On February 10, 1963, a pair of twins were born in a poor family surnamed Chen in Taiping Village, Yangzhong, Jiangsu. Since they already had a son and a daughter, the arrival of the twins not only failed to bring joy to the couple, but instead made them frown. After all, with the conditions of the family, it is difficult to support so many children.
It was also on this day, and the Shi family also gave birth to a fetus. Unfortunately, they died shortly after birth, which made the Shi family and his wife very sad. After all, the child they finally got pregnant but failed to survive. In addition to grief, they were particularly eager to have a child.
So, after negotiation between the Shi Chen family, the younger brother of the Chen family's twins was given to the Shi family and named it Shi Zhengrong , and his fate also took a turn.
Shi's family is not rich, but it is naturally more abundant than Shi Zhengrong's original family. In addition, the Shi family is generous. Although they later gave birth to their biological children, they still regard Shi Zhengrong as their own. They not only love him very much, but also always provide him with his studies.
Shi Zhengrong has known his life experience since he was a child. Although his adoptive parents treat him well, he always feels insecure. So he has been very sensible since he was a child and is very filial to his adoptive parents. Especially in his studies, he is hardworking and has always been among the best in his grades.
16-year-old Shi Zhengrong is one of the first college students to resume the college entrance examination. He was successfully admitted to Changchun University of Science and Technology and studied in the optical instruments major.
After graduating from university, 20-year-old Shi Zhengrong was admitted to the Shanghai Institute of Optical Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to pursue a master's degree.
At that time, China was lacking talents and spared no effort in cultivating talents. Talents like Shi Zhengrong naturally received attention from the country. So, after obtaining his master's degree, he studied at the University of New South Wales in Australia for public expenses and studied under Professor Martin Green, an international solar cell authority.
During his study abroad, Shi Zhengrong quickly gained the attention of Professor Martin Green through his outstanding performance. Through continuous research, he not only published many high-quality doctoral thesis, but also obtained a number of patents.
1993, after obtaining his doctorate, Shi Zhengrong did not expect to serve his motherland, but became a researcher in a research institute under the recommendation of Professor Martin Green. He then joined Australian nationality, where he married and had children, and lived a very wealthy middle-class life.
However, Shi Zhengrong is not satisfied with this peaceful and prosperous life that looks old at first sight. He was still young, and such an ordinary life obviously made him feel too bored.
At that time, in the tide of reform and opening up, many people went into business, and there were many successful people among them. Looking at these people who are on the list of rich people, Shi Zhengrong also hopes that one day he will be among them.
Compared with those lucky people who went into business, Shi Zhengrong believes that he has more advantages than them. On the one hand, I have done a lot of research in the photovoltaic major, and there are more than 10 patents alone. This is equivalent to having science and technology that others do not have, and photovoltaics are still in a blank field in China. In other words, he will become the first person to eat crabs, and of course it will make it easier for him to succeed.
So, Shi Zhengrong quit his job as a well-paid researcher in 2000, sold his property, and returned to China with $400,000 with his wife and children.
At first, Shi Zhengrong lobbled everywhere, and he said to others: "As long as 8 million US dollars, I can create the world's largest enterprise."
At that time, although some people made a lot of money, 8 million US dollars was still a considerable amount. In addition, "photovoltaic" is a strange word. Businessmen who are ups and downs in the business world understand that people will never make wealth beyond their cognition unless they rely on luck. The wealth obtained by this kind of luck is often lost by strength, so they are extremely cautious about investment, not to mention that Shi Zhengrong looks so treacherous and has a bit of the temperament of a pyramid schemer.
Not only did the businessman distrust Shi Zhengrong, but government officials also didn't like him and thought he was a liar, so he was often kicked out of the office.
However, Shi Zhengrong, who was proud and satisfied, was not discouraged. With his efforts again and again, he finally met someone who was willing to believe him - Li Yanren.
Li Yanren is the former director of the Economic Commission of Wuxi . At that time, he had already retreated to the second line and was planning to make an investment.
So, when Shi Zhengrong described the bright prospects of the photovoltaic industry to Li Yanren, Li Yanren, who had shining eyes, immediately decided to cooperate with Shi Zhengrong.
Li Yannian used his many years of connections to not only receive support from the Wuxi government, but also attracted all state-owned enterprises to raise funds. In the end, with his efforts, he raised a total of US$6 million. Coupled with Shi Zhengrong's $400,000 and his patented technology worth $1.6 million, the funds for establishing the company were considered in place.
