Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 936 The Move: The Crown Prince Falls from Grace, Dongzi Goes Abroad
Old Ma's gaze swept over Peng Lei, and the burning anticipation in her eyes was almost overflowing.

But he did not waver, because he already had someone in mind—a "veteran" who was equally prestigious within the company and one of the eighteen founders of AL.

"Let Daisy do it."

Old Ma's tone was calm and left no room for argument.

Peng Lei's eyes dimmed, and after a moment of silence, she replied in a low voice, "Yes."

As the meeting drew to a close, Old Ma's voice was solemn, each word striking a chord in everyone's heart:

"Merit is merit, and fault is fault. AL has come this far not because of any one person, but because of everyone who has adhered to the bottom line."

If we make an exception for him today, thousands of AL employees will think that as long as performance is good enough, values ​​can be discounted.

This path cannot be opened.

The ship AL has weathered many storms; we can't let one person's emotional outburst capsize the entire vessel.

Back in his office, Lao Ma sank into his large executive chair, a hint of weariness finally showing on his face.

In fact, he had reached a private consensus with Zhang Yong and Cai Chongxin before the meeting.

This meeting was merely a formality.

Just like some leaders who have committed offenses, the so-called "removal from office for probation" sounds severe, as if they have been cast into the dust, but in reality it is nothing more than another kind of "self-punishment." Once the storm has passed, they can still be reinstated.

Everyone knows that Jiang Fan had an affair, but they have no idea how important and strategically valuable Jiang Fan is to AL.

In Lao Ma's opinion, Jiang Fan had simply made a mistake that all men in the world make. Given Jiang Fan's level and his young age and potential, it's understandable that he couldn't resist the temptation, as countless women would flock to him.

With his looks, he must have been surrounded by countless women along the way, so he has a lot of experience in this area.

If Jiang Fan is really fired as netizens hope, that would be a relief for both loved ones and enemies, and Chen Mo would probably be all smiles.

Zhang Xiaolong was once snatched away by this guy from Little Ma, and now it seems that the return was worth more than hundreds of billions.

If Zhang Xiaolong were still at Tencent, the "WeChat war" wouldn't have ended so quickly.

Therefore, even if Jiang Fan were to "die," he must "die" in AL; there is absolutely no possibility of him being released.

As for the transfer of benefits? Those mere few hundred million are insignificant compared to the value Jiang Fan created. That's why he only allowed Jiang Fang to investigate six months' worth of data, instead of three years' worth.

Over the years, AL has developed a complex web of vested interests, and if a thorough investigation were to be conducted, no one could be completely innocent.

If you really want the water to be clear, then there will be no fish in the pond.

Finally, he personally called Jiang Fan:

"...What I just said was the company-level approach. Once you're in your new position, calm down, think things through, do your job well, and prove yourself with your achievements."

The road isn't completely blocked yet; how you proceed from here is up to you.

"Thank you, boss. Jiang Fan... will certainly live up to your expectations!"

The phone hangs up.

Old Ma frowned. On the surface, it seemed that Jiang Fan's backyard was on fire, but it just so happened that the commander-in-chief of the armed forces was forced to step down at a crucial moment when AL's counterattack was in full swing and on the right track.

The Jiang Fan incident left Lao Ma feeling uneasy, as he sensed that things weren't as simple as they seemed.

Isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?

His plans had already been underway: Liu Qiangdong was going abroad at the end of the month, and action was imminent. Feedback from above indicated that the operation would take place around the beginning of next month.

Since the more his opponents try to force him to abandon Jiang Fan, the more he should do the opposite and continue to rely on him.

The current transfer is merely a temporary measure to avoid the limelight.

The following morning, Jiang Fan issued an apology statement on AL's internal network, expressing deep regret for the trouble caused to the company and colleagues by the recent online rumors, and proactively requesting the company to conduct a thorough investigation of him "to set the record straight".

That afternoon, AL Group announced the results of its investigation into the Jiang Fan incident:

"This investigation was conducted by a special investigation team established by the Integrity Department of AL Group. Based on the investigation, the management of AL Group formulated the handling results, and the AL Partners Committee also conducted a special review of them."

The investigation team conducted a comprehensive internal and external investigation into AL Group's investment in Ruhnn E-commerce, as well as the entry, activities, traffic generation, and transactions of all of Zhang Dayi's Taobao and Tmall stores.

The investigation team confirmed that AL's decision to invest in Ruhnn E-commerce in 2016 was unrelated to Jiang Fan.
Jiang Fan did not engage in any transfer of benefits to Ruhan E-commerce or Zhang Dayi's Taobao and Tmall stores.

However, the investigation team believes that Jiang Fan, in his important position within the company, mishandled personal family issues, triggering a serious public opinion crisis and causing significant damage to the company's reputation.

After discussion, AL's management ultimately decided to impose the following disciplinary action on Jiang Fan:
1. The management proposed and the partnership committee approved the cancellation of AL's partnership status effective immediately.

2. A major demerit will be recorded.

3. Demotion punishment: his job level was reduced from M7 (Senior Vice President of the Group) to M6 (Vice President of the Group).

4. Cancel all bonuses from the previous year.

Following the announcement, several media outlets that collaborate with AL quickly reprinted the article and published interpretive pieces, the content of which is roughly as follows:
"First, cancel all bonuses from the previous year—based on Jiang Fan's level, this loss will amount to at least eight figures."

