A few days ago, a "Letter to All Employees of Wahaha Group" circulated on the Internet showed that on July 15, Zong Fuli "resigned" from her position as Vice Chairman and General Manager of Wahaha Group. The reason given was "Hangzhou The Municipal People's Government of Shangcheng District and some shareholders of Hangzhou Wahaha Group have questioned the rationality of Zong Fuli's operation and management of Wahaha Group since the death of Chairman Zong Qinghou, causing her to be unable to continue to perform her management responsibilities for Wahaha Group and its holding companies. ".
Behind the "resignation" controversy, it also reflects Wahaha's complex equity and management rights issues. The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System shows that the ownership structure of Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. is divided into three parts. Hangzhou Shangcheng Cultural, Commercial and Tourism Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. holds 46% of the shares, Wahaha founder Zong Qinghou personally holds 29.4%, and Hangzhou Wahaha The Joint Committee of Grassroots Trade Unions of the Group Co., Ltd. (Employee Stock Ownership Committee) holds 24.6% of the shares.
In addition, the equity of Zhejiang Wahaha Industrial Co., Ltd. under the Wahaha management model is also relatively complicated. Its sponsor legal person shares account for approximately 43.03%, internal employees account for approximately 31.47%, and social legal person shares account for approximately 25.50%. The Alibaba auction platform shows that in 2024, there were nearly 50 auctions of natural person shares of Zhejiang Wahaha Industrial Co., Ltd., ranging from 5,000 shares to 60,000 shares, with prices ranging from more than 90,000 yuan to hundreds of thousands of yuan.
html On July 22, a staff member of the Zhejiang Provincial Equity Trading Center told a reporter from the Beijing Business Daily, “We don’t know what will happen to the price next.”The meaning behind Zong Fuli’s return is more important. China Food Industry Analyst Zhu Danpeng said, "The largest shareholder, State-owned Assets, has kept its word and recognized Zong Fuli. With this key node, it is the final word."
However, Zhan Junhao, a well-known crisis public relations expert and public relations partner of Fuzhou Gongsunce, said in an interview with a Beijing Business Daily reporter that Wahaha’s statement was obviously a decision made due to excessive controversy among online public opinion. Online public opinion plays an increasingly important role in the modern business environment. It not only affects consumers' purchasing decisions, but also exerts indirect pressure on the decision-making of corporate executives. The question of whether Ms. Zong Fuli will continue to perform her management duties has aroused widespread attention and discussion on the Internet. This public opinion environment is likely to prompt shareholders to re-evaluate the impact of their decisions on the steady development of the Wahaha brand.
In the packaged water market, Wahaha has fallen out of the first echelon. Haitong International's research report shows that packaged water and ready-to-drink tea will account for 35.6% and 18.7% of the total soft drink market in 2023, respectively. In terms of packaged water, Nongfu Spring , Yibao and Jingtian ranked among the top three, and Wahaha ranked fourth, accounting for approximately 9.9%.
Although Wahaha’s market share has declined in the packaged water market, it still maintains a certain market share in other beverage categories. Wahaha’s product line also includes Nutrition Express, Longan Babao Porridge, ad Calcium Milk and other products. The market channels for these products are mainly concentrated in supermarkets and tobacco stores.
Zong Fuli has proposed to promote Wahaha’s rejuvenation, internationalization and product diversification many times in public. She actively created IP, opened pop-up stores, promoted cosmetics co-branding, updated spokespersons, and launched the brand kellyone named after her English name. Kellyone has successively launched high-end customized fruit and vegetable juices, high-end pure tea products "Yicha", angry Bobo sparkling drinks, chacha fruit juice tea and "Three and a Half" sparkling wine series. However, these innovative attempts ultimately failed to gain market acceptance. According to the official website of Hongsheng Group, there are only three products left under the Kellyone brand: "Ansty Bobo", "Kellyone Chacha" and "Yicha".
What impact will Zong Fuli’s return bring to Wahaha’s future development? Zhan Junhao said that from the perspective of brand development, as a national brand with a long history, Wahaha's stability and sustainable development are crucial to maintaining its brand image and market position. Shareholders may realize that under the magnifying glass of online public opinion, any high-level changes may be interpreted as a signal of instability, which in turn affects consumers' trust in the brand and purchase intention. Therefore, in order to ensure the stable and healthy development of the company and avoid unnecessary market fluctuations and damage to the brand image, shareholders may choose to support Ms. Zong Fuli in continuing to perform her management duties to survive this public opinion crisis.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Kong Wenxie
