This incident was indeed quite popular in the first half of this year. Briefly speaking, the French company Danone intends to forcibly acquire the equity of other non-joint ventures 51 of Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd., which has total assets of 5.6 billion yuan and profits of 1.04 billion yuan in 2006, at a low price of 4 billion yuan.

As the head of Wahaha, Zong Qinghou was of course angry. It is said that Danone was able to confidently make this request this time because it had set a trap for Zong Qinghou ten years ago. At that time, the two parties signed a trademark use contract, which included the following clause: "China can use the (Wahaha) trademark in the production and sales of other products in the future, and these product projects have been submitted to the board of directors of Wahaha and its joint venture for consideration..." Simply put, this clause means that if Wahaha wants to use its own trademark to produce and sell products, it needs Danone's consent or a joint venture with it. After signing, Zong Qinghou established a number of companies that had no joint venture relationship with Danone. By 2006, the total assets of these companies had reached 5.6 billion yuan, and their profits that year reached 1.04 billion yuan. Danone was jealous, and demanded the forcible acquisition of these companies, which were established by Wahaha employees and held shares on the grounds that the Wahaha Group "should not allow any other party to use the trademark except the Wahaha-Danone joint venture company" in the trademark use contract. A company that has no joint venture relationship with Danone.

These are the main causes and consequences. The latest development is that Wahaha has responded to the arbitrations and lawsuits filed by Danone in Europe and the United States at the same time in Stockholm, Sweden and the United States, and lawyers from both parties have entered the stage of collecting evidence.