In March 2017, Chen Ou went to Shenzhen alone and spent a month studying the shared power bank market, and came to a key conclusion: "There will be no major breakthroughs in mobile phone battery technology in the next five years."
Without hesitation, he resolutely invested 300 million yuan to purchase 60% of the shares of Shenzhen Street Electric Technology, which attracted the attention of industry bigwigs.
Many people think that this industry has little future, and the bad experience of bike sharing some time ago is an excellent example. Some people even think that Chen Ou is doing this purely to cut the IQ of a wave of users.
Wang Sicong unceremoniously declared in the circle of friends: "If the shared charging treasure can be successful, I will eat Xiang, and the post will be proof."
Chen Ou responded in a way with high emotional intelligence: "Thank you Sicong for your supervision, I hope your emotions will not affect the project's entry into Wanda." ”
Time flies, seven years have passed. How is Chen Ou doing? Did Wang Sicong fulfill his promise?
Back in 2014, 31-year-old Chen Ou led Jumei to a successful listing on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the youngest CEO of a listed company in history.
At that time, Jumei's market capitalization reached 38$69.5 billion.
At the same time, Xu Xiaoping, who had invested in the company's 10% stake when the company's valuation was only $180,000, had exceeded $300 million, and the return on investment had increased thousands of times.
However, at the most glorious moment, Chen Ou suffered a fatal blow, and his $12 billion in assets were wiped out, falling into the lowest point of his life.
Many people think that his life has come to an end, but he is unyielding and spends 300 million on products that everyone disdains.
In this regard, Wang Sicong publicly ridiculed, but he was unmoved, and miraculously made a comeback two years later.
This is Chen Ou, a real legend in the business world.
Even if you are scarred, you must live beautifully. I'm Chen Ou, and I speak for myself. Because this line closely fits with the later thinking, Chen Ou became an instant hit, and the number of personal fans soared to more than 40 million, more than twice that of Ma Yun and three times that of Lei Jun at that time.
In 2012, Jumei released a new advertisement that focused everyone's attention on 29-year-old CEO Chen Ou. In the advertisement, he plays a young entrepreneur who rains down on him in the face of external pressure, attacks, doubts and denigration.
However, he refused to give up easily, stumbling along the way, and finally broke the obstacles in front of him with a punch, and after a short rest, he continued to move forward.
The positive energy line at the end of the advertisement made the name "Chen Ou" popular for a while, and some people even called this line "Chen Outi", which triggered a fierce imitation craze.
Seeing his name become popular, Chen Ou was full of pride, and at the same time glad that he had chosen at the beginning.
As of 2013, Jumei has 10.5 million active users and a repurchase rate of 889%。This success is due in large part to the launch of two editions of the "I speak for myself" campaign in 2011 and 2012.
Jumei continued to make great progress, achieving 8 consecutive quarters of profitability. In mid-May 2014, Jumei plans to launch in the United States. Before the listing, Chen Ou originally planned to buy luxury goods in Hong Kong, visiting Armani, Dior, Zegna and other brand stores, but felt that it was too luxurious, and finally bought only one at Zara.
On May 16, Jumei opened at 27 on the first day$25, an increase of 23 from the issue price86%。Chen Ou became the "youngest Chinese CEO in the 220-year history of the New York Stock Exchange". At that time, Xu Xiaoping, who invested $180,000 in Jumei, held a value of more than $300 million, with a return rate of more than 1,000 times.
Looking back on its peers, JD.com is still vigorously promoting 3C products, while Tmall has just begun to set foot in the field of e-commerce.
However, when Jumei's stock price approached $40, a series of problems caused the company to fall into a dilemma: some consumers reported allergies after using the product, and at the same time raised questions about the authenticity of the product.
Soon after, international first-line brands such as Lancôme and Guerlain announced that they had no cooperative relationship with Jumei. Then, some employees broke the news on the Internet that Jumei sold fake goods, and there was even news that the company's big-name cosmetics were actually professionally purchased from a cottage in Guangdong, and the proportion of fake goods was as high as 90%. And an even bigger crisis is yet to ......
By February 17, 2016, Jumei's stock price had fallen below $7 for 20 days, and Chen Ou couldn't sit still. He proposed to privatize Jumei and withdraw from the United States at $7 per share**.
What is privatization? To put it simply, the company buys back everything on the company and then delists it in the United States. That is to say, Jumei, which has just been listed in the United States at $22 per share, is now delisted at $7, with a price difference of $15 per share, making Chen Ou earn 1$66.5 billion, while minority shareholders have no hope of turning over.
