The Year of the Dragon has just started, and Dong Mingzhu, who was called "Mom" at the annual meeting a year ago, was sent to the hot search again. And this time, it really has nothing to do with her.
Zhuhai Gree Group issued an announcement on the change of personnel on February 19, and according to relevant documents, Comrade Kang Hong served as the secretary of the party committee and chairman of the company.
Many netizens were "dumbfounded": What's the matter, what about Dong Mingzhu? Retired?
Subsequently, the hot search entry quickly switched from "Gree Group ushered in a new 'head'" to "Gree Electric Appliances is still helmed by Dong Mingzhu", and people who are not familiar with the inside story realized that these were two companies.
The oolong incident of "Gree Group" and "Gree Electric Appliances" can't help but make people think, if Gree Electric Appliances really ushered in a new head and lost Dong Mingzhu's Gree Electric Appliances, can it still attract so much attention?
Gree Group has not had Dong Mingzhu for many years
Gree Group is a state-owned enterprise in Zhuhai City. In 1990, Zhuhai Gree Group Co., Ltd. was established, formerly known as Zhuhai Special Economic Zone Industrial Development Corporation, which was established in 1985.
The official website of Tugree Group.
Kang Hong, who took up his new post this time, was the deputy secretary-general of Zhuhai City, and also served as a temporary cadre selected by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee in Xiong'an New Area. In the early 90s of the 20th century, the two companies "Guanxiong" and "Haili", both subsidiaries of Gree Group, merged to form Gree Electric Appliances, which became the first listed household appliance company of 100 billion yuan in China in 2012.
In the past, Gree Group not only owned Gree Electric Appliances, but also Gree Real Estate, and even Rossini watches, and now Gree Group, as a municipal state-owned enterprise, has core business mainly industrial investment, construction investment, urban renewal, etc., and has 11 related wholly-owned subsidiaries, which have nothing to do with the home appliance industry.
But to say that the current Gree Group has nothing to do with Gree Electric Appliances is really biased.
Turning over the latest third quarter report of Gree Electric Appliances in 2023, among the top ten shareholders of the company, Zhuhai Mingjun Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Hong Kong **Settlement *** Jinghai Internet Technology Development *** ranked the top three, and Gree Group was still in the list, "succumbing" to the fourth place, with a shareholding ratio of 344%。
Shareholdings of the top 10 shareholders. Figure Gree Electric Appliances 2023 Third Quarter Report.
Zhuhai Mingjun, which ranks first, holds 1602%, behind which is the well-known investment company Hillhouse Capital. Zhang Lei, the founder of Hillhouse Capital, reviewed three important historical nodes of Gree Electric in his book.
First of all, in 1996, Gree Electric was listed on the A-share market, from a local state-owned enterprise to a state-owned listed company;
Ten years later, in 2006, Gree Electric carried out the reform of equity division, and Gree Group began to reduce its shareholding in Gree Electric Appliances;
The third important node is the equity transfer of Gree Electric Appliances in 2019 entered by Hillhouse Capital.
At that time, the Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission chose to "let go", Gree Group relinquished control of Gree Electric Appliances, and Zhuhai Mingjun, a subsidiary of Hillhouse Capital, obtained 15% of the total share capital of Gree Electric Appliances with about 41.7 billion yuan, becoming the largest shareholder.
Haitong** research report pointed out that before 2019, Gree Electric had already made some efforts to optimize the governance structure, such as weakening state-owned attributes, equity incentives, and binding the interests of dealers (the current third largest shareholder, the original "Hebei Beijing Sea Guarantee" is the shareholding platform of Gree dealers). After this mixed ownership reform, Gree Electric has completely transformed its state-owned attributes and become a more market-oriented and dynamic enterprise.
After the completion of the share transfer at the beginning of 2020, Gree Electric Appliances officially became a mixed-ownership enterprise with no controlling shareholder and no actual controller.
Now I understand that Gree Group is not Gree Electric, but the latter is not a big shareholder, but why is Dong Mingzhu not the "actual controller" of Gree Electric as the outside world thinks?
In this regard, Lei Jiamao, a lawyer and legal blogger at Hebei Hounuo Law Firm, explained that according to the provisions of the Company Law, no controlling shareholder can be understood as a shareholder who has no capital contribution or holds more than 50% of the company's shares, and no actual controller can be understood as a person who can actually control the company's behavior through investment relations, agreements or other arrangements.
There is no controlling shareholder and no actual controller", and the more familiar Suning Tesco Group shares are currently such a company.
Judging from public information, Dong Mingzhu is the chairman, director and president of Gree Electric Appliances, and the highest shareholders Zhuhai Mingjun and Dong Mingzhu are "acting in concert", "From a legal point of view, we can think that Dong Mingzhu has a high influence on corporate decision-making", Lei Jiamao said.
To this day, even on the official website of Gree Group, Dong Mingzhu is still an important name.
"Memorabilia of the company" mentioned that in 2006, Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission appointed Dong Mingzhu as a director of Gree Group; In 2012, Dong Mingzhu served as the chairman and legal representative of Gree Group. In 2016, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) issued another document to remove him from the aforementioned position. Gree said that this is a relevant requirement of the reform of state-owned enterprises, and Dong Mingzhu cannot serve as the chairman of the group representing the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the chairman of Gree Electric Appliances at the same time.
There is Dong Mingzhu's Gree Electric Appliances, "falling into passivity".
