"China's New World Richest Man!" January 12, 2008. The cover of that issue of Fortune magazine bore this massive headline, accompanied by a picture of a distinguished middle-aged man in traditional Han attire, flashing a perfect smile at the camera.
Yes, this middle-aged man was our Boss Huang, and the new world's richest man in the headline was undoubtedly our Boss Huang.
However, this headline wasn't entirely new. As early as January 4th, some impatient media outlets had already splashed the earth-shattering news that Huang He was the new world's richest man.
It was just that it was the first time a major media outlet as renowned in the financial world as Fortune magazine had reported it with such a prominent headline.
This wasn't to say that media like Fortune magazine lacked the journalistic acumen of smaller publications. Rather, due to the authority of international media, they needed to confirm the reliability and certainty of the news.
After all, if they reported Huang He as the world's richest man today and he wasn't tomorrow, wouldn't that be embarrassing? Given the immense fluctuations in OO Network's stock price, no one could be sure of the final outcome until the stock stabilized.
However, many people were already aware that even with the continuous fluctuations in OO Network's stock price, Huang He was still highly likely to be the new world's richest man.
This was because, according to the 2007 World's Billionaires List, the richest person was Bill Gates, with personal assets of $56 billion.
Ranking second was Warren Buffett, with personal assets of $52 billion.
Among the top 10, there were two Chinese individuals: Mr. Li from Hong Kong, who ranked ninth globally with personal assets of $23 billion. This was considered the pinnacle of achievement for Chinese billionaires.
Previously, Boss Huang's companies had not gone public for a long time, making his assets very private and difficult for financial media to investigate. Consequently, most media outlets had to rely on estimates for Boss Huang's personal assets.
Furthermore, to maintain media authority, when using estimates, all uncertain assets had to be excluded, leaving only the value of identifiable assets.
Therefore, in the American magazine Fortune, our Boss Huang was listed tenth globally with personal assets of $22.5 billion, marking his second appearance in the top 10 of Fortune's global rich list.
Upon the release of this rich list, there was considerable debate within China.
Some argued that the data in the rich list was severely inaccurate. The wealth data for Boss Huang was almost entirely based on estimates from his American industries and major companies like Jiangnan Blind Box, OO Network, and Jiangnan Optoelectronics. It failed to account for Boss Huang's other enterprises, such as those in the entertainment industry, Jiangnan Transportation, and the newly established Jiangnan Heavy Industries. If these companies' assets were included, Boss Huang's assets would increase by $500 million, potentially making him the richest Chinese person and surpassing Mr. Li.
In response, others vehemently refuted this, claiming that not including these companies actually inflated Boss Huang's personal assets. They argued that Jiangnan Transportation and Jiangnan Heavy Industries were currently only spending money and not making it, with all their resources dedicated to research and development. Including their data would only reduce Boss Huang's personal wealth, not increase it.
Mr. Li was the undisputed richest man in China.
Then, another group argued back, stating that the calculation was based on assets, not profitability. Were the various research breakthroughs achieved by Jiangnan Transportation and Jiangnan Heavy Industries not assets?
Moreover, there were widespread rumors that the Western Mustang Foundation was also an asset of Boss Huang. Couldn't this add billions of dollars to Boss Huang's assets, pushing him to ninth in the world?
The debate raged online between these two factions, eventually spilling over into the mainstream media. Many financially struggling magazines, desperate for content, eagerly jumped on the bandwagon, suggesting that Boss Huang and Mr. Li should have a showdown to determine who was the world's richest man.
Some media outlets also attempted to interview them for their genuine opinions. However, both Mr. Li and Boss Huang naturally refrained from responding to such news.
It wasn't until they both attended an important national-level conference, the quadrennial NPC and CPPCC (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), as delegates that they were seen together in public. Media outlets seized the opportunity to ask this question.
In response, neither of them reacted, offering only polite smiles.
However, later, some people interpreted these smiles.
It was said that Mr. Li's smile conveyed, "I'm so annoyed! They dare to compare me to Huang He. Do they look down on me?"
And Huang He's smile conveyed, "I'm so annoyed! They dare to compare me to Mr. Li. Do they look down on me?"
