Duan Yongping is hard to hide in the city.
Original mountain
Author | He Jian
Edit | Jiang Jiang
Cover | Snowball "Avenue is invisible and I have style"
Duan Yongping went to the United States in 2001 and settled near California. Since then, he has been far away from the front line of business and rarely returned to China, but there are still legends about him on the Chinese Internet. In fact, Duan Yongping began to be called "China Buffett" just after he retired.
Few entrepreneurs in China can still gain a huge voice after staying away from the front line of business. Duan Yongping is called a hidden billionaire, and people talk about his investment ideas, his culture and the stories of his disciples in China. His disciples did create great commercial achievements.
It’s hard to say whether Duan Yongping’s popularity was created by the media or he did it on purpose. After all, those circulating quotations really came from his sharing on social platforms for decades. Instead of choosing fashionable social platforms such as Weibo and short video, he registered an account in a stock investment community-he is one of the people with the largest number of fans on this platform-perhaps because it is more suitable for investment exchange, or just because the founder of this platform, Fang Sanwen, is his good friend.
He shared his daily life here, and passed by Macao for a small gamble during the Spring Festival, and won. Get up early to grab Vision Pro, and it took a few days to say that there is no cinema that can compare with Vision Pro’s viewing experience. Maotai and Ruixing made a sauce-flavored latte, and he was willing to vote for it as a shareholder. Go to the NBA to watch the ball and wish the Warriors good luck. But more is to share the investment concept. He has a heavy position in Apple and Maotai and is optimistic about the long-term value of the company. "Buying stocks means buying companies", which has attracted many people who regard him as their life mentor.
Like Buffett, every speech made by Duan Yongping can be used to make a fuss. Recently, he discussed his views on the buyback with netizens, and compared Tencent’s buyback with Apple’s. Some media immediately reported that "Duan Yongping’ questioned’ Tencent". Last year, he shared the investment dynamics of "starting to think about Ali, selling put first", which caused a lot of commotion. Many analysts explained that this was Duan Yongping’s "bullish and bargain-hunting of Ali stocks."
Duan Yongping’s screen name is "Avenue is invisible and I have style". Most of his followers call him "Avenue", which is not only the nickname of Duan Yongping, but also seems to be the avenue of their lives.
01 | Beware of being blacked out.
880,000 fans are not a bright number on social platforms. The number of fans after the name of online celebrity on Tik Tok is 99.99 million+. But in Snowball, a stock exchange community, 880,000 is probably the limit you can reach.
This is the number of fans of snowball user "Avenue is invisible and I have style". Of course, you may be more familiar with his real name Duan Yongping. More often, people will add an attribute before his name, "China Buffett". He himself denied the name many times, even though it was the name that appeared most frequently in his mouth.
It costs 128 million RMB to photograph the sky-high lunch to communicate with Buffett, but to communicate with "China Buffett", you only need to register a snowball and comment under the account of "Avenue is invisible and I have style".
But remember to follow certain rules. For example, you only ask questions once a day (the exact time set by Duan Yongping is 23 hours). Don’t ask silly questions. Before asking questions, you’d better read through his past speeches-they are everywhere on the Internet, and some speeches are also marked with dates. Snowball has specially published a book for him, "Duan Yongping Investment Questions and Answers", which consists of two volumes.
Don’t try to give him advice, because he just shares and doesn’t want to discuss any problems with anyone. "I have enough experience and don’t want to discuss problems with anyone."
It’s ok to express gratitude, for example, reading his posts has benefited a lot, and some of them will reply briefly, "I will be happy that someone finds it enlightening", but it’s best not to make a long speech, and he may not pay attention to you. Remember not to love him casually, it’s what he hates most.
One of the consequences of not following the rules is that you will be blacked out by him. Recently, a former employee of an Internet company was blacked out by him because he was asked what he thought of the non-competition agreement of this Internet company. He should also be cautious in evaluating his favorite companies, such as Apple, Maotai and Tencent. These companies are all his heavy positions, and some have been firmly held for many years. He hates "pretending to know apple", and it will ruin things when he meets it.
