Wahaha was acquired by Danone of France.

In March 1996, Wahaha Food City Co., Ltd. and Wahaha Group Company founded by Zong Qinghou invested in five joint ventures with the French Danone Group and Hong Kong Peregrine ***. Danone Obtained 41% equity of the joint venture company. (There are relevant provisions in the joint venture contract that other non-joint venture companies of Wahaha can use the Wahaha trademark, but must obtain the approval of the joint venture company’s board of directors.

After the Asian financial crisis, Peregrine sold its shares To Danone, Danone jumped to a 51% controlling position, and Wahaha held 49%.

In April 1999, after Wahaha's application for listing in the name of Food City was blocked, it established a group of companies with Danone. Enterprises without property rights. These enterprises operate and sell under the "Wahaha" brand without the consent of the joint venture's board of directors.

Danone once "allowed" Zong Qinghou's other joint ventures to use "Wahaha". "This brand, but after Wahaha's other joint ventures became profitable, Danone began to raise doubts about the use of its brand.

In December 2006, Danone and Wahaha signed a contract to acquire the remaining non-joint ventures. But 3 Months later, Zong Qinghou regretted his decision and decided to establish another sales company in order to break away from the original joint venture company's channels and sell non-joint venture company products.

On April 8, 2007, Zong Qinghou disclosed. The inside story of Danone’s forced purchase of Wahaha

Extended information

Background and causes

In 1987, Zong Qinghou took two retired teachers and borrowed money. It started with 140,000 yuan. By 1996, after several investments and acquisitions, Wahaha's output value exceeded 100 million yuan, and it had begun to take shape. Zong Qinghou, who had a great desire to "exchange the market for technology," chose to strategically introduce the world's beverage giants. Danone.

In 1996, Wahaha, Danone and Hong Kong Peregrine Company jointly invested in the establishment of five companies to produce products including purified water and eight-treasure porridge with the "Wahaha" trademark. .

Wahaha holds 49 shares. After the Asian financial crisis, Peregrine sold its shares to Danone, and Danone jumped to a controlling position of 51%.

Although Danone holds 51 shares in the joint venture. , but the decision-making power of the entire Wahaha Group's operations and production is concentrated in the hands of Zong Qinghou. In the nearly 10 years of cooperation with Danone, Zong Qinghou has always relied on his accumulated prestige and tough work style in Wahaha. Danone once sent a R&D manager and marketing director, but they were driven away by Zong Qinghou.

It is reported that at the beginning of the cooperation with Danone, Zong Qinghou and Danone's " The "Four Chapters of the Agreement" is the best embodiment of Zong Qinghou's tough style: first, the brand remains unchanged; second, the position of chairman remains unchanged; third, the benefits of retired employees remain unchanged; fourth, employees over 45 years old are not allowed to be dismissed .

At that time, Danone immediately proposed to transfer the "Wahaha" trademark rights to its joint venture company, but was rejected by the National Trademark Office, so the two parties later signed a trademark use contract.

What Zong Qinghou didn’t expect was that a seemingly casual clause in the contract put Wahaha in a passive position today. The contract contained this clause: “China can use the (Wahaha) trademark on other products in the future. In terms of production and sales, these product projects have been submitted to the board of directors of Wahaha and its joint ventures for consideration..."

This clause simply means that if Wahaha wants to use its own trademarks to produce and sell products, it needs to go through Danone agrees or joins a joint venture with it. In the past 10 years, Wahaha has successively established 39 joint ventures with Danone, accounting for 39 of the total number of subsidiaries of Wahaha Group Company.

After the joint venture, the cooperation between the two parties was not pleasant. In the mid-to-late 1990s, as the company's strength rapidly increased, its product marketing network became increasingly complete, and its product image gained popularity, Wahaha urgently needed to expand its production capacity through scale expansion and the establishment of factories across regions. However, Danone and Wahaha have different opinions on many issues such as investment and factory construction.

For example, in order to respond to the national call and to complete the industrial layout of the company's products in the central and western regions, Wahaha's decision-makers hope to participate in the development of the western region, counterpart support to old revolutionary areas, national poverty-stricken areas, and the Three Gorges Projects such as reservoir area construction.

However, Danone is unwilling to invest because of concerns about the consumption power of these areas. Because it is a joint venture, Danone is unwilling to invest, and Wahaha cannot invest on its own. A sharp conflict occurred between the two sides.

Reference materials: Baidu Encyclopedia - Danone's forced purchase of Wahaha incident

Reference materials: People's Daily Online - Danone's forced purchase of Wahaha: murder caused by mineral water (3)