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Author | Yan Shulou

The empire that the elder built with his own hands was finally handed over to someone else.

Yesterday, the resignation letter from Wahaha successor Zong Fuli caused an uproar in public opinion.

The open letter, signed by Zong Fuli, stated that because the shareholders of the Wahaha Group questioned her rationality, which led to difficulties in advancing management, she decided to resign from the positions of vice chairman and general manager of the Wahaha Group and no longer participate in its operations and management.

My first feeling was that it was fake. My father had entrusted me with his life's work for only five months. How could he just give up? But then some media reported that the news was true. The two sides had been negotiating for more than a month, and many executives had resigned.

It is said that the conflict is still a struggle for control. So Princess Zong also made it clear in her open letter: The Shangcheng District Government of Hangzhou and some shareholders of Wahaha Group have questioned the rationality of my management of Wahaha, making it impossible for me to perform my management duties.

What is rationality? Why not legality? This shows that from the perspective of legality, there is nothing wrong with the transfer of power. Zong Lao had trained his daughter as his successor very early on, and Zong Fuli did work her way up from the workshop. Before his death, Zong Lao also gradually handed over management rights to Zong Fuli.

But is this transfer reasonable? In other words, is Wahaha's surname Zong or Gong? If it is not Zong, why is it a hereditary succession? Why must the young and incompetent Princess Zong take over? Moreover, it is not just the company's veterans who question the rationality of this, but also the single largest shareholder, Hangzhou State-owned Assets.

Public information shows that Hangzhou Shangcheng District Wenshanglv holds 46% of Wahaha, Zong Qinghou holds 29.4% and employees hold 24.6%. So from the perspective of equity structure, Wahaha is not owned by the Zong family, but a mixed-ownership enterprise, so Zong Fuli's succession will naturally be questioned.

If it is a family business, there is no such thing as resignation. But if it is not an absolute holding company, then "resignation" is easy to understand. Previously, the elders relied on their personal prestige to manage the company, and the internal situation was unshakable. But when people leave, the tea is cold. The elders can accept the elders' account, but it does not mean they can accept the princess' account.

Moreover, Zong Fuli committed a big mistake. After successfully taking over the power, she carried out internal reforms and cleansing, frequently replaced middle and senior management, and acted decisively without regard for relatives. Her style of action was too radical, which triggered the interests of shareholders and the disgust of employees. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before she was sidelined and isolated.

Zong Fuli, born in 1982, went abroad to study at the age of 14 and returned to China at the age of 22 to join the Wahaha production workshop. Although she started from the grassroots level, her mind was full of foreign business management knowledge. She was not familiar with the ways of the world and offended people without knowing it. Mr. Zong was not unaware of this.

Previously, Zong Lao said that enterprises do not have to be run by themselves, but can be managed by professional managers. No one knows a daughter better than her father. This shows that Zong Lao still understands his daughter. However, he made a fatal mistake, that is, he did not concentrate the shares during his lifetime, and only had less than 30% of the shares.

When Mr. Zong was still around, the 24% of employees' shares could still be used as concerted action. Now that Mr. Zong is gone, you still want to reform and reduce the power of the vassal states. How can those veterans just sit there and wait for death? If they cannot get support from the state-owned major shareholders, and the old guard who have been entrusted with the care of the orphans turn against them collectively, then they will have no choice but to be eliminated.

The only thing to blame is that Zong Lao passed away too early, and Zong Fuli, who was still incompetent, was not familiar with power struggles and lacked the ability to handle things on her own. In fact, as reported by the media, the internal equity dispute has been going on for more than a month, and in just half a year, there have been 124 pieces of information about Zong Fuli's job changes!

Such frequent changes in positions are nothing more than forcing the young Zong Fuli to give up her power. No matter what, it has only been five months since Zong's death, and these people are eager to jump out and reap the benefits. This is the intuitive feeling of many people after reading Miss Zong's resignation letter.

Chinese people have a deep obsession with the word "inheritance". Even though the Zong family is not a major shareholder, no one can deny that Wahaha was built by Zong Lao on a tricycle. No matter how poor Zong Fuli is, it is the Zong family's business. Now, because of Zong Lao's kindness, his daughter has been harmed.

This also tells us that there is no morality in front of capital, only interests. If she was not forced, Zong Fuli would never choose to withdraw voluntarily and hand over her father's life's work to others. In addition, it also taught us a cruel lesson on equity. If the equity distribution of absolute control is not done well, there will be endless troubles.

When Zhu Yuanzhang slaughtered his meritorious officials in his later years, he would rather bear the infamy himself than remove the obstacles to Zhu Biao's succession to the throne. This was because he knew very well that those meritorious officials who seemed to be respectful to him might not be respectful to his own sons. If you don't kill them, they will kill your children.

Mr. Zong was a generous person, so he underestimated the evil of human nature. He might think that his personal charm would continue on his daughter, but the daughter of a big boss is not necessarily a big boss. How could Miss Zong, who was so young and aggressive, be a match for these old foxes?

Although ordinary netizens feel sorry for the young master out of justice, public opinion is very unfavorable to Zong Fuli. There are several hot searches targeting Zong Fuli today, one of which says that someone reported Zong Fuli for embezzling state-owned assets, and another says that we should look rationally at the rumors of her resignation.

Although Mr. Zong is gone, he at least left Zong Fuli with a fortune of 80 billion. Would Princess Zong, who has never lacked money since childhood, embezzle state-owned assets? This is a big accusation, which means that they not only want to force Zong Fuli to leave, but also want to send her to jail.

In just one day, several pieces of news that are hard to tell true from false have become hot searches. It can only be said that the person behind this is not simple. But don’t forget that the spiritual totem of Wahaha is the elders. If the successors are driven out, it means that the spiritual shield is broken.

For consumers, supporting Wahaha is the best way to commemorate a conscientious entrepreneur. Now that this spiritual pillar has collapsed, is it necessary to continue drinking Wahaha, which is not a clan name?

I remember there is another beverage giant in Hangzhou, but I want to say that no matter who owns Wahaha, it is not your turn to make a comeback.

It’s such a pity for Mr. Zong’s life’s work and the “Wahaha” brand!

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Y2023-2053