On May 25th, 212, NVC Lighting Holdings Limited announced that Wu Changjiang, Chairman and CEO, resigned for personal reasons. Wu Changjiang also confirmed that there was no disagreement with the company's board of directors. It is reported that Yan Yan, the current non-executive director of NVC Lighting, took over as chairman and Zhang Kaipeng took over as CEO. Looking out the Prospectus of NVC Lighting's listing in Hong Kong, it is clearly pointed out that its listing sponsor includes Goldman Sachs, and its companies are also shareholders of NVC Lighting. By the time NVC Lighting went public, Softbank Safran and Goldman Sachs, as private equity investors, owned 3.73% and 9.39% respectively, while Softbank Safran was the largest shareholder at that time, surpassing Wu Changjiang's 29.33%. According to the 211 annual report, Softbank Safran holds 18.33% equity of NVC Lighting and remains the largest shareholder of listed companies.
Most people in the industry believe that Wu Changjiang's resignation is a struggle against the aforementioned shareholding structure and control rights. According to the latest information of HKEx, on May 11th, 212, Wu Changjiang increased its holding of 2 million shares in the company's long position at a cost of HK$ 5.32 million, with an average transaction price of HK$ 26.6. After the change, Wu Changjiang holds 63 million shares, accounting for 19.95%, but there is still a big gap with the equity of the two investment banks.
In fact, this is the second time that Wu Changjiang has left NVC-in 25, a dispute over the dominance of NVC Lighting broke out, and Wu Changjiang made a move to "retreat for progress" to gain control of the company under the protection of dealers. Industry speculation, Wu Changjiang will still go back to NVC like the first time.
After publicly resigning, Wu Changjiang sent two Weibo in succession to respond to the resignation. He said: "I resigned because I was physically and mentally exhausted recently and wanted to take a break." He also said: "I will still come back after I adjust for a while. I have devoted my life to NVC, and I will never give up."
NVC Lighting announced on the evening of 23rd that Wu Changjiang, the founder and current CEO of NVC, was elected as the executive director at the shareholders' meeting on June 21st. This means that Wu Changjiang has experienced twists and turns in the past year and officially returned to NVC's board of directors. In 1965, Wu Changjiang was born in Tongliang, Chongqing. In 1985, due to the abnormal performance of the college entrance examination, this outstanding student cadre in Sichuan Province missed out on his favorite Tsinghua University and was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University, where he studied aircraft manufacturing. After graduation, Wu Changjiang was assigned to Hanzhong Airlines in Shaanxi and got an enviable job. In 1992, on the eve of being promoted to deputy director, he chose to resign and came to Shenzhen alone with a "boss dream".
at first, he worked as a security guard in a Taiwan-funded enterprise. But he knows that this is by no means his pursuit of going south. Four or five months later, he came to Panyu and worked in a Hong Kong-owned lighting company. After several trials and tribulations, he summed up the "boss's law": first, he must be able to bear hardships; Secondly, courage and risk awareness; The third is to have a sense of business. He found that he had all the above conditions. In addition, he read much more books than many bosses.
One day ten months later, Wu Changjiang had 15, yuan in his passbook. He went straight to the boss and told him that he was going to quit his job and set up a factory.
In p>1994, Huizhou Minghui Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. was established with a total capital of 1, yuan and 6 shareholders, and Wu Changjiang was fully responsible.
the company's first order is fresh in Wu Changjiang's mind. A Hong Kong businessman wants 2, transformers and requires delivery within two weeks. Anyone familiar with this line knows that it will take one month to open a mold alone, but Wu Changjiang did not hesitate to take the order. It took a week to draw and mold, and more than 1 people worked for several nights in a row, and finally handed in the order. This business earned more than 2, yuan. This year, each of the six shareholders got 38, yuan. A year later, Wu Changjiang completed its initial capital accumulation.
at the end of p>1998, Wu Changjiang and two high school students pooled 1 million yuan to set up Huizhou NVC lighting co., ltd. At that time, Philips, Osram, Panasonic and other multinational lighting giants had entered China, and there were more than 3, lighting enterprises in the Pearl River Delta. NVC firmly set sail in the "internal troubles and foreign invasion".
"channel, honesty and brand" are the three major problems that NVC needs to overcome urgently. But what Wu Changjiang solved first was the strategic goal of enterprise development. "Set the goal first, then build the factory, keep the marketing unchanged, and put the strategy first"-these are the 16 words that NVC talked about the most at the beginning of its establishment, and it is also the consistent practice of NVC.
in p>2, a batch of products worth more than 2 million yuan were found to have quality problems. Do you want to recall the product or leave with a leather bag? At this life-and-death moment, Wu Changjiang chose the most important decision so far: recalling all the defective products. Some employees proposed to erase NVC trademark before selling it, but he flatly rejected it. "NVC" established the product recall system that was first implemented in the lighting industry at the cost of a net loss of more than 2 million yuan, thus winning the market reputation. At the end of that year, the sales of NVC reached 7 million yuan.
