The title picture is from Visual China. On March 18, 2020 local time, Suwon, South Korea, Samsung held its annual shareholder meeting. Jin Qinan spoke at the meeting. Author: Gu Peilin
When it comes to South Korea ’s logo, Samsung has nothing to do with it. Its annual revenue exceeds hundreds of billions of dollars, and even accounts for 20% of the Republic of Korea’s GDP.
With such an equivalent company, naturally there will be frequent disputes over its successors.
From the life and death of Li Bingzhe ’s three sons to the fight, and then to the friendship of Li Jianxi ’s children, the battle of Samsung ’s successors will always stage the most exciting drama.
Now that the third-generation head Li Zairong announced that he will no longer be inherited within the Samsung Li family, he will entrust Samsung to professional managers in the future. Usher in a new future.
Picture Note: Li Zairong apologized at the conference
The dispute between three children
Li Bingzhe He Xuren also, he is the founder of Samsung Group, when he just started his business, Samsung was just the name of a small shop.
At that time, South Korea was not called South Korea. It can be said that the time when Li Bingzhe started his business was longer than the real history of South Korea.
Li Bingzhe comes from a rich peasant family in South Korea and has a solid family background. He has been well educated since he was a child, and he is particularly strong in his own thoughts.
Inspired by the idea of freedom, he went to Japan to study in Japan by the end of his middle school, and was admitted to Waseda University in Japan. However, due to physical reasons, he only studied in Waseda for two years and was forced to return to his hometown.
After a period of depression, Li Bingzhe started a business with the help of his family. In 1938, he founded the Samsung store. And Samsung’s legend starts from this moment.
Because Li Bingzhe was smart, and his hungry learning during his study abroad opened up his horizons, he soon expanded the trading business of Samsung stores.
But affected by the Japanese aggression, Li Bingzhe ’s Samsung store was forced to close for a period of time, and did not recover until 1945. In 1948, Li Bingzhe’s family moved to Seoul and rented a two-story building called Samsung Co., Ltd.
Since then, Samsung ’s business has grown. Grain and oil trade, chemical oil, and daily production of Nissan, Samsung are involved in almost all aspects of life supplies. It has become one of the most famous companies in Korea.
At this time, Li Bingzhe is getting older and he has been considering the issue of successors since the 1960s.
Li Bingzhe has three children and five daughters, the eldest son Li Mengxi, the second son Li Changxi, and the third son is Li Jianxi. The four daughters are not in his successor plan.
At first, the idea of Grandpa Li Bingzhe was that his three sons divided the family property equally, so as to avoid a situation of serious internal friction for family property. But it may be because seeing the second son Li Changxi is really unsatisfactory, it is a pure “lost son”; and the third son is a son who he did not pay much attention to since childhood, so not long after, Li Bingzhe decided to entrust his family to only The eldest son Li Mengxi is alone.
But Li Bingzhe ’s thoughtsThe three sons changed their minds as well.
The eldest son himself is not capable, and Li Bingzhe prefers to be more, so he began to sink gradually and his ability declined. The second son is a prodigal son, proficient in eating, drinking, and playing, but his business ability is really “hurried.” The third son, Li Jianxi, has top mental ability.
Although Li Jianxi was not valued by his father since he was a child, he did n’t even grow up with his parents. Not only did they go to “greet each other” every three to five, but they also chose to study what his father liked to please his father.
And Li Jianxi and even the university are his father’s alma mater Waseda, and then went to the United States to complete the master’s degree. In Li Bingzhe’s eyes, the third son is a sensible and cute character.
Establishing his image in front of his father, all Li Jianxi does is wait.
He didn’t wait long.
Li Bingzhe is getting older, so he starts to hand over all business of the company to his eldest son Li Mengxi. Li Mengxi perfectly interpreted what it means to be a “fighting Adou”. In all the company projects that Li Mengxi is responsible for, he has suffered a severe decline in performance and suffered losses in less than half a year.
The performance fell, and Samsung ’s shareholders signed a letter asking Li Bingzhe to reconsider his successor. Although Li Bingzhe is eager to love his son, he can’t stand Li Mengxi’s ability.
At this time, Li Jianxi’s mind was active and his ability was obviously outstanding, which made him jump out immediately.
Li Bingzhe ’s intention to change the reserve was still undecided, but Li Mengxi was dissatisfied because of his father ’s growing dissatisfaction. This move made Li Bingzhe furious and immediately drove Li Mengxi out of the house.
In order to win the favor of his father, his second son offered to commit crimes for six months in prison, but he did n’t get a good deal even if he committed crimes for his father.
Li Jianxi finally ushered in his opportunity.
The third son, Li Jianxi, who was the least noticeable, became the only son Li Bingzhe could rely on. In 1969, Li Bingzhe made Li Jianxi the successor of Samsung.
