Original title: “Distraction” 100 billion dollars, Huang Zheng's pattern
Editor's note: This article is from Director Wu (ID: lixingleguanpai). The author, Director Wu, Chuangyangbang, has been reprinted with permission.
On July 1, Pinduoduo announced an organizational upgrade. Huang Zheng, the founder of the company, stepped down as CEO, and Chen Lei, the company's former CTO, took over as CEO, and Huang Zheng continued to serve as chairman.
Meanwhile, Huang Zheng's shareholding ratio in Pinduoduo has also changed. According to recently disclosed SEC documents, Huang Zheng's shareholding ratio fell 13.9%. According to Pinduoduo's latest market value of 102.8 billion US dollars, its net worth disappeared to 14.289 billion US dollars (about 10.95 billion yuan).
Huang Zheng offered 370,772,220 common shares (7.74% of the company's total shares) under his name to the Pinduoduo Partner Group to improve the company's partner system.
“I hope that through this adjustment, management can gradually hand over more management tasks and responsibilities to younger colleagues, accelerate team growth, and make Pinduoduo a better and stronger company with continuous entrepreneurial vitality.” Huang Zheng said in a letter to all staff.
At the same time, along with this adjustment, Huang Zheng will also donate about 2.37% of the company's shares with the founding team in accordance with the promises made at the time of the IPO and formally establish the “Star Charity Fund” with the aim of promoting social responsibility and scientific research. The charitable fund is an irrevocable charitable fund managed by an independent trustee to ensure that all assets of the charitable fund are used for charitable purposes.
Established 5 years ago, Pinduoduo has risen at an amazing pace. A week ago, Huang Zheng, who was only 40, had a net worth of 45.4 billion US dollars (approximately RMB 321 billion), surpassing Jack Ma for the first time and becoming the second richest person in China. Today, the market value of Huang Zheng's stock holdings is around US$30.2 billion.
The minds of countless people are filled with question marks.
Huang Zheng is still very young. He is 40 years old. He is considered a young entrepreneur when he starts a business, and Pinduoduo is only 5 years old. It is rare for him to actually resign as CEO only as chairman. Why is that?
Huang Zheng rarely appeared publicly for media interviews, and did not even ring the bell when Pinduoduo went public, keeping a low profile to the point that it is unbelievably low. Huang Zheng stepped down as CEO this time and brought a large fortune to charity and motivate the team. The outside world once again interpreted it. This is an imitation of his teacher Duan Yongping.
Duan Yongping is an extraordinary person. From Backgammon to OPPO and Vivo today, although he left the scene early and no longer meddled in specific businesses, his own corporate culture has always been the core competitiveness of these two companies. As for Duan Yongping's personal wealth, there are many opinions, and they all know a lot. As for the number, I'm afraid it doesn't matter anymore.
Duan Yongping's impressive investment results came from making a fortune on NetEase, which was on the verge of being delisted at the time. And Huang Zheng is exactly what Ding Lei introduced Duan Yongping to know.
In 2001, Huang Zheng was still in his junior year at Zhejiang University. One day, he received an application from a friend on MSN. This person claimed to be Ding Lei from NetEase and wanted to ask for advice on a technical issue. Huang Zheng recalled his experience of getting to know Ding Lei and said, “At first, I thought he was a liar.”
There are quite a few people online who are skeptical about this story. Based on what I know about Ding Lei, this story probably couldn't be more true. Almost all of the stories about Ding Lei spread on the internet are also true. NetEase is an established Internet company that has lived the best in the portal era. Ding Lei himself is not the kind of internet company boss that the average person can't get close to. He is smiling, approachable, and has no rank in his eyes. If he likes you, he will send you something. Ding Lei is the kind of boss who can pick up the phone at any time and call any NetEase level 8 employee.
