A poem by a poet of the Tang Dynasty, about the phenomenon of burning books in the Qin Dynasty. “What CEO Wang posted is an anti-government poem. It shows that he is under a lot of pressure because of the investigations,” said Hao Hong, an analyst at Bocom International in Hong Kong. CEO Wang deleted the post on May 9 and denied the above rumor. He claimed to only use the verse to refer to the company’s competitors. A spokesperson for Meituan made a similar comment. Mr. Wang Xing, CEO of Meituan. Photo: China Daily. In October 2020, billionaire Jack Ma publicly criticized the Chinese banking system. As a result, Jack Ma’s startup Ant Group was forced to stop its $35 billion listing, Alibaba was investigated and fined $2.8 billion for violating antitrust laws. “Many people think that the poem posted by Wang Xing is a criticism similar to what Jack Ma said. This is not the time for Chinese businessmen to raise their voices.” Bloomberg quoted Kerry Goh, Investment Director of Kamet Capital Partners as saying. In recent years, the Chinese government has tightened supervision of technology companies. The Hang Seng Technology Index is down a record 30% from its peak in February. Meituan is also the subject of investigation by Chinese authorities for monopolistic behavior. Meituan is accused of forcing merchants to sign exclusive business contracts on its platform. On May 10, the Shanghai Consumer Council criticized Meituan for infringing on the rights of consumers.

Mr. Wang holds an 11% stake in China’s largest food delivery group. Meituan’s share price has fallen since last month when the State Administration of Market Regulations of China (SAMR) announced it was opening an investigation into Meituan for anticompetitive practices. Meituan stock price received a new shock on May 10 when CEO Wang posted on social media a poem Tang about the phenomenon of book burning in the Qin Dynasty. Many people think this is Mr. Wang’s way of criticizing the Chinese government for its campaign to tighten control of Internet corporations. Meituan’s stock price plummeted because CEO Wang Xing posted the ancient poem online. Photo: Xinhua. Billionaire Wang deleted the post shortly after, explaining that he used the poem to criticize Meituan’s competitors. However, it was all too late. The hashtag #MeituanSharePriceSlump (Meituan stock price plummeted) attracted 32 million followers on the social networking platform Weibo. At the same time, the Shanghai Consumer Council also heavily criticized Meituan for inappropriate business practices. Recently, the Chinese technology industry has been struggling because of the repressive measures of the Beijing government. The Hang Seng Technology Index is down about 30% from February. “The Chinese tech industry is going through a lot of ups and downs. Technology regulations are constantly being applied, leading to regulatory risks, making it difficult to forecast industry growth,” said Jackson Wong, head of asset management at Amber Hill Capital.