More blackouts may just be that he doesn’t like it. He said in his signature that "I occasionally choose blackouts because I don’t like you either". For example, you can love him casually, or you have different opinions on Chinese medicine, or he feels silly about your speech. Don’t think that you won’t be seen by him when you comment on your homepage or other bloggers. He often surfs the internet.
In Snowball, a small investor trading community, being blacked out by "Avenue" is something to show off-after all, it may be the place with the highest concentration of "Duan Yongping Quotations" on the Internet. Duan Yongping is not only a "avenue" here, but also a life mentor.
A person who was blacked out by Duan Yongping said that he was "both shocked and surprised" and was shocked by being blacked out, because he was a snowball registered for Duan, and he was surprised that "I was so close to my idol, and even some little ones were lucky to be noticed by idols."
After being blacked out by him, some people will write a special post saying "honored" and express their gratitude at the same time. "I am grateful to learn a lot from the avenue." Sometimes I have to reflect on what mistakes I made, such as cognitive deficiencies, such as whether I said something that I shouldn’t have said.
It is an honor to be noticed by the avenue. Some followers have been interacting with Duan Yongping on the Internet since the blog period. In 2018, Netease blog was changed to Lofter, but Duan Yongping didn’t like it, so he turned to snowball. He posted a blog saying that "bloggers can sign a number on the snowball" and left a message telling him that he would pay more attention. There are more people paying attention to him now, and it is not easy to get attention. The rule of Avenue is that there must be at least two people who have paid attention to it, and he will also look at the applicant’s application content and speech views in advance. He only followed 181 people on the snowball.
But we should also pay attention to choosing a good screen name. After all, the screen name is also the embodiment of values. A netizen’s name is "Being surprisingly upright", which was changed by Duan Yongping’s suggestion to "Being surprisingly upright" because "if you don’t think about surprises all day, the chances of making mistakes will drop, and it will become possible to make a mistake accidentally."
This netizen left a message thanking him for saying, "With the word’ no’ added, there is a lot less trouble."
02 | Preacher
Many people use "preacher" to describe Duan Yongping. Even though he retired long ago, the culture of "duty" advocated by him continued to spread on the Chinese Internet through his disciples. He himself has expounded this point on snowball or Netease blog many times. "Duty" can be briefly summarized as "doing the right thing, doing the right thing". He said that these two words are extremely simple but by no means easy. You can read "understand" in one second, but most people can’t do it all their lives.
Thinking about this duty should always be kept in mind, and strive to combine words with deeds. A few years ago, the WeChat red envelope burst into flames. Some people used their duty to think, saying, "It’s not their duty to grab the red envelope easily in the group." Duan Yongping replied that his duty was to blame himself, not to use it as a mirror.
Some people ask him that he is too specific about his business actions, which he will think is not understood in place. For example, a netizen once asked him about his decision-making ideas in BBK, and he said that these were all "skills". "My whole blog is about’ Tao’, but people always think that’ skills’ are worth learning." He warned these people that those who are eager to learn a trick or two from the avenue, so as to get financial freedom quickly, are all in the opposite direction.
Duan Yongping has also forwarded many collections of his own speeches, and his speech in BBK more than 20 years ago can also be found on his blog, with the title "The Foundation is Evergreen". A few days ago, he forwarded an interview with him by a student from Zhejiang University eight years ago. "It may be really helpful for students who are graduating from college to look at this."
Duan Yongping also recommended the book "The Foundation is Evergreen" many times.
In recent years, he has not been interviewed by the media, partly because he retired and partly because he felt that the media would misinterpret his meaning. He learned from Buffett and will only be interviewed by TV media in the future, and will not be misinterpreted.
Duan Yongping’s popularity on Chinese Internet largely comes from his successful investment in Netease many years ago. It is said that he benefited as much as $1 billion from that investment. He later said that the standard of his judgment is value, and the simplest investment standard is "buying stocks is buying companies."
Countless people tried to learn the secret of investment from Duan Yongping. They followed him from Netease blog to snowball, and learned every speech he made, trying to replicate his success in the stock market. But Duan Yongping always said that he didn’t know much, and only one or two companies could really understand it. In the past years, his investment career has been centered around a few companies such as Maotai and Apple, and has been firmly held for decades.