With the increasing sales, Wu Changjiang has decided to be the first in the industry to implement the exclusive store model. "NVC has just started, and the products are even dissatisfied with half of the walls. What store is it?" Many people don't understand. But Wu Changjiang stuck to his ideas. In July 2, the first exclusive store opened in Shenyang. A year later, there are more than a dozen such stores, and dealers report that stores with brands are much better than those without brands. Gradually, some dealers came to the door and asked to join. In 25, NVC, which rose rapidly in the market, experienced an "earthquake" that most private enterprises experienced.
serious differences have arisen among the three shareholders. The other two shareholders believe that they have been investing in the past few years, and now they should pay dividends when they make money; Wu Changjiang believes that the enterprise has not done enough, and the money earned should be reinvested.
the two sides don't give in to each other, and the shareholders finally show their hands. Because the other party holds 55% of the shares, Wu Changjiang only holds 45% of the shares. Although the other party does not participate in the management, in order to balance the relationship, Wu Changjiang relinquished the position of chairman. He was asked to take away 8 million yuan and then quit NVC completely.
However, on the 3rd day after Wu Changjiang signed an agreement, things changed dramatically. As soon as Wu Changjiang left Huizhou, he received a phone call from a supplier, asking him to go back to the company quickly.
as soon as he returned to Huizhou, he was taken directly to the company conference hall. In the hall, more than 2 suppliers and distributors from all over the country, as well as middle and high-level cadres of the company, were crowded with rooms, and the other two shareholders were surrounded in the middle. The banner of "NVC Strategy Seminar" was also hung at the scene.
In the end, everyone decided to vote on Wu Changjiang's stay by show of hands, and the result was unanimous. The other two shareholders withdrew. The "rebellion" of suppliers and distributors determines the personnel changes of an enterprise's top management, which has created a precedent in the history of enterprise development and amazed the industry.
"You need to be bold when it comes to all difficulties, but you should be calm when the situation is adverse." Wu Changjiang has always inherited the character of Chongqing people. After the "company earthquake", "NVC" ushered in more brilliant achievements. In 26, the sales revenue of NVC reached 1.5 billion yuan. Not only did it establish an industrial park in Huizhou, but it also spent hundreds of millions of yuan in Wanzhou, Chongqing and Linyi, Shandong, respectively, to build the largest lighting base in Southwest China and North China.
The sudden emergence of NVC has not only won the respect of Philip, but also made multinational investment companies such as Goldman Sachs and Softbank hear the news. With the international investment background, NVC has become the most internationalized China lighting enterprise in China. According to the dispute between famous entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, Jiang stepped into the Capital Bureau:
The first stage
At the end of p>1998, Wu Changjiang invested 45, yuan, and his other two classmates Du Gang and Hu Yonghong each invested 275, yuan to establish NVC Lighting in Huizhou with a registered capital of 1 million yuan. From the perspective of ownership structure, Wu Changjiang accounts for 45%, while the other two account for 55%.
after growing up, several people have different views on how to use the money earned. After a big fight in the board of directors in 25, it was decided to split up. The plan is: the enterprise will set a price of 24 million yuan and take 8 million yuan from the enterprise itself. In exchange, the equity owned by its own enterprise will be owned by the other two shareholders. Hu and Du Xinran agreed and signed the agreement immediately. Later, Hu Du left with 8 million yuan each.
In the second stage, from Hu and Du's departure to IPO listing
Hu and Du's departure also left NVC in short supply. Wu turned to Liu Chuanzhi and invited Lenovo to become a shareholder in NVC. With Liu's contact, Ye Zhiru, who had a cooperative relationship with Legend Holdings, lent NVC $2 million through Zhengri Company, and later "converted debts into shares".
In p>28, WorldCom Investment Co., Ltd. was acquired in the form of cash and stock to enhance its technical capabilities. Re-financing due to lack of cash. In this financing, Goldman Sachs and Softbank Safran jointly invested USD 46.56 million in NVC Lighting, including USD 36.56 million from Goldman Sachs and USD 1 million from Softbank Safran. At this point, the largest shareholder became Softbank, Wu fell to the second largest, and Goldman Sachs ranked third.
The Yangtze River failed in the third stage
On July 21st, 211, NVC introduced French Schneider Electric as a strategic shareholder, and six major shareholders, including Softbank Safran, Goldman Sachs and Wu Changjiang, transferred 288 million shares to Schneider at a price of HK$ 4.42 per share. Schneider spent HK$ 1.275 billion, accounting for 9.22% of the shares, becoming the third largest shareholder of NVC Lighting.
on may 25th, 212, Wu Changjiang was resigned from all positions of NVC lighting for "personal reasons" without warning. Yan Yan of Softbank Safran succeeded him as the chairman, and Zhang Kaipeng, who came from Schneider and worked in Schneider for 16 years, succeeded him as the CEO.
Wu Changjiang may soon return to NVC's board of directors.
NVC's internal strife, which is raging, ushered in a turning point. The three major shareholders stopped shouting from a distance and met face to face. The reporter learned exclusively yesterday that Wu Changjiang, the original founder of NVC Lighting, has promised "Yan Sandian" and will soon return to NVC's board of directors. At the end of 1998, Wu Changjiang founded NVC Lighting, put forward and fully practiced the business philosophy of "creating a world brand and striving for the first place in the industry", took the lead in introducing brand monopoly mode and operation center mode in the industry, and led the "brand revolution" and "channel revolution" in China lighting industry successively.
removal from office
On August 8th, NVC Lighting announced that the board of directors passed a resolution to remove Wu Changjiang from the post of CEO, and Wang Donglei, the chairman, replaced him. Wang Donglei said that Wu Changjiang was suspected of transferring benefits for companies directly or indirectly controlled by him, and at the same time, he was addicted to gambling and owed 4 million yuan in gambling debts.