Yu Rou Science and Technology is in a financial crisis, and the independent director issued a document "seeking help"

Yu Rou Science and Technology is in a financial crisis, and the independent director issued a document "seeking help"

Yu Rou Science and Technology was in financial crisis, and independent directors issued a document "asking for help". Previously, it created the thinnest flexible screen in the world. This unicorn company, once valued at 10 billion yuan, is experiencing the dilemma of weak products, unsuccessful listing and unpaid wages. Yu Rou Science and Technology was in financial crisis, and independent directors issued a document "asking for help".

On the morning of April 13, Liu Shuwei, a well-known scholar, wrote "Save Yu Rou" in a circle of friends, calling on all directions to lend a helping hand to Shenzhen Yu Rou Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yu Rou Technology").

In his article, Liu Shuwei mentioned the difficulties that need to be solved urgently in Yu Rou's technology. Since the flexible screen production line was put into production in 20 18, the R&D achievements of some innovative technologies were only completed in the last year or two. Therefore, before Yu Rou Science and Technology had time to open the market and create sufficient operating cash flow, there was a shortage of funds, which led to the failure of the flexible screen production line to operate normally, to complete the orders of French Airbus and other products, and to carry out continuous R&D work.

In this regard, Liu Shuwei suggested that governments at all levels should actively help Yu Rou Science and Technology solve the shortage of funds, and help it introduce strategic investors to open up the application market of flexible technology in China.

According to public information, Yu Rou Science and Technology was established in May 20 12 and August 20 14. Yu Rou Science and Technology has manufactured a flexible screen with a thickness of only 0.0 1 mm and a curl radius of 1 mm.

According to the prospectus previously submitted by Yu Rou Science and Technology, Bill Liu, Chairman of Yu Rou Science and Technology, nominated Liu Shuwei as an independent director of Yu Rou Science and Technology for a term of three years. Liu Shuwei is the director and researcher of China Enterprise Research Center of Central University of Finance and Economics. In addition, Liu Shuwei is an independent director of Vanke A(000002). SZ), Gree Electric (00065 1. SZ) and China Optics (002 189. SZ)。

In the era when the demand for screens in scientific and technological circles is still hard and light-transmitting, Corning's gorilla series glass screens have become the mainstream of the industry driven by Apple. 20 14, 1 1, corning introduced the fourth generation corning gorilla glass screen. Once the world's thinnest flexible screen made by Yu Rou Science and Technology came out, it caused a sensation in the whole scientific and technological field.

With the increasing demand for flexible screens in the industry, Yu Rou Science and Technology has also received a lot of venture capital. From August 20 17 to June 20 1 19, Yu Rou science and technology obtained seven rounds of financing, with investors including CITIC Capital, Shenzhen Venture Capital, Hangzhou Jishi, Poly and other well-known investment institutions.

Nowadays, Yu Rou Science and Technology, known as the "Bai Wan" world, seems to "stand upright" at first. These days, Yu Rou Science and Technology was reported as "unpaid for half a year", and it broke the news that all employees had a three-month holiday. On April 6th, Yu Rou Science and Technology also rumored that the company has not given all employees a holiday at present, and many employees are still at work.

In 2020, the valuation of Yu Rou Science and Technology reached $6 billion, but the loss did not make Yu Rou Science and Technology get round after round of financing. According to its prospectus, from 20 17 to the first half of 2020, the net profit attributable to the parent company of Yu Rou science and technology was-359 million yuan,-802 million yuan,-1073 million yuan and-966 million yuan respectively.

The person in charge of a venture capital institution analyzed and said, "Packaging a screen as a concept into a product, how big the market will be in the future, and how big the market will be when the application lands. These were not considered by Yu Rou at that time, but blindly financed, invested in research and development, and built production lines. "

According to the prospectus, Yu Rou Science and Technology's R&D investment accounts for 308. 17% of its operating income in recent years. In addition, Yu Rou Science and Technology has also built the 6th generation display screen production line with a total cost of 1 1 100 million yuan and an area of about 1 10,000 square meters. Its total production scale exceeds 50 million flexible display screens every year. However, from 20 18 to the first half of 2020, the output of "fully flexible display screen" in Yu Rou is only 7748, 3 14036 and 48563.

