In recent days, Wang Jingdong, the prospective successor of Gree Electric Appliances (600651), has resigned from the company, which has attracted great attention in the market.

You know, Wang Jingdong is currently a director, vice president, and secretary of the board of directors of Gree Electric. Although he is very low-key, his label has not been ignored by the market.

Moreover, Wang Jingdong has worked for only one company, Gree Electric, for 18 years since joining the workforce as a national civil servant.

With such an identity, when the company's operations are stable and there are no major emergencies, he suddenly announces his resignation. Although the reasons behind it are not visible to the outside world, they must be deep and complicated.

In my opinion, Wang Jingdong’s resignation when Gree Electric Appliances’ mixed-ownership reform was approaching a year ago was really a last resort. You must know that he himself also directly holds Gree Electric Appliances shares with a market value of nearly 50 million.

This outcome is that Hillhouse Capital entered Gree Electric through mixed ownership reform and became the largest shareholder. After eight months of buffering, it expressed for the first time the voice of capital and the responsibilities and obligations it has to bear as the largest shareholder.

More than 8 months buffer time, no more, no less.

In between, there are the 2019 annual report and the 2020 interim report. New shareholders can judge the company's operating status and quality before the 2020 interim report is released.

The interim report was expected to be bleak, but since Wang Jingdong has resigned, it shows that Hillhouse Capital has taken action before, and there will not be too much criticism in the market.

Therefore, Wang Jingdong’s resignation will leave a director position vacant, and the market believes that Hillhouse Capital will fill the vacancy.

If this is the case, it means that Hillhouse Capital led by Zhang Lei successfully promoted itself as a shareholder in the first round, and then entered the company's decision-making level in the second round and won another round.

In other words, after eight months of running-in, Dong Mingzhu, the powerful leader of Gree Electric Appliances, made a certain degree of compromise with Zhang Lei or Hillhouse Capital.

Hillhouse Capital passed the test at the end of 2019, defeated many opponents, and became the only participant in Gree Electric's mixed-ownership reform. It finally spent more than 40 billion yuan to acquire 15% of Gree Electric's shares, becoming the largest shareholder of Gree Electric.

However, through layer-by-layer agreements, Hillhouse Capital has no say in Gree Electric’s decision-making and management.

At that time, Hillhouse Capital acquired 15% of Gree Group's shares through Zhuhai Mingjun Investment Partnership.

There are five shareholders of Zhuhai Mingjun, namely Zhuhai Xianying, Zhuhai Botao, Hillhouse Hanying, Zhuhai Yihui and Zhuhai Gezhen Investment.

Among them, Zhuhai Xianying enjoys exclusive and exclusive execution rights over Zhuhai Mingjun's affairs through the partnership agreement.

The general partner and executive partner of Zhuhai Xianying are Zhuhai Yuxiu. Zhuhai Yuxiu has the right to manage, invest and dispose of the assets of Zhuhai Xianying. The board of directors of Zhuhai Yuxiu is the final decision of Zhuhai Xianying and Zhuhai Mingjun.

The agency has decision-making power on all major matters of Zhuhai Xianying and Zhuhai Mingjun.

The above-mentioned shareholders of Zhuhai Gezhen, which has the decision-making power of Zhuhai Xianying and Zhuhai Mingjun, are composed of 18 natural persons, all of whom are the current management of Gree Group. Among them, Dong Mingzhu, as the general partner, holds a share ratio of 95.482

%, the shareholding ratio of Wang Jingdong, who resigned this time, is 0.222%.

From this point of view, Zhang Lei, with more than 40 billion yuan from Hillhouse Capital, became the largest shareholder of Gree Electric Appliances. In fact, he only helped Dong Mingzhu achieve the management control he dreamed of.

Hillhouse Capital does not have a seat on the board of directors, and the rights of the largest shareholder are also given to Dong Mingzhu and his team. As the largest shareholder, it plays the role of a financial investor.

But Zhang Lei is not someone who gives things easily. He has been in the domestic capital market for many years. His investment cases have become business school textbooks, and his investment trends have also become a benchmark in the investment community.

Since it can defeat many opponents and harvest the fruits of Gree's hybrid reform, it will naturally have a back-up plan.

It’s just that the opponent I encountered was Dong Mingzhu, so this time period may be longer.

Just after the completion of the mixed-ownership reform, Gree Electric's business level has undergone major changes.

In 2009, although Gree Electric's operating income reached 200.508 billion yuan, an increase of 0.24%, its net profit fell for the first time, with a decline of 5.75%.

As of the first quarter, its net profit dropped by 75% to only 1.558 billion yuan.

On the other hand, Midea Group, Gree's main competitor, saw its net profit increase by 19.6% in 2019, reaching 24.2 billion yuan. In the first quarter of 2020, Midea Group's net profit dropped slightly, with a net profit of 4.8 billion yuan. For the first time

More than Gree Electric.

Another similar company, Qingdao Haier, saw its net profit increase again by 9.6% in 2019 on the basis of consecutive years of growth.

Regarding the decline in performance, Gree Electric's board of directors explained that it was mainly affected by the epidemic at the beginning of the year. In addition, the company is promoting a new retail model, and it will take time to have a positive impact.

In fact, without any explanation from the company, the stock market has already made its choice.

Since the start of this round of market conditions in early 2020, the Shanghai Composite Index has begun to rise from around 2646 points, with the highest increase reaching more than 30%. Big bull stocks in technology, medicine, liquor and other sectors have emerged one after another. Gree Electric Appliances has faltered in the secondary market for half a year.

, it is still falling despite rising, and it is still close to 20% away from the highest point of 69 yuan in 2019.