Per reporter: Xie Zhenyu, Zhu Wanping, Fan Qianqian
On the morning of December 7, 2021, Zeng Xiangbin ended his life: At his home in the urban area of Renhuai City, Guizhou Province, he fell from a window on the 4th floor and landed his head first. When the paramedics from the hospital across the house arrived, they found signs that people had lost their lives.
Zeng Xiangbin, 49, is the general manager of Guizhou Moutai Liquor Sales Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Moutai Liquor Sales Company), the most core subsidiary of Guizhou Moutai (600519, SH), which has a market value of more than 2 trillion yuan. The news of Zeng Xiangbin's fall from the building was quickly spread on the same day, inside Moutai, among dealers, and in Renhuai.
A month later, the news of Zeng Xiangbin's death was exposed by the media, which quickly triggered a hot discussion on the Internet.
What exactly was the last straw that crushed this middle-aged man? Low-key and friendly, is the people who do not have much contact with Zeng Xiangbin to evaluate him. "There was a lot of pressure before." Zeng Xiangbin's wife revealed that some of her husband's posthumous affairs are being handled by Moutai.
Image source: Screenshot of Moutai Liquor Sales Company WeChat ID
Fall
Zeng Xiangbin's home is located at a T-shaped intersection less than 100 meters from Guojiu South Road, the main thoroughfare in Renhuai City, where a hospital diagonally opposite the small road is often more noisy than other places.
Zeng Xiangbin fell from the fourth floor of the middle building
Image source: Photo by reporter Zhu Wanping
At about 8:00 a.m. on December 7, 2021 (Tuesday), people in several frontage stores near Zeng's home heard a noise, and they walked out of the door to find that someone had jumped off the building.
Zeng Xiangbin fell from the window sill on the 4th floor of his house. The process of his falling down the stairs was filmed.
The video shows a man wearing a black hooded dress and dark jeans, his hands on the edge of the window on the 4th floor against the road, the whole person's body has been hung outside the wall, because there is no point of force under the feet, the person quickly fell.
When paramedics from the hospital across the road arrived, they found signs that people had lost their lives. Another live video learned by the "Daily Economic News" reporter showed that after the incident, a number of police officers were maintaining order.
After that, Zeng Xiangbin's wife and son rushed to the scene. After 9 o'clock, Zeng Xiangbin was taken to the funeral home.
Subsequently, some merchants or clerks in the surrounding area learned that zeng Xiangbin, the deceased, was working at The Moutai Company.
"He's very low-key." The owner of a nearby store told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that Zeng Xiangbin used to come to his store to buy things, but he didn't know what he did, "only knew that he made wine, originally thought he opened his own company", after the accident, he knew that he worked in Maotai.
The boss said that Zeng Xiangbin usually has a lower tone and less words, but he will chat about two sentences when he encounters them. "He is friendly to people, not high-profile, and everyone has a better impression of him."
This is a 7-story old building, in which Zeng Xiangbin usually lives. After the incident, more news about him was spread. Some people nearby said that the building belonged to Zeng Xiangbin, but there are also claims that the paving was jointly owned by him and his wife and brother. For these claims, the reporter can not confirm it. The building is an old building, the frontage shops on the 1st floor and the 2nd and 3rd floors have been rented out, and the interior is even more old, and the white wall of the corridor has dropped a large amount of white putty.
On the same day, the news of Zeng Xiangbin's death spread rapidly inside Moutai, among dealers and in Renhuai.
"I knew it that afternoon, and the news spread." On January 16, at the headquarters of Moutai Group in Moutai Town, an employee of Moutai Company told the Daily Economic News reporter.
In the Moutai factory area, an employee said that the news of Zeng Xiangbin's death had spread within the group at that time. Subsequently, the company did not let the internal discussion more about the matter.
Among the dealers in Moutai, the news of Zeng Xiangbin's death also spread on the same day. For Zeng Xiangbin's death, many dealers who had contact with him have expressed "pity".
After a month, now looking at Zeng Xiangbin's WeChat circle of friends, it is displayed as "visible for three days", which also leads to the lack of the possibility of finding his personal journey. After Zeng Xiangbin was exposed to his death, the outside world had many questions about his fall.
Stressor OR Depression?
"I'm still very confused in my heart, and I don't want to say anything more." Zeng Xiangbin's wife told the "Daily Economic News" reporter on January 15.
For her husband's life, she revealed that he was really stressed at work at that time. She thanked the outside world for her concern for her husband, but would not disclose more information on it.
Zeng Xiangbin is 49 years old, and it is reasonable to say that it is a better stage in his life - he has completed the "triple jump" in his career in recent years and is in the rising period of his career.
In the first half of 2021, he became the general manager of Moutai Liquor Sales Company, the most important subsidiary of Moutai in Guizhou. Moutai liquor's revenue last year is expected to be about 93.2 billion yuan. Just last December 5, Zeng Xiangbin also participated in an event in Moutai.
According to Qixinbao information, in May last year, Zeng Xiangbin began to serve as the general manager of Moutai Liquor Sales Company.
Zeng Xiangbin, who majored in finance, joined the work after graduating from college at the age of 20. A local liquor industry person familiar with him told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that Zeng Xiangbin was a local farmer's son in Moutai Town and worked in Moutai after graduation. He obtained the qualification certificate of certified public accountant in the 1990s, and worked in the Moutai Sauce Aroma Series Liquor Company in the previous years, and was mainly in charge of financial work when he was vice president.
