On March 17, Pinduoduo founder Huang Zheng issued a letter to shareholders for 2021, announcing that the board of directors has approved his resignation as chairman of Pinduoduo. Chen Lei will take over as chairman of the board from now on and continue to serve as CEO.
After he ceases to serve as the chairman of the board and the management position of Pinduoduo, Huang Zheng's 1:10 super voting rights will also lapse, and the voting rights of the shares under his name will be entrusted to the board of directors of Pinduoduo to make decisions by voting. Huang Zheng made a clear promise that the stocks under his personal name will continue to be locked in the next 3 years and will not be sold.
In explaining this important decision in his letter to shareholders, Huang Zheng stated that the drastic changes in the external environment caused by the epidemic and other reasons have accelerated the iteration of Pinduoduo's internal business and management. Pinduoduo started from a purely asset-light third-party platform, and began a new round of investment in warehousing, logistics and agricultural sources. New businesses began to sprout and grow rapidly in Pinduoduo. This has not only changed Pinduoduo, but also spawned and trained a new generation of leaders and managers. "It's time to gradually let more waves rise up and shape their own Pinduoduo."
"In the past few years, Pinduoduo's contribution to the agricultural sector has mainly been in the field of circulation. Then go deeper step by step, what can we do?" Huang Zheng said in a letter to shareholders that after resignation, he will focus on food science and In the field of life sciences, Pinduoduo will explore new space for high-speed, high-quality and in-depth development for Pinduoduo ten years later.
Pinduoduo's fourth quarter 2020 and full-year financial reports released on the same day showed that as of the end of 2020, the number of active buyers on the platform reached 788.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 35% from 585.2 million at the end of the previous year. During the same period, the number of active buyers on Alibaba was 779 million and that of JD.com was 472 million. This means that Pinduoduo has surpassed Ali and will become the largest e-commerce platform in China by the end of 2020.
In the letter to shareholders, Huang Zheng believes that the competition in the industry is becoming increasingly fierce and even alienated. The traditional scale and efficiency-oriented competition has its inevitable problems. It is necessary to take action on the lower and fundamental issues and focus on the core technology. And its basic theory to find the answer.
Huang Zheng believes that Pinduoduo itself is still very young, there are still thick and long snow slopes, and there is still room for long-term high-speed growth, but if it is to ensure its high-speed and high-quality development in 10 years, some explorations are now justified. actually. As the founder, Huang Zheng hopes to combine his own interests and step out of "touching the stones on the road in 10 years."
In the letter to shareholders, Huang Zheng gave an example and looked forward to the scientific research field he will devote to long-term after resigning as chairman. For example, by controlling the method of agricultural product planting process, exploring the reliable and effective control of the content of potentially harmful heavy metals such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, etc., and at the same time, the controllable standardization improvement of its possible and beneficial trace elements, and so on.
"I can't become a scientist, but I may have the opportunity to become an assistant to the future (great) scientist. That is also a very happy thing." Huang Zheng said that in-depth research in these basic science and technology fields will help to break through the innovation of the circulation mode of "breaking down the two ends of the middle supplement", and qualitatively improve the added value of agricultural products and the level of health.
The following is the full text of the shareholder letter:
This year’s shareholder letter has been advanced a bit in order to keep up with everyone in time. At the board of directors that just opened, the directors approved my request to resign as chairman of Pinduoduo. Chen Lei will take over as chairman from now on and continue to serve as CEO. After I no longer serve as the chairman of the board and the management position of Pinduoduo, my 1:10 super voting rights will also lapse. The voting rights of the shares in my name will be entrusted to the board of directors of Pinduoduo to make decisions by voting. At the same time, I personally promise that the shares in my name will continue to be locked in the next 3 years and will not be sold.
I stepped down as CEO on July 1st last year, and originally planned to complete the handover of the chairmanship with Chen Lei in one full year. Two reasons made us decide to further advance the handover in this plan.
First, the increasingly fierce competition and even alienation in the industry made me realize that this traditional scale and efficiency-oriented competition has its inevitable problems. To change, we must take action on lower-level and fundamental issues, and seek answers based on core technology and its basic theories. Although Pinduoduo itself is still very young, there are still thick and long snow slopes, and there is still room for high-speed growth for a long time, but if you want to ensure its high-speed and high-quality development in 10 years, then some explorations are now legitimate It's time. As the founder, I jumped out and touched the rocks on the road 10 years later. I might be a more suitable candidate. It would be great if I could combine my own interests.
