Reinventing the Millennium

Fang Zhuo was interviewed by the Economic Daily at Bingxin’s office.

He received a call from the president's office of Shencheng Yike and talked on the phone with the visiting reporter. Knowing that the other party wanted to report on the ice core project, he agreed to the interview request.

However, after chatting for a while, Fang Zhuo realized that the two young reporters always wanted to bring the topic to the current public opinion war, and he had some speculations in his mind.

"Reporter Liu, do you want to interview Bing Xin when you come here today, or do you want to ask me about my views on some public opinions?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "I have also met Zheng Junren, the editor-in-chief of the Economic Daily, several times."

Zheng Junren is the deputy editor-in-chief, and Fang Zhuo did meet once during a meeting in Beijing last year. The phone number is also saved in his mobile phone, but he has not interacted with him since.

The two young reporters looked at each other. Liu Dongchao, the reporter named by Fang Zhuo, did not expect to be asked this question suddenly. He said "uh", hesitated for three seconds, and said: "We really want to interview the ice core project, which is one of the few domestic semiconductor projects." Some have big investments, and of course, I am also very curious about Mr. Fang’s views on current public opinion.”

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly, knowing that he did not want to tell the truth, so he did not continue poking, indicating that the interview process should continue.

Sure enough, reporter Liu Dongchao's subsequent interview became serious, asking questions around the ice core, and Fang Zhuo also gave eloquent answers.

However, in addition to the large investment scale of Bingxin, it is just a foundry for the intermediate link in the IC industry. Even in terms of its industrial significance, some people say that it is better to buy than to build.

How can it be more interesting to talk about this than a big public debate?

What's more, this is not just an economic theory, there is an extremely exciting real-life case in front of you.

The drowsy second half of the interview ended with Fang Zhuo's explanation of the significance of the IC industry.

After all, Liu Dongchao was young. He finally had such an opportunity to interview Fang Zhuo, but he couldn't help but asked at the end: "Mr. Fang, I heard that the Entrepreneurs Federation of Anhui Province visited the ice core two days ago. It has received a lot of attention recently. Gu Zoujun, who follows Greencool, has also communicated with Mr. Fang. What does Mr. Fang think of the debate on the restructuring of state-owned enterprises?"

The young reporter was motivated, but also a little uneasy after asking. Today's interview was different from what he imagined. Although the presidents of Yike and Bingxin were young, they were steady and magnanimous throughout the process.

Fang Zhuo thought for a few seconds and then spoke: "I didn't pay much attention to this matter. I just heard some opinions. How should I put it? I think it's better not to go to extremes. Are there any problems in the process of restructuring state-owned enterprises? There may be."

"But to say that private enterprises are guilty of original sin is too extreme."

"Theories can be said in various ways, but the actual business activities of our enterprises are often not either/or. For me personally, practice comes first."

Whether it is medical science, Yike, or Bingxin, Fang Zhuo's actions have never involved the property rights of state-owned enterprises, but now some supporters of Lang Xianping are already talking about original sin rather than original sin, which he feels is inappropriate.

Furthermore, Lang Xianping's operation has already become famous, Greencool has also been investigated, and the various disputes should be coming to an end.

Fang Zhuo reconciled with He Xini, and there is a more famous saying about "practice": cat and mouse. Anyway, he is bent on development, whether it is the Internet or semiconductors, just move forward.

Liu Dongchao breathed a sigh of relief and felt that Mr. Fang's opinion was more in line with his impression of today's interview, and his answer was very safe.

He shook hands with the young president politely and thanked him for accepting the interview.

Fang Zhuo invited reporters from the Economic Daily to stay for dinner but was declined. He returned to the office to think about the content of today's interview and felt that there would be no problem.

However……

President Yike's words still caused waves.

The Economic Daily conducted the interview on October 15th. Two days later, the interview about the Ice Core semiconductor project was published in the newspaper on the 17th. Fang Zhuo saw the latest newspaper that day, took a closer look, and found that the interview The content is all related to ice cores, without the last words.

On this day, Fang Zhuo still felt that although the reporter was a bit young, the things he reported were quite serious.

Unexpectedly, two days later, the "Economic Daily" on October 19th published a page of domestic entrepreneurs' views on the current public dispute, and the remarks of Yike President Fang Zhuo were among them.

