights of state-owned enterprises in China around 2000.When disposing of the property rights of state-owned enterprises, the local government, which holds the power of life and death, tries to find a way to reform property rights from the outside because of extreme distrust of the management. State-owned assets have become the pursuit of multinational companies and capital managers. prey.In this process, the ruthless rejection of the existing management and the blind trust in external forces formed a sharp contrast.If it is said that MBO at the management level will cause the loss of state-owned assets and unfair phenomena due to the lack of transparent operating procedures, then the Jianlibao-style transformation approach will produce greater operational risks and transaction grayness.In this case, all the commercial dramas you can imagine - myths, desires, games, conspiracy, retribution, and reincarnation are all staged one by one. It is full of so many chances, but it seems to be sliding on an inevitable path On the path of tragedy.

On December 23, 2006, the annual meeting of China Beverage Industry Association was held in Beijing as usual.Ye Honghan, chairman of Jianlibao Group, said in his speech that the company has survived the most difficult life and death line, and achieved sales of 1.6 billion yuan that year.He suddenly changed the subject and mentioned a name that was almost forgotten.He said: "Jianlibao is not dead. I think there are several cores, one is brand influence, there is also a team of dealers loyal to Jianlibao, and Jianlibao's consistent insistence on quality. I think these three elements are all The legacy left by Mr. Li Jingwei, the founder of Jianlibao back then. Therefore, I would like to thank Mr. Li Jingwei.”

When he said this, the most important beverage company giants in China were sitting around him, and all of them remained calm.