A rumor caused Wahaha to lose as much as 12.5 billion. Now that the founder has passed away, the whole network owes him an apology.
In 2005 and 2006, Wahaha launched two popular products, Nutrition Express and Shuang Wei, together with the previous classic products AD calcium milk, eight-treasure porridge and purified water, Wahaha has become the largest food and beverage company in China and the fifth largest in the world.
In 2013, Wahaha's revenue reached 782800 million yuan, and the founder Zong Qinghou also became the richest man in China for the third time with a wealth of 78.3 billion yuan.
However, Wahaha's development has not been smooth sailing. In 2011, Wahaha was attacked by malicious rumors for refusing a foreign acquisition. Some netizens spread rumors that the nutrition express line can become *** after drying, and even attached experimental data and **. Wahaha responded that this is a normal protein gel phenomenon, but this rumor still caused the sales of Nutrition Express to drop from 400 million cases to 1500 million cases, a whopping 605%。According to Zong Qinghou, this is equivalent to a loss of 20 billion. That is, nearly 12.5 billion was lost on Nutrition Express sales alone.
4 years later, Wahaha encountered rumors again, saying that Shuang Crooked, Wahaha, and AD calcium milk all contained Botox and needed to be recalled urgently. This false information has been viewed as many as 1700 million. Although Wahaha clarified the rumors, it still couldn't stop them from going viral. In the end, Wahaha sued the communicator in court, and the defendant admitted that he had posted false information and apologized in public.
During the 2017 National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, Wahaha founder Zong Qinghou responded to Wahaha's two online rumors for the first time in an interview with reporters, expressing his suspicion that it was done by foreign power organizations, because many servers are abroad. He also mentioned that companies are often attacked by various rumors before being acquired, in order to depress the completion of the acquisition.
Today, Wahaha is still a leader in China's beverage industry, and its success is inseparable from Zong Qinghou's efforts and persistence. Although he has left us, his spirit and philosophy will continue to be inherited and carried forward in Wahaha. In the future, Wahaha will continue to uphold the corporate philosophy of "Health, Happiness and Sharing" to bring more delicious food and joy to consumers. Let's look forward to Wahaha going further and further on the road in the future and making greater contributions to the development of China's beverage industry!