Shi,1born in February, 1963, is from Yangzhong.
1983 graduated from Jilin University with a bachelor's degree.
1986 graduated from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
1988 studied at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and studied under Professor martin green, an international authority on solar cells and winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Environment.
199 1 year obtained the excellent doctor's degree in polysilicon thin film solar cell technology. Later, he served as a researcher of the center and executive director of Australia Pacific Solar Power Co., Ltd., and personally held more than one solar cell technology invention patent 10.
In 2000, he returned to China and founded Wuxi Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd., and is currently the chairman and CEO of Wuxi Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
65.438+086 billion China's new richest man's road to wealth, the government mobilized state-owned shares to withdraw.
Stone-before 65438+February 2005 65438+April 2005, this was a strange name. Few people know about it except professionals in the solar power generation industry. However, it is this "Dr. Yang" who lives in a corner of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province and silently shortens the gap between China's photovoltaic industry and the world level by 15 years.
Dr. Solar Energy, who came back from Australia, started his business for four years and won the New York Stock Exchange. He changed from an entrepreneur who was frequently questioned by the outside world to a "rich man" enthusiastically sought after by Wall Street and the media.
The new richest man in China was born at 65438+ around 5: 00 Beijing time on June 3rd.
At the close of NYSE on the same day, the share price of Wuxi Suntech Solar Power Holding Co., Ltd., the first private enterprise in China listed on the main board of the United States, reached $34.02 per share.
Its chairman and CEO Shi holds 68 million shares, that is to say, its latest value has reached US$ 2,365,438+RMB 300 million, totaling about RMB 654.38+RMB 860 million-far exceeding the US$ 654.38+RMB 600 million of Forbes China's richest man in 2005 and the US$ 654.38+RMB 400 million of Huang Guangyu, the richest man in Hurun Report.
In addition, Wuxi Suntech currently has a total share capital of 65.438+0.45 billion shares. Based on the share price of 654.38+0.03, its market value is US$ 4.922 billion, which is about RMB 40 billion. It is the largest listed private enterprise in China.
Ma Du, managing director of NYSE, said, "This marks the first time that China private enterprises have integrated into the mainstream capital market in the United States."
On June 30, 2005, 65438+February 30, at the suggestion of the reporter, Shi turned on the computer in the company office in Wuxi, looked at the company's share price and calculated his worth with a calculator. The result at that time was $6543.8+68 million.
"This is the first time I have calculated the market value of my stock," Shi said. "People say I am a rich man, but I don't really feel any different from before. The stock price fluctuates, so I still have to go to work as usual, travel as usual, and get paid. "
Prosperous industry
Tan, vice mayor in charge of industry in Wuxi, pointed out that after Suntech went public in new york, it was said that Dr. Shi became rich overnight. "This is one-sided. I have not seen the hardships of Dr. Shi's entrepreneurship in recent years."
In 2000, Shi, who studied under the "father of solar energy" Green for more than 10 years, returned to China to start a business with hundreds of thousands of dollars. "Now that I think about it, the risk is quite big. What I wanted at that time was nothing. "
At the beginning of the difficulties, Suntech could not pay wages for two months, and had to rely on shareholder guarantees and bank loans to tide over the difficulties. At that time, there was a project contract of 6.5438+10,000 yuan. During the construction process, employees of the engineering company rushed into his office to force debts and threatened to remove equipment to pay off the debts.
What saddens him even more is that the two "lineages" he invited back from Australia left because there was no hope.
"From March 2002 to the end of 2004, I took the lead and only got 1/4 salary." History recalls:
Fortunately, Shi is engaged in a "hot industry".
In September, 2002, Suntech built the first 10 MW solar cell production line in Wuxi, and its production capacity was equivalent to the total output of solar cells in China in the previous four years. In June 2003, early 2004 and August 2004, Shi submitted reports to the board of directors three times, and put forward suggestions for expanding production capacity, all of which were approved.
"In retrospect, we did the right thing at the right time. The expansion of production capacity has enabled the company to catch up with the rapid development of global solar industry in 200 1 year. "
CLSA (Asia) released an industry report called "Thermal Solar Energy" in 2004. The report said, "This industry is really hot. Although it is taking off, it is not like a bubble at all, but a solid and reliable investment target. "
In July 2005, CLSA (Asia) released the latest authoritative research report on solar energy industry again, and predicted that by 20 10, global solar's output will increase by 4 times, sales revenue will increase by 3 times and profits will increase by 3 times. Advantage solar companies have huge room for growth, which will last at least until 2008, and may even reach 20 10. "In the next 2-3 years, the share prices of leading companies in the solar energy industry will at least double, and in some cases, the increase will be even greater."
From mid-2004 to April 2005, the sales revenue of solar energy industry increased by 33%, the profit before tax increased by 85%, and the share price of global solar company rose by 1.33% on average. Among them, Nikko's share price rose by 5 19%, Motech in Taiwan Province Province of China rose by 394%, and SolarWorld rose by 336%.
An investor who is very familiar with the solar energy industry pointed out that Suntech is not the first company in China to enter the solar energy industry, but several companies that participated in the early stage finally lost market opportunities because the global market was not up at that time, and the capacity expansion could not keep up after the market suddenly rose.
