Speaking of Chinese jewelry stores, we have to mention the originator week-old dafu . In fact, Chow Tai Fook's controller is not surnamed Zhou, but Cheng Yu-tung's family in Hong Kong. In 2014, Chow Tai Fook's profit reached its peak, exceeding 7 billion. Cheng Yu-tung Before his death, he successfully listed this century-old company and completed the final battle of his life.
But then with Cheng Yu-tung's death, Chow Tai Fook began to decline and profits began to decline. In the past, Chow Tai Fook's brands were very strong, but with the rise of various emerging jewelry brands, Chow Tai Fook is actually losing its advantage. Fortunately, Chow Tai Fook's performance began to recover after he welcomed a new leader.
After Cheng Yutong's death, his grandson Zheng Zhigang took over directly. This is rare among wealthy families in Hong Kong, because normally, the father wants to take over, and then follow the steps until his grandson takes over. But Zheng Zhigang's father, Zheng Jiachun, is not young anymore and is in poor health. In addition, Zheng Zhigang's ability is indeed in place, so he took over directly.
When Zheng Zhigang took over, Chow Tai Fook's performance was under great pressure. On the one hand, profits were declining, and on the other hand, external competition was increasing. In order to solve this problem, Zheng Zhigang thought of two tricks. The first trick is to promote the development of e-commerce, and the second trick is to increase franchise stores.
When Cheng Yu-tung died, Chow Tai Fook had only more than 1,000 stores, most of which were self-operated stores. However, Zheng Zhigang has invested in 5,902 jewelry stores, including more than 4,000. In a few years, the number of Chow Tai Fook franchise stores has increased by more than 600%. The increase in
franchise stores has also changed the revenue structure of Chow Tai Fook. Now Chow Tai Fook's main revenue has come from the wholesale business. The crazy increase in franchise stores has also greatly increased Chow Tai Fook's revenue, and has also caused Chow Tai Fook's profit to bottom out and rebound.
But behind the glory, Chow Tai Fook and Zheng Zhigang are under a lot of pressure. 5,902 jewelry stores only generated a profit of 6.8 billion last year, and this profit margin is indeed too small.
In fact, Chow Tai Fook's profit margin has been declining in the past few years. At the same time, Chow Tai Fook's debt ratio has been increasing. Before Cheng Yu-tung's death, Chow Tai Fook's debt ratio was only more than 30%, but now it has reached more than 60%.
Zheng Zhigang's radicalism actually paid a certain price. The most typical example of Hong Kong companies is to control their debt ratio and maintain cash flow . This is their advantage, but now Zheng Zhigang is changing all this. The exchange of liabilities for profit is also the reason why international investment banks began to downgrade Chow Tai Fook's rating.
Another point of Chow Tai Fook's franchise model cannot be expanded infinitely. In the past few years, they have been developing in small cities. Now many fourth- and fifth-tier cities have Chow Tai Fook stores, which also means that it is very difficult to continue to increase in the future. At the same time, the franchise model also brings many problems, such as service issues, etc.
These are all things Zheng Zhigang must think about. In the past few years, many people have said that Zheng Zhigang is the strongest successor. However, it will take more time to test whether Zheng Zhigang is a qualified successor. If New World and Chow Tai Fook can develop steadily in 20 years, then it will be not too late to say that Zheng Zhigang is the strongest successor.
Zheng Zhigang's grandfather Cheng Yu-tung is the legendary jewelry king in Hong Kong. Cheng Yu-tung was born in Guangzhou and his father was a silk merchant. He went to Macau Chow Tai Fook Gold Shop as an apprentice when he was very young. Cheng Yu-tung's father and Zhou Zhiyuan, the founder of Chow Tai Fook, are friends.
Cheng Yutong is clever and diligent in doing things. She was soon appreciated by Zhou Zhiyuan. Later, she not only married Zhou Zhiyuan's daughter Zhou Cuiying, but also successfully inherited Chow Tai Fook. After Cheng Yu-tung inherited Chow Tai Fook, he developed Chow Tai Fook from Macau to Hong Kong. He successfully launched the 999 model and achieved great success.
At that time, the market was uneven, and Cheng Yu-tung's 999 model was favored by a large number of consumers, which also became the industry standard today. After making his first pot of gold through gold, Cheng Yu-tung once again took a look at Hong Kong's real estate market.In the 1960s, the Hong Kong real estate market declined, and Cheng Yu-tung took the risk of buying at the bottom.
At that time, many people immigrated, and immigrants would sell their properties because a large number of properties were sold in the short term, so the property market fell, which caused a sharp drop in land prices. Many developers are going bankrupt. Cheng Yu-tung took the risk of buying at the bottom. At that time, many friends wiped the cold sweat for Cheng Yu-tung.
In fact, the four major families in Hong Kong today, whether they are Li Ka-shing , Li Ka-shing , and Guo Desheng , they all seized the opportunity to buy at the bottom at that time and developed. The same is true for Cheng Yu-tung. In the 1970s, the Hong Kong property market recovered and Cheng Yu-tung's assets increased several times. At the same time, in 1972, he also took the opportunity to list his New World Real Estate Company in Hong Kong, and he was also known as the Five Tigers of China Real Estate.
In addition to the accident, Cheng Yu-tung's gold jewelry business has also developed steadily, becoming the jewelry king among the Hong Kong population. Cheng Yu-tung is a social expert in the Hong Kong rich circle. He has a very good relationship with many rich people. From Li Ka-shing to Liu Luanxiong , to Macau gambling king Ho Hongshen , all of them are his friends.
70s Cheng Yu-tung originally joined forces with Ye Han to go to Macau to compete with Stanley Ho for gambling. But later Cheng Yutong became good friends with Stanley Ho, and Cheng Yutong also bought shares of Macao Entertainment Company . At the same time, Cheng Yu-tung also invested in Macau's power company and water company , both of which were successful.
By the early 1980s, Cheng Yu-tung had formed a huge consortium with business spanning real estate, jewelry and gold, infrastructure, etc. Since the 1980s, Cheng Yutong has also actively invested in the mainland. Many people do not know that the former , the tallest building in China, , was invested by Cheng Yutong.
In addition, Cheng Yutong has also done a lot of charity in the mainland, participated in investing in China Hotel , established a school in his hometown of Shunde, donated 100 million yuan to Beijing Water Cube , etc. In 2016, Cheng Yu-tung died in Hong Kong. Rich people such as Li Ka-shing and Lee Ka-kye helped Cheng Yu-tung and . Liu Luan-hsiung had just undergone surgery and wanted to send him off. Now that Cheng Yu-tung has passed away and Zheng Zhigang takes over, it is still very difficult to say where the Zheng family will go in the future.