In addition to President Yike, the other entrepreneurs interviewed are also well-known, and most of them are state-owned enterprises.

——"Of course, we must be cautious in the property rights reform of state-owned enterprises, otherwise it will easily lead to the loss of assets."

——"I'm not familiar with Gu Zoujun, and I don't know much about his operation of Greencoal and Kelon Electric. Since there has been an investigation, the results will be released soon."

——"I oppose MBO. No matter what other people do, I will stand up for the country as an enterprise."

——“If an enterprise wants to develop, it must also follow certain rules and cannot grow wildly.”

——"State-owned enterprises are developing well now. I don't think we can look at the current development from the old perspective. Many companies have rectified the name of state-owned assets, which has been ignored by many people."

Most of the comments were vaguely on Lang Xianping's side. In comparison, Fang Zhuo's steady response seemed more distinct.

This is like "the one who is willing to take the task takes a step forward." As a result, Fang Zhuo did not move forward, and everyone else took a step back. He became the one who took a step forward.

When some of Lang Xianping's supporters saw reports like this from the Economic Daily, they almost immediately thought that President Yike was implicitly opposed.

As a business person, what theories do you know?

Where do you stand?

Are you saying it's not either/or? It’s either/or!

The last person who dared to clamor to stand up has already sacrificed the flag, and now there is still someone who dares to come out?

Then, this group of people studied Fang Zhuo's various entrepreneurial activities, such as Guohao.com, Yike, Sina, Bingxin...

Gee, it seems difficult to start, Guahao.com seems to have no profit, Yike sells music players, Sina is an Internet portal, Bingxin has just started... It should not be related at all from the perspective of state-owned enterprise restructuring, the two are just like each other. There is no collision or interaction.

It was difficult for a group of people to make any substantive attacks for a while. However, Lang Xianping was asked his opinion in an interview again. The famous economist responded with a smile.

"I know Fang Zhuo and the business he runs is very successful. It may be this kind of success that prevents him from having a clear understanding of state-owned enterprises."

"Private enterprises can do well and can go public, but can't state-owned enterprises?"

"State-owned enterprises can also do very well. Isn't China Telecom bad? Is it worse than private enterprises?"

This was the first time Lang Xianping mentioned Fang Zhuo. He was asked by a reporter about the report in the Economic Daily.

Just one day later, Lang Xianping took the initiative to mention Fang Zhuo, a young entrepreneur, for the second time in front of another media.

"I know Fang Zhuo well and know that he successfully used capital means to control Sina."

"This is a classic business case, but state-owned enterprises must firmly maintain control and cannot fall into the hands of barbarians at the door like Sina did."

"Don't get me wrong, this barbarian is not a term used to describe an individual, but a term used to describe a hostile acquirer."

"When a state-owned enterprise does not want to give up control, and the management uses various methods to achieve this goal, such management has become a barbarian in the door, which must be guarded against."

Two days later, Lang Xianping talked about Fang Zhuo for the third time in an exclusive interview with Sohu.

"Mr. Fang from Sina said that practice comes first, but practice must also be guided by theory."

"Especially, if a news portal like Sina does not have correct theoretical guidance, it is undoubtedly easy to make mistakes."

"I believe Mr. Fang should be able to realize this. Correspondingly, he should also be able to understand some of the existing problems."

In less than a week, the hot rising star economist frequently cueed representatives of the Internet industry, and finally cueed the young CEO who was pretending to sleep to wake up.

However, Fang Zhuo did not respond directly. He declined the sudden increase in media interview requests and only expressed his views indirectly through Sina.

This is an article given by the main writer Xu Changlun, which briefly discusses the metaphor of Lang Xianping that has resounded in the media.

——Excellent management is more than just nannies, and their role in the company is more than just cleaning.

——It is not necessary to engage in MBO-style property acquisitions, but it is not necessary to increase benefits, introduce modern corporate management methods, and increase options and other incentives to give full play to subjective initiative.

Xu Changlun carefully defined the scope of the discussion and took the development of Sina as an example to try to prove what role excellent management can play. His company's market value is already dozens of times that of the previous two years.

Is this increase entirely due to the recovery of the Internet industry?