According to Suntech, at present, its products are mainly exported. In June-September of 2004 and 2005, exports exceeded 92% and 82% of the total sales respectively, and the market was mainly concentrated in Europe, Australia, the United States, Southeast Asia and other regions, especially Germany. From June 5th to September 25th, 2005, we purchased major customers who reached or exceeded 65,438+00% of the company's sales, including Coniger, IBC Solar, Solar World, etc.
"In June this year, Suntech's production capacity will be expanded to 240 MW and will reach 300 MW by the end of the year." Zhang Weiguo, deputy general manager of the company, said, "The factory works overtime every day, and there are still trucks waiting to pick up the goods at the factory gate."
"one step ahead"
However, the popularity of the industry does not guarantee that every solar company can share the "cake" of industry growth.
"For solar cell companies, at present and for a long time to come, the key lies not in capacity and sales, but in whether there is enough supply of raw materials-high-purity silicon materials."
CLSA's research report also pointed out that in the next two years, the tight supply of silicon materials is the most important risk in the solar energy industry. If some of these companies can't get enough supply of raw materials, it will cause the risk of profit growth fluctuation.
A person from Suntech also admitted that raw materials are as important as "food" for solar energy companies.
However, Shi has been one step ahead-as early as three years ago, when raw materials were not tight, Shi participated in the construction of two silicon rod slicing factories and gave free help. Nowadays, the field of slicing is reciprocating, and all the silicon wafers produced are supplied to Suntech.
June 5438+October 2005 10, Suntech reached a long-term supply agreement with a German solar raw material supplier for 10 years. In addition, Suntech also reached a two-year supply intention with a Japanese company. It is expected that the supply contract will be sufficient to ensure the production capacity of 30 MW and 100 MW in 2006 and 2007.
However, this is still not enough, and more funds are needed to further control raw materials.
Shi admits that one of the main purposes of this IPO is to solve the problem of raw materials.
According to the prospectus, about $65.438 billion of the funds raised by IPO will be used to purchase raw materials or pay down payment; 40 million dollars to expand the production capacity of solar cells and components; 20 million dollars for the research and development of solar cell technology. By the end of 2006, the company's solar cell production capacity will double to 240 MW.
According to the prospectus, Suntech signed a long-term supply contract with raw material suppliers, paid a large amount of down payment, and formed strategic cooperation with upstream enterprises in the industry to meet the growth of production capacity and ensure the supply of raw materials.
Suntech's prospectus shows that Suntech was still in a loss state in 2002, with a net profit of $900,000 in 2003, $65.438+0.98 million in 2004 and $20 million in the first three quarters of 2005.
In fact, this is also the difference between Suntech and those online upstarts listed on Nasdaq-big profits and fast growth, pointed out by an overseas fund manager who invested in Suntech in the private placement stage. "In the Internet boom, especially in the first wave of listing, many Internet companies are selling concepts and selling future markets and revenues."
According to the overseas fund manager's forecast, Suntech's sales this year are expected to be no less than 654.38+08 billion yuan, and its profit will reach about 50 million US dollars.
"Advance is support, retreat is support"
"Today, the solar high-tech enterprise with Dr. Shi as the benchmark is a business card of Wuxi." Tan, vice mayor of Wuxi, said in an interview.
"Every step of the company's development is inseparable from the help of the Wuxi Municipal Government." Shi introduced that at the beginning of his business, in order to raise enough funds of 8 million dollars, he sat in front of investors for three hours, but no one was seen.
Just when the enterprise planning to invest hesitated, the then deputy secretary in charge of industry in Wuxi said, "If anyone releases Dr. Shi, the municipal party committee and municipal government will hold him accountable."
As a result, when Wuxi Guolian, Wuxi Hi-tech Venture Capital Co., Ltd., Little Swan Group, Wuxi Mercury Group, Wuxi Venture Capital and Wuxi He Shan Group were established, Stone held 25% of the shares, of which 20% was technology shares and the other 5% was paid in cash.
At the beginning of 2005, Wuxi Suntech expanded so fast that it could not solve the problem by relying on bank financing and had to open up the capital market. If those state-owned shareholders are unwilling to quit, it is likely to affect the company's listing plan.
As a result, the main leaders of Wuxi mobilized the state-owned enterprises that had invested at the beginning to withdraw. Tan, vice mayor, said in an interview that the government's venture capital has achieved a return of 10-23 times, far exceeding the expected return, which is unprecedented in state-owned enterprises.
"The government's venture capital is supported by both advance and retreat," he said. "The government not only made money when Wuxi Suntech went public, but also gained greater returns in terms of investment environment."
In May, 2005, it was the coordinated withdrawal of state-owned capital that made many overseas institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Lianying, Natexis of France, Youke of Spain, Pukai and so on successfully acquire shares in Suntech Holdings, making Suntech a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, paving the way for overseas listing.
"From the overall background of global solar industry, the road to the richest man in history will be stable and long in the future." Yu Tiecheng, general manager of Tiandao Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. believes that compared with Forbes, who was frequently dismissed before, Shi is a "white horse rich man".
"The reason for this is that Suntech represents one of the main development directions of new energy. Stone wealth, transparent sunshine. "