The supplier questioned Xu Jiadong: You are hiding behind the Internet and speaking out, where did the money go?

On the evening of December 2, an announcement by Cross-Border Link regarding the investigation of the former chairman and general manager for suspected embezzlement of office caused an uproar in the cross-border circle, and also made Xu Jiadong, the founder of Global Easy Shopping, Cross-Border Link, and Global Easy Shopping, the focus of heated discussion.

According to customs statistics, the scale of China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports has increased nearly 10 times in the past five years. Over the years, cross-border e-commerce companies have reaped the benefits of the industry's development. Riding on the favorable wind, many companies have successfully listed and entered the capital market. The cross-border e-commerce industry is undoubtedly a promising sunrise industry. However, under the rapid development of the industry, there are constant thunderstorms.

Under the thunderbolt, the once glorious giants ended up in a "cold" situation. In recent years, the dark horse of Middle Eastern cross-border e-commerce Zhiyu, VOVA known as the "overseas version of Pinduoduo", and Global Easy Shopping, which has been brought up again recently, all ended up in a mess.

Falling from the clouds to the mire, these companies often choose to run away, leave, or go bankrupt and shut down. The bad debts left behind have to be paid by the suppliers behind them. After these bankruptcies, it is difficult for suppliers to ask for payment . News of "jumping off a building", "kneeling" and "cutting wrists" are heard from time to time. When cross-border e-commerce companies go bankrupt, suppliers deservedly become the "most injured people".

Global e-Commerce Supplier: Xu Jiadong needs to come forward and give us an explanation

Since Cross-border Communication released the announcement, Xu Jiadong, the former chairman, general manager, and founder of Global Easybuy, has spoken out several times. In his first statement, he pointed out that the investigation he faced was due to the economic disputes and personal grudges between him and Yang Jianxin, the former actual controller of Cross-border Communication.

However, for suppliers, these internal affairs of the company are of no concern to them. The most pressing requirement now is how to resolve the overdue payments for goods and whether Xu Jiadong, the then head of Global Easy Shopping, can stand up and face it together with the company and give an explanation to them who are already on the verge of collapse.

Shortly after the collapse of Global Easy Shopping, regarding the issue of supplier payments, Li Yong, chairman of Cross-border Communication, proposed to set up a special working group to deal with Global Easy Shopping's supplier debts, and appointed Xu Jiadong as the head of the global debt clearance working group. However, this resolution was rejected by Xu Jiadong at the time.

After this incident, Yien.com also mentioned this issue in an interview with Xu Jiadong. He said that he had already announced his resignation, and whoever is responsible for the company's management should solve the problem, and the responsibilities, rights and interests should be equal.

But the supplier obviously cannot accept such a statement and handling method. Shenzhen supplier Lin Qingyang (pseudonym) said: "The business is done by us and Xu Jiadong, not Yang Jianxin, and the goods are supplied to Global Easybuy, not Cross-border, so as the person in charge, Xu Jiadong should stand up to us and solve the problem."

However, to their disappointment, Xu Jiadong never really stepped forward to take responsibility for the matter. The supplier conference of a thousand people held on the second floor of Global Easybuy by Nanshan Subdistrict Office on July 19 last year was the only time he promised to step forward to solve the problem, but he was absent that day.

Suppliers who have no way to collect their debts are very angry, so their messages, some of which are harsh, can often be seen under related articles published in the media recently.

In Xu Jiadong's latest "Open Letter to Mr. Yang Jianxin", he directly pointed out that these messages were made by Yang Jianxin at the instigation of the supplier. One of his "three questions" to Yang Jianxin is as follows:

Did you and your team ask suppliers to leave comments on various media to curse me, and then take screenshots to show you. The more they curse, the more they have to pay back, and those who don’t curse won’t pay back? Suppliers are forced to obey you everywhere under pressure, and you also provide them with templates for cursing. After they curse, you take screenshots to show you, and then you pay them a little. Is this really what you and your team did?

It is still unknown whether there are any suppliers who are driven by Yang Jianxin, but suppliers such as Lin Qingyang are very dissatisfied with Xu Jiadong's attitude of only speaking out on the Internet instead of actually solving the problem face to face.

"He doesn't even dare to come out and face the problem. What's the point of hiding behind the Internet and speaking out? Tell me where he is and I will see him immediately and ask how to solve my problem." A supplier in Guangdong said angrily.

At the same time, Lin Qingyang and other suppliers also asked Xu Jiadong five questions:

1. Most of our suppliers are in arrears of payments for goods in 2019. These data are recorded in Global Easybuy’s ERP system. However, in the bankruptcy liquidation team’s rights and responsibilities confirmation procedure, a large part of the payments have no financial data traceable. Where did all the goods and money go?

2. The public security organs filed a case. There is no smoke without fire. Where did the nearly 2 billion transferred out go?

3. Where did the large amounts of money in overseas accounts disclosed go and what were they used for ?

4. You said on Weibo that more than 100 old employees were investigated. Why were they investigated? Was it because you and your team divided the money?

5. The Global Easy Shopping system indicates that the company has transferred funds to suppliers in US dollars, but the suppliers have not received these US dollars. Who was the money transferred to?

According to Xu Jiadong, after he resigned as chairman and general manager of Cross-border Communication in May 2021, his rights, responsibilities and interests were equal, and the debt owed by Global Easy Shopping's suppliers was no longer his responsibility. However, according to Lin Qingyang, since March 2020, suppliers have asked Xu Jiadong to come forward to explain the debts and provide solutions, but they have been unsuccessful, which led to multiple debt collection actions by suppliers.

