Billionaire re-elected as the richest man in 20 years, the final conclusion·Entrepreneur Forum: Daughter’s assets have been negative in 5 years
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The entire Asia was swept by a financial crisis in 1997. After experiencing this financial crisis, most companies have suffered huge losses, and many have even gone bankrupt. However, in this predicament, there are also some businesses who are able to accurately seize business opportunities and develop their business empires rapidly. Zheng Zhoumin is one of the successful people in the Philippines.
Who is Zheng Zhoumin? He is a legendary figure who has occupied the top spot among the world's richest Chinese for 20 years and is affectionately called "Big Brother" by Li Ka-shing. Chinese Think Tanks for Determining Research: Dialogue on Determining Theory·China Entrepreneur Forum-Philosophical and Business Dialogue·China Confucian Business Conference. For nearly thirty years, starting in the early 1990s, Zheng Zhoumin has been regarded as a god-like being in the business world. With his own hard work and wisdom, he started from scratch and accumulated hundreds of billions of wealth.
In 1998, he founded Pan Asia Bank and became the largest new bank in the Philippines with a registered capital of 1.6 billion pesos. Unlike others who fell into trouble due to the financial crisis, he turned it into a money-making opportunity, further solidifying the stability of his business empire. Five years after his death, no one could have predicted that this huge business empire would quickly come to an end, and it all happened under the control of his daughter. Eventually, the entire business empire collapsed as Asia Trust was taken over by the Taiwan Financial Supervisory Authority and completely collapsed.
The prosperous moment of the business tycoon has passed, but the heir who once inherited tens of billions of properties has fallen into an abyss of debt. What causes such a huge gap? An entrepreneurial genius who built a business empire called "Asia World". Zheng Zhoumin is known as the "Chinese Land King", and this title is indeed worthy of his name. He owns large estates in more than ten countries around the world, reaching a huge scale. During his most glorious period, the real estate value of Taipei alone was as high as 40 billion yuan. His total assets in the Philippines exceed US$5 billion.
The wealth this person possesses is not accumulated through his ancestors, but through his own efforts and wisdom, he started a business and accumulated it from scratch. This Chinese giant is Filipino and his ancestral home is Fujian. At the age of 5, he moved with his parents to a small fishing village in the Philippines.
In order to let Zheng Zhoumin master another craft, his mother decided to send him to Manila, where he worked as an apprentice in a clothing store during the day and went to night school at night. Zheng Zhoumin is well aware of his mother's good intentions and hopes to reduce the family's financial burden, so in addition to working and studying, he also takes time to sell goods on the streets.
Zheng Zhoumin gradually developed a keen market observation ability through the experience of repeatedly traveling through the streets. Whether it is changes in demand for goods or price fluctuations, he can quickly detect and make accurate judgments in a timely manner. When he was 18 years old, he discovered a business opportunity in a large backlog of inventory and earned his first fortune through this opportunity.
The owner of the yarn mill was very distressed because there were a large number of yarn tubes accumulated in his warehouse. It would be a pity to throw away so many yarn tubes at will, but if you want to sell them, not only will they not be worth much, but it will also take some time to find a buyer, and it will also take up space in the warehouse. After hearing the news, Zheng Zhoumin immediately went to the cotton mill owner's office to discuss business. Someone was willing to buy the items that were originally intended to be discarded. Although the price was low, the boss was very happy and the two parties quickly reached a consensus.
Zheng Zhoumin showed his courage in the mall, which began to show early on. Although he knew nothing about people in this industry and had no familiar sales channels, he decided without hesitation to bring back all the yarn tubes. He is very confident that as long as he can find a buyer, this batch of goods will definitely bring him considerable profits.
Zheng Zhoumin does not worry too much about who to sell his products to. He firmly believes that as long as he works hard, he will be rewarded. Zheng Zhoumin was also lucky. He found a spinning mill in urgent need of a large number of yarn tubes in a short period of time. He successfully sold all his goods and made a handsome profit between purchases and sales.
Zheng Zhoumin took the money. In addition to being happy, he also began to explore how to use the funds properly. He did not choose to deposit his money in the bank to ensure the safety of his principal, nor did he spend extravagantly on enjoyment. Instead, he devoted himself to the business field without hesitation. With this capital, he founded a clothing factory and achieved rapid development in just a few years, gradually gaining a reputation in the business world. However, if you want to achieve hundreds of billions of wealth later, it is not enough to just rely on this clothing factory.
