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dong mingzhu seems to be particularly sensitive to age changes recently.

according to beijing business daily, on september 4, the topic "dong mingzhu talks about not being able to find a job at 35" became a hot search on weibo. in an interview, dong mingzhu, chairman of gree electric appliances, responded to whether she would recruit employees over 35 years old. for workers, "35 years old is a hurdle, and many companies may no longer recruit people over 35 years old." dong mingzhu said, "you can start a business, but no one will hire you to start a business. so i think that whether it is a hurdle or not is measured by age. in fact, more hurdles come from your heart and your thoughts. if you think there is a mountain ahead that you can't cross, this is a hurdle, but if you climb up step by step with determination, you can reach the top."

gree electric appliances (000651.sz) chairman dong mingzhu always appears in public with black hair, exquisite dress and neat style. in addition, dong mingzhu is energetic and often speaks sharply, so people rarely associate her image with an old person in her seventies.

it was not until recently that dong mingzhu mentioned "retirement" twice in a row, which made everyone suddenly realize that the "ms. dong" as people call her is about to turn 70.

on august 22, at the henan gree 2025 annual marketing summit, dong mingzhu once again mentioned that she might retire in 2025, and said that gree's channel transformation has been basically implemented in all provinces. dong mingzhu said: "i am also an old man. i have not retired at the age of 70. you have to take over the baton."

in fact, dong mingzhu mentioned retirement on june 22. at the 2023 annual shareholders' meeting of gree electric held in zhuhai, dong mingzhu revealed: "maybe i will retire when the term changes next year, but i can't leave a mess for the people behind me!"

the story of dong mingzhu and gree electric appliances may come to an end, but there will be more people who will continue to write the entrepreneurial spirit and business story with gree electric appliances. who can succeed dong mingzhu?

the successor is neither meng yutong nor wang ziru

before looking for a successor, we must first figure out: what kind of succession are we going to take over from dong mingzhu?

the relationship between dong mingzhu and gree electric appliances is a very special one in the business world.

first, dong mingzhu is a small shareholder of gree electric. the company's announcement shows that dong mingzhu directly holds 0.97% of gree electric's shares, ranking as the seventh largest single shareholder. in addition, dong mingzhu is also behind the largest shareholder zhuhai mingjun investment partnership (limited partnership). tianyancha data shows that dong mingzhu's zhuhai gezhen investment management partnership holds nearly 28% of zhuhai mingjun's shares, and thus indirectly holds shares in gree electric.

secondly, under the corporate governance structure without an actual controller, dong mingzhu is the actual decision maker of gree electric. according to the company's announcement, after zhuhai state-owned assets transferred its shares to zhuhai mingjun in 2019, gree electric officially became a "free entity", and the voice of chairman and president dong mingzhu was further consolidated.

third, dong mingzhu has become the true spokesperson for gree electric appliances by virtue of her own influence. over the past few decades, such deep binding has formed a double-edged sword effect, which may bring public opinion risks while enhancing the brand trust of gree electric appliances.

the outside world once locked meng yutong and even wang ziru as dong mingzhu's successor. however, from the above three perspectives, neither of them is an ideal successor.

in 2021, meng yutong participated in a workplace reality show and became dong mingzhu's secretary from an intern. the contrast between a "post-95s" who just entered the workplace and became a secretary of a business tycoon has sparked huge discussions. in the surging traffic, gree electric and meng yutong initially "ran in both directions". the former registered trademarks such as "mingzhu yutong", "meng yutong" and "yutong", and the latter also began to make money for the company through online live broadcasts and other methods as a gree star employee.

but the good times did not last long. in may 2023, meng yutong resigned from gree electric appliances. later, dong mingzhu had a verbal dispute with him, and the two eventually parted ways.

meng yutong left and wang ziru came.

in 2016, wang ziru, who became famous for his evaluation content, met his mentor dong mingzhu in an entrepreneurial program. in july 2021, wang ziru joined gree and later appeared as "gree electric headquarters leader and digital channel reform project leader".