" All of this is built on the basis of so many suppliers, so many shareholders, and so many investors. Now the relevant departments need to intervene, give everyone an explanation, and enforce the law! " Lin Qingyang said.

At present, Xu Jiadong has been investigated by the Wanbailin Branch of the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau on suspicion of embezzlement. We do not yet know the specific results of the investigation, but I believe that many people, like these suppliers, want to ask the same question: Where did the money go?

Can't pay back suppliers? Where did the money go?

Regarding the question of "where did the money go", perhaps some answers can be found in the "Announcement on the Reply to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Letter of Concern" issued by Cross-Border Links on March 19 this year.

Previously, in its reply to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Cross-Border Link disclosed that Global Easy Shopping converted current accounts into inventory of 1.246 billion yuan in 2020, and this 1.246 billion yuan was actually remitted to three trading companies in Hong Kong (including Lairui Technology Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Yaco Trading Co., Ltd., and Hong Kong Huazhi Trading Co., Ltd.).

In the above announcement, Cross-border Communication also stated that the company's rectification team found that the attached documents could not prove the purchase and warehousing information of the inventory at all. After comparing the purchase amount and other information of the relevant companies with the purchase information recorded in the business system, it was found that the relevant companies did not record the corresponding purchase and warehousing information in the business system. The company did not find that the funds paid by Global Easy Shopping to the three companies had commercial substance.

The problem of inflated inventory has always existed in Global Easy Shopping. Even Cross-border Communication stated in its reply to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that the company's rectification team used the inventory balance of Global Easy Shopping's business system in September 2021 as the starting point, combined with the sending and receiving data in the system to reversely calculate the business system inventory data on January 1, 2020. After comparison and calculation, it was found that the inventory on Global Easy Shopping's financial books was 4.424 billion yuan more than the inventory in the business system.

Lou Xiaoyun, a lawyer at Shanghai Oriental Cambridge Law Firm who has been paying close attention to this case, said in an interview with other media that this is essentially a way to withdraw funds from listed companies.

At present, the relationship between Cross-border Communication, Global Easy Shopping, and Xu Jiadong has become a mess. Regarding Cross-border Communication's 2020 financial report, the annual auditor Zhongxi Accounting Firm even issued an audit report with no opinion.

As the helmsman of Cross-Border Link during this period, Xu Jiadong was also punished, criticized, or issued warning letters by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on many occasions. The reasons included large differences between the company's annual report and performance forecast, a negative opinion appraisal report on the company's internal control, and his own buying and selling of the company's stock during a sensitive period.

Although Xu Jiadong resigned as chairman and general manager of Cross-border Communication in May 2021, can he get away with it after leaving such a mess? Obviously not. Qichacha shows that Xu Jiadong's own risks are currently as high as 178, and he has been listed as a dishonest debtor by the court and restricted from high consumption.

GlobalE-Commerce was once a company with great success and was admired by many cross-border e-commerce companies, but now it is in a mess, which makes people sigh. With the continuous collapse of it, VOVA, Zhiyu and other companies, their suppliers who depend on them have also questioned their future cooperation with cross-border e-commerce companies.

Suppliers lose trust in cross-border e-commerce companies: stop all cooperation

“ Because Global Easy Shopping almost broke up my family, they have not yet climbed out of the hole. Since Global Easy Shopping went bankrupt, we have decisively stopped cooperating with all e-commerce companies and no longer trust any e-commerce sellers ! ” A former supplier of Global Easy Shopping said that it was hard to imagine that the customer he was once proud of would end up in this situation today.

Generally, suppliers will give cross-border e-commerce companies a payment period, which can be as short as 30 days, as long as 90 days, or even half a year. The larger the company, the longer the payment period it can get. Therefore, when these companies go bankrupt, suppliers often have a lot of unpaid goods accumulated.

In 2021, cross-border e-commerce companies Global Easy Shopping, VOVA, and Zhiyu successively collapsed. At that time, many suppliers even stepped on multiple landmines in succession, which triggered a widespread crisis of trust. It goes without saying that some suppliers who stepped on the landmines directly announced that they would no longer cooperate with cross-border e-commerce sellers. In the manufacturing industry, many factories have also become much more cautious when it comes to supplying goods to cross-border e-commerce sellers, such as shortening the payment period, and some even directly stated that they would not give payment period, and that they would receive the goods in exchange for money.

What happened later also confirmed that their concerns were not unfounded. On July 18 this year, Cooper Electronics, a Dongguan factory that manufactured Bluetooth headsets for cross-border brands, issued a notice to stop production and business. One of the reasons for its bankruptcy was that many cross-border e-commerce companies such as Zebao owed a large amount of money for goods.

For this reason, some people even said that cross-border e-commerce is a model that will kill factories. The vicious cycle of the vicious circle economy has caused great harm to suppliers, so whenever they mention supplying goods to cross-border e-commerce companies, they are deeply afraid of stepping on landmines. Suppliers are sitting on pins and needles, worrying that one day in the future they will have to pay for the mistakes of their customers, and cross-border e-commerce sellers are also worried that such things will spread, which will make suppliers have prejudices and affect future cooperation between the two parties.

According to customs statistics, the import and export scale of China's cross-border e-commerce has increased nearly 10 times in the past five years. The entire cross-border e-commerce industry has developed to the point where it is closely interdependent with the manufacturing industry. However, in recent years, cross-border e-commerce companies have been hit by a series of setbacks, and it is inevitable that some people will express concerns about the future of the cross-border e-commerce industry.

Global Shopping

Cross-border communication

Xu Jiadong