Chen Xiao lost the case again and ended the contract dispute with Gome that had been struggling for six years.
Last month, the Beijing Higher People's Court issued the second-instance civil judgment on the contract dispute between Chen Xiao and Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Co., Ltd. The court ruled that the first-instance judgment determined the facts clearly and the application of the law correctly, rejected the appeal, upheld the original judgment, and was the final judgment.
In other words, Chen Xiao needs to fully refund the 10 million yuan in the "Agreement" for violating the agreement and obligations.
This case is a follow-up of the Gome control dispute between Huang Guangyu and Chen Xiao.
Like Huang Guangyu, Chen Xiao was involved in home appliance sales as early as the 1980s and led the Shanghai Yongle Home Appliances he created to be successfully listed in Hong Kong. In 2006, Gome announced the acquisition of Yongle Home Appliances in Hong Kong. Huang Guangyu and Chen Xiao, who were originally competitors, stood on the same front, and Chen Xiao served as the president of Gome Electrical Appliances. In 2008, Gome founder Huang Guangyu was detained for a commercial crime, and Chen Xiao was ordered to take over as chairman of the board of directors of Gome Electrical Appliances as a professional manager.
But Chen Xiao not only failed to fight side by side with Gome Electrical Appliances, but instead became enemies because of control. In an interview with Sina Finance, Chen Xiao once described the origin of the conflict between the two sides. He believed that "Gome is a public company and needs to make decisions based on the maximization of the interests of all shareholders and cannot be oriented towards the interests of a single shareholder." Huang Guangyu, however, was unwilling to dilute the shares, which affected the control of the company as a major shareholder.
In the absence of changing the actual situation, Chen Xiao resigned from Gome in 2011, and the position of chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances was taken over by Zhang Dazhong . Zhang Dazhong is the founder of Dazhong Electric Appliances . His company chose to retire after being acquired by Gome for 3.6 billion yuan in December 2007. It was considered a re-emergence in 2011, but it rarely manages Gome’s specific affairs.
According to Gome's statement, Chen Xiao signed an "Agreement" with Gome Holdings on the day of his resignation, requiring Chen Xiao to promise not to publish or disclose non-public information of any member of the group to anyone, and to not publish remarks, comments, etc. to anyone that Gome Holdings reasonably believes may have a negative impact on the group members, any shareholders, directors, and senior management of the group members. The
agreement also stipulates that "If Chen Xiao violates the relevant commitment, he should refund the agreement consideration paid by Gome Holdings Company of 10 million yuan after tax." Five days after signing the above agreement, Gome Holdings paid RMB 10 million to Chen Xiao's personal salary account through an electronic transfer method through a foreign joint venture company affiliated with "Hongxi Investment Co., Ltd." and "Haizhou City International Co., Ltd.") and used electronic transfer to two payments of RMB 10 million each.
was just the 10 million yuan consideration, which failed to completely "seal" Chen Xiao.
Two months later, "21st Century Business Herald " and "Business World" and other media successively released articles such as "Gome Incident Reappearance Chen Xiao Exploded Gome's Financial Losses", "Chen Xiao Exposes Gome's Three Changes in One Day", "Chen Xiao Right and Nons", etc. The content involves some sensitive information, including questions about Gome's supplier relationships and financial issues.
Gome's official immediately responded that Chen Xiao's views were very different from Gome's actual situation, and at the same time filed a lawsuit against Chen Xiao for violating the "Agreement", demanding a refund of 10 million yuan.
On December 19, 2012, the civil judgment of the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing won the case, and Chen Xiao returned 10 million yuan to Gome Holdings. After that, it was a long process of appeal and retrial between the two sides for 6 years, and it was also the only link that could connect Chen Xiao and Gome Electrical Appliances together.
On December 20, 2013, Chen Xiao appealed against the first-instance judgment, and the Beijing Higher People's Court ruled that the case was sent back for retrial. After a year of trial, on November 19, 2014, the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing once again ruled that Gome won the case and supported Gome's lawsuit request to Chen Xiao to return 10 million yuan in consideration.
Subsequently, Chen Xiao was dissatisfied with the judgment and continued to file a lawsuit with the court, demanding the revocation of the first-instance judgment and the reversal of the judgment to reject all the lawsuit requests of Gome Holdings and the judgment was ruled that Gome Holdings would bear all the litigation costs of the first-instance and second-instance of this case. The Beijing Higher People's Court opened a case on December 25, 2014.The verdict of
shows that during the appeal trial, Chen Xiao also sued Guangdong 21st Century Global Economic News Agency and Business Magazine for reputation rights disputes. Because the fact determination and handling results of the above two cases have a direct impact on the case, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled to suspend the lawsuit on April 16, 2015.
On June 6, 2016, Gome applied for the resumption of trial on the grounds that Chen Xiao’s lawsuit against Guangdong 21st Century Global Economic News Agency and Business Magazine were both effective. On August 25, 2016, the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court resumed trial of the case.
Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court believes that the case has the following controversial focus in the second instance stage: First, the impact of the statements of the Business Magazine in the settlement agreement reached with Chen Xiao on the facts of this case; Second, whether Gome Electrical Appliances Company falls within the scope of the payment subject agreed in the Agreement; Third, whether 10 million yuan is the economic compensation paid by Gome Holdings Company to Chen Xiao; Fourth, whether Chen Xiao violated the commitment obligations stipulated in the Agreement.
The second-instance judgment explained the above four disputes one by one, and the final judgment was: the first-instance judgment clearly determined the facts and the application of the law was correct. In accordance with the provisions of Article 170, Paragraph 1, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the appeal is rejected and the original judgment is upheld. The acceptance fee for the second instance case is 81,800 yuan, which will be borne by Chen Xiao (paid).
This judgment is the final judgment and completely ends the dispute between Chen Xiao and Gome Electrical Appliances, or Huang Guangyu. Judging from the results of the case alone, Chen Xiao is undoubtedly a complete loser. Not only did he fail to get the desired result, but he also affected his reputation accumulated over the years.
Chen Xiao is now the chairman of Shanghai Xinhushang Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd., who has transformed from an original professional manager to an investor. He has been dealing with Gome in a silent way. Although Huang Guangyu has not been released from prison, he still has strong control over Gome, and the industry is also paying attention to the changes he may bring to Gome after he is released from prison.
The grievances between the two sides will inevitably become history, and only those who are in the process can experience the gains and losses more deeply.
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