He doesn’t look at short-term fluctuations, and he just stays at ease when he buys stocks. Sometimes I have to tease others. Apple once made a fortune. On that day, he played golf with others. As a result, after playing nine holes, the man said that he would go back to see Apple’s financial report. He thought to himself, "What’s good about Apple’s earnings report? It’s still important to play ball." But in the end, I had to finish the remaining 18 holes by myself.
He is also a fan of the products of these two companies. He knows a lot about Moutai, and it tastes better after being bought for 30 years than the vintage wine he bought directly. He bought Apple’s latest iPhone every year. Last year, the iPhone 15 Pro Max was too popular. He took it a week late and was worried. "In the past, you could get there on the first day through the back door." In fact, his residence in the United States is not far from Apple’s headquarters. Last Halloween, he passed by Jobs’ door and took a photo, saying that "Jobs’ door is very lively tonight". It is estimated that at least a few candy meals will be prepared.
At the beginning of this year, some media counted his positions in US stocks, and the assets of H&H, an investment company he managed, reached 100 billion RMB. Apple is a big position, accounting for as much as 80%. The rest are Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Google. He also bought a small amount of Alibaba, replacing the Pinduoduo stock he used to hold.
In the past, Duan Yongping has always said that he can’t understand e-commerce companies. Pinduoduo couldn’t understand it, but he bought some stocks for Huang Zheng, who said he wouldn’t sell them for three years. He said that he didn’t understand Pinduoduo, which might be a bit like Buffett didn’t understand Microsoft.
When Pinduoduo’s market value surpassed Ali’s at the end of last year, H&H he managed cleared Pinduoduo and started buying Alibaba. Some time ago, after Cai Chongxin’s last interview, he said that maybe "there is no difficult business in the world" needs to be adjusted, because the user can’t reflect it in this sentence.
Many hot companies, such as NVIDIA and Microsoft, are not bought by Duan Yongping. He said that he couldn’t understand these companies. "I didn’t understand them and didn’t have time to read them, so I just missed them." He said that he couldn’t directly feel their products and missed many such companies in the process of playing golf, but he didn’t care. "I’m a Man Cang, but I didn’t miss anything, did I?"
Many people asked him about a company. Duan Yongping’s common expression is to think about this company in 10 or 20 years. Some people say that many of his ideas are ahead of time, but his answer is not ahead of time, just trying to look far away.
03 | Vision Pro, Big Model, Golf and Life Mentor
Most of the time, Duan Yongping’s status on social platforms is relaxed and comfortable, which may make entrepreneurs of his age feel envious.
In January this year, Apple Vision Pro officially opened for booking, and Duan Yongping got up early and got up at 5 o’clock. Vision Pro was sold out 18 minutes after its opening, and Duan Yongping successfully grabbed a ticket. He took a screenshot of the order on the snowball, equipped with Zeiss glasses, travel suit and Apple Care+ warranty service, with a total price of $4,696.
After the arrival of the goods, he specially took a photo of wearing Vision Pro and asked everyone "watching movies or skiing". He spent five or six hours experiencing it. More than 90% of them were watching movies, Forrest Gump, The Avengers and Avatar. If it wasn’t for bedtime, he might have been able to watch it all the time. He spoke highly of Vision Pro, saying that there is no cinema that can be compared with Vision Pro’s viewing experience. Maybe children in the next 10 years will not know what a cinema is.
Duan likes the movie Forrest Gump very much.
Duan Yongping is also very concerned about the hot AI model. At one time, he asked ChatGPT "Who is Duan Yongping" every day to judge whether the big model was talking nonsense. Sometimes the big model says that Duan Yongping is the managing partner of Morgan Stanley, or distinguished professor of Wudaokou Finance College in Tsinghua University, and even founded a fund management company called Dacheng Fund. Duan Yongping concluded, "Ask the same question every day, you can get different answers every day, and you can be happy every day."