In 2023, Gree Electric Appliances (hereinafter referred to as "Gree" refers to "Gree Electric Appliances") will have a good life.
At the end of last year, Gree released a performance forecast, and the total annual revenue is expected to be between 205 billion and 210 billion, which is Gree's total revenue returning to 200 billion after three years.
In 2023, Gree's net profit attributable to the parent is expected to be between 27 billion and 29.3 billion, a double-digit year-on-year increase.
At the annual meeting of the "Dream Festival" at the end of January 2024, Dong Mingzhu directly "broke the news", "27 billion) The figure is not accurate, and we have created a profit of 29 billion. ”
Of course, Gree's "old rivals" Midea and Haier also revealed the "best in history" performance signal.
Huatai's comprehensive industry data pointed out that the total sales of air conditioners in 2023 will exceed 170 million units, a year-on-year increase of 112%, Gree's total sales volume increased by 2 percent year-on-year4%, Midea increased by 5 year-on-year5%, Haier increased by 9 year-on-year1%。Affected by the investment of second- and third-tier brands, the share of the three leading white appliance companies has fluctuated slightly, while Gree has fallen the most, and the total sales share has decreased by two points year-on-year.
Figure Huatai ** Research Institute is more critical that although it is catching up in the reform of air-conditioning channels, Gree, which takes air-conditioning income as the pillar, is far lower than its opponents in terms of diversification. Smart devices, chips, new energy, etc. are all being done, but they have not done much better, and going overseas is tepid. To put it simply, air conditioners can be said to be sold by everyone, and even if Gree gives up the overall market share again, it is only a little bit, but when it comes to the enterprise as a whole, Gree is lagging behind its opponents more than that.
Haier Group's global revenue in 2023 will exceed 370 billion, and Midea's revenue in the first three quarters has reached 291.1 billion, exceeding Gree's annual performance.
Dong Mingzhu, who has always left a "strong" impression in the public's mind, has continued to face doubts in recent years, especially last year because of the huge controversy caused by Meng Yutong and Wang Ziru, and the voice of "Dong Mingzhu's retirement" has always been surging.
Industry analyst Zhang Shule commented that last year's incident had made Dong Mingzhu and Gree passive in marketing, and then linked to the scene of this year's annual meeting, although female employees said "My mother is Dong Mingzhu" in the form of a slip of the tongue, it is easy to bring psychological resistance. Even if the internal employees are highly recognized, it will cause Dong Mingzhu to lose the space to move and become more and more passive.
But if Dong Mingzhu really retires, what will happen to Gree?
Gree Electric, if there is no Dong Mingzhu?
Dong Mingzhu was born in 1954 and officially entered his 70s this year.
In 1990, he entered Gree as a salesman, and five years later served as the head of the business department.
In 2001, Dong Mingzhu was promoted to general manager of Gree, and for another five years, she became the vice chairman and president of Gree. In 2012, Dong Mingzhu became chairman and president, and no one can question the changes and significant influence she has brought to Gree.
According to Gree Electric's articles of association, the president is elected for a term of three years and can be re-elected. At the first meeting of the 12th board of directors at the beginning of 2022, the directors of Gree Electric unanimously passed the proposal of Dong Mingzhu as chairman and president. In other words, Dong Mingzhu will lead Gree at least until 2025.
Zhang Shule said that the topic of Dong Mingzhu's "** people" has become, to a certain extent, a kind of "public opinion" marketing operated by Gree, and it has a sustained degree. Even if Dong Mingzhu retires, she will continue to exist as Gree's spiritual leader, just as Liu Chuanzhi is to Lenovo, "and even has a significant say in Gree's strategic trends," he said.
Xie Lin (pseudonym) has worked in the air conditioning industry for more than 20 years, and has been an authorized distributor of Gree air conditioning for many years.
But there is only one Dong Mingzhu, and sooner or later it will come to a time when he can't catch it.
Xie Lin said that his friends who are dealers of Gree recognize Dong Mingzhu, "because her marketing methods can make everyone make money." In recent years, he has begun to switch to the B-end HVAC project, and to a certain extent, he can be regarded as an early exit, "Without Dong Mingzhu in the future, Gree may go into decline." Schelling said.
Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industrial economic observer, believes that Gree can almost be regarded as operating under the "complete" command of Dong Mingzhu, and if Dong Mingzhu completely retires, it will inevitably have a greater impact on Gree, and there is no "family member" who can maintain the efficient execution and operation of the enterprise like her.
In his opinion, the more critical thing is that Gree does not seem to be ready to lose Dong Mingzhu at present.
However, Zhang Shule emphasized that Gree can really be accepted by users, or rely on brand and quality, and Dong Mingzhu's strong endorsement only increases the exposure effect of Gree in a sense, and is not a necessary condition. Even if Dong Mingzhu is really lost, for a listed company that has already been on the right track, professional managers are enough for Gree to continue to operate stably.
In the final analysis, the problem faced by Gree is that its own development has fallen into a bottleneck, how to achieve a breakthrough in its own diversified development under the premise of the overall stability of the air conditioning industry. "Regardless of whether Dong Mingzhu is in office or not, this problem must be faced. Zhang Shule said.
Gree Group has a new handsome, and the head of Gree Electric is still Dong Mingzhu. As for Dong Mingzhu's ** person, Gree has no time to care for the time being.