"Unable to make blood, Yu Rou Science and Technology, the star project at that time, was caught in all kinds of negative reports. This time, Liu Shuwei's article can also prove from the side that Yu Rou science and technology has reached a critical juncture of life and death. " The above investors added.

In addition, the reporter noted that the market also heard that Yu Rou Science and Technology is one of the "three frauds", calling it a "high-profile cheating and money-circling project under the guise of high technology". It is reported that on the last day of 2020, Yu Rou Science and Technology submitted an IPO application for the Science and Technology Innovation Board to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which was accepted and reviewed as required. However, on February 9th of the following year, Yu Rou Science and Technology and the sponsor CITIC Securities submitted an application to the Shanghai Stock Exchange to withdraw the listing application documents, and the sponsor CITIC Securities was ordered by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to take rectification measures.

"Save Yu Rou and maintain China's international leading level in the field of flexible technology." Whether Liu Shuwei's voice can bring hope for the survival of Yu Rou Science and Technology, Yin Shi Finance will continue to pay attention to it.

Yu Rou Science and Technology is in financial crisis, and independent directors send a document for help. In the domestic mobile phone market, the wind of "folding screen" is blowing. When the incoming users make great strides, Yu Rou Science and Technology, which has unique flexible screen technology and is known as "high yield and low cost", is experiencing a "cold winter".

Previously, the thinnest flexible screen in the world has been built. This unicorn company, once valued at10 billion, is experiencing the dilemma of weak products, unsuccessful listing and unpaid wages.

20 14 In August, Yu Rou Science and Technology manufactured a flexible screen with a thickness of only 0.0 1mm and a curl radius of 1mm. For a time, the concept of flexible screen became the object of capital competition. In eight years, Yu Rou successfully completed the A-F financing, and only disclosed financing of nearly 10 billion yuan.

However, after tasting the sweetness of capital, it is difficult for Yu Rou, which lacks the ability of "hematopoiesis", to "soften" steel. On April 6th, Yu Rou Science and Technology announced a three-month holiday after it was exposed that it was in arrears with wages for half a year last month.

Is it also a kind of "disguised layoff" to stop work and return the rent for three months in arrears?

On the day when the holiday notice was issued, the experience of Yu Rou employees was also quite dramatic.

A Wen, an employee of Yu Rou in Shenzhen Headquarters, told the reporter of Nanduwan Finance and Economics that on April 6, she and her colleagues first received a verbal notice of holiday, and HR issued a written notice in the department group, and then the department leaders, HR and all employees held a meeting to inform the holiday, and said that there would be no notice in the form of mail.

"Later, perhaps because of fermentation, some media reported that the company had a' all-staff holiday', and HR re-sent an email after 5 pm, stressing that the company was not a' all-staff holiday', indicating that if a specific project needs to be continued, the leaders should make their own arrangements", Gao Jiawen said.

However, in the face of employees, one of Yu Rou's "priorities" is far from whether the holiday is "full staff", but when it can make up for the hole of wage arrears.

As early as September 20021year, there were netizens who claimed to be employees of Yu Rou, claiming that the company was in arrears with wages. On February 20021,a number of Yurou employees also confirmed to the reporter of Nanduwan Finance and Economics that Yu Rou had not made the payment as scheduled. "Now the company owes me 5.5 months' salary," Gao Jiawen sighed.

However, in the view of Gao Jiawen and his colleagues, it is still unknown whether Yu Rou can fill the hole of unpaid wages, but unpaid wages have made the company "unstable". "Although everyone wants the company to be good, they all want to live. Now many old employees have left their jobs one after another, and everyone will ask each other about new job opportunities. " In the eyes of employees, this three-month long vacation seems to be a kind of "disguised layoffs", or it will prompt more people to choose to leave.

The overwhelming "snowflake" in Yu Rou: the ability of technology, mass production and commercialization is questioned.

