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Source: Times Finance Author: Wang Xia

Wang Ziru has been a bit busy lately.

A week ago (August 9), Wang Ziru first appeared as the person to be executed and was applied for execution dispute by Shanghai Shuhui Venture Capital Center (Limited Partnership). The Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen issued a restriction order on consumption against Wang Ziru. The amount of execution for Wang Ziru in this case was approximately 33.83 million yuan.

Four days ago, Wang Ziru, as an important figure in Gree's channel reform, took the stage at the Gree Electric Appliances (Guangfo) New Marketing Strategy Summit and New Product Launch Conference to promote and interpret the new marketing model.

(Photo source: "Guangzhou Gree Electric" official account)

However, on Friday afternoon (August 16), Wang Ziru was revealed to have "resigned" and was no longer a "worker".

Times Finance reporter tried to call Gree Electric Appliances (000651.SZ) and Wang Ziru himself, but no response was received. However, according to a Gree insider who revealed to Times Finance, Wang Ziru could no longer be found on Gree's internal OA system "G Platform".

Some media also revealed that a Gree employee said that the relevant documents had been signed by someone else.

Gree has been on the road of channel reform for four or five years. Without Wang Ziru, the person in charge of the digital channel reform project, where will Gree's channel reform go?

As for Wang Ziru, after experiencing more than a thousand days and nights at Gree and going through multiple identities such as internet celebrity, Dong Mingzhu's right-hand man, and person in charge of digital channel reform projects, will he end up on a similar path to his former "opposing debater" Luo Yonghao? How to write his own "True Return Story" may become Wang Ziru's next question.

Wang Ziru's sudden departure

On a quiet Friday afternoon on August 16, the news that "Wang Ziru has resigned" became a hot topic on Weibo, and related discussions spread to major headlines.

But just four days ago, Wang Ziru appeared on stage as the leader of Gree Electric Appliances headquarters and the head of the digital channel reform project.

Gree officials mentioned that Wang Ziru expressed confidence in this reform and transformation. He said, "We will help dealers to make a smooth transition in the most gentle and least impactful way, so that our market will be revitalized again!"

Four days later, a Gree insider told Times Finance reporter that Wang Ziru's name could no longer be searched on the "G Platform", the office platform used by Gree.

From founding ZEALER to joining Gree, Wang Ziru has always been a hot topic and has many stories to tell. But it is not common to see such a large number of ups and downs in one week.

In mid-2021, Gree experienced two personnel changes. Technology self-media person Wang Ziru joined Gree as vice president; another person who joined the company in the same year was Meng Yutong, who served as assistant to the president.

Meng Yutong left Gree in the middle of last year, while Wang Ziru may have left in August 2024. Since then, Wang Ziru has joined Gree for more than three years, and has experienced more than a thousand days and nights. It has also been 28 months since Wang Ziru stepped into the spotlight and became the head of Gree's digital channel reform project (March 2022).

During the ZEALER period, Wang Ziru started from scratch and created a big cake of digital evaluation in the Internet era. But at Gree, Wang Ziru, who is facing the crisis of 35 years old, his name is often closely associated with Gree's channel reform and even Gree Chairman Dong Mingzhu.

The second quarter of 2020 is an important node in Gree’s channel transformation.

At that time, Gree promoted the "new retail" marketing model transformation across the country through live streaming, building the online "Gree Dong Mingzhu Store" and offline experience stores.

Another key word of the reform is the "Cloud Online Wholesale" system. After using the system, the most significant difference is reflected in the scene of purchasing retail home air conditioners. Unlike the traditional long offline purchase channels, when purchasing retail air conditioners, dealers only need to purchase according to the price list on the "Gree Online Wholesale" App, and the payment will flow directly to Gree headquarters.

According to a reporter from Times Finance, in May 2022, Wang Ziru went to Anhui, the first province to implement the cloud-network approval reform, to publicize the channels.

In May 2023, Wang Ziru made his debut as the head of Gree Electric's channel reform project and gave a speech in Jiangxi. In November of the same year, Wang Ziru accompanied Gree Chairman and President Dong Mingzhu to accept a TV interview, and caused heated discussions because of golden sentences such as "I never look at the salary slip Gree gives me".

An insider of Gree previously told a reporter from Times Finance that the main purpose of Dong Mingzhu bringing Wang Ziru to a high-profile appearance was to help Wang promote channel reform through authoritative "endorsement". It was also around the time of the TV interview in November that Gree Cloud Network approved the acceleration of reform.

However, less than a year after the interview, Wang Ziru was revealed to have left.

From the perspective of public opinion, the news of Wang Ziru's departure has brought huge publicity to Gree, but in fact, Wang Ziru's exit does not seem to have much impact on Gree.

Looking at the many titles Wang Ziru has held since joining Gree - "Gree Electric Headquarters Leader", "Channel Reform Head", compared with the "Sales Director" of Lu Luqun who joined later, they are somewhat "empty".