But Samsung ’s second-generation successor battle is not over. Li Jianxi was sensible and clever before assuming office, and was ruthless after he assumed office. Li Bingzhe gave Li Mengxi a Samsung edge company for face, and within a few years Li Mengxi’s son Li Zaixian inherited the company. But Li Jianxi did not let go, and sent his own nephew to jail. After he was released, Li Zaixian fell ill directly.
Samsung New Media, the son of Li Jianxi ’s second brother Li Zaican, was hit by a blow to Li Jianxi for help. Li Jianxi left it alone, causing Li Zaican to commit suicide.
Li Mengxi couldn’t swallow his son when his son was attacked like this. In 2012, Li Mengxi’s vigorous prosecution of Li Jianxi’s compensation of up to 700 billion won has caused an uproar in South Korea.
This century-long successor litigation battle lasted for two years before ending with Li Jianxi ’s victory. Less than a year after the defeat, Li Mengxi died of cancer.
The battle of Samsung ’s second generation of successors only officially ended.
The battle of children
Li Jianxi was deployed from a young age. It took 30 years to get his wish to be established as a successor. He did n’t greet him until he was 45 years old.Take full control of the timing of the Samsung Big Mac.
Li Bingzhe is entrusted to be the right person. Although Li Jianxi is ruthless, he is indeed a wizard in business. When he took over, Samsung was only famous in South Korea. After ten years of painstaking business, Samsung became a global giant.
But although Li Jianxi took Samsung to an unprecedented height, he also faced a problem, how to choose a successor.
Legend note: from left to right: Li Mingbo, Li Jianxi, Roger
Since the 1990s, Li Jianxi has been inspecting various children. Unlike his father, although Li Jianxi prefers his son to take over, he has few options. One son and three daughters allow him to start a comprehensive investigation of the business minds of his children.
Li Jianxi ’s eldest son Li Zairong, second daughter Li Fuzhen, third daughter Li Xuxian, and young daughter Li Yinxin who died unexpectedly. Among these four people, Li Jianxi’s most beloved is the youngest daughter Li Yinxin. At the age of 20, she got a share of nearly 200 million US dollars. The prospect is bright.
But when Li Yinxin died unexpectedly in 2005, Li Jianxi had to focus on other options.
Among them, the company responsible for the eldest son Li Zairong is the most eye-catching: Samsung Electronics and Finance are both under its banner; Li Fuzhen is only responsible for the Samsung hotel and chemical industry, and the third daughter is only managing the clothing and advertising business.
Legend note: from left to right: Li Xuxian, Li Fuzhen, Li Zairong
All three wanted to climb to the top, but Li Jianxi was clearly a “nourishment” trend. He learned the lessons of his father and never stated that having children would continue the Samsung industry alone.
The father ’s actions made these three people think about it. So when Li Zairong faced the two younger sisters, he was quite scheming.
Li Zairong can succeed in power later, thanking his sister Li Fuzhen for being temporarily fainted.
After graduating from Li Fuzhen University, he worked in Samsung. Although at first she was not optimistic about her father, but she was able to speak up and dare to be aggressive. Even if she only owned Samsung’s hotel chemical industry, she still did a brilliant job. Let Li Jianxi take a look at her.
Li Fuzhen ’s Shilla Hotel’s sales increased from 430.3 billion won (approximately 2.57 billion yuan) to 2015 3.25 trillion won (about 19.4 billion yuan) , an increase of more than 650%. This result also made her voice grow louder.
As Li Zairong became more and more nervous, Li Fuzhen suddenly fell in love with his company’s security guard Ren Youzai and desperately wanted to marry the poor boy. And Li Jianxi is naturally strongly opposed.
Picture Note: Li Fuzhen gets married
At this time, Li Zai’s inheritance of his father’s genes appeared: he was the only person in the family who supported Li Fuzhen, let Li Fuzhen continue to fight against his family, and finally forced his family to accept this marriage.
Everyone knows the ending. When Ren Youzai flew to the sky, it naturally changed its flavor. In 2017, the two played a divorce lawsuit, Ren Youzai took away 10 billion yuanWon assets.
Li Fuzhen was so disappointed that Li Jianxi was extremely disappointed in her marriage, and such a major marriage event made her lose her prestige within the group. The third daughter, Li Xuxian, is tepid and uncomfortable in business. The balance of victory finally fell to Li Zairong.
In 2012, Li Jianxi officially announced that Li Zairong would become the vice president of Samsung. Two years later, Li Jianxi was admitted to the hospital for physical reasons, and he has not awakened to this day.
Li Zairong has actually become Samsung ’s third-generation head.
Picture Note: Li Zairong was jailed for bribery case
On May 7, 2020, Li Zairong announced after his release from prison that Samsung would no longer consider choosing a successor from within the family. This argument put an end to the dispute between Samsung’s two generations of successors.
The surname of Samsung ’s successor in the future is very exciting.