Zheng Zhoumin ushered in the first huge leap in his career in 1967. During Zheng Zhoumin's trip to Japan, he temporarily visited a cotton mill and successfully took photos of the factory's advanced equipment. Subsequently, these latest models of equipment from the United States were shipped directly to the Philippines. Compared with the old equipment in the factory, these new equipment will definitely bring significant improvements in production.
Zheng Zhoumin was thinking about the issue of "equipment upgrades" with excitement, but also realized that his garment factory was too small to accommodate these new equipment. Although the old equipment still works, he is unwilling to abandon it. Therefore, a grand plan quickly formed in his mind: buy land, build a huge factory, promote the construction of factories and residences, and wait for the opportunity for the surrounding land to appreciate!
Zheng Zhoumin returned to the Philippines and purchased a large area of rural land. Not only does he plan to build new factories on these lands, but he also has other real estate investments. The scope of his business expanded and he not only got involved in the textile industry, but also began to enter the real estate industry and launched a diversified business plan. As Zheng Zhoumin predicted, the price of this land rose sharply in a few years as factories gathered around it. It even attracted the Philippines' largest real estate developers, who cooperated with the local area to develop the land into a high-end residential area and made huge profits.
Zheng Zhoumin's career is booming, but he is not satisfied with the status quo, but actively pursues greater success. He gradually expanded his business scope to various industries such as finance, investment and tourism, and achieved certain achievements in these fields. When the signs of "Asia World" light up on each building, Zheng Zhoumin has established a business kingdom with his own efforts and has initially formed a scale.
Chinese entrepreneur Zheng Zhoumin has become a famous local rich man because of his outstanding business talents, and is known as the "Business Wizard" in the Chinese community in the Philippines.
People who benefited from the "financial crisis"
Zheng Zhoumin said that the reason why he was successful was that he had the courage to do things that others did not dare to do and to think about things that others did not dare to think. He is very confident in his intuition when it comes to business decisions, often making decisions with a glance at a map, and his judgment is always accurate and he has the courage to challenge adversity.
After Taiwan was excluded from the United Nations, many investors stopped investing and waited to see how the situation developed. Some cautious investors are even moving their money elsewhere. However, Zheng Zhoumin chose to go against the trend and decisively entered the Taiwan market at this time, purchased a large amount of land, and invested in the construction of Plaza Hotel, Plaza Asia Department Store and other facilities.
Due to the continuing impact of political turmoil, the stock price of Taiwan's stock market has continued to decline, and the real estate industry has also been in a downturn. Land prices can almost be described as "high quality and low price." The area that was once known as a prime location has now plummeted in price, but no one is interested. Zheng Zhoumin saw the opportunity in this market and resolutely invested US$3 million to develop real estate projects.
This decision that Zheng Zhoumin has always insisted on has been widely criticized from the beginning. Even his family members advised him to stop losses as soon as possible. However, he remained unwavering in his views and continued to put his money into them. Because Zheng Zhoumin firmly believes: "Although currency will always depreciate, land will never. The country's economic development and people's basic living needs are inseparable from land."
Zheng Zhoumin's bet this time was really huge. However, as a victorious general at this gambling table, he seemed to have forgotten a common rule - nine times out of ten he bets, he would lose. Others did not think highly of Zheng Zhoumin, and they all expected him to lose everything. Zheng Zhoumin disagreed with this. He made calm and decisive decisions on each investment plan, which was based on his years of experience and judgment. He always adheres to the principle of "bold, careful, accurate and prompt", because opportunities in the business are often fleeting, and hesitation cannot achieve success.
His business empire did not reach its peak in 1991 when total assets reached NT$100 billion. The Pan-Asian Bank was established in 1997 at the height of the Asian financial crisis, a period when house prices fell, stock markets plummeted and many investors went bankrupt. However, when everyone was tightening their expenditures, Zheng Zhoumin moved forward bravely and decided to invest huge sums of money to establish Pan Asia Bank in the Philippines.
The Philippine government has warmly welcomed and strongly supported it, and is very satisfied that there are people willing to invest and the amount is huge. As a result, Zheng Zhoumin once again successfully expanded his business scope, while also bringing a certain degree of stability to the Philippine financial system. Zheng Zhoumin has always insisted on giving back to the society while making money, which has become his style.