Second, the drastic changes in the external environment caused by the epidemic and other reasons have also accelerated the iteration of Pinduoduo's internal business and management. Pinduoduo started from a purely asset-light third-party platform, and began a new round of investment in warehousing, logistics and agricultural sources. New businesses began to sprout and grow rapidly in Pinduoduo. This has not only changed Pinduoduo, but also spawned and trained a new generation of leaders and managers. It is also time to gradually let more waves rise up and shape their own Pinduoduo.
So, what will Pinduoduo look like? I may not be able to decide, but I can happily share my own imagination with you.
First of all, Pinduoduo will be a social enterprise that always puts consumer interests and social values first. The new e-commerce concept of "inclusive, people-oriented, and more open" we practice will be more clearly known to the industry and the public in the coming days. It faces the broadest group of people, makes improvements bit by bit, and strives to create value for consumers and society, regardless of whether it is significant or not easy to see. Because of this, it will become more and more popular with the public. The various barriers it faces will gradually be broken, even if it sometimes takes a little time, and there may even be twists and turns. But "inclusive, human first, more open" should be a direction, and it will bloom with different vitality in this new era.
Secondly, Pinduoduo will be a company that is rich in imagination and constantly iterates and innovates. Costco+Disney's vision will be more visually and vividly displayed in front of us. Although it is only the initial stage of how affordable and fun it is, we have been able to feel the subtle difference in nature brought about by the superimposition of the multi-benefit and the fun, and feel the 1+1>2 of the chemical reaction behind it. Great power. The practice of the past few years has made us even more convinced that this vision is rich, interesting, worth looking forward to, and pursuing.
Third, Pinduoduo will strive to become a mature and international public institution. There was a paragraph in the shareholder letter when it went public in 2018: “We hope that Pinduoduo is a public institution that creates value for the vast majority of users. It should not be a tool to demonstrate personal abilities, nor should it have too many Personality. At the same time, it should serve as an independent public institution, showing its unique social value, organizational structure and culture as an institution, and follow its own unique destiny to continue to evolve and evolve." Duoduo is still like a kid who just went to elementary school, and now although only three years have passed, Pinduoduo is already a teenager entering puberty. Watching his rapid changes and growth, I am both happy and anxious. But whether it is nervous, excited, or panic, it will always have its own path of growth. I hope that today’s retiring from the chairman will help this young independent adult.
What should I do after I leave? I want to do some research in the fields of food science and life science. Pinduoduo started as an agricultural product. In the past few years, Pinduoduo's contribution to the agricultural sector has mainly been in the circulation field. By improving the efficiency of the circulation field, farmers and consumers can benefit by eliminating the middle to make up for the two ends. However, the improvement of circulation efficiency cannot qualitatively increase the added value of agricultural products, nor can it substantially increase the level of health in nature. Then go deeper step by step, what can we do?
For example, by controlling the method of agricultural product planting process, is it possible for us to reliably and effectively control the content of potentially harmful heavy metals in potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, etc., and at the same time control the possible and beneficial trace elements in them? , Can be standardized promotion? If there is a kind of tomato in the future, each one contains VC and other trace elements that are most suitable for our body, will our quality of life be significantly improved?
For another example, if we can more thoroughly understand the changes and effects of different plant proteins and animal proteins after ingested in the human body, and then synthesize and produce meat substitutes through plant proteins, then does this new vegetarian chicken 2.0 have it? May become a healthier and greener stable supply?
If we go further and delve into the study of protein structure and properties in the human body, is it possible for us to follow the path of the molecular machine of the 2016 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and further develop protein robots that can enter the human brain? To dredge the blood vessels to avoid stroke?
When we were young, the teacher asked us what we wanted to do when we grew up. Like many people, I said that I wanted to be scientists. It’s been a long time now, and it may be impossible to become a true scientist, but if I work hard, I combine my favorite chemistry in middle school, the computer I learned in university, and the management and management of work and study. I really thought that maybe I could do something interesting again. You can't become a scientist, but you may have the opportunity to become an assistant to the future (great) scientist. That is also a very happy thing.
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