Diversified group development, not everyone can!

This is the epitome of the collapse of big enterprises in China!

Founder Group owes 300 billion yuan and declares bankruptcy!

Why do former national brands always become negative teaching materials?

Last month, Founder Group was quietly established.

Many young people may have questions. Who is Founder Group?

Microsoft yahei used it, right? Under the Founder Group.

Before bankruptcy and reorganization, a company commercialized its Microsoft yahei font, and as a result, it was sued by Founder and almost lost the company.

But this company, which sounds quite out of tune, was once the leading technology giant in China.

Its most awesome invention angered CCTV: as long as China people read books and newspapers, they have to thank him.

When it was brilliant, it was the seventh largest PC supplier in the world, the second in the domestic PC market and the first in Lenovo.

It reached its peak in 20 18 years, with an annual income of133.3 billion yuan and 6 listed companies.

But even such a powerful national enterprise will fail.

Last year, Founder Group declared bankruptcy and reorganization because of its debt of 300 billion yuan, which led to the new Founder Group that nobody cares about today.

The downfall of the founder is the most common disease in big companies.

What Japan has failed to do is,

Founder did it in three years.

1986, Peking University invested 400,000 yuan to register a "Peking University Science and New Technology Company", which is the predecessor of Founder Group.

Now, the founder group, which is ignored by no one, is known as "the light of China" and a proper national hope.

This is mainly due to its technical founder-Wang Xuan.

He solved a difficult problem that has benefited all of China so far: let China people enter the information world.

This thing that everyone is used to now was a worldwide problem at that time.

In China in the 1970s, printing was still used in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In order to complete printing, China consumes at least 200,000 tons of lead alloy every year to cast characters; 2 million sets of copper molds for typesetting. Workers in charge of casting not only have to endure high temperature and harsh working environment, but also may be poisoned by lead.

Even so, the publication of a book will take about a year.

At that time, western countries already had an electronic phototypesetting system, which used computers to control photography and typesetting. High efficiency has caused a huge gap between Chinese and western printing capabilities.

If Chinese characters cannot be integrated into computers, it is inevitable that China will continue to lag behind others in the future.

In order to solve this problem, Wang Xuan studied and consulted materials in many ways, and even copied the relevant contents back to the library when he could not afford books. Finally, the idea of bypassing the second and third generation and directly making the fourth generation laser imagesetter is put forward.

At that time, Japan didn't even fix the third generation imagesetter. As soon as I mentioned this, he was laughed at by the little teaching assistant of Peking University: You are the fourth generation, and I want to be the eighth generation.

The bitterness of textual research itself, coupled with the ridicule and incomprehension of the outside world, Wang Xuan said with emotion: "It is really difficult for Tang Priest to learn from the scriptures."

To his disappointment, the fourth generation phototypesetting technology was successfully invented by him, which not only broke the monopoly of foreign countries on related technologies, but also made Chinese appear in the information world for the first time.

This epoch-making invention angered CCTV: "As long as you have read books and newspapers, you should thank him, just as you should thank Edison for using electric lights every day."

With this advanced technology, in just three years, the order of Peking University Science and New Technology Company (the predecessor of Founder Group) exceeded 1 100 million US dollars.

Then, Wang Xuan improved and upgraded the collating technology. After the upgrade, Founder Group not only monopolized the domestic newspaper market. Even abroad, they have occupied 80% of the newspaper market in China.

The energetic Founder Group was listed on the main board of Founder (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong on 1995.

It stands to reason that Founder, who has placed high hopes on the "Light of China", has an adequate technical team, scientific research and talent support from Peking University, should make great efforts in technological innovation and have the dream of becoming Microsoft and Google.

However, I never imagined that Founder, which is booming, actually "changed careers" directly.

A technology company,

No core technology?

After 1998, Founder attached great importance to the computer industry market and was ready to make great efforts.

Unlike Lenovo, the leader of the PC market at that time, Founder has sufficient technical team, scientific research and talent support from Peking University, and its strength cannot be underestimated.

In just four years, Founder Computer ranks among the top ten in Asia-Pacific, with three listed companies. At that time, the first computer used by many people in China was Founder Computer.

When computer sales reached the second place in China, Wei Xin, then vice president of Zheng Fang, said with great enthusiasm that he would catch up with Lenovo within three years.

Surprisingly, however, in the past three years, he has undergone a series of mysterious operations.

In 2002, Wei Xin announced an incredible decision: to implement the diversification strategy.

The reason for diversification is that Founder Computer has no core technology.

"Our computer sales revenue is relatively large, several billion yuan a year, but is that a high-tech enterprise?" "I never think that computer companies are high-tech enterprises, because the core technology is not in our hands."

