Seizing the company seal and expelling the founder! A power grab inside a billion-dollar company

In the past two weeks, Wang Yue, a cross-border seller, has been a little worried. He sells smart wearable products on platforms such as Amazon, but now he dares not restock them. There are many sellers in the same situation as him, because the company that supplies him is deeply involved in internal struggles, which has affected daily operations . "This matter is spreading in our circle," said Wang Yue.

On July 2, the controlling shareholder of Shenzhen Aidu Technology Co., Ltd. issued a statement, saying that Zhu Yansheng, chairman of Aidu Technology, was not worthy of his position during his tenure, and he was dismissed from all positions and held legally responsible. All matters related to Aidu Technology should be contacted with the company's general manager He An;

On July 14, Aidu Technology issued an open letter stating that under the leadership of Chairman Zhu Yansheng, the company has fully returned to normal;

A few days later, He An published a post directly accusing Zhu Yansheng and others of seizing the company seal, hiring security personnel to occupy the company, and driving out the founder, and he wanted to "draw the sword against the illegal infringers"...

The two sides' verbal battle was fruitless, and the industry was dumbfounded. Aidu Technology is a leading company in smart wearable devices, with businesses covering smart bracelets, smart watches, etc. It has many popular products and hundreds of patents, with an annual turnover of more than 1 billion. Last year, the company also became a strategic partner of Amazon AVS. It is sad that such a farce occurred when the momentum was strong. After this incident, how will Aidu Technology develop?

The "official seal seizure" incident occurred in the cross-border circle

The matter was officially made public with a statement.

It is understood that Ruzhou Aidu is the controlling shareholder of Aidu Technology, holding 89.80% of the latter's shares . In early July, Ruzhou Aidu issued a solemn statement, listing the actions of " Zhu Yansheng and others who infringed the rights and interests of the company and shareholders ."

The statement stated that Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong, as the chairman and director of Aidu Technology respectively, failed to fulfill their duties as chairman and director, abused their power for personal gain, and attempted to drain the company's assets . The main circumstances include:

First, he arbitrarily turned the purchasing department into his own pocket and combined his family business to control the supply system of Aidu Technology, attempting to drain out the company's assets through improper transactions.

Second, they seriously lack the necessary management and technical capabilities, vision and pattern for developing enterprises, ignore the company's advantages and needs as a technology company , refuse to develop core technologies and products, and refuse to seek benefits for the company's talents, resulting in the risk of loss of the company's core business backbones and core or key technologies, which has had an extremely adverse impact on the company's development and the company's risk of elimination has increased dramatically in the fierce market competition.

Third, at a critical period when the company and all employees were comprehensively promoting technological innovation, improving the company's revenue capacity, and promoting the company's high-quality development, they engaged in internal struggles for their own selfish interests , seriously disrupting the company's development and operations, causing the company's morale to be divided and the company to fall apart.

Fourth, he violated the company's articles of association and internal management regulations, illegally occupied the seals and certificates of Aidu Technology, failed to report work to the shareholders' meeting and the board of directors as required, maliciously concealed the company's situation from shareholders and other directors, and openly infringed the legal rights and interests of the company and shareholders.

Ruzhou Aidu stated that these actions were suspected of being illegal. The company has reported the case to the public security organs and will initiate relevant procedures in accordance with the law to remove Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong from all positions in Aidu Technology and hold Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong accountable for their legal responsibilities.

According to reports, Ruzhou Aidu currently has four partners, among which He An is the executive partner (general partner), and Li Xiaoyong, Zhu Yansheng, and Zhu Yanxiong are all limited partners. According to its partnership agreement, the partnership affairs of the partnership shall be executed by the executive partner, and the limited partner shall not execute the partnership affairs, nor shall he represent the partnership externally. In addition, according to the articles of association of Aidu Technology Company, the official seal shall be kept by the general manager He An, and he has the right to set up departments to recruit employees, etc.