In July 2015, Zeng Xiangbin was also the assistant general manager of Guizhou Moutai Sauce Liquor Marketing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Moutai Sauce Liquor Company), and in June 2016, he was promoted to vice president of Moutai Sauce Liquor Company. In August 2020, Zeng Xiangbin began to appear as the general manager of Moutai Sauce Liquor Company.
Zeng Xiangbin worked for the Moutai Sauce Liquor Company before his death
After only more than half a year, Zeng Xiangbin was promoted again and appointed as the general manager of Moutai Liquor Sales Company. According to the analysis of the above-mentioned local liquor industry, Zeng Xiangbin has been working in sauce liquor for many years and is familiar with the Moutai sales system, which is an important reason why he was able to take up the position last year.
Regarding the cause of Zeng Xiangbin's death, depression is another main theory.
The owner of the shop near Zeng's house said that after the accident, he heard that Zeng Xiangbin was a little depressed. Within the Moutai company, there is also this statement.
Moutai dealer Zhang Ming (pseudonym) felt that Zeng Xiangbin had a high degree of credibility for depression. When he heard the news that afternoon, the first thought on his mind was", "Did he do something wrong?" After all, in recent years, there have been many executives in Moutai sales company accidents."
However, Zhang Ming thought about it for a moment and thought that this was unlikely. "Because you don't have to choose the most extreme way." He believes that Zeng Xiangbin is more likely to have depression.
The claim that Zeng Xiangbin had depression has not been confirmed by his wife or the authorities.
"There are personal reasons for his (Zeng Xiangbin's) death." A person close to Moutai told the "Daily Economic News" reporter.
In response to Zeng Xiangbin's death, on January 17, the Daily Economic News repeatedly called the head of the Moutai Publicity Department and sent a text message to the relevant person, but did not get a reply.
Guizhou Moutai office building
Sensitive "important positions"
At present, Guizhou Moutai has not yet selected Zeng Xiangbin's successor, and the responsibility of the general manager of Moutai Liquor Sales Company is temporarily replaced by Wang Xiaowei, deputy general manager of Guizhou Moutai and chairman of Moutai Liquor Sales Company.
As for the reason why Zeng Xiangbin faced greater pressure before his death, his wife mentioned that Moutai was reforming.
At present, Moutai is accelerating the reform of the marketing system. At the end of August last year, after taking office, moutai "new marshals" made a commitment to "promote the reform of the marketing system and price system".
The reason why Moutai wants to carry out marketing system reform is, on the one hand, to further enhance the performance of Moutai through reform; more importantly, to break the problem of the current price "dual-track system".
A bottle of Moutai wine, the suggested retail price of Moutai Company is 1499 yuan / bottle, but such a price is basically priceless; the current real market price of Moutai wine is more than 2800 yuan / bottle. The huge "double-track" price difference between the official price of Moutai liquor and the real market price has created room for arbitrage and corruption.
Image source: Visual China
To this end, Moutai has also introduced a series of reform measures, including the cancellation of the 100% unpacking policy, the resumption of the Mao Powder Festival, and the purchase of Moutai wine at a price of 1499 yuan / bottle for on-site open bottle consumption. These initiatives are aimed at promoting real consumption at the end of Moutai and increasing the opening rate, but the price of Moutai wine remains high.
The position of general manager of the Moutai liquor sales company is very important, but the other side of the coin is that Moutai liquor has long been used as a scarce resource as a tool for profit exchange, and many executives of the Moutai liquor sales company have been involved in corruption. In recent years, a number of people have been investigated for alleged corruption.
From November 2019 to February 2020, Ma Yupeng, former general manager of Moutai Liquor Sales Company, Wang Chonglin, former chairman of the board, and Lei Sheng, former deputy general manager, were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes.
Wang Chonglin has helped Moutai liquor distributors in signing and approving retail Moutai liquor and increasing the amount of contract plans. Wang Chonglin has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for accepting bribes.
In addition to being easily "hunted", in recent years, with the increasing attention of the outside world to Moutai, especially the price of Moutai wine, how to crack down on dealers hoarding and speculation and price increase, to achieve Moutai price stability, price control, etc. has become one of the most important work contents of the person in charge of Moutai wine sales.
The key position, coupled with the fact that Zeng Xiangbin has not been in this position for a long time, has this also increased the pressure he is facing?
Zeng Xiangbin worked for a Moutai liquor sales company before his death
"In the position of the person in charge of Moutai liquor sales, it is also facing pressure from Moutai Group, Moutai dealers, and consumers, balancing the interests of all aspects and maintaining the normal development of the enterprise. Cai Xuefei, general manager of Zhiqu Consulting and liquor analyst, thinks.
"Moutai wine marketing system to break the situation, to develop, as the general manager in charge of sales, Zeng Xiangbin to take the plan and implement well, his work pressure is definitely unprecedented." The above-mentioned dealers believe that work pressure may be the last "straw" that crushes him, "People are sometimes like this, and it is easy to take extreme methods if they can't think straight." ”
Reporter: Xie Zhenyu, Zhu Wanping, Fan Qianqian
Editor: Haini Zhang
Typography: Zhang Haini Ma Yuan
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