Liu Buchen, a senior home appliance industry analyst, believes that this means Wang Ziru has no real power in Gree Electric. He also pointed out that Gree Electric's channels are designed and controlled by Dong Mingzhu, and Wang Ziru has very little room to play.

In a previous interview, an Anhui air conditioner dealer told the Times Finance reporter that when Wang Ziru visited Anhui, after hearing feedback from dealers, he said that he would report to Dong Mingzhu before making a decision.

"Frankly speaking, Wang Ziru's presence or departure will not have a big impact on Gree," said Liu Buchen.

Gree's transformation is inevitable

However, with or without Wang Ziru, Gree’s reform is imperative.

Because the other two of the three major white goods giants - Midea Group and Haier - both started their digital transformation in 2012. That year, Midea launched the "T+3" flexible production model based on the digital supply chain system; Haier Group launched a B2B e-commerce platform for dealers in 2013 and also provided supply chain financial services.

But Gree’s digital transformation lags behind by seven or eight years.

"For home appliance companies, channel reform is an inevitable trend, because competition is not only a competition of product technology, channel capabilities are also an important competitive advantage." said Major General Ding, a senior industrial economist and founder of Ding Technology.

On August 12, when Wang Ziru was still the person in charge of the channel reform project, some media reported that Gree's channel reform work was accelerated, and new retail would be implemented in Guangzhou and Foshan in the new cold year. In the future, dealers will place orders and purchase goods directly from Gree's new online wholesale system.

In the view of Major General Ding, the main direction of channel reform is user-oriented, extending channels to where users are. Currently, channels tend to be fragmented. In the online market, in addition to traditional e-commerce channels, there are short video platforms and live streaming channels such as Douyin and Kuaishou, grass-seeking channels such as Xiaohongshu, and takeaway and instant delivery channels such as Meituan.

"For home appliance companies, diversified channel layout or omni-channel layout has become a consensus and common development direction."

The offline channels consisting of layers of dealers and agents were once the source of power for white goods giants in their fight in the market.

Taking Gree as an example, Times Finance reporter previously learned that Gree's offline sales system covers about 30,000 specialty stores, which contributes most of Gree's performance. This was jointly established by Dong Mingzhu and some agents. Jinghai Internet Technology Development Co., Ltd., which is composed of agents, is still one of Gree Electric's major shareholders.

Transformation is not easy.

In 2023, according to a report by Cailianshe, a provincial distributor of Gree wanted to make a bet with the media. "I am almost certain that he (Wang Ziru) will resign before Dong Mingzhu retires." "I can bet with you that he will resign within 1-2 years."

In June this year, according to media reports, Dong Mingzhu frankly admitted in her speech at the 2023 Annual Shareholders' Meeting that Gree's channel transformation was "making things difficult for itself." "Our previous channel approach may have been successful, but with the development of the market, the issue of 'win-win' has been put before us."

Now that Dong Mingzhu is 70 years old, Wang Ziru may also retire, but Gree’s channel reform is still ongoing.

Wang Ziru's Next Pier

For Wang Ziru, whether there is Gree or not, he is an Internet celebrity.

Ten years ago, when Wang Ziru was at ZEALER, he had a debate with Luo Yonghao on the Internet. Luo Yonghao's words "Those who are kept by someone should not talk about independent personality" became a famous saying on the Internet, which seemed to foreshadow Wang Ziru's future fate.

After that, big investors such as Shunwei Capital left the market, and ZEALER fell silent.

After that, Wang Ziru's other companies did not make a splash. According to Tianyancha, Wang Ziru is currently associated with three companies, but only Shenzhen Yuechen Auto Beauty Co., Ltd. is still in existence. Wang Ziru's 30% stake was frozen in February this year. In addition, the company itself has been listed in the abnormal operation list several times for failing to publish annual reports on time.

From 2021 to 2024, Wang Ziru worked for Gree as vice president, but his name did not appear on the list of executives in Gree's annual report, and his actual salary was not known to outsiders.

Perhaps Wang Ziru doesn’t mind, after all, he once said, “I have never seen the salary slip that Gree gave me.”

(Image source: wind)

The fact is that Gree’s salary may not be enough to cover the debt of more than 30 million yuan. But Wang Ziru, like Luo Yonghao, is a “first generation Internet celebrity” and has contributed a lot of Weibo hot searches and overwhelming traffic to the Internet in recent years.

For the Internet, "Wang Ziru" is not only a topic, but also a source of traffic. We don't know whether Wang Ziru will start a "True Return" like his "rival" Luo Yonghao.

The night of August 16th marks the end of a workday and the beginning of a weekend.

At this time, Gree did not respond, Wang Ziru did not respond, and Luo Yonghao, who will be broadcasting at 9 o'clock tonight, did not make any clear comments. In the silence, we still don't know what the numbers on the salary slips that Wang Ziru put away as soon as they were received were. Where Wang Ziru's next destination is is also in the fog.