In January, he tried to see if Bard, who quit Google, could get the latest information, so he asked, "What is Duan Yongping doing recently?" Bard said that Duan Yongping recently said that he was optimistic about the new energy vehicle industry-in fact, Duan Yongping has never been optimistic about Tesla. Duan Yongping finally commented, "Bard will also be serious and nonsense, and it seems that AI is not enough for search."
But golf is what he really loves. Someone asked him what he thought of Bezos, Nadella and Cook. He said that they were all better than him, but he was better at golf and table tennis. He seldom participates in activities organized by domestic entrepreneurs. Before the dissolution of the Taishan Club, he said that he quit after joining for two years, which was meaningless, and he had his own thoughts. "No one played ball."
This is the retirement life that Duan Yongping enjoys. Sometimes I bask in my own red wine and share my life. Today, I bought and sold a few pens for "entertainment".
But there are always some external factors to disturb him, and the spotlight of the media always hits him. Last time OPPO stopped the chip business Zheku, people kept coming to ask his opinion. He was so upset that he wrote a 200-word explanation, saying that he had retired for more than 20 years. He didn’t know how the specific business was running at present, and he knew the news was only 10 minutes earlier than online. If he asked again, it would be blacked out.
Maotai’s changes in the domestic stock market will also involve him. Earlier this month, Maotai released its 2023 annual report, showing that two private equity funds reduced their holdings in the fourth quarter of last year, which was considered to be related to him. Duan Yongping had to post a special post to clarify, "We didn’t sell any shares!"
At the beginning of this year, he asked a question on the snowball, "Who do you think are the companies that will still be there in 10 years?" He thinks that Apple and Maotai will still be there in 20 years, Google, Microsoft and BRK (Berkshire Hathaway) should still be there, Tencent has a 90% probability, and OPPO and vivo should have a 75% probability. Soon, the media issued a report-"Duan Yongping looks to the next decade". He commented on the recent repurchase of Tencent, so there was "Duan Yongping" questioning Tencent "
Duan Yongping was born in 1961 and is 63 years old this year. Yu Minhong, who is one year younger than him, is still in the first line of the company. In the past few months, he apologized for the incident of Dong Yuhui, the head of his company, online celebrity. Duan Yongping has never met Yu, but he has always thought that he is a very interesting person. New Oriental was once shorted. He spent four hours watching all the interviews with Yu Minhong he could find on the Internet, and came to the conclusion that this person is not what the short seller said. At the end of 2021, New Oriental began to do the live broadcast of Oriental selection. He bought some New Oriental stocks to express his support. "Yu Minhong, who has been gambling for 60 years, will not fall."
Most of the private entrepreneurs who made their fortune by industry together with Duan Yongping in the 1990s have now disappeared from public view. For example, Lan Shili, who just got out of prison two years ago, and Gu Chujun, who made his fortune by air conditioning. Most of the consumer electronics brands born at the same time are short-lived. Like the bully, it took only four years for the love of contemporary speakers to end from glory, and Amoi and Kim Jong-il gradually disappeared from the mainstream vision.
Duan Yongping is different. Most of his businesses in the past are still doing well, and his disciples are also inheriting the duty culture he advocated. It’s hard to say that Duan Yongping really retired-even though he kept stressing that he had retired for many years.
He still expresses his views on his social account intensively, keeping up with current events, commenting on the company and recalling the past, which always attracts the attention of the public and the media. He is not optimistic about new energy vehicles, saying that Tesla may have a hard time in the next 20 years, and evaluating BYD’s cost advantage will become a moat. These speeches have been quoted by the media from time to time and made headlines.
After some entrepreneurs retired, there was no more news, such as Chen Tianqiao, the founder of Shanda Company, who also retired from the United States. Chen Tianqiao was recently mentioned because of the exposure of a large number of real estate he bought in the United States. He is now the second largest foreign landlord in the United States, but Chen Tianqiao did not respond.
Even Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, who is now retired from the background, is much more low-key than Duan Yongping. Huang Zheng stepped down as CEO in 2021, and there has been no public speech and dynamics since then.
Duan Yongping, who retired bravely, has become a life mentor in the new era after more than 20 years of quitting the front line.
Original title: "Duan Yongping is hard to hide in the city"
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