Therefore, the statement " instructs Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong to immediately stop all internal and external affairs related to Aidu Technology, not to make any external expressions of intent or sign any documents in the name of Aidu Technology, and to immediately hand over all official seals, certificates, seals and other company property of Aidu Technology to He An, the general manager of Aidu Technology. "

Apart from these two people , the existing departments and executives of Aidu Technology will remain unchanged . During this period, all matters related to Aidu Technology should be contacted with General Manager He An , and all departments should report their work to He An and others.

But the effect of this statement seems to be unsatisfactory.

"Aidu Sports and Health" is a WeChat public account certified by Aidu Technology Enterprise, but on July 11, Ruzhou Aidu registered the public account "Aidu Technology Innovation" and issued an "important notice" on the day of registration, saying that "from now on, only 'Aidu Technology Official and Aidu Technology Innovation' will be the 'only' official account windows for releasing external information." The intention to compete for "official" is obvious.

On July 12, the official account published a tweet - "Explanation and risk warning on the fact that Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong have been removed from all positions in Aidu Technology and have no right to represent Aidu Technology."

The article stated that Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong no longer hold any positions in Aidu Technology, and have no right to represent Aidu Technology. They are also not allowed to make any expressions of intent or sign any documents in the name of Aidu Technology. Aidu Technology does not recognize any documents made by the two, and reminds all parties to be cautious about the risks of Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong conducting transactions in the name of Aidu Technology.

At the same time, it stated that it would strive to minimize the negative impact of this incident, and do its utmost to ensure the normal salary and welfare payment of employees and the completion of corresponding business tasks with quality and quantity. Finally, it said, "In this extraordinary period, we believe that all colleagues, consumers and partners of Aidu Technology can distinguish right from wrong and make the right choice..."

However, two days later, "Aidu Sports and Health" also issued an open letter.

The letter mentioned:

"I am very happy to tell you that under the leadership of Chairman Zhu Yansheng and with the support of all Aidu family members, Aidu Company has fully returned to normal."

"Under the leadership of Chairman Zhu Yansheng and the new management team, the company will actively explore new businesses while maintaining its existing businesses. We will strive to maintain a certain percentage of growth each year while ensuring that everyone's salary and benefits are not affected. The company will also launch equity incentive plans for outstanding employees and backbones in due course, so that everyone can share the dividends of the company's future development."

He also expressed the hope that customers and suppliers will continue to support Aidu. The company's daily business management activities have fully resumed normal, and the original shipping plans and procurement matters will be arranged immediately to ensure that all deliveries will be completed on time and in full with guaranteed quality and quantity.

At this point, both sides have their own opinions and the true situation is difficult to discern.

Expel the founder? Who will be in power?

The situation is at a stalemate, and the industry's attention and discussion on the power struggle within Aidu Technology continues to increase.

On Tuesday, He An himself came out to explain. He said that he started his business not only because of the industry dividends, but also because of his love for wearable products and technology. In the past ten years, he has been focusing on technology, product development, and market expansion, and the hardships and achievements during this period are obvious to all.

"I really didn't expect that during the period when Aidu Technology was thriving, Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong actually abused their power for personal gains and attempted to embezzle company assets, seriously violating their duties of loyalty and diligence," he said.

" At present, in order to implement illegal 'control' over Aidu Technology , Zhu Yansheng and Zhu Yanxiong have been escalating their barbaric and violent behavior towards Aidu Technology. They have illegally seized the company's official seal and abused it, arbitrarily dismissed or insulted the company's employees, hired so-called security personnel (65 people) to occupy the company under the banner of 'Aidu Technology', used rough means to drive away the founder, and carried out intimidation. These behaviors have seriously infringed the rights and interests of the company and shareholders, disrupted the normal production, operation and management order of Aidu Technology, and caused strong anxiety and adverse effects to all employees, partners, consumers, etc. of the company. "

Seizing the official seal and removing the legal representative, does this plot sound familiar?

In 2020, Dangdang.com co-founder Li Guoqing took away the company seal in the name of a shareholder, and said that the company had established a board of directors in accordance with the law. Yu Yu would no longer serve as the executive director, legal representative and general manager of Dangdang.

