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On August 15, Liu Guangyao, the founder of the clothing brand bosie (Bo Xi) and the CEO born after 1995, posted his divorce certificate on his personal WeChat official account and Douyin platform, and the matter immediately became a hot search. On August 16, Liu Guangyao published another long article, responding to the whole process of his marriage, divorce and the breakdown of his relationship with his ex-wife, and questioned his ex-wife about marriage fraud, debt and other issues, which attracted the attention of a large number of netizens. The clothing brand bosie (Bo Xi) founded by Liu Guangyao claims to have raised 700 million yuan in financing and is valued at 2 billion yuan. His ex-wife is also an ordinary person. She has a bachelor's degree in finance from Shanghai Jiaotong University and a master's degree from Columbia University in the United States. She is currently a listed company.Xinbang PharmaceuticalThe chairman of the board is the daughter of the former chairman of the board. How did Liu Guangyao start his own business at such a young age? And why did he and his ex-wife end up in such a mess? Let's take a look.

Liu Guangyao. Photo courtesy of Bolan News

300,000 yuan of study abroad tuition was used to start a business

Public information shows that Liu Guangyao was born in 1995. He ranked second in Shandong Province in terms of liberal arts scores and the top scorer in Zibo City in terms of liberal arts. He was admitted to the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University at the age of 17. After graduating from undergraduate studies, he was directly recommended to the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University to pursue a master's degree in finance. However, when he was in his second year of graduate school at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, the 21-year-old Liu Guangyao chose an extremely rebellious path - he decided to drop out of school and use the 300,000 yuan tuition fee that his parents prepared for him to exchange for the Paris Graduate School of Business to start a business and create a clothing brand. The reason is that he doesn't want to live a life that can be preset. He has interned at some large platforms and felt that "he has no sense of existence, just like a part on a high-end assembly line." To start a business, Liu Guangyao found that the clothing industry is a good track.

In the second half of 2017, Liu Guangyao used the 300,000 yuan start-up capital to establish the clothing brand bosie. In the early days of the business, sales were too low, and only 10-20 pieces of clothing could be made for each piece of clothing. No factory was willing to take such a small order. Liu Guangyao decided to buy a few second-hand machines, set up a small factory, and serve as the factory director himself. The 300,000 yuan soon ran out of money, and even the wages could not be paid at the most difficult time. In order to raise funds, Liu Guangyao was rejected countless times. He said: "The most painful thing is that more than 90% of investors do not recognize you." The earliest seed capital was 700,000 yuan invested by a senior from Peking University. "But at that time, the senior did not think that this matter had much future. He just thought that I was willing to drop out of school to start a business at this age, which was very courageous, so he invested a little money in me like doing charity." Liu Guangyao said.

Losing 15 million in one month, my hair turned white overnight

Bosie's growth turning point was in May 2018, when sales in May were only over 200,000 yuan, but by June it had increased to one million yuan. In 2021, Bosie's annual turnover reached 700 million yuan, making it the leader in the domestic gender-neutral clothing segment.

With the support of capital, Liu Guangyao's business expanded rapidly, and there were bosie physical stores in major cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou. Among them, the bosie flagship store on Huaihai Middle Road in Shanghai covers an area of ​​2,000 square meters and has different business formats such as pet area and snack area. According to Liu Guangyao's design, this store was built as a work of art, and the cost was as high as 40 to 50 million yuan. Then, at the end of 2022, Liu Guangyao's business encountered a big bottleneck, with a maximum loss of 15 million yuan a month. At the age of 27, he tasted the pain of unfavorable business for the first time. One morning, Liu Guangyao's colleague said to him, "Why is your hair so white?" Liu Guangyao looked in the mirror and was shocked. Later, he simply went to the barber shop quietly to bleach all his hair.

Under the difficult decision, Liu Guangyao had to close several stores, and the Bosie flagship store on Huaihai Middle Road in Shanghai was also forced to branch out, leaving only 800 square meters. Now, Liu Guangyao, who has gone through the most difficult times, has long grown black hair, but now he still has white hair because he bleached and dyed it.

At present, Bosie, which was established nearly 5 years ago, has raised 400 million yuan in 7 rounds of financing, with investors including ZhenFund, 5Y Capital, and GSR Ventures. In September 2021, Bilibili also became one of Bosie's investors, which was also the first time that Bilibili invested in a clothing brand.

Posted a long article raising nine questions about his ex-wife

On August 15, Liu Guangyao published a divorce statement on his personal WeChat account and Douyin platform, and posted his divorce certificate. On the 16th, Liu Guangyao published a letter to Ms. An Ji, Chairman of Xinbang Group: This is intolerable, and what is not.

In the long article, Liu Guangyao elaborated on the timeline of his marriage. "Since we met in October 2022, it has been less than two years, but we have experienced an unimaginable accelerated marriage journey."

He said that the two got engaged in January 2023, got married in February, filed for divorce for the first time in April, and filed for divorce for the second time in July. The wedding was held and officially announced in January 2024, and divorced in March due to "unspeakable" family reasons. In August, Liu Guangyao officially announced the divorce.

