Meituan shares plummeted after Wang Xing, CEO of Meituan, posted an ancient poem “Burning the Book Pit” from the late Tang Dynasty on its social media platform, which was interpreted as a response to a series of regulations by the authorities. (Web screenshot)
As the mainland Internet giant is in the midst of escalating regulation, Meituan CEO Wang Xing posted a poem from the late Tang Dynasty, “The Burning Book Pit,” on its social media platform “Dianfu” last Thursday (May 6), which was interpreted by outsiders as a response to a series of regulations by the authorities. The company’s share price has fallen for nine consecutive years, and market participants are concerned that the plunge in Meituan’s share price may be related to Wang Xing’s comments, and it is difficult to rebound in the short term.
Wang Xing last Thursday published a Tang poem written by Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Jie, “Burning the Book Pits”: “The smoke of the bamboo and palm sold the empire in vain, the Guanhe River is empty and locked the ancestral dragon residence. The ashes of the pit are not yet cold and chaotic in Shandong, Liu Xiang originally did not study.” The poem refers to the fact that the Qin Dynasty had the danger of mountains and rivers, as well as having burned books and Confucian scholars, but failed to keep its foundation, and the “foundation” of the empire was emptied; before the ashes of the burning pits had cooled, the Shandong masters had revolted, and the leaders of the rebellion, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, turned out to be non-readers.
“Meituan” is being investigated by the regulatory authorities, Wang Xing issued the poem at this time is seen as dissatisfied with the regulatory authorities, some netizens said Wang Xing is too bold, whether not see Ma Yun’s previous experience; some netizens said “Ma Yun speech, Wang Xing wrote a poem”, that they both Both of them are talking out of their mouths.
A financial blogger wrote on Weibo: “Before Ma Yun speech, after Wang Xing copy poetry …… life peak end has arrived, natural disaster from the mouth, his birth date to see the back of five years of bad luck. Time also fate, this year is the year of many people’s turnaround.”
The mainland science enterprises are currently affected by the General Administration of Market Regulation’s “Anti-Monopoly Law”. The General Administration of Market Supervision (GAMS) opened a case late last year to investigate Alibaba’s involvement in the “anti-monopoly” case, and after three months of investigation, Alibaba was heavily fined 18.2 billion yuan on April 10.
After that, the General Administration of Market Supervision, the Central Internet Information Office and the General Administration of Taxation jointly held an administrative guidance meeting for Internet platform companies on April 13, requiring 34 companies, including Meituan, to conduct a comprehensive self-examination within one month and thoroughly rectify each item.
Under the pressure of public opinion, Wang Xing issued another article in the early hours of Sunday (9) to explain that the original intention of quoting the poem was to remind himself that the biggest enemy may not be competitors, but some new models, new companies. And “Meituan” also responded that the outside world misunderstood Wang Xing’s meaning.
Wang Xing, the CEO of Meituan, tried to explain his earlier poem “Burning the Book”, but it still did not stop Meituan’s stock from falling. (Web screenshot)
But the posting failed to work, Meituan shares fell 9.8% on Monday, narrowing the decline to down 7% at the end of the market, the ninth consecutive trading day, the share price hit a new low for the year, compared with the historical high of 460 yuan plunged more than 40%, the market value evaporated 150 billion yuan.
Centaline Asset Management investment director Hung Lung Tsuen, interviewed by “Hong Kong 01”, believes that today’s share price decline is mainly related to Wang Xing’s poem, coupled with the frontal investigation of “two choices”, it is believed that Meituan shares are difficult to recover lost ground in a short period of time.
Efang Capital senior analyst Kevin Kwan added that the outlook for Meituan’s share price depends on whether the authorities will punish Meituan after the one-month self-investigation period; while the over-valuation of technology stocks, market expectations of rising inflation, as well as the mainland’s tightening of loans and capital flow potential are the reasons for the continued softness of related categories of share prices.
Meituan said there are nearly 10 million registered delivery workers on its platform, but none of the 10 million are Meituan employees, but are part of an outsourcing relationship, sparking a media blast. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
The incident has not yet subsided, as several mainland media reported that Wang Lin, the deputy director of Beijing TV’s “Bureau Director Goes Through the Process” program, had an exchange with a Meituan representative in which the company said that there are nearly 10 million registered delivery workers on the Meituan platform, but these 10 million people are not Meituan employees, but belong to an outsourcing relationship. When problems occur, they are covered by commercial insurance at $3 per day, which is deducted from the delivery staff’s commission. In the program, Meituan representatives even pointed out that earlier a delivery worker died suddenly and the platform ended up paying 600,000 yuan, which was forced by public pressure.
A mainland media outlet blasted Meituan. The media reported that “4.7 million riders of Meituan, actually all outsourced, the contract is not signed with Meituan, but with the outsourcing company, social insurance, sorry, no, can only pay 3 yuan / day of commercial insurance, this money still has to be deducted from the commission, really ruin people’s three views.”
Meituan has been targeted by the CPC Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission. The agency said in an article posted on WeChat public number that it interviewed Meituan on the 10th, referring to Meituan’s outstanding problems in consumer rights protection: one is the refund problem caused by cancelled orders; the second is the problem of non-compliance in ordering and delivering meals and fresh vegetables; and the third is the problem of misleading consumers on the page.
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