Although Zheng Zhoumin grew up in the Philippines and developed in Taiwan, he has never forgotten his Chinese roots. He invested more than 10 billion in Luoyang, which was considered an astronomical figure at the time. Therefore, he once became the focus of heated discussions among Luoyang citizens. At the same time, Luoyang became a hot city that attracted national attention, bringing with it a considerable economic trend.
As an investor, falling in love with Luoyang is not just a matter of personal preference. As the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties and the hinterland of the Central Plains, Luoyang has convenient transportation, a dense population, sufficient water and electricity resources, abundant supplies, and more importantly, a splendid cultural heritage. For a businessman, all these factors represent huge business opportunities.
Zheng Zhoumin's vision once again proved to be vicious, and he pushed the "Asia World Group" to its peak. After Zheng Zhoumin became successful, he began to actively participate in philanthropy, providing funding for various social welfare fields such as education, culture, and sports, and won a good reputation in the charity community. In his later years, Zheng Zhoumin began to consider the successor to his business empire. His choice was unique and unique in his "Zheng style".
The fate of eventual decline will inevitably come at the most glorious moment. This is an unchangeable truth. Zheng Zhoumin has a total of 14 children. According to general practice, Chinese entrepreneurs usually pass their businesses to their heirs. However, what is surprising is that Zheng Zhoumin chose his second daughter Zheng Mianmian as his heir.
Why is there the concept of "raising a daughter but not a son"? In this issue, Zheng Zhoumin's mother played a crucial and decisive role. In the Zheng family, Zheng Zhoumin's mother enjoys the supreme status, and her words have great authority. Among all the grandchildren, the old man has always been optimistic about Zheng Mianmian. The last will she left before her death was to make Zheng Mianmian the heir.
Despite its high reputation, it is only known as having the greatest potential. It was not until 1988 that the Cheng family regained control of Asia Trust. The young leader achieved an astonishing feat in just three months, setting a legend in Taiwan's financial and business circles with a profit of NT$8 billion. Such achievements are undoubtedly very eye-catching, and even a powerful institution like the Bank of Taiwan cannot match them.
Since then, she has won another title abroad: "Taiwan's most profitable business tycoon." After Zheng Zhoumin saw his daughter's achievements, he finally breathed a sigh of relief because he had found a successor. He gradually handed over most of the power of Asia World Group to Zheng Mianmian and officially announced his retirement. At this time, Zheng Mianmian had just graduated from college and had only 4 years left.
After Zheng Mianmian officially ascended the throne, her era began. She took bold and resolute reform measures to integrate the company's internal structure and expand its investment scope. News about her has been frequently appearing in major headlines in the financial world, and her status is unshakable for a while. In 1989, Zheng Mianmian spent US$22.7 billion to purchase 20 million square feet of land in Manila and planned to build a satellite city of a new Asian world city. The estimated completion time is 15 years.
This project has been hailed as a "remarkable global project" by Philippine newspapers and magazines, and is an important project that can promote the vigorous development of the entire Philippine economy. It has been widely reported in the media that Zheng Mianmian is full of confidence and looking forward to this investment. However, she never expected that the project would never be completed.
The rapid expansion of assets is like a raging fire cooking oil. On the surface, it looks like prosperity, but in fact it is just a flash in the pan. When Zhou Zhengmin was in charge, someone pointed out the situation and corrected some problems in time, so the group's disadvantages were not yet obvious. However, in 2022, after Zheng Zhoumin passed away, problems within the group began to surface one by one, and rapidly spread and fermented.
As a person born in a wealthy family, Zheng Mianmian has not experienced the arduous process of starting a business. Compared with Zheng Zhoumin, he lacks the business acumen developed in crises. He tended to lose touch with reality when making decisions, and these erroneous decisions were not discovered and corrected in time, eventually leading to serious problems in the company's operations.
The decline of the Zheng Group is like a crumbling building. Without Zheng Zhoumin's guidance, it gradually slid to the bottom. In just five years, this once glorious business empire completely collapsed and was saddled with huge debts. Many assets under the Zheng Group were either auctioned or taken over by the government, and a once prosperous business family also collapsed.
There must be a process where people grow up in prosperity and inherit wealth and status. However, they did not experience the same struggle and growth as their predecessors. Therefore, although they quickly gained wealth and power, they lacked the corresponding mentality and abilities. In the end, these wealth and power are short-lived and fleeting.
Billionaire re-elected as the richest man in 20 years, the final conclusion·Entrepreneur Forum: Daughter’s assets have been negative in 5 years