"i have never seen the salary slip that gree gave me," "watching dong mingzhu hold meetings and listening to what she says and does every day, i feel it is a very happy thing"... these remarks by wang ziru once caused an uproar in public opinion.

in august 2024, wang ziru was first issued a consumption restriction order, and was later revealed to have resigned from gree, and the relationship between the two ended in a mess.

neither meng yutong nor wang ziru are top shareholders of gree, and perhaps not truly influential executives either. they have just brought relatively high attention to gree in terms of public opinion.

another "iron lady" lu luqun has recently begun to be noticed by the media. according to cailianshe, at the shareholders' meeting in june 2024, when talking about channel reform, dong mingzhu introduced lu luqun to shareholders. the latter said that starting in 2024, gree's refrigerator and washing machine business will gradually establish sales companies in various provinces and regions. tianyancha data shows that lu luqun is currently the legal representative of gree henan and hebei sales co., ltd.

given the close relationship between gree and its dealers, and lu luqun's position being close to this key node, coupled with his professional background, in-depth understanding of channel transformation, and endorsement from dong mingzhu, lu luqun is also seen as one of gree electric's potential successors.

dong mingzhu’s “successor” could be an individual or a group - gree’s dealers.

will the dealer team take over?

as mentioned earlier, dong mingzhu is firstly a shareholder of gree electric appliances, secondly she has the decision-making power of the company, and thirdly she represents the image of gree electric appliances.

analyzing from these three points, gree electric's dealer team occupies the first two of the three major elements.

tianyancha data shows that the third largest single shareholder of gree electric appliances is jinghai internet technology development co., ltd. this company was formerly known as hebei jinghai guarantee investment co., ltd., which is the familiar "hebei jinghai" in the market. it represents gree's core dealer power and was once regarded as dong mingzhu's concerted action. over the years, the major shareholders of gree electric appliances have changed hands, but dealers have been important shareholders of gree electric appliances for many years.

at the same time, hebei jinghai also holds a board seat in gree electric appliances, and has a say and influence over the company's operations.

however, there is also great uncertainty as to whether dealers will take over from dong mingzhu.

for example, gree electric has been developing direct sales channels in recent years, and there have been constant rumors that dealers are dissatisfied with this and even have grudges against each other. in 2022, the topic of gree electric's important hebei dealer "defecting" to philips was once hyped up.

since 2020, beijing haibo has reduced its holdings of gree electric several times, and then slightly increased its holdings in 2024. its current shareholding ratio is 6.86%. this tug-of-war also reflects the "love-hate relationship" between dong mingzhu and dealers.

recently, dong mingzhu talked about retirement, and the dealers who worked hard with her are also getting old. as dong mingzhu mentioned at the henan marketing summit, there are many old friends among the dealers, and many dealers have handed over their business to the second generation.

it is not known who will take over dong mingzhu's mantle, nor is it known whether the successor can continue to work side by side with the second generation of dealers. gree electric has left plenty of suspense on the issue of succession.

does the “successor” discussion expose corporate governance issues?

from an esg perspective, the market is particularly concerned about and even worried about dong mingzhu's lack of a "successor," which may indicate that gree electric still has room for improvement in management.

looking deeper, this involves issues of leadership succession planning and talent management in corporate governance.

within the company, leadership succession planning is an important part of the esg corporate governance framework, ensuring that the company can smoothly transition to new management when the founder or key leaders leave, avoiding the situation of "leaderless". after all, if the management is suddenly vacant, it may lead to operational chaos and delayed decision-making, which in turn may cause risks.

secondly, from the perspective of the outside world, the lack of a succession plan will lead to speculation and concerns: will gree electric appliances have a "one-man show" situation? will there be loopholes in its talent development and internal promotion mechanisms? will this further affect its innovation and competitiveness?

perhaps for this reason, gree electric's esg score is not high in the eyes of rating agencies. according to the rating results of tonghuashun esg as of the third quarter of 2023, gree electric's esg was rated "bbb", lower than its main competitors midea group (000333.sz) and haier smart home (600690.sh). in particular, the corporate governance score has become a deduction item.

just at the end of august, the incident in which gree electric appliances’ third employee stock ownership plan “narrowly passed” and nearly 40% of shareholders voted against it also triggered heated discussions in the investment market. it is also a case worthy of deep thought from the perspective of esg corporate governance.

