Picture source @Visual China
text | Radar Finance, author | Meng Shuai, editor | Deep Sea
"My father makes money, and he spends it, but my son has a hard life haha." This slightly playful joke has been criticized by many netizens Use it to describe Zhang Zilong’s life in the past 20 years. The reason why netizens are making such ridicule is because Zhang Zilong, the real "prince" behind the Spicy Prince brand, was once concealed by his father for 20 years with a family fortune worth hundreds of millions.
What made Zhang Zilong break out of the industry this time was a video he co-produced with video blogger Xiangxiang Battle. After this video became popular on the Internet, the topic "The founder of Spicy Prince hid his son's billions in wealth for 20 years" became a hot search topic. In Zhang Zilong's description, he lived in a village until he was 8 years old. His father had also told him that his family had debts abroad.
Although he knew that his family had a spicy noodle business, after graduating from college, Zhang Zilong still planned to find a job outside to help his family pay off the money. However, most of Zhang Zilong's resume was lost after being submitted. Zhang Zilong also submitted his resume to his own company, but the other party rejected him because he was relatively young and had no experience. In the end, Zhang Zilong was able to enter his own company due to the recommendation of others.
Zhang Zilong denied the outside world’s suspicion that “the concealment of billions of dollars in wealth for 20 years” was a marketing incident. In an interview with the news, he said that because Pingjiang is the birthplace of spicy strips, the local spicy strip business is not new. Having a factory at home does not mean that he is rich, and his father once told him that the family carries debt.
As the founder of Spicy Prince brand, Zhang Yudong also bluntly said that he has taught his son to focus on his own business since he was a child, and he does not pay attention to these aspects. In addition, in order to promote the healthy upgrading of spicy noodles, Mala Prince cut off the low-end production line with a sales volume of 300 million, and also invested a lot of money in transformation. Therefore, the company has indeed been operating in debt for a long time. After
became popular on the Internet, Zhang Zilong admitted that he has become more cautious in his words and deeds. Zhang Zilong said that he does not like the label of rich second generation, and would rather be a second generation founder. Now, Zhang Zilong, who has joined his own company, earns a monthly salary of several thousand, and is mainly responsible for the brand’s Douyin live broadcast room. When talking about his wish, Zhang Zilong hopes to help his father bring Spicy Prince to the market.
However, referring to the case of "Latiao No. 1 Brother" Wei Long, although the former has landed in the capital market in December 2022, its subsequent performance in the capital market has been mediocre, and it was recently "kicked" out of the Hong Kong Stock Connect list. . Spicy Prince, who is also a player on the spicy strips track, will still face severe challenges even if it can be successfully launched in the future.
His billions of assets were concealed for 20 years, and no one recognized him when he applied for his own company.
When you suddenly wake up one day and are told that you are the child of a billionaire, many people may not even dare to imagine such a magical scene. However, this seemingly dreamy plot in a novel actually happened to this boy born in the 2000s.
This boy born in the 2000s is named Zhang Zilong. Before he was 8 years old, he lived in a village in Pingjiang County. His father once told him that the family owed foreign debts. He also bluntly said that his pocket money was not much. . Living in such a family environment since childhood, Zhang Zilong simply thought that he was just an ordinary person, "I might look like a loser on the street."
From the time he was a child, Zhang Zilong was asked by his parents to pass the exams on his own ability. When he was in elementary school, Zhang Zilong studied in a school in the county town. Relying on his own efforts, Zhang Zilong was admitted to Nanya Middle School in Changsha and entered the experimental class of a prestigious high school. There are more than 1,600 students in the whole grade. Zhang Zilong can probably be ranked among the top one or two hundred, and at his best, he can be ranked among the top dozen. During the college entrance examination, Zhang Zilong was admitted to the University of Nottingham Ningbo with a score of 577.
After graduating from college, Zhang Zilong was a little confused and didn't know what he wanted to do. In order to find a job, Zhang Zilong sent out resumes everywhere, interviewed in financial securities, and was not excluded from sales positions. However, most of the resumes that were submitted fell into the sea with nothing to say. Because no one knows him, even his own company once rejected Zhang Zilong’s resume.It was not until later that Zhang Zilong was able to enter his company through internal recommendation.