Anji. Network diagram

Liu Guangyao said that after he clearly agreed to the divorce, Anji harassed his family again and again, continuously attacking him as "a disgrace to the Liu and Zhang families" and "a scumbag."

In his open letter, Liu Guangyao denounced his ex-wife Anji on nine issues, including career, marriage, life, and children. "You have repeatedly stated and emphasized that investment is investment and marriage is marriage. Why have you been using withdrawal of investment to kidnap me and Bosie Brand Company for a year after marriage?" He mentioned that Anji's father has always supported and assisted him in developing his career. On August 14, 2023, he borrowed 10 million yuan from the company in his personal name and signed relevant agreements. "Bosie Brand Company or I have never denied or refused to repay the loan. Why did you publish this loan agreement through various channels?" Liu Guangyao mentioned in the article: "Bosie Brand Company has 12 professional investment institutions as shareholders, with a cumulative financing amount of 600-700 million yuan, and no investor has used marriage or childbirth as an investment condition. "

Liu Guangyao said that he "has five bottom lines, once they are broken, I will not tolerate it anymore", including "respect my parents", "respect my teachers, classmates and alma mater", "respect objective facts", etc. He said: "From resigning as CEO to not being an internet celebrity, please don't threaten me with the company and career again. Because even if I have nothing, I will never bow my head on the bottom line. So, stop harassing the people around me and give me the basic rights as a father and a person. Apart from that, I don't ask for anything else."

Liu Guangyao first uploaded his divorce certificate on Douyin at around 18:00 on the afternoon of August 15, and the video quickly became the second most searched social topic. The video currently has 140,000 likes and more than 9,300 comments. In addition, Liu Guangyao posted three videos the next day, including a long article "A letter to Ms. An Ji, Chairman of Xinbang Group: What is tolerable and what is not tolerable", which received tens of thousands of likes and thousands of comments. The Douyin account currently has more than 3.4 million fans.

Regarding the authenticity of the above online article, a reporter called the securities department of Xinbang Pharmaceutical, and the other party responded that "it is being verified."

Liu Guangyao's video of posting his divorce certificate on Douyin became a hot topic. Douyin screenshot

Liu Guangyao actually controls several companies

Liu Guangyao was born in 1995 and is 29 years old this year. His clothing brand bosie is said to be valued at nearly 2 billion yuan.

Tianyancha App shows that "Hangzhou Boxi" was established in 2018, with Liu Guangyao as the legal representative, and is wholly owned by Boxi (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Boxi Culture), with a registered capital of 54.6 million yuan. Boxi Culture was established in 2017, with Liu Guangyao as the actual controller, chairman, manager, and financial director, holding 23.7223% of the shares. In addition to him, there are 17 other shareholders; his ex-wife Anji is one of the directors, holding 3.4065% ​​of the shares.

Media reports show that in January 2023, Boxi Culture completed a B2 round of financing of 100 million yuan, and the investor was an individual investor. Although Boxi Culture did not disclose this individual investor, Tianyancha showed that on February 6, 2023, the company's investors changed, and a new natural person shareholder, An Ji, was added, with a shareholding ratio of 3.4065%, and there have been no other changes in investors.

Although Liu Guangyao is not very old, he has built a business empire of his own.

Tianyancha shows that Liu Guangyao is associated with 10 companies and serves as the legal representative of 6 companies, including Hangzhou Boxi and Boxi Culture. Among them, Erdianqier (Beijing) Culture Communication Co., Ltd. has been cancelled. He also actually controls 4 companies. In addition to Erdianqier (Beijing) Culture Communication Co., Ltd., which has been cancelled, Hangzhou Roujia Culture Co., Ltd., Pingtan Bo'an Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Hangzhou Roujia Education Technology Co., Ltd. are all in the "existing" status.

The media noticed that Liu Guangyao's ex-wife An Ji is also a business person. An Ji's resume shows that she was born in 1993, has a bachelor's degree in finance from Shanghai Jiaotong University, and a master's degree from Columbia University in the United States. She is currently the chairman of the listed company Xinbang Pharmaceutical and the daughter of An Huailue, the former chairman of Xinbang Pharmaceutical. In May 2022, An Huailue stepped down as the chairman of the listed company and was succeeded by An Ji.

Tianyancha APP shows that Anji is currently the legal representative and chairman of the listed company Guizhou Xinbang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and directly holds 1.03% of the shares. The major shareholder of Xinbang Pharmaceutical is Guizhou Jinyu Industrial Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) (holding 18.52%), and Anji and his father An Huailue hold 65% and 35% of Guizhou Jinyu respectively.

In the secondary market, Xinbang Pharmaceutical has been fluctuating sideways recently. Trading was not active on the 16th and it finally closed at 3.39 yuan, the same as on the 15th.

Upstream News is compiled from Luzhong Morning News, New Yellow River Client, Dahe Financial Cube, China Entrepreneur Magazine, Expo News, etc.