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For Chinese tech entrepreneur Wang Xing, posting an ancient poem late at night on social media may prove to be a $2.1 billion mistake.
The share price of Meituan, China’s largest food delivery platform, plummeted by about 14% in its founder’s Hong Kong last week Share four sections Written by the poet Zhang Jie more than a thousand years ago. Investors quickly interpreted Wang An’s nod to the poem as a concealment of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This poem was originally a criticism of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
Following the close on Monday, Wang’s personal wealth fell by US$2.1 billion to US$18.8 billion.
This incident highlights the chill of China’s technology industry.Competitor Alibaba, its founder Jack Ma Largely disappeared Since last year, from the public’s point of view, Record fine of 2.8 billion U.S. dollars Abusing its market dominance last month.Ma’s US$37 billion initial public offering Ant GroupAt the last minute of November, it was once the largest dam in the world and was suppressed by the authorities.
Online commentators quickly found similarities between Meituan, and Meituan also faced Antitrust investigation, And Ma Yun’s troubles. The suppression of the Jack Ma empire follows public criticism from Chinese regulators and Internet billionaires of state-owned banks.
If the regulator believes that Meituan is engaged in antitrust actions, Meituan will face a fine of up to 11.5 billion yuan ($1.8 billion).
Chinese official media once called the king king “Poet Entrepreneur”, Is known for his daily meditation on social media, with topics ranging from praising sweet potatoes to the health of legendary American investor Charlie Munger.
Since he explained his published poem entitled “Fenshu Keng”, these reflections have stopped. This poem mocked the actions of China’s first emperor, who tried to quell intellectual dissent by burning books, but his dynasty was overthrown by non-political figures. Before taking control of China in 1945, Mao Zedong wrote the same poem, comparing himself with these revolutionaries.
Throughout Chinese history, poetry has been a channel for dissidents to express their dissatisfaction, but Wang said that his posts only refer to Meituan’s e-commerce competitors.
The CEO of Meituan has a history of running-in with Chinese regulators.
Fanfou is his Twitter-like platform for publishing poems this month, which was established by Wang in 2007. The platform was known for its freewheeling exchange of ideas until the authorities felt uncomfortable and took it offline in 2009.
After that, Fanfou reappeared as a review, but now only a small number of early users can access it.
After regulators set anti-terrorism targets as targets, Wang Jianzhou told Chinese reporters that he hopes to avoid similar problems in the future. He said: “You can’t make mistakes, and you can’t learn from them.” “Even if you think you understand, the rules are always changing.” Later he admitted that he was not good at government relations.
Competitors described Wang as educated in the United States, full of confidence and determination. Subordinates said he was curious, very direct, and worked among Meituan employees. At a press conference in 2011, he showed a Meituan bank account containing $62 million to prove that the organization is solvency.
“He is like Jeff Bezos, very product-oriented and pragmatic,” said Chengdong Li of Haitun, an e-commerce think tank. “He is a workaholic, he doesn’t really enjoy life.”
Wang’s experimental tendency is obvious in Meituan. The company started as a copy of Groupon, a group-buying site, but now offers everything from movie tickets to payment.
A person close to the company said: “They keep coming up with ideas, and executives are punished to kill companies that don’t work.” “They know what it looks like when it works.”
Meituan began to invest heavily in the construction of a grocery delivery business, causing it to lose 2.2 billion yuan in the fourth quarter.the company Raised $10 billion Last month’s debt and equity.
The antitrust fines Meituan may face may not be the biggest challenge. The group also faces criticism of the treatment of its approximately 1.5 million drivers who provide meals in Chinese cities.
Like its American counterpart Uber, Meituan will not directly hire drivers or provide benefits for them. Chinese media reports have focused their attention on the severe fines imposed on drivers for late delivery and other violations. last month, Top labor official In Beijing, a Meituan driver undercover, earning only 41 yuan per 12-hour shift.
Robin Zhu, an analyst at the brokerage firm Bernstein, pointed out that Nanjing is conducting a trial that requires full-time delivery drivers to receive social insurance and other benefits. Zhu said that promoting this measure across the country will hit Meituan’s cost structure.
Wang appears to be taking steps to appease the regulators, telling investors in March that Meituan may begin to break through its delivery fee structure to help “regulators.” . . Better understand the mechanism”.
He also tried to solve Meituan’s problem by opening the checkbook. In recent weeks, Mr. Wang has donated RMB 50 million to a middle school in his hometown of Fujian, and donated to his alma mater, the famous Tsinghua University in China.
“We will abide by the rules. We will do our best to become a good corporate citizen.” Wang Sanyue said.
Supplementary report by Liu Nian in Beijing
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