However, out of the original expected salary of 6,000 yuan, Zhang Zilong only received 4,000 yuan when he entered the company. When recalling this incident, Zhang Zilong said that he later asked the interviewer who interviewed him at the time, and the answer given by the other person was that he was relatively young and lacked experience.
, a company that once blocked even its own "young master" from the door, is the spicy strip brand born in Hunan - Spicy Prince. Radar Finance learned that after returning to work at his own company, Zhang Zilong entered the Spicy Prince’s product promotion department. Starting in 2023, Zhang Zilong will serve as the manager of the Spicy Prince Douyin Department, mainly responsible for the work of the Spicy Prince Douyin live broadcast room.
As of press time, the official account of Spicy Prince has 392,000 followers on Douyin. Gray Dolphin data shows that in the past 30 days, another account named Spicy Prince Official Flagship Store has accumulated sales of 2.5 million to 5 million yuan, with an increase of 11,000 followers, and the latest number of followers reached 326,000.
In front of the camera, Zhang Zilong, who was born in 2000, is plainly dressed, friendly, and a bit shy. Without knowing his family background in advance, it would be difficult for the outside world to connect the identities of Zhang Zilong and the rich second generation. Even in the eyes of his colleagues, Zhang Zilong, the real "Prince" of Spicy Prince, has no airs. Colleagues even joke that he looks like a tramp.
When talking about coming to work in his own company, Zhang Zilong said frankly that at first he would be worried that others would give him special treatment because of his identity as the son of his boss, which would make the actual work awkward. Because of this, Zhang Zilong just started working. I would rather work hard in society. But later, when he returned to his home company to work, Zhang Zilong found that there were many young people in the company, and they did not take their identities too seriously.
Previously, Zhang Zilong did not know the true financial situation of his family. It wasn't until he was taken back to the actual mansion and exposed to the company's finances that he realized his family's wealth was far greater than he had imagined. In the video posted by the internet celebrity blogger Xiang Xiang Da Zhan that made Zhang Zilong famous on the Internet, the outside world got a glimpse of the mysterious family background of the "Spicy Prince".
Last year, Zhang Zilong’s family moved from their original house to a villa. In the garden outside this villa, many plants were transported from Yunnan by plane. There is also the largest tree in the county where it is located behind the yard. That tree is worth 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. In addition, this residence is also equipped with a special wine cellar. Even the mountain behind the villa belongs to Zhang Zilong and his family. They may have spent about 3 million to build the mountain.
After entering the villa, the fish tank placed in the living room of Zhang Zilong's family was worth 500,000 yuan, and there were 100,000 arowana swimming in the fish tank. Opening one of the doors, you can see a KTV room decorated with a starry sky ceiling, specially used for karaoke or watching movies. According to Zhang Zilong, the decoration of this house and the garden cost more than 10 million yuan in total.
Zhang Zilong also said that his parents own a total of 8 cars and drive business cars when receiving some important guests. The most expensive of these cars is the Maybach. Later, Zhang Zilong also drove his own Porsche and took the blogger to visit his company’s factory. This car was the first million-dollar car that his parents bought when they started their business. “They all said it was owed I borrowed more than 100 million to buy it." When
came to his company's office building for the first time, Zhang Zilong once lamented that the company had rented such a large office space, but his father told him that it was not rented but bought.
However, in stark contrast to the mansions and luxury cars, the clothes in Zhang Zilong’s wardrobe appear to be quite ordinary, and Zhang Zilong has never pursued famous brands and luxury goods. Even most of the time at work, Zhang Zilong is Riding his own "little electric donkey".
His father did not conceal it deliberately. The company had been operating in debt for a long time.
Although the plot of Zhang Zilong being concealed for 20 years of his billions of family assets made many netizens look at him with envy, some netizens also questioned this: How could it be possible that he had not known himself for more than 20 years? My family is in the spicy strip business, not to mention that the Spicy Prince brand is so famous, how could I not know about it? Some netizens even speculated that this was a marketing campaign carefully planned by the brand.
