ABSTRACT
The Founder Group was established in 1979 when Professor Wang Xuan successfully developed the Chinese Laser Typesetting System. Throughout the 1990s, Founder’s Laser Typesetting business achieved great success, with annual sales figures skyrocketing over RMB1 billion and net profits up more than RMB200 million. With such success from the Laser Typesetting business, the Founder Group initiated large-scale diversification investment projects, even in atypical industries such as the jewelry and fast food businesses. Unfortunately, the diversified investments posted loss, and in the early 2000s, the Founder Group met with great difficulties. In 2001, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Founder holdings loss was estimated at RMB400 million. By 2002, with sales at RMB8.7 billion, the Founder Group only made a net profit of RMB1.6 million. Of the various Founder Group subsidiaries, only certain entities were profitable.