Later, Duan Yongping photographed lunch with Buffett and brought Huang Zheng along with him. You can see Duan Yongping's appreciation for Huang Zheng. Therefore, when interpreting Huang Zheng's achievements, many people don't forget to mention these noble people he has met in his life. However, if you look at it from another perspective, there are probably quite a few young people Duan Yongping met during his time in the US. He only admired Huang Zheng. This is inseparable from the light that cannot be concealed from his body.
Huang Zheng entered Hangzhou Foreign Language School with great “bad luck” because of his Olympic scores. He was the first in nine years before and after elementary school. Students at Hangzhou Foreign Language School are not only rich or expensive. In the early 90s, not only did they have foreign teachers, but they were also able to communicate with foreign middle school students. This was also the only school in Zhejiang Province at the time where the whole province was able to enroll students independently when elementary school was promoted to junior high school, so it was able to monopolize elementary school graduates within the province. Precisely because of the carefully screened students, this school has a college acceptance rate of over 80%. The result of this is that teaching will not be influenced by the “college entrance examination,” and both teachers and students will be more relaxed. For example, they can even screen American blockbusters in the classroom. Back then, American blockbusters were rare in movie theaters.
At a time when the vast majority of middle school students across the country were burying their minds and hoping that the exam would change their fortunes, Huang Zheng and his classmates were very fortunate to gradually develop a worldview and values that were not the same as most of their peers in a different teaching environment. In Huang Zheng's own words, “A significant part of us is more liberal than our peers.”
After graduating from outside Hangzhou, Huang Zheng was admitted to a mixed class at Zhejiang University. This is a test of elite education at Zhejiang University. There are few boring courses, and there are more resources and opportunities than the average Zhejiang university student. In his freshman year, Huang Zheng had the privilege of communicating with students from all over the world and realized the obvious differences in cultures, ways of thinking, and ways of doing things in different countries.
Looking back and summarizing his college experience, Huang Zheng said he was “very, very lucky” compared to his peers. It was this lucky study experience that made Huang Zheng deeply aware of some of the principles of the way the world works or the truth about life very early on:
“1. The golden phoenix flying out of the ravine is a low-probability event. Most of the second generation of rich people, especially the second generation of officials, are excellent. 2. Tian-ji horse racing can create local advantages in the face of overall resource shortages, and in turn have a chance to win the entire “battle”. Thus, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. 3. Money is a tool, not an end.”
If any individual, group, or region succeeds and progresses in a certain area (such as money, reputation, status, etc.), it will generate a kind of accumulation advantage, and it will have more opportunities to achieve greater success and progress.
American scientific history researcher Robert Morton named this phenomenon the “Matthew effect.” Matthew 25:29 from the Bible and the New Testament: “For everything that has, give him to make him rich; what he doesn't have, even what he has, shall be taken from his hands.”
Huang Zheng's “fortune” has only just begun.
In 2004, Huang Zheng graduated as a graduate student and faced the question of whether to go to Microsoft or Google. In the end, I chose to go to Google. Because Huang Zheng, who has interned at Microsoft, feels that he can clearly see who he is ten years from now. Also, his life mentor (probably Duan Yongping) told him, “Google seems like a great company, and it's worth visiting. It's also good for you if you want to start a business in the future. If I go, I'll stay for at least three years, because after a year or two, I won't be able to get into an important position and really understand this company.”
Google became Huang Zheng's first official job. Huang Zheng worked for three years. The most realistic part was that he directly achieved financial freedom. In Huang Zheng's own words, “It's also a blessing to meet a person once in a lifetime.”
And in the face of good things like “pie falling from the sky,” the difference between people has reappeared. Huang Zheng did not start the “win over the young model in the clubhouse” model. Instead, he observed the side effects of becoming rich overnight and began to reflect on the relationship between wealth and life.
During his three years at Google, Huang Zheng had many thoughts, especially corporate culture and values. For example, it encourages innovation at the grassroots level, but it is also highly concentrated in terms of core power. Of course, what Google is most appreciated is its “Do No Evil” claim.