Well, regardless of the interpretations, the fiercest online debate at the time was about the rankings of ninth and tenth place. No one believed that Mr. Zhang's actual ranking should be eighth or higher, even though Amancio Ortega, ranked eighth, had only $23.5 billion, a mere $1 billion more than Boss Huang.
Of course, no one believed that Boss Huang had the capability to surpass the first-ranked Bill Gates, with assets exceeding $56 billion.
However, surpassing this figure was quite simple; OO Network's total market capitalization only needed to exceed $56 billion.
OO Network's prospectus clearly outlined its entire equity structure.
Of course, 40% of the shares were offered for public subscription, leaving the remaining 60%.
Of this, 12% of the shares belonged to Leng Zhimeng, the current Chairperson of OO Network.
In addition, 18% of the shares belonged to the entire OO Network team. According to this prospectus, OO Network implemented a share reform in its second year of operation, distributing 30% of its shares to all employees at the time.
Yes, in 2003, OO Network had fashionably implemented employee stock ownership.
At that time, all employees were allocated OO Network shares based on their positions. Even a cleaner at OO Network received shares equivalent to 100,000 shares today, worth $6.5 million.
However, OO Network did not simply give away all these shares to its employees. It granted them the dividend rights for these shares, allowing employees to receive corresponding dividends annually. The shares themselves were managed by the OO Network Employees' Union.
It was also stipulated that if an employee worked at OO Network for 30 years and retired smoothly from OO Network, they would truly receive these shares.
Therefore, the situation with these 18% of shares was complex: nominally, these shares did not belong to Jiangnan Group but to all employees of OO Network.
However, all employees only held the dividend rights and potential ownership after 30 years.
As for the voting rights of these shares, according to the original share distribution policy, the voting rights for these shares belonged entirely to Jiangnan Group.
The remaining 30% of the shares were naturally held by Jiangnan Group. And since all shares of the parent company, Jiangnan Group, were firmly held by Huang He, it was equivalent to Huang He personally owning these 30% of shares.
So, theoretically, as long as OO Network's total market capitalization after listing exceeded $186.6 billion, Huang He, who owned 30% of OO Network's shares, would have personal assets of $56 billion, equivalent to the entire fortune of world's richest man Bill Gates.
In fact, because Jiangnan Group also held substantial other assets, the current Boss Huang was indeed the world's richest man.
Therefore, when OO Network went public, although OO Network's stock price was nominally unstable, potentially causing Boss Huang to lose his position as the world's richest man at any moment, the reality was that OO Network's total market capitalization could not fall below $186.6 billion, no matter how much it dropped. Boss Huang was essentially guaranteed to be the world's richest man upon listing, a fact that could not be changed.
However, it seemed that most domestic official media outlets found it difficult to believe that China could produce a world's richest man. Therefore, major official media or highly reputable media were all cautiously disbelieving, completely lacking the earlier tendency to spin elaborate stories from a single image.
In contrast, smaller media outlets, unconcerned with influence, rushed to report.
It wasn't until January 12th, when OO Network's stock price remained stable at $60 for a full eight days without change, even reaching a high of $68 at one point, that most official and renowned media outlets, led by financial publications, began to follow suit.
Once they started reporting, there was no stopping them. That evening, Xinwen Lianbo (Xinhuanet's prime-time news program) announced to all viewers across the nation the news that China had produced a world's richest man.
Moreover, this billionaire's estimated assets had reached a record-breaking $180 billion, three times the fortune of the previous world's richest man, Bill Gates, making him an unprecedented world's richest man.
This also fully demonstrated that the development path with Chinese characteristics was a great route, capable of nurturing world-class economic talents and private enterprises.
The report on Xinwen Lianbo set the tone, informing everyone that this news could be broadcast and should be extensively promoted nationwide.
Consequently, the media outlets, having long suppressed their excitement, began a frenzy of reporting. Almost all media outlets dedicated lengthy special reports.
Not only financial media but also various lifestyle media began to follow suit. For a time, all newspapers across the country featured pictures of Boss Huang.
This would have been understandable, as lifestyle media reports were indeed related to daily life. What Boss Huang did not expect was to find himself on the cover of "Story Monthly" in its new issue, this time in a rather unflattering caricature.
The headline for the article related to Boss Huang on the cover read: "The Little Cobbler Huang He and Three Nails: The Legend of a World-Renowned Billionaire."