Netizens commented on Chen Ou like a flood: he was accused of seriously underestimating the value of the company, not thinking about how to improve shareholder value, and only wanting to privatize at a low price, which simply refreshed the shameless bottom line.
* The title is also unrelenting; Zhu Xiaohu unceremoniously scolded Chen Ou in the circle of friends for losing Stanford's face.
Mr. Chen's approach has had a literally impact on the reputation of all Chinese companies, and since then, Chinese companies have been viewed by American investors as going public for personal gain.
It's hard to imagine that Jumei has been seeking privatization for four of the six years since it went public.
Back in 2016, the consortium was prepared to go private at $7 per ADS**, but it was ultimately stranded due to shareholder opposition to the acquisition**.
This whole thing can be described as a chicken flying and a dog jumping, making a lot of noise. Even because of this "farce", Zhu Xiaohu nicknamed Chen Ou "Chen Qiyuan". The reason is that shareholders feel that Jumei Youpin was originally listed at $22 per share, but now it is delisted at $7 per share, which is really unacceptable.
As a result, Jumei's privatization plan collapsed, the company's top management left one after another, and investors began to sell**...Since then, Jumei has plummeted, and its market value has plummeted to only $300 million. Compared with the market value of $5.6 billion at the peak, it has fallen by 95%. As a result, the Internet celebrity-like image collapsed in an instant, and only the nickname of "Chen Qiyuan" was left in the rivers and lakes.
Then in 2020, Jumei mentioned privatization again. After a month of negotiations, the final buyer group was willing to acquire the unheld shares at a price of $20 per ADS**, and a definitive agreement was reached with Jumei.
While $20 per ADS may seem like a significant premium, it is actually due to the fact that 1 ADS share represents 1 Class A common stock instead of 1 ADS share representing 10 Class A common stock. To put it simply, Jumei's share price had fallen to $2 at the time of privatization. Chen Ou, who was once jokingly called "Chen Seven Pieces", has now become "Chen Two Pieces".
Although there were still some minority shareholders who were dissatisfied with the privatization** and objected to the plan, the plan was finally approved and the majority of shareholders voluntarily accepted the tender offer. Jumei emphasized that at a time when global funds are gradually hedging against risks, privatization provides certainty and is in line with the wishes of most shareholders.
Today, the market capitalization is only 2Jumei's market capitalization, which is $2.7 billion, has shrunk by more than 95%. Today, as the e-commerce industry matures, Jumei's living space is becoming more and more narrow.
Next, in 2017, Chen Ou kept up with the fashion trend and invested 300 million yuan to buy a shared charging treasure project for street electricity, and personally assumed the position of chairman.
But at that time, few people were optimistic about this project, because the streets and alleys were full of charging sockets, who still needed to share power banks?
Even Wang Sicong personally stood up and claimed that sharing charging treasure was a loss-making business. However, Chen Ou was not discouraged, but personally organized a team to promote, from large shopping malls to street shops, you can see the figure of shared power banks almost everywhere.
Once the successful path is verified, a large amount of capital pours into the power bank industry. As the first person to "eat crabs", the street electricity naturally gets more, and the number of users reaches a full 10.7 billion, ranking first in the industry.
Now we all understand that Street Power has become a leader in the field of shared charging treasure in the country.
Since the high-profile "Principal Wang" for many years is no longer so eye-catching, the words he promised in the past can now only be regarded as a joke and cannot really be fulfilled, and "Eat Xiang" may just be a joke. But through this series of experiences, we understand that Chen Ou, who speaks for himself, has not really failed, and "bald strong" is back with a new image!
In addition to the street electricity project, Chen Ou ignored the opinions at the beginning, with 3The huge investment of 7.2 billion yuan has also successfully entered the field of baby tree.
In 2018, Babytree was listed in Hong Kong, and in November of the same year alone, Jumei successfully cashed out nearly 600 million.
This reminds me of the once popular "Chen Outi": "Dream is destined to be a lonely journey, and there will inevitably be doubts and ridicule on the way, but so what? Even if you are covered in bruises, you have to live beautifully. ”
As a teenager, when he rode proudly on brightly colored horses, this phrase may have been just a beautiful slogan to inspire his 40 million fans. However, when he fell into a trough, eclipsed, questioned and ridiculed, but still failed again and again, perhaps he really understood that this sentence was also his own struggle.
Now, even though he has disappeared, Chen Ou is still speaking for himself and continues to stick to his dream.
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