Jou-woo's shortage of funds is not just salary arrears. At the end of February, 2022, due to rent arrears and other reasons, it was reported that Yu Rou's headquarters building in Nanshan, Shenzhen, would be retreated from the original two floors of 18- 19 to only one floor of 19. On April 6th, a reporter from Nanduwan Finance Agency visited the headquarters of Shenzhen Stock Exchange in Yu Rou, and found that the18th floor was empty, only the19th floor was working normally.

In addition, Yu Rou has invested a lot of money in its own production line, but the return is very small, which also makes Yu Rou fall into the dilemma of arguing with the production line builder because there is no "blood tank".

A remarkable survey shows that on June 3rd, 20021,10, Yu Rou Science and Technology failed to fulfill the amount of 95.03 million yuan due to a dispute with Shanghai Baoye Group Co., Ltd., and Bill Liu, chairman and CEO of Yu Rou Science and Technology, was restricted from high consumption by Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court.

Why did the unicorn company, once valued at $6 billion, come to this dark moment? From the outside world, the R&D cost of Yu Rou Science and Technology is staggering, but its low capacity utilization rate is questioned.

According to the prospectus, Yu Rou R&D investment accounts for 308. 17% of its operating income in recent years. With an investment of 1 1 100 million yuan, Yu Rou has also built a display screen production line with a cost of 1 1 100 million yuan and an area of about 1 10,000 square meters. According to the prospectus, the designed production capacity of 20 18, 20 19 and the first half of 2020 are 1 1.67, 46.67 and 23.33 thousand respectively, but the actual production capacity is 1.76, respectively. Thus, Yu Rou's production capacity is far from saturation, and there may be a lot of idle production lines.

For C-end users, "no substantial products" is also the impression left by Yu Rou. Since the production line was put into production, Yu Rou's fully flexible screen has not been commercialized on the mobile phones of mainstream mobile phone manufacturers. In other application scenarios, its declared cooperative customers, such as ZTE, Airbus, China Mobile, etc. Its products can hardly be seen in the market.

In the eyes of investors in the industry, Yu Rou's current situation may be due to misjudgment in strategic direction. Bill Liu, who is familiar with the investment industry in Yu Rou, analyzed the reporter of Nanduwan Financial Society. He came from a technical background and underestimated the burning speed of his own production line. Even if he spends tens of billions, the self-built production line can burn out quickly. "The team did not accurately judge the burning speed of the production line, and even the best technology was wasted. If you choose to cooperate with a company with a mature production line, the results may be different. "

Employees revealed the company's current situation: the undisclosed new technology is not yet mature, wages continue to be in arrears, but social security is not broken.

Different from the outside world, in the eyes of employees, Yu Rou is not short of excellent technology, but has chosen the wrong direction and its internal management is not mature enough.

After five years in power, Gao Jiawen witnessed the transformation of Yu Rou from "peak" to "darkness". She revealed that in the eyes of internal staff, Yu Rou has not released this technology at this stage, and it is a leader in the industry. However, because the technology is not mature enough, it needs to reduce costs, so it needs to continue research and development. "The undisclosed project is still in the laboratory stage and mass production has not been considered."

In addition, the products that have been published now are also qualified in terms of screen yield. "At the beginning of this year, the company invited three authoritative testing companies to conduct testing, and the yield of the three tests got good data."

However, Gao Jiawen admits that although it has always been in a leading position in technology, Yu Rou has just entered the mobile phone industry, and other big manufacturers have been settling for many years. It is not difficult for them to catch up with Yu Rou's technology, which leads to the fact that Yu Rou's main products do not occupy much advantage in the market.

In addition, the mobile phone is a fast-moving consumer product, and the update iteration is very fast, so the funds invested by Yu Rou can't keep up with the product technology update. "Now the state of the company is that there are one or two To B business projects related to screen or sensing, but they are not enough to support the company."

Source map

In the eyes of employees, the management of the company is not mature enough, and the pace of development is too big and too fast, but the management has not progressed with the development of the company. "From a company with 30 people and 300 people to one or two thousand people now are two different things. Many key departments have not let go of professional managers. "

This point mentioned by Arvin can also be seen in Yu Rou's prospectus. According to the prospectus, the actual controller Bill Liu holds 38.6 1% of the shares of the company, all of which are Class A common shares issued by the company, accounting for 7 1.56% of the voting rights of the company.