If that's the case, why is Sohu's market value at the bottom?

After this article was published, Sina conducted another netizen poll. Last time, 90% of the voters thought there was a problem with Gu Zoujun. This time, 90% of the netizens voted that there was no problem with Fang Zhuo.

Soon, reporters who were always chasing the latest battle situation handed the microphone to Lang Xianping.

Lang Xianping is not only a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, but also a professor at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, which was established last year.

He was interviewed again by reporters in the same office where he publicly responded to Gu Zoujun, and talked about the Internet voting campaign organized by Sina.

In Lang Xianping's view, such a voting activity is a wrong move and is helping himself because it actively amplifies Fang Zhuo's doubts.

Does Fang Zhuo have any problems in the business process?

As a person who started out as a private enterprise and did not participate in the property rights of state-owned enterprises, he will definitely not have any problems with restructuring.

But didn't he have any other problems along the way?

Lang Xianping thinks the answer should be yes.

"The Sina vote is interesting."

"I also saw this data. 90% of the people who voted thought Fang Zhuo was very good. So I have a small procedural question. Are there more people who didn't vote than 90%?"

Lang Xianping said lightly: "This is just an entertainment activity on the website, it doesn't mean anything. Mr. Gu Zoujun said in public two weeks ago that he is not afraid of investigation. I wonder if Mr. Fang Zhuo is willing to make such a statement?"

"For example, as far as I know, there is a real estate development company in Shanghai. Mr. Fang Zhuo was quite surprised when he entered this industry for the first time."

“I am not against private enterprises, I hope that private enterprises will develop in a healthy way.”

“Only in this way can private enterprises develop faster and better and better.”

Lang Xianping only said a few words on Fang Zhuo's question. He spent more of his energy responding to new questions raised by Peking University Zhang Weiying and others.

And when such a popular economist simply pointed out the direction, some of his supporters automatically pointed in the direction.

Is there any problem with Dongwukuai?

Does the newly established Yongke Real Estate have any loan problems?

Even, are there any problems with a project like Bingxin, which claims to have an investment of tens of billions?

With such a large investment, do you know the money involved?

As Lang Xianping and his supporters identified the second private entrepreneur, Zhou Qiren of Peking University also put forward a point of view on the situation.

"There is no doubt that Fang Zhuo is an outstanding entrepreneur. I even think that there is no need to involve people like him in such issues. Property rights reform must be taken seriously as long as it continues to develop."

"The problem is that the difficulties in this area are unique."

"There was no clear agreement or sound regulations at the beginning. How easy is it to go back and clarify the share of property rights reform now?"

"It is precisely based on this that Fang Zhuo and I have the same view. Practice is the most important character in this process."

When public opinion begins to debate and when someone goes to extremes, a simple issue becomes less simple. What's more, this is not a simple issue in the first place but an extremely complex issue.

At the end of October, Qiu Ciyun returned to Luzhou from New York. More engineers arrived in Luzhou, and more administrative staff were transferred to Luzhou. Fang Zhuo and a group of leaders from Anhui Province and Luzhou witnessed the start of the pile foundation project for the production plant.

According to the plan, the waffle board pouring can be completed in 5 months, the main factory building of the production line project can be capped in another 3 months, and the clean room can be supplied with positive pressure in another 2 months.

It can be said that the planning of the factory building for the ice core project has been completed, and the complete factory construction will be seen by this time next year.

Fang Zhuo was very happy, and so was the leader.

Under this situation, Qiu Ciyun continued to be in charge of Luzhou, while Fang Zhuo flew to Shanghai amid the enthusiasm of the leaders. He had to deal with Yike's listing in the United States, and he also happened to take a look at the purchase of American equipment.

On October 31, Fang Zhuo arrived at Shanghai Airport with two secretaries and assistants.

When he drove to the Yike headquarters at Hang Lung 23, there were eager reporters downstairs.

Fang Zhuo bumped into the camera head-on, showing no intention of responding to the question.

However, when words such as "East Five Dollars" came to his ears, and when reporters asked Mr. Fang what he thought of Lang Xianping's frequent mention of him, Fang Zhuo still gave a faint response.

"Displeasing."

The young CEO returned to Hang Lung 23 with the enthusiasm of his hometown leaders and the overwhelming public opinion.