Dangdang.com later issued a statement saying that Li Guoqing and five others broke into Dangdang.com's office and stole dozens of official and financial seals, and the company has called the police. During the period when Dangdang.com and its affiliated companies lost control of their official and financial seals, the company would not recognize any written documents, such as contracts, signed by anyone using the official seals.

In this cross-border "seal grabbing" incident, He An said that he hopes that colleagues who have been harmed by this incident will have the courage to fight back, and also hopes that colleagues will not be affected by the company's disputes, serve customers and suppliers well, "achieve the task of high-quality product delivery, and avoid turning internal company disputes into development disasters."

This is the truth. If this step is not taken well, it will inevitably affect the future development of Aidu Technology. Wang Yue said that many people who bought goods from Aidu Technology, including him, are now afraid to pick up the goods, and there are no goods coming out.

Who will take charge of the company next? "We used to have more contact with Mr. Zhu, who was responsible for sales; Mr. He was more responsible for technology. It was only in the past two years that he stepped out from behind the scenes and began to show his face. In the past, it was Mr. Zhu and Mr. Wu who showed up. I don't know if Mr. He can control the situation," said Wang Yue.

Yien.com has contacted relevant people for more information, but due to the sensitivity of the topic, no effective response has been received. An insider revealed that the struggle is over, but "there is no winner or loser", and "some people will definitely leave" in the future.

Supply goods to multiple Amazon and independent station sellers

According to Wang Yue, Aidu Technology is a supplier to many Amazon and Walmart sellers. Wang Yue himself also places orders from Aidu Technology and sells them through the Amazon platform.

"Aidu Technology was built up slowly in Huaqiangbei. At that time, they had their own counter. I and other colleagues would go to the counter to get goods from them. Later, when the company became bigger, we would connect with the agents if we had bulk orders.

In the past few years, Aidu Technology supplied goods to sellers on multiple e-commerce platforms. Later, the company's products became better and better, and the prices became higher and higher. Now, the sellers that Aidu Technology supplies are mainly Amazon, Walmart and independent websites. "Wang Yue said.

Aidu Technology has also launched 1688 to provide services to merchants looking for sources of goods through this channel.

In addition to supplying goods to cross-border sellers, Aidu Technology also does cross-border e-commerce business. Wang Yue said that Aidu Technology basically supplied goods before, and later they also sold some products through online channels.

It is understood that Aidu Technology has posted a job opening for an Amazon data analyst, who will be responsible for Amazon platform data analysis, building analysis models, designing data analysis reports, regularly tracking sales data and providing data analysis reports in various dimensions; in conjunction with the company's business, searching and analyzing data from other cross-border e-commerce platforms, etc. The requirements for recruits are more than one year of Amazon platform operation experience or cross-border e-commerce and online advertising experience.

The fate of Aidu Technology and Amazon does not end there. In early 2021, Aidu Technology officially became a strategic partner of Amazon AVS. This was the first time that Amazon tried to cooperate with a wearable ODM service provider in technology development.

Being selected by Amazon, Aidu Technology's strength should not be underestimated. It is understood that Aidu Technology is currently a big player in Shenzhen's smart wearable industry. Almost everyone in the industry knows about this company. The cooperation with Amazon has greatly benefited Aidu Technology's products.

For Aidu Technology, by connecting smart products to Alexa smart voice service, the products have more plasticity and can explore more functions. For example, smart watches can directly use Alexa voice to support setting alarms, weather forecasts, traffic reports, starting fitness, asking heart rate, etc.

Speaking of Aidu Technology's products, Wang Yue praised them highly: "Aidu's product quality has always been good, and it is a leader in the domestic smart wearable industry."

Founded in 2014, Aidu Technology has been focusing on the smart wearable business. Its products include smart bracelets, smart watches and other series. Currently, its products support the languages ​​of at least 8 countries and have been sold to more than 30 countries and regions around the world.

The company, which was established less than ten years ago, has achieved such impressive results, which is inseparable from Aidu Technology's extreme pursuit of products and R&D. The company spends at least 10% of its sales on R&D construction every year. Among Aidu Technology's team of more than 1,300 people, there are nearly 300 R&D and technical personnel.

Aidu Technology adheres to the integrated R&D and production route, independently develops core algorithms and supporting APP software for pedometer, sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen and other technologies, has more than 180 invention patents and software copyrights, and its products have CE, RoHS, FCC, UKCA and other certifications issued by SGS certification agencies.

It is understood that Aidu Technology has two R&D teams, one focusing on hardware, ID appearance R&D, APP development, and big data R&D, and the other focusing on algorithm research, software development, and sports and health experience development.

Algorithms are the core competitiveness of Aidu Technology. They can accurately count steps based on data from people in different states such as running, climbing, and riding in a car. In different countries around the world, they can also count steps based on road conditions, transportation, etc. In terms of calculating human body temperature and heart rate, Aidu Technology's R&D team can accurately calculate the sensor acceptance of wearable products based on people with different skin colors and hair.

In addition to its R&D strength, Aidu Technology's strong production and manufacturing capabilities are also a major advantage. The company has a large manufacturing team of more than 700 people, and all 12 manufacturing production lines are in use, with a monthly production capacity of more than 1 million PCS and an annual production capacity of more than 12 million PCS.

In terms of quality management, Aidu Technology has established supplier selection and assessment standards, has a deep understanding of its partner companies, leverages their strengths and avoids risks. It has signed quality assurance agreements, stipulated component yield standards, and signed environmental protection agreements to help customers cope with strict environmental regulations and rules in Europe and the United States.

Aidu Technology has gained good reviews from customers such as Wang Yue by forming advantages in R&D, manufacturing and quality. According to He An, Aidu Technology insists on building core competitiveness and increasing R&D investment, which is based on sustainable long-termism and optimistic about the prospects of the global smart wearable market.

Smart wearable market continues to grow

In the European and American markets, smart wearable fitness technology has been integrated into society. Due to the increasing demand of consumers to monitor their own health and track their vital signs, the use of wearable devices by American consumers has increased from 9% to 33% in just four years, and this number will continue to grow as wearable technology becomes relatively mature.

Global shipments of smart wearable devices were 266.3 million units in 2020, and are expected to reach 776.23 million units by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.48% from 2021 to 2026.

In recent years, advances in research have led to increased innovation, driving consumer demand in the wearables market and giving rise to new product categories that include products that incorporate high-end technology and design into everyday life.

Today, the incremental technology behind the growth of the smart wearable market is advancing, and due to the increasing penetration of urbanization, there is a demand for advanced functional products with aesthetic appeal to better meet consumer demand.

Furthermore, the huge population of millennials has been adopting smartwatches owing to the increase in spending for daily work time tracking and luxury standards. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), millennial spending is expected to increase across various major economies.

According to the data of 2021, North America holds the highest market share in the smart wearable sector. However, Asia Pacific will witness the highest growth in the smart wearable market. The growing disposable income in the region is driving the development of the smart wearable market.

About 80 percent of the world’s smart wearable devices are made in port cities and manufacturing hubs in southeastern China, according to a recent think tank report .

According to relevant reports, Shenzhen, the home of many Chinese technology giants, is the largest R&D and production center for smart wearable devices. Aidu Technology is located in Shenzhen. After years of development, it has kept up with the trend of the smart wearable market, invested heavily in R&D technology, and finally grew into a well-known manufacturer in the smart wearable industry.

Aidu Technology has also won the honorary title of "Guangdong Province Contract-abiding and Credit-worthy Enterprise" in 2020. This evaluation standard is strict and aims to improve the level of corporate contract credit construction, promote corporate integrity construction, standardize corporate contract behavior, enhance corporate social responsibility, enhance corporate credibility, enhance consumer confidence, and set an industry integrity benchmark. Winning this title is an affirmation of Aidu Technology's achievements in adhering to law-abiding operations and promoting honest cooperation in depth.

However, now that Aidu Technology is caught up in an internal struggle for power between the chairman and the general manager, it is questionable whether the company can continue to seriously carry out product research and development and deliver high-quality products to customers and consumers.

A company that wins by relying on products and technology, and has not been eliminated in the market development, but has been singing all the way and the situation is improving, then it should not be dragged down by infighting among senior executives.