The demotion punishment means that his rank dropped from M7 to M6.

Within the AL system, M7 earns an annual salary of approximately 500 million yuan plus stock incentives, while M6 earns around 320 million yuan plus stock, a difference of approximately 180 million yuan in basic salary alone.

It is rumored that the stock difference is around 10,000 shares, which translates to an annual loss of no less than 15 million yuan.

The major demerit, ostensibly a reputational disciplinary measure, has effectively severed his path to succession as the so-called "AL Crown Prince." Considering Ant Group's market capitalization of nearly 3 trillion yuan after its IPO, Jiang Fan has essentially lost the possibility of leading the empire in the future.

The most severe punishment would be the revocation of his AL partner status.

AL Partners are elected only once every five years. This position holds the highest status within the group, even more prestigious than the position of president.

Since its establishment twenty years ago, AL has only had 38 global partners, with each person receiving an average annual dividend of about 2 million RMB.

Moreover, due to the impact of this incident, the stock price of the listed company behind Zhang Dayi plummeted, wiping out at least 3 million yuan in just a few days.

Two Weibo posts cost hundreds of millions!
I wonder if the CEO's wife and the internet celebrity livestreamer will regret clicking "send" at that moment...

Initially, many netizens still believed that the outcome was already strict, since the incident was still within the realm of private morality.

It wasn't until someone brought up the 2016 AL "mooncake incident" that things changed.
At that time, AL provided its employees with mooncakes at cost price for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which were available for limited purchase through its internal website.

Five technicians used a script to "snap up" 124 boxes of mooncakes—the mooncakes were snatched up in the morning, but the technicians were fired that evening.

The company swiftly dismissed the relevant personnel on the grounds of "violating AL values," and its decisiveness and severity caused an uproar.

The incident caused a public outcry at the time.

Of particular note is that one of the senior security experts was not initially punished, raising public questions about whether “the lowly with no connections were severely punished while the powerful with connections were let off the hook.”

Under sustained public pressure, AL eventually dismissed the employee.

When the "mooncake incident" and the current "Jiang Fan incident" are examined side by side, AL's values ​​are facing unprecedented scrutiny:

Why are ordinary employees immediately fired for taking an extra hundred boxes of mooncakes, while core executives who cause a major public opinion crisis due to personal issues are only demoted, have their bonuses deducted, and have their partnership terminated?

In stark contrast, the public has criticized AL for implementing a double standard of "no punishment for high-ranking officials."

Some netizens even commented that its value system is "the upper class is becoming more and more bureaucratic, the middle class is becoming more and more absurd, and the lower class is becoming more and more miserable."

This was followed by sharp criticism from the media and public opinion, which significantly impacted the corporate reputation and business image of the AL Group.

When a company's values ​​are questioned by the public, it will inevitably affect its business and development. Just as the personal image of a company leader is deeply tied to the company's brand, if the leader falls into a negative situation, the entire group will inevitably suffer the consequences.

Taobao, Meituan, and Pinduoduo have been hit by a barrage of public opinion and are now at a significant disadvantage.

On August 29, Chen Mo saw Liu Qiangdong off.

Dongzi was dressed in a well-pressed suit, but it couldn't hide the weariness between his brows. His eyes were sunken, and his whole person exuded a sense of exhaustion, as if his body had been hollowed out.

Seeing that he was forcing himself to keep up the pleasantries, Chen Mo understood—it seemed that his young "sister-in-law" had probably been giving him quite a bit of "intensity" in private lately.

This puts him at ease.

He stepped forward slowly, shook hands with Dongzi to say goodbye, and said in his usual calm and reliable tone: "Brother Dong, this journey is long and there are many things to do, so please take good care of yourself."

Liu Qiangdong laughed heartily upon hearing this, but when he met Chen Mo's all-seeing gaze, he felt inexplicably guilty and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Don't worry, don't worry, it's just a serious learning exchange. I'll be back as soon as I'm done..."

Chen Mo said no more, only smiled and patted his arm, everything was understood without words.

As Chen Mo watched Dongzi drag his weary figure toward the boarding gate, the smile on his face gradually faded.

All he could do was offer these vague and perfunctory reminders.

After the plane took off, Chen Mo dialed Zhang Changfa's number: "Tell the team over there to stay alert and ensure Liu Qiangdong's safety in the US. Report any movement to me immediately. The progress with Viya is temporarily suspended; wait for my instructions."

After hanging up the phone, he looked at the fading contrail in the sky.

The reason for halting the operation against Viya was the fear that this series of "bombshells" would provoke Ma Yun (founder of Tencent) into a desperate act, leading him to carry out an "American-style iaido" (a euphemism for a sexual act) against Dongzi overseas.

Therefore, he secretly dispatched a security team stationed in the United States to protect Dongzi in advance.

The battle has entered a critical phase, and both sides are extremely sensitive; he must take precautions against any unforeseen circumstances.

First, he pressured and wore down the guy through his "little sister-in-law," then he sent bodyguards to protect him—Chen Mo thought to himself, "We've already armed this guy down to his crotch, this time we should be absolutely safe."

Just two days later, he received a long-distance call directly from the security manager:
"Boss, there's something going on with CEO Qiangdong."

(End of this chapter)