Huang Zheng, founder of Pinduoduo (left) and Wang Xing, founder of Meituan – Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images. Huang Zheng, founder and CEO of e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, and Wang Xing, founder and CEO of food delivery platform Meituan, have seen their fortunes plummet after being criticized by an activist group for consumers. According to Forbes, the share price of this Pinduoduo 11/5 fell more than 9%, “blowing” $ 4.3 billion from Huang Zheng’s assets. The founder of Pinduoduo is currently worth $42.9 billion according to Forbes’ real-time statistics, making him the 4th richest person in China. Meanwhile, Wang Xing’s fortune fell by $2.5 billion as investors continued to sell off Meituan shares in the May 11 session. The share price fell another 5.3% after falling 7.1% in the previous session. Wang is currently worth $19.5 billion. A day earlier, the Shanghai Consumer Council said it had convened both Pinduoduo and Meituan. The organization criticized Pinduoduo for its poor quality goods, rampant counterfeiting on the company’s e-commerce platform, and poor after-sales service. The organization also condemned Meituan for issues with refunds, failed food deliveries and misleading content on the company’s platform. The statement of the Shanghai Consumer Council comes as the Chinese government is tightening control of the country’s largest technology firms. Last week, Wang was also criticized after posting a poem of a Tang poem allegedly intended to criticize the Chinese government on the social network Fanfou. The poem titled The Book of the Dead (Book Burning Pit) by poet Zhang Jie, written at the end of the Tang Dynasty, condemns Qin Shi Huang’s act of burning books to control people’s thoughts and suppress the mind. awake. The poem is meant to mock Qin Shi Huang for seeing academia as the greatest threat, but his reign was eventually overthrown by non-intellectuals. A few days later, Wang deleted the post, explaining that the poem was just a reminder that “the most dangerous enemies are often the ones we least expect”. The 42-year-old CEO also added that Meituan’s biggest rival appears to be Ele.me but is in fact “unnoticed companies and business models that are disrupting the food delivery industry”. Late last month, Beijing’s anti-trust authority officially launched an investigation into Meituan’s alleged request for sellers to be allowed only the Meituan platform or another competitor. Since then, the company’s stock price has fallen by nearly 18 percent. On Weibo, many Chinese netizens compared Wang’s posting of the poem to Jack Ma’s speech criticizing the financial management system in October 2020. The co-founder of Alibaba at the time even said bluntly that Chinese banks operate like “pawn shops”. Jack Ma’s speech is said to spark a series of strong moves by Chinese authorities against Alibaba as well as its subsidiary Ant Group. Ant’s “big” IPO was suspended a few days later. And Alibaba was fined a record $2.8 billion for monopolies last month.

Meituan is China’s largest food delivery app. (Photo: QZ) A big storm hit after Meituan founder and CEO Wang Xing posted a poem from the Tang Dynasty on social media last week. The article on the Fanfou website has since been deleted, but Meituan confirmed it contains the poem “The Book Burning Pit” by author Zhang Jie written more than 1,100 years ago to satirize Qin Shi Huang. According to historical records, Qin Shi Huang quelled dissent in the country by digging huge holes, burning books not approved by the government, and burying scholars to prevent people from condemning him. Some comments on social media suggested that Wang may have posted the poem to implicitly criticize the Chinese government, which is holding back the country’s largest technology firms. Others compared the post to Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s speech last year, when he smacked China’s central banks and financial regulators for using outdated methods. Jack Ma’s speech seems to have angered the authorities. Ant Group’s historic IPO was also suspended at the last minute. Meituan and many other “big players” such as Alibaba and Tencent have been fined or investigated and monitored for several months now for violating monopoly or affecting consumer rights. The poem, which is more than 1,100 years old, further reveals the predicament that awaits companies like Meituan. Meituan stock fell 13% from May 6 to May 11, wiping out nearly $30 billion in market capitalization. Currently, the stock recovered slightly, gaining 2.5% at the close of the session on May 12. CEO Wang later posted an explanation, saying that the poem was about Meituan’s competitors. “The Qin Dynasty was afraid of scholars, but Liu Bang and Xiang Yu – the people who overthrew the Qin Dynasty – were not educated. That reminds me that the most dangerous enemies are not the people expected. Alibaba focused on JD.com and then Pinduoduo surpassed in terms of users. Similarly, Ele.me is seen as Meituan’s biggest competitor, but what really shocks the entire industry might be a certain business, business model that hasn’t caught our eye yet.” In April, Meituan and dozens of other companies were warned when Alibaba received a record $2.8 billion fine. Chinese authorities said Alibaba was fined for behaving like a monopolist. They also tell businesses that if they don’t address monopolistic behavior, they will be similarly punished. Later, China’s State Market Regulation Authority opened an antitrust investigation against Meituan for “exclusive trading arrangements”. The company was summoned by many agencies, including the Shanghai authorities, about the interests of customers. According to analysts Fitch Ratings, regulatory risks with China’s internet sector tend to escalate. The agency has not ruled out any fines with other companies after what happened to Alibaba. One netizen commented: “The poem is very suggestive. Wang Xing posted it at a critical period of the Big Tech crackdown. This is clearly inappropriate action. Wang may mean his rivals, but investors don’t think so. This is a very sensitive moment.” Du Lam (According to CNN)