I think Google's “Do No Evil” is deep into Google's DNA; I'm not talking about it casually. Google really puts its mission and values before profit. As described in “The Foundation Is Evergreen,” an excellent company, Google's profit is a by-product of doing the right thing. At the same time, “Do No Evil” is actually a wake-up call for Google's ability to do evil. The deeper you get inside Google, the more you realize that Google has a strong ability to profit by doing evil, so it is wise to say to everyone that it won't do evil and let everyone monitor it together.
Huang Zheng, who has always been a champion of academics since childhood, has not escaped the influence of the big environment. He wants to study well, be famous, and strive to become a useful person to society and achieve one goal after another in life... However, after a few years in business, Huang Zheng began to realize that achieving goals does not necessarily equal happiness.
Combined with Russell's book “The Path to Happiness,” he has his own exploration and understanding of happiness.
Regardless of any time or lifestyle changes, the confusion about life and happiness is basically similar. I've been thinking about this and sharing it with you all the time. Simply put, it means respecting the simplest and most simple common sense, and having the courage to face reality. Most importantly, we must be aware that everyone on this planet is extremely small, dust with no difference in particle size, and will die. Happiness cannot be attained with just a few words of conclusion from others. There is only one way to read and think for yourself.
Even when Duan Yongping visited Buffett's restaurant in the first place, it made a similar profit.
After the dinner, Huang Zheng said, “The biggest meaning of this meal for me is probably that I realized the power of simplicity and common sense. Human minds are easily polluted. When you make a judgment about a thing, you need to understand the background and facts. After understanding, what you need is not wisdom, but whether you still have the courage to use reason and common sense in the face of the situation. Common sense is obvious and easy to understand, yet our biases and claims for personal interest due to our growth and learning have blinded us.”
Of course, Huang Zheng has used his achievements to prove that he is a successful person in the secular sense of the word and an amazing entrepreneur. However, in my opinion, Huang Zheng is a true thinker. He has a deep sense of the way the world works, systems and policies, the meaning of life, and people's happiness. The content of today's article refers to one of his few public articles. Maybe I'm busy, maybe I suddenly think that the repetition is just some common sense, so there's no need to say anything else. Anyway, I haven't updated anything since then. This is a huge loss for the ideological community and the public account community.
No matter how much one person writes, readers cannot fully understand the complete thoughts of the author himself. Exactly what is on his mind, but at any rate, they can get some explanations. Although many people want to know a clear “why,” that is, why Huang Zheng stepped down as CEO and “lost his fortune” 100 billion dollars.
It is impossible to have that kind of clear answer. Even if the person concerned has to respond, it is just a form of official politeness. Therefore, this article is definitely not answering Huang Zheng's motives for making decisions; however, we can actually see some vague “no surprises” from his past experiences and personality. I've always disliked the term “pattern,” because many of today's articles are about pattern, realm, and vision at every turn. It's just that I think it over and over, and it's very pertinent to Huang Zheng.
The world is full of all kinds of tracks. Personal ability and effort are only engines. The altitude and direction given by the track is such that even the most aggressive engines cannot do anything. Huang Zheng himself is certainly a rare supercar with a first-class engine, but why is he lucky enough to enter the right track again and again.
Being in charge of an e-commerce company with a market capitalization of 100 billion US dollars in five years is, to be honest, the good fortune of ordinary consumers like us. The company Pinduoduo still has a long way to go; it is unknown what new heights it can reach or become a mediocre enterprise. People are naturally wary of large companies, because they have huge energy, sufficient conditions to commit evil, and large enterprises that commit evil in business history are not new, and companies with bad values can also have a brilliant record. The factors behind this are extremely complex, difficult to explain, and sometimes impossible to say. But I believe Pinduoduo with Huang Zheng can “Do No Evil.”
This article was published with permission from the columnist Chuangbang, and the copyright belongs to the original author. The article is the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of the Chuangang State. Please contact the original author for reprinting. If you have any questions, 请联系editor@cyzone.cn.