He seems to have neglected the origin of Founder's laser typesetting technology. He relies on the top talents and technology of Peking University in China.

The real reason for his decision is that it is the easiest way.

The laser typesetting market has gradually saturated, and the old eyes are not enough to eat. The road to scientific research and innovation is long and arduous. It is better to expand this shortcut into the most convenient and profitable.

Also in this year, Founder Group started a crazy buy buy purchase. Successively invested in Zhejiang Securities, participated in Chengdu Commercial Bank, acquired Suzhou Iron and Steel Group, and increased the capital of Southwest Synthetic General Factory.

In 2003, relying on the crazy expansion in the short term, the revenue of Founder Group exceeded 20 billion yuan for the first time, only 4 billion yuan behind Lenovo.

In the face of his own achievements, Wei Xin is not without pride: "Yang's life is more sad than mine. Why? I didn't put my eggs in a basket. "

But this seemingly easy road did not let Founder go far.

In 20 10, Founder was forced to "sell" the personal computer business to Acer for 70 million dollars, while Lenovo's total revenue at that time was as high as166 billion dollars.

What made Founder Computer come to this step was Wei Xin's own self-certified prediction.

Because I am not optimistic about the PC business, I feel that I have no core technology. As the biggest source of income and profit, PC business has been cornered by Wei Xin.

The original business of a computer company was dispersed into different business groups. Originally, it was the representative of the company's image, but in an instant it became an inconspicuous product in many businesses of the company.

A pure IT industry group initiated in the era of Wang Xuan has almost transformed into a financial company in his hands.

Contrary to Founder's obsession with diversification, competitor Lenovo chose the route of focusing on its main business (key PC).

Different road choices bring dramatic results. However, this ironic contrast did not let Founder learn any lessons.

After the main business lost money, it accelerated its expansion and gradually became a behemoth involved in information technology, finance, real estate and medicine.

At the same time, it is also a behemoth that is strong outside and hollow inside, has no core competitiveness and is ready to collapse at any time.

Once Guoguang,

Why is it always a negative textbook?

The biggest problem of Founder Group is greed.

Because of greed, the company's ambition is extremely inflated, and it is hungry for mergers everywhere, which makes it bear huge debts.

Founder Group's tentacles extend to all walks of life, from securities, steel and medicine to real estate, finance and education.

Most of these companies have difficulties in operation or are heavily in debt. They will only spend money on the founders of the acquisition, and they are helpless about other people's business models and technical bottlenecks. In the end, instead of making money, they will further drag themselves down.

Peking University Medical, which is only a high-quality asset, has left Founder in debt of tens of billions.

Such a large number of invalid acquisitions have made Founder, which looks glamorous on the surface, lose money all the way.

By 2020, Founder Group will have a net loss of 3 billion yuan a year and total liabilities of over 300 billion yuan.

Similarly, because of greed, the power struggle within Founder is comparable to a palace fight, which makes people wonder whether Founder is going to fall.

In order to stabilize his power in the company, Wei Xin wooed Li You to be the chairman of the company. In order to control Founder Group, Li You cronyism, controlled the equity through insider trading, and finally sent himself to prison. After Li You went to prison, relatives and friends staged another drama to rob the official seal.

The incident caused many senior executives of Founder Group to be investigated, which made people panic.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the leaders of Founder Group had to come out and shout: "The difficulties encountered by Founder are temporary. Founder has not fallen, can't fall, won't fall, and is not allowed to fall. "

It can be said that with the ups and downs of Founder Group, only chickens crow and dogs jump all the way.

But the original founder should not be like this. It was born at the right time, at the right time and in the right place.

In the 20th century, China has made great achievements in engineering technology, which is second only to "two bombs and one satellite". It is at the forefront of computer technology development, backed by top domestic talents and technical support.

From any angle, it should have a better chance than Huawei, which is still selling switches in the same period, to grow into a technology giant in China today, rather than a financial company that plays itself bankrupt.

However, the initial greed made it give up its fundamental technological advantages and indulge in the false sense of expansion brought about by the rapid merger, which also created the later outcome.

Academician Wang Xuan would never have dreamed of the other side's situation today.

He left the laser phototypesetting technology of Chinese characters to Founder, and left the development concept of "indomitable spirit" to be high-tech.

Before his death, he had high hopes: "My partner is full of confidence in the future of computer research institute, and the younger generation must" surpass Wang Xuan and go to the world. "

But who would have thought that a company that made a fortune on its own because of the reputation of "the light of China" did not learn its own "top sky", let alone "foothold", and only knew how to make quick money in the expansion of the capital market.

And indulging in making quick money eventually killed it.

-Hou Xiaofeng 2021.11.21