Regarding the doubts from the outside world, Zhang Zilong explained that some misunderstandings from the outside world stem from the misleading of some marketing accounts. In fact, it's not that I don't know that my family is in the spicy strip business, but I don't know the actual financial situation of my family. My father did tell me that my family has always been in debt.
Zhang Zilong's father, Zhang Yudong, also said in an interview with Xiaoxiang Morning News that on the one hand, this is a natural result of the family education method. "We have educated him since childhood to focus on his own business, and he does not pay attention to these aspects."
Zhang Yudong said , himself is the son of a farmer, and has inherited his father’s hard and simple teachings, “My wife, including his grandfather, often say that it is not easy to do things now, so we still have to save a little in life. We also have to use limited resources. Invest in the development of our corporate brand and team."
In 2002, when Zhang Zilong was only 2 years old, Zhang Yudong officially started his own spicy tiao business. According to Zhang Zilong, there are many local people in the spicy strip business in Pingjiang, and every household is making spicy strips. The family had been living in a very ordinary house because their parents wanted to deeply understand their previous difficult entrepreneurial and self-made experiences and hone themselves. Although
is a family, it is difficult for Zhang Zilong to see his family most of the time because his family puts their energy into business all year round. Before he gets up to go to school, his family has already gone out to work, and by the time he gets home and goes to bed, his family may not have come back.
mentioned his own spicy strips business. Zhang Yudong said frankly that when his friends asked him what kind of business he was doing in the early days, he would hesitate. He was embarrassed to say that he was making spicy strips, but said that he was making cooked food. of. When the children were in school, they were too embarrassed to tell others. The reason why
had such concerns was because the overall reputation of the spicy strips industry at that time was not good, and the spicy strips were labeled as junk food by the outside world. Therefore, my key priority at that time was to build the Spicy Prince brand well so that La Tiao could truly tear off the original negative label.
It is reported that in order to change the outside world's inherent impression of spicy strips as junk food and continue to promote the healthy upgrading of spicy strips, starting in 2013, Spicy Prince decided to cut off the low-end production line with a sales volume of 300 million and instead upgrade the pharmaceutical industry. and GMP workshop and other equipment, which means that the corresponding investment will also increase sharply. It is precisely because Zhang Yulong invested all his resources in product equipment, technology and brand innovation that the company has been in a state of loss or even profit and loss for a long time.
Radar Finance learned from the official website of Spicy Prince that in the process of brand development, Spicy Prince has gone through many upgrades. In 2014, the raw materials of Spicy Prince were upgraded and made from natural flour with no additives. In 2016, the packaging of Spicy Prince was upgraded, using independent small packaging, which is clean, hygienic and easy to share.
In 2018, Mala Prince once again upgraded its raw materials and became the first player in the spicy strip industry to use non-GMO rapeseed oil without adding coloring matter, cyclamate, acesulfame potassium, neotame, aspartame, etc.; in January 2020, Mala Prince Prince explicitly contains no preservatives.
Traffic is a double-edged sword, and there are still challenges on the road to listing. After
got out of the industry due to the hot search incident of concealing billions of dollars in wealth for 20 years, Zhang Zilong also gradually realized that traffic is a double-edged sword. While a large amount of traffic on the Internet is pouring towards it, more and more eyes from the outside world are starting to stare at it.
Zhang Zilong knows that once he has bad behavior or remarks, it may affect the outside world's perception of the Spicy Prince brand, so he began to consciously reflect on his words and deeds, urging himself to become more rigorous.
Zhang Yudong, the founder of Spicy Prince brand, is actually not very satisfied with his son getting out of the industry in this way. In Zhang Yudong's view, relying on this form of getting out of the industry will deviate somewhat from the values advocated by his company. Zhang Yudong believes that they will still not be able to build and disseminate similar second-generation rich people's personalities on the Internet in the future, and they must convey to the outside world the image of positive and energetic young entrepreneurs.