Under the company's special voting rights mechanism, the actual controller of the company can decide the ordinary resolutions of the shareholders' meeting and play a similar decisive role in the special resolutions of the shareholders' meeting, but it limits the influence of other shareholders except the actual controller on the company's major decisions through the shareholders' meeting.

However, Gao Jiawen still has hope for Yu Rou. She revealed that although wages have been in arrears, social security continues to be paid, and the boss guarantees that the company's five insurances and one gold will not be broken. "As for myself, I still have some hopes for the company. At least I still have my place in the company, but I may find another company in the future. I'm in no hurry now. "

Yu Rou Science and Technology was in financial crisis, and independent directors issued a document "asking for help". Yu Rou Science and Technology, once in the limelight, has fallen into an unprecedented predicament.

In addition to some employees being forced to "take a holiday", Yu Rou also faces many difficulties-suppliers have not paid off their debts, and employees' wages have been owed on a large scale; The production line has almost stopped running, unable to support subsequent orders, and even the basic production materials are not enough.

Yu Rou Technology, a fully flexible screen manufacturer, was once the darling of capital. It claims that the innovative development of ultra-low temperature non-silicon process integration technology is the "domestic light" to break Samsung's monopoly. From the establishment of 20 12 to 2020, Yu Rou I * * * completed 13 rounds of financing, totaling 9.85 billion yuan. However, while enjoying the capital feast, Yu Rou's products were unpopular, and it was always difficult to make a profit until they were completely in trouble.

A number of Yu Rou employees told the interface news that the management mainly has three opinions on the blood update plan after Yu Rou: First, wait for the injection of government funds or external financing; Second, it was acquired by other screen factories; Third, self-help transformation, supply mobile phone screens to Huaqiang North maintenance market, or supply screens to mobile phone manufacturers. If these three roads fail, there is only one bankruptcy liquidation.

As of press time, Yu Rou did not respond to the above news.

However, in view of the current financial difficulties, Liu Shuwei, an independent director of Yu Rou Science and Technology, also appealed to the government for help through his official WeChat account on April 13: "It is suggested that governments at all levels actively help Yu Rou Science and Technology solve the shortage of funds and introduce strategic investors to open up the application market of flexible technology in China."

Can capital save Yu Rou? If there is no financing, what does Jou-woo rely on to renew blood?

Repeated impact on IPO failed and financing was blocked.

Foreign aid is Jou-woo's greatest hope at present. According to Interface News, the contact between Yu Rou and Shenzhen Municipal Government began last year, but it has not progressed.

A number of people from Yu Rou revealed to Interface News that since the second half of last year, relevant departments of Shenzhen have sent people to Yu Rou to evaluate relevant assets, including production line, production capacity, technical route, management structure, etc., and tested the yield of flexible screens, and the optimal adjustment work is nearing completion.

"We specially ran the production line, and the yield data measured at that time was very good, which was higher than the industry average, which proved that our technical route was feasible. Internally, I think this financing is promising. After all, the adjustment cost is not cheap. It is reported that the money will be in place in mid-March, but because of a series of events such as the Shenzhen epidemic, I have not waited for a reply. " Ren Xiaoyu (pseudonym), an employee who understands the evaluation process, said. According to Liu Shuwei's disclosure in the official account of WeChat, the yield of this appraisal is 8 1.6%.

At the same time, Yu Rou is also seeking external financing, but it is not smooth. According to a person familiar with the matter, before the Spring Festival this year, there had been a large-scale incident of unpaid wages in Yu Rou. At that time, Yu Rou had negotiated with external shareholders about financing with a total amount of about 300 million yuan. But for some reason, Yu Rou didn't get the investment successfully.

In addition, Yu Rou has never given up the idea of IPO. Zhang Lili, an employee of Yu Rou, revealed that at the executive meeting at the beginning of this year, it was suggested that the government would go public in the United States in the third quarter of this year after the funds were available. Another employee also said that the company has been talking about re-listing, and told employees that they can exchange their unpaid wages for options, but in fact, not many employees will exchange them because everyone is not optimistic about the results of the company's listing.

In fact, there are signs that Yu Rou's capital chain is tightening. Since 2020, Yu Rou has sought IPO at least three times, but all of them have hit a wall for various reasons. According to Bill Liu, the founder of Yu Rou, at an internal meeting, the first US listing failure was affected by the epidemic, and the second failure to hit the science and technology innovation board was attributed to the "ant incident". Last year, Yu Rou also tried to list on NASDAQ, but the plan failed.

At the end of March this year, Yu Rou also made an organizational restructuring. An employee analyzed that this adjustment may be in preparation for financing.

A screenshot of an internal email obtained by Interface News shows that in this adjustment, Yu Rou established the Executive Management Committee of the Group (EMC), which is responsible for the overall operation and management of the Group and reports to the CEO of the Group. In 2022, EMC had three members: Bill Liu, Peng Wei and Ye Jianhai. According to public information, Bill Liu is the founder, chairman and CEO of Yu Rou Science and Technology Company; Wei Peng is the Chief Exploration Officer (CXO) of Yu Rou Science and Technology; Ye Jianhai is the deputy general manager of Yu Rou Science and Technology.

From the business point of view, the new organizational structure is not much different from before. We still take two routes: To B (enterprise-oriented) and To C (consumer-oriented), but the previous business division was clearly divided into six subsidiaries, each of which was relatively independent and self-financing, and three members of EMC were responsible for different subsidiaries. The email didn't specify who would be the CEO, which some employees thought was Bill Liu's "decentralization".

However, Zhang Lili pointed out that despite the signs of decentralization in this reorganization, Yu Rou Display Technology Co., Ltd., the core subsidiary of Yu Rou (responsible for the technology development, production and sales of flexible screen displays), is still in the charge of Bill Liu.

"The business perspective has not changed much, and the decentralization is not thorough, so internally, this adjustment is more like a game with capital." Zhang Wei analyzed.

According to the interface news report, news has been released from the financial level of Yu Rou, and several hundred million yuan of government tax refund has not yet arrived in Yu Rou, and the specific arrival time may be in June-July this year. Ren Xiaoyu guessed that while waiting for financing, the money might become a source of funds for Yu Rou's salary and subsequent entrepreneurship.

Difficult self-help

Before she really got outside help, Jou-woo began to try to make blood by herself.

Yu Rou recently announced two big orders. One is from Shenzhen Zhongzhi Weian Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongzhi Weian"), which will purchase flexible display screens, flexible sensors and integrated software and hardware solutions in bulk from Yu Rou Science and Technology for the company's entire line of commercial robot products, with a total purchase of about 3 billion yuan for three consecutive years from 2022.

The order worth 3 billion yuan is undoubtedly good news for Yu Rou. However, some people who know about the transaction revealed to the interface news that this order still stays at the level of framework agreement and has not been substantially promoted internally. At present, I don't know whether Zhongzhi Wei 'an, which is only the B round of financing, has the ability to pay the purchase amount of 3 billion yuan.

Another big order occurred in 202 1 year1month, which was an order contract of 600 million yuan. According to the agreement, from 2022, Yu Rou Science and Technology will provide flexible screen OLED display modules to customers one after another, and complete the delivery of all orders within two years.

Yu Rou didn't announce the specific customer name, but the above-mentioned person revealed to the interface news that the partner of this order is Huaqiang North Enterprise, and Yu Rou will supply mobile phone screens to Huaqiang North Maintenance Market. The person said that this order is in the process of substantial advancement, but the funds are not fully in place because the delivery has not yet been completed.

Ren Xiaoyu explained to the interface news that Huaqiang North has a big market. Take the maintenance business as an example. Many screen changing businesses need screen supply, which is a direction that Yu Rou will consider in the future.

In addition, "there are also mobile phone companies willing to pay for Yu Rou's screen." Previously, VERTU, an overseas luxury mobile phone company, had cooperated with Yu Rou, but the cooