Breaking! 7 billion in vehicle manufacturing funds unaccounted for, company finances have fled to Singapore?

The man in the picture above is Xia Yiping, the CEO of ZEEKR.

If you look closely at his cheek, particularly at the cheekbone area, there is a noticeable scar. He explained that it was from "falling off a bike," but the company's employees say it was "from being beaten."

Why would the "top leader" of a new car manufacturing force, a graduate of a top university in the UK, and a co-founder of Mobike be "beaten"?

The story dates back two months.

Two months ago, ZEEKR did not have enough money to maintain production and urgently sought help from shareholders, hoping they would invest more.

ZEEKR's equity structure is relatively simple, with two main investors: Baidu and Geely. The specific division of labor is that Geely is responsible for production and retail, while Baidu is responsible for in-car software.

What Xia Yiping did not expect was that after Baidu received the refinancing request, they proposed to audit the accounts to see why ZEEKR was spending money so quickly.

Insiders revealed that ZEEKR had left a hole of 7 billion yuan but had only sold 14,000 cars, which is a fraction compared to other new forces. Where did all that money go?

At this point, the climax arrived. As soon as Baidu's accountant arrived at ZEEKR, they received a notification: the company's Chief Financial Officer Liu Jining had gone missing! His IP location had been in Singapore for the past few days, and no one was at home; his wife and children had left together. It goes without saying that he must have "run away."

With such a big issue at hand, Xia Yiping had to explain to the shareholders, or he would not be able to account for it.

Thus, he hastily convened a shareholders' meeting, stating, "I also don't know what the situation is; we are investigating, but it is very difficult because Liu Jining took the account books with him."

He played the card of "no evidence to contradict."

The shareholders present were all worth over a hundred million, and Xia Yiping's clumsy explanation was as if he was taking them for fools.

It is rumored that a shareholder from Baidu was extremely furious, picked up a teacup, and threw it at Xia Yiping, cutting his face. That is how the injury on his face came about, not from falling off a bike.

If it really was from falling off a bike, it seems quite strange to think about it: the boss of a new energy vehicle company does not drive his own car but rides a bicycle all day. Is it a lack of confidence in his own cars? In the following month, Jiyue Automobile could no longer focus on car manufacturing; the factory was shut down, the funding chain broke, and Baidu, Geely, and Jiyue engaged in intense debate over "where the 7 billion went."

According to internal employee leaks, Baidu tends to believe that the money was embezzled.

After all, we have heard many stories of entrepreneurs using the guise of starting a business to make money, with some entrepreneurs managing to "wrap" investors' funds into their own pockets.

A former employee of Jiyue corroborated this speculation.

He posted on social media, stating that during the company's bidding process, Xia Yiping would force a few companies he had good relations with into the mix; if these companies did not win the bid, he would refuse to stamp the procurement contract. Moreover, Xia Yiping repeatedly purchased goods from designated suppliers at prices ten times higher than the market rate.

Faced with these accusations, Xia Yiping certainly would not admit to them, claiming that the accounts could be audited, but the account books had already been taken to Singapore by Liu Jining, leaving the investigation in a deadlock.

What exactly is the relationship between Liu Jining and Xia Yiping? Whether they were partners in embezzlement or each pursuing their own interests remains unknown, but Jiyue Automobile indeed "died" in their hands.

It is rumored that shortly after Liu Jining fled, Xia Yiping's wife and children also secretly left, leaving Xia Yiping alone in the country to "hold the fort."

Yesterday, Xia Yiping sent a notice in the company group, announcing that "Jiyue has entered the 2.0 era."

The so-called 2.0 refers to layoffs, and they are extremely ugly!

Unpaid social security will not be paid; employees must find new jobs to make up for it;

The owed N+1 compensation will be given next year, but there is no guarantee it will be paid;

Reimbursements owed will only be processed if there is money in the account; if not, tough luck...

A complete "I'm a rogue, what can you do about it" attitude.

Even more outrageous, Xia Yiping stated that in the 2.0 era, Jiyue would retain a team of 100 people, and these 100 people would work without salaries! No social security!

Such words, even 19th-century capitalists would not dare to utter, yet they were brazenly spoken by Xia Yiping. Shouldn't Jiyue's employees be furious?!

Today, hundreds of employees surrounded Xia Yiping's office, demanding answers.

Jiyue employees angrily shouted: "You have embezzled enough, without compensation, without social security, what about our livelihoods?"

Other than repeatedly saying "I will resolve it" and "I will resolve it," Xia Yiping had no other solutions.

It must be said that today's employees are quite formidable; not only do they take videos as evidence, but they also demand Xia Yiping hand over his passport to prevent him from fleeing!

I personally strongly support the employees' actions.

To be honest, with the situation having escalated to this point, the company must be out of money; it will be difficult to recover employees' unpaid wages, social security, and compensation, but someone must be held accountable for this matter! A failed startup cannot just walk away, taking funds overseas while leaving debts behind in the country We should learn from the practices of European and American countries in pursuing Xu Jiayin, confiscating his assets globally, including luxury homes in London, planes in Hong Kong, yachts in Spain... all to be confiscated and auctioned!

Only in this way can we encourage real entrepreneurs and businesspeople, eliminate bad elements from the ranks of entrepreneurs, and create a better entrepreneurial atmosphere.

Source: WeChat Official Account Shuai Zhen Business Perspective