After less than three years, Maotai's “first leader” will welcome a new person at the helm.

“Sand Field Veteran” Zhang Deqin, who has more than 20 years of Maotai experience, will take over Ding Xiongjun and lead Maotai to the next level.

As of press release, Maotai rose 1.17% to 1723.9 yuan, with a total market capitalization of 2.17 trillion yuan.

Old Maotai native, new helmsman

On the evening of April 29, Kweichow Moutai announced that according to relevant documents of the Guizhou Provincial People's Government, Zhang Deqin was recommended as a director and chairman, and that Ding Xiongjun no longer hold the position of chairman or director of the company.

Zhang Deqin, born in 1972, is a “native” of Renhuai, Guizhou. He is also known as a “grassroots Maotai veteran.”

He is currently the Party Secretary and Chairman of China's Kweichow Moutai Distillery (Group) Co., Ltd., and Party Secretary of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.

Judging from his resume, Zhang Deqin began to engage in basic production and brewing in 1995. After more than ten years of experience at the grassroots level of the Maotai Distillery, he later became the chairman of Xi Jiu (originally belonging to the Maotai Group).

In June 2019, Zhang Deqin was transferred from Maotai Group and briefly joined Guizhou Modern Logistics Industry Group.

In July 2022, after Xi Jiu “became independent” from the Maotai Group, he once again served as the chairman of Xi Jiu until now.

According to data, in the year Zhang Deqin returned to the helm of Xi Jiu in 2022, Xi Jiu Group's tax-inclusive sales exceeded 20 billion yuan.

In 2023, Xijiu Group did not disclose specific sales figures, but revealed that it had achieved the established annual development goals.

At the semi-annual marketing work conference in July last year, Xi Jiu announced that it had achieved sales of 11.6 billion yuan in the first half of the year. It is estimated that it should also be over 20 billion yuan for the whole year.

The end of the Ding Xiongjun era

After Zhang Deqin takes over, Ding Xiongjun will be transferred to the post of director of the Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Administration.

Looking back, Ding Xiongjun was recommended as Party Secretary and Chairman of the Moutai Group as Party Secretary and Chairman of the listed company Kweichow Moutai on August 30, 2021.

During his 2 years and 8 months in charge of Maotai, Ding Xiongjun continued to move with Maotai.

During this period, Maotai's performance surpassed 100 billion yuan and reached the 150 billion yuan mark. Net profit increased nearly 20% for two consecutive years.

After taking office, Ding Xiongjun launched Maotai in 1935, launched the e-Maotai e-commerce platform, launched direct sales channels, etc.; he also sank the youth market with Maotai. Among them, he also “went out of the ring” several times. Sauce-flavored lattes and sauce-flavored chocolate successfully exploded in the youth community.

In terms of performance, in the first quarter of this year, Maotai achieved revenue of 45.776 billion yuan, an increase of 18.11% year on year; net profit of 24.065 billion yuan, an increase of 15.73% year on year.

Last year, Maotai achieved annual revenue of 147.694 billion yuan, up 19.01% year on year; net profit of 74.734 billion yuan, up 19.16% year on year; net profit after deduction was 74.753 billion yuan, up 19.05% year on year.

After less than three years, Maotai once again ushered in an important moment of change of coach.It is worth noting that since May 2018, Maotai has changed hands 4 times in 6 years.

Looking at the long-term perspective, in the 70 years since Maotai was founded, Maotai has gone through a total of 8 heads of state in its history.

They are Zhang Xingzhong, Zhou Gaolian, Zou Kailiang, Ji Keliang, Yuan Renguo, Li Baofang, Gao Weidong, and Ding Xiongjun. Among them, Yuan Renguo and Gao Weidong all got fired due to corruption issues.

Earlier, Zhang Deqin, the new Party Secretary of the Maotai Group: We must insist on “anti-corrosion only if we can go far”

Where will “new coach” Zhang Deqin lead Maotai this time around?

As the chairman of the “stock king” of A-shares with a market capitalization of 2 trillion dollars, performance, strategy, etc. are all major challenges for the new head.