Subsequently, with the support of the Wuxi government, Shi Zhengrong not only approved free industrial land, but also won preferential policies in taxation and other departments. Therefore, the Sino-Australia joint venture Wuxi Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. was officially established.
Although everything is going on in an orderly manner, in Shi Zhengrong's view, entrepreneurship is not like doing scientific research after all. At the beginning, he also experienced many difficulties, and even faced difficulties in his business several times because of the few orders of the company. The company has a lot of personnel mobility, and several important core technical personnel have also changed jobs one after another.
What made Shi Zhengrong most memorable was that at that time, due to insufficient income, not only the companies he cooperated with were coming to move the company's equipment to pay the bill, but even the employees of the cleaning company pointed at his nose because of the 20,000 yuan contract and spoke rude to him.
Just when he was at a loss, Li Yanren stepped forward again. Under his lobbying, many companies such as Little Swan and Shanhe Pharmaceutical once again invested 50 million yuan. In order to set an example of investment promotion, the Wuxi government also obtained a low-interest loan of 50 million yuan for Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. Within the scope of its ability, Shi Zhengrong has given 11 production projects successively. After many efforts, Shi Zhengrong finally overcomes the difficulties.
With the strong support of the government, it has also supported the funds of many enterprises. But the luckiest thing is that Germany happened to promulgate the New Energy Law. This not only greatly increased the demand for photovoltaics in various countries, but also contributed to photovoltaic energy by considerable government subsidies.
Sunde Solar Power Co., Ltd. mainly produces photovoltaic cells and modules. Due to the excellent quality of the product, the value is 2 points lower than that of foreign companies. So foreign companies signed orders with Suntech Solar Power Company, which quickly turned losses into profits. In the third year of its establishment, the performance increased by dozens of times, and the sales in one year alone amounted to billions. Such a performance myth shocked everyone at that time.
As a leader in the photovoltaic industry, Shi Zhengrong naturally attracted media attention. He was not only called "the number one photovoltaic person in China", but also when he was mentioned, everyone used all the praises to him. Indeed, it was he who introduced the unfamiliar industry of photovoltaics into China, shortening the gap between the domestic photovoltaic industry and the world level by as many as 15 years. So in everyone's eyes, he is not a simple industrialist, he is a scientist-style industrialist.
At that time, the photovoltaic industry became the most promising green industry. More than 300 cities across the country were scrambling to create photovoltaic industrial parks with output value of over 100 billion yuan, and the country also listed the photovoltaic industry as the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan". In addition, in order to encourage the photovoltaic industry, the country has also provided higher subsidies.
Under a good situation, Shi Zhengrong set out to get rid of the public managers who tied his hands and feet, and the first person to leave the company was Li Yanren, who made great contributions to the company's creation.
After becoming the chairman of the company, Li Yanren, who had been an official, knew how to use political skills, establish prestige in the company, and form cliques to form his own power. Those executives who refused to surrender to him were excluded by him and eventually had to switch jobs to other companies.
, and Li Yanren often believes that Shi Zhengrong only knows technology and does not know how to deal with connections at all. So he believed that the company was formed by him using his relationships, which made him ignore Shi Zhengrong. Not only did he often belittle Shi Zhengrong's ability in front of employees, but he also repeatedly disagreed with Shi Zhengrong and made some important decisions.
In Shi Zhengrong's view, there have been big problems in the management of the company, so he started with Li Yannian and gradually eliminated the forces that were grouped with Li Yannian. For example, when Li Yannian left, he only took away 1 million yuan and the Mercedes-Benz that he had driven for many years.
Then, Shi Zhengrong spent money to buy shares of the shareholders of the eight state-owned enterprises that they had raised, causing them to withdraw from the board of directors one after another.
At this point, Shi Zhengrong felt that no one would point fingers at him again. So with his efforts, Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. was successfully listed in the United States in the second half of 2005.
It should be said that Shi Zhengrong was really a legend at this time, because in just 4 years, he made his funds snowball and quickly reached more than 18 billion assets. He also refreshed the ranking of the richest man and became the first generation of richest man.
success came too quickly, making Shi Zhengrong seem a little lost. He said: "From today on, I will no longer make a penny, I will only spend money."
Shi Zhengrong fulfilled his decision. If he often went to the workshop to inspect and squatted in the cafeteria with workers to eat boxed lunches, now he rarely appears in the company. He often stays abroad, either having dinner with the US Vice President Gore or talking about business with Prince Charles of the UK, or he will attend events with Australian actress Cate Blanchett .
In order to be worthy of the title of "richest man", Shi Zhengrong Travel is also very ostentatious. He went to the Davos Forum and spent $200,000 to book a business jet, and he also hired six bodyguards to protect him and his family.
Shi Zhengrong, who has always liked luxury cars, successively purchased three Lexus , a BMW, a Mercedes-Benz S600, a top-level Bentley , a Land Rover and a Volvo . He pays attention to etiquette and when meeting different people, he always drives different cars based on the other person's identity and temper.
went abroad, and Shi Zhengrong's reputation also spread abroad. The British "Defense" rated him as one of the "50 people who can save the earth". Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd., which he founded, is also called "Microsoft in the photovoltaic world" by Wall Street in the United States.
At that time, Shi Zhengrong was simply amazing in China. Every day, reporters were waiting at his doorstep or at the company, just to interview him. He will be invited to add to his talents at many major events and celebrity gatherings.
Enjoy the feeling of the stars supporting the moon, Shi Zhengrong's style is getting bigger and bigger. At the end of 2000, as the photovoltaic industry market began to decline, at the New Energy Industry Summit, Shi Zhengrong pointed at government officials and colleagues in front of everyone and said, "You should go back and reflect on it."
Everything will be reversed, and Shi Zhengrong's glory has not been maintained for long.
Due to the rapid expansion of the domestic photovoltaic industry, the price of silicon rose from the initial $20 per kilogram to $200 per kilogram. In order to have a stable silicon supply company, Shi Zhengrong signed a 10-year contract with the silicon supply company for a value of US$80 to US$100 per kilogram.
Who knew that shortly after the contract was signed, it caught up with the economic crisis in 2008. This economic crisis has also highlighted the problem of overcapacity in the photovoltaic industry. Therefore, in order to alleviate this phenomenon, the country stopped subsidies to the photovoltaic industry.As a result, many photovoltaic industries quickly lost production due to the loss of economic subsidies, and the price of silicon raw materials also fell sharply as demand decreased.
Now, Shi Zhengrong was stunned and had to terminate the contract with the silicon supply company in advance and paid a liquidated damages of US$210 million.
However, the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy bills implemented by Europe and the United States made the domestic photovoltaic industry worse, and the market value of Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. also lost 60%. After that, Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. suffered heavy losses every day and owed huge debts.
By 2013, Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. had reached the point of verge of bankruptcy.
At that time, the Wuxi government and the National Development Bank wanted to save Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd., but they proposed that Shi Zhengrong use his personal assets as an unlimited liability guarantee, but Shi Zhengrong opposed it.
Later, the Wuxi government proposed to let the state-owned assets company Wuxi Guolian take over Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd., which means that Shi Zhengrong withdraws from his personal shares, which was also rejected by Shi Zhengrong.
Shi Zhengrong, who refused to sacrifice his personal interests, said to the Wuxi government, "I have so many employees. If you don't save me, I will close the door."
Because Shi Zhengrong and the Wuxi government did not reach an agreement, Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. ended up like fireworks, experiencing extreme glory and a sudden decline in just a few years.
However, at the last moment, Shi Zhengrong did not think about saving the company, but used various means to transfer the large amount of wealth of Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. to his name, and then he patted his butt and left. He threw the mess of Sunde Solar Power Co., Ltd. to the Wuxi government.
Shi Zhengrong's treason practice has accelerated the demise of Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd.
At that time, the outside world was very disgusted with his behavior. A reporter asked him why he refused to use his personal assets as a guarantee? But he said calmly: "I have left Suntech, why should I use my money to guarantee it?"
Entrepreneurs attach great importance to credit, but Shi Zhengrong does not think so. Although he was scolded by countless people because of the bankruptcy storm, he was not ashamed of it. He said: "I am a person with a clear conscience. Based on these, I don't feel wronged when I am silent."
After that, Shi Zhengrong returned to Australia and was silent for a while. Just as people were slowly forgetting him, he appeared at the domestic new energy industry summit with a new photovoltaic product.
Not long after, people discovered that Shi Zhengrong had made another fortune with a fortune of 2.5 billion, and his identity had become the "Chairman of Shangmai New Energy".
Obviously, this once notorious person wanted to make a comeback again, but he didn't know whether he, who lacked credit, could still be as lucky as before.