on august 19, at gree electric's first extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in 2024, the company's third employee stock ownership plan was reviewed and approved, but the number of votes against was as high as 37.55%, and about 2% of shareholders abstained from voting, ultimately "passing the test".

according to the securities times, the reason why small and medium shareholders are dissatisfied with this plan is that a high proportion of the senior management team is involved in it, and the performance evaluation indicators have been significantly relaxed compared with the previous two phases. the corresponding evaluation indicators of this third phase of the employee stock ownership plan are only that the weighted average return on net assets in 2024 and 2025 should not be less than 20%, and there are no requirements for performance growth and dividend targets.

therefore, investors who hold opposing opinions argue that this plan actually lowers the assessment indicators. however, gree electric responded by explaining that the external environment has undergone major changes, which has brought uncertainty to production and operations.

it can be seen from this that whether it is the urgent need for clarification of the succession plan or the controversy caused by the employee stock ownership plan, gree electric should pay more attention to esg governance and related public opinion management.

is what dong mingzhu left behind a “mess”?

when dong mingzhu talked about her retirement recently, she humbly said that "we cannot leave a mess for our successors."

there is no doubt that without dong mingzhu's contribution, there would be no gree electric today. so is the foundation that dong mingzhu left for gree electric good?

on august 31, gree electric disclosed its 2024 semi-annual report, with a slight increase in revenue and better profit performance. during the reporting period, gree electric's operating income was 99.783 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.55%; net profit attributable to the parent was 14.136 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.54%; non-net profit was also at a high level, a year-on-year increase of 14.91%.

in recent years, the focus of gree electric's slogan has changed from "good air conditioners, made by gree" to "let the world fall in love with chinese products", which is seen by the outside world as an attempt to get rid of the single income characteristic of air conditioners.

the performance in the first half of 2024 showed that gree electric's air-conditioning business accounted for 78.14% of its total revenue, while in the same period of 2023 it was only 70.54%.

it is not easy for gree electric to expand its refrigerator and washing machine business beyond air conditioners. according to cailianshe, an analyst in the home appliance industry said that from the perspective of competition, the technology "involution" and synchronization of refrigerator and washing machine brands in the domestic market are very rapid. gree electric is under great competitive pressure and is still in a weak position in refrigerator and washing machine.

in the eyes of the institutions, the "reservoir" left by dong mingzhu and the current management team is a good foundation for the future development of gree electric. according to a research report published by tianfeng securities on august 5, the current white goods leaders have formed a relatively abundant income, that is, a profit "reservoir". such a performance foundation is expected to smooth performance fluctuations and improve business stability in the future in a year of low market conditions. tianfeng securities pointed out that gree and midea's profit "reservoirs" are deeper, and the old-for-new policy is good for white goods, and is optimistic about these factors to support gree electric's performance growth.

starting to explore overseas markets is also the seed that dong mingzhu has planted for gree's future development. after the channel reform, gree electric's core air-conditioning business revenue scale and profit margin will slowly recover in 2023, and it will actively expand its own overseas brands. the above research report of tianfeng securities also pointed out that gree electric's overseas revenue scale and profit margin are significantly increasing, and the operating net cash flow is improving. in the future, "air conditioning going overseas" and expanding the diversified layout of refrigerators and washing machines will become the future development direction of gree electric.

during her tenure at gree electric, dong mingzhu led the company to achieve leapfrog development with her outstanding leadership and forward-looking strategic vision, which is obvious to all in the industry. she not only deepened gree's core competitiveness in the air-conditioning field, consolidated its market leading position through technological innovation and quality improvement, but also took solid steps in the diversification strategy, expanded into emerging fields such as intelligent equipment and new energy, and built a more diversified business map for gree. dong mingzhu adhered to the concept of "mastering core technology", increased r&d investment, promoted product iteration and upgrading, and met the market's growing demand for quality and intelligence.

dong mingzhu's tenure at gree electric appliances is an important period in gree's development history. the story of dong mingzhu and gree electric appliances may come to an end, but gree's legend will continue.

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