In this regard, Zhang Zilong also admitted that when he first participated in the video shooting of other bloggers, he did not go with the mentality of the rich second generation to show off their wealth, but the subsequent spread of the marketing account was somewhat beyond his expectations. They would Adding some gimmicks is why I want to come forward and release some real situations, so as to pull myself away from the label of the rich second generation.
"Because the second generation of rich people are generally considered to be playboys, the kind who are very rich and spend a lot of money. The actual situation is not like this for me. I think I am just an ordinary person. I also started from the grassroots level. When I started working, I got the same salary as everyone else. I feel more like a second-generation entrepreneur, so I don’t like people calling me a second-generation rich person.” When talking about the “second-generation rich people” labeled by the outside world, “ "Shuangwen hero", Zhang Zilong said sincerely while waiting for labels.
Without knowing the true economic conditions of his family, Zhang Zilong's wish was to successfully obtain his diploma and find a job with a monthly salary of 6,000 yuan. Now that I have returned to work for the company founded by my father, my wish is to help my father take the company public.
Radar Finance has learned that Weilong, which is also rooted in the spicy tiao track, has landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2022. The former has successfully won the title of "the first spicy tiao stock". Data shows that as of the end of 2022, Weilong’s market share in the spicy snack food industry reached 14.3%, which is nearly 65 times that of the second place. Regardless of history and market share, Weilong is well-deserved. Latiao Yige".
However, Weilong's performance in the capital market is not satisfactory. On December 15, 2022, Weilong was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with an offer price of HK$10.56 per share. At the close of the first day of listing, Weilong closed at HK$10.02 per share, with a total market value of HK$23.558 billion. However, as of the close of trading on March 5 this year, Weilong's share price was only HK$5.03 per share, which was about half of its closing price on the first day of listing. The latest market value was only HK$11.826 billion.
In fact, Weilong's latest financial data is quite impressive. The financial report shows that in the first half of 2023, Weilong recorded revenue of 2.327 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 2.95%; in terms of profit, Weilong's profit for the year in the first half of last year reached 447 million yuan, compared with 261 million yuan in the previous year. The losses have improved significantly. However, Weilong's achievements have still not stimulated the enthusiasm of the capital market.
According to notices from the official websites of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, due to the adjustment of constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Composite Large Cap Index, Mid Cap Index, and Small Cap Index, Weilong Delicious will be removed from the list of securities subject to the Hong Kong Stock Connect, effective from March 4.
Some analysts pointed out that Spicy Prince and Weilong are both on the spicy strips track. Both are following the development route of Internet celebrity snacks, and in recent years, both brands have been working hard to promote the healthy upgrading of spicy strips. However, based on Weilong's performance in the capital market, even if Mala Prince has the opportunity to realize its dream of going public in the future, it will still face severe tests in the capital market.
However, Zhang Zilong also said that he is not particularly anxious about the company's listing. Listing does have milestone significance, but it is only one of the phased goals pursued by the company and will not be placed in an important position. The current task of Spicy Prince is to make good products and establish good channels across the country. After
came into contact with his own company's business, Zhang Zilong also had a clearer understanding of his own brand. In Zhang Zilong's eyes, although the company's annual revenue has reached 1 billion yuan, Spicy Prince is still a regional brand and currently only has markets in certain provinces. Therefore, Zhang Zilong also has an ambitious goal, which is to expand his own brand. The spicy strips are promoted to the world.
Although Zhang Zilong has now started working in his own company, and Zhang Zilong also admitted that he has the "ambition" to take over, his father Zhang Yudong said that he does not have to hand over the company to his children to take over. "Who has this ability? Who has the right to take over?" Has this platform made a huge contribution? I am also waiting and watching." Zhang Zilong also deeply agreed with this.
When talking about his son's performance, Zhang Yudong said that if the full score was 100, he could be given 80 points. "He still has room to grow" and "if the score is too high, he will be afraid of being proud."If your son has developed such qualities and potential after ten, twenty, or even more years of training, and can be recognized by both inside and outside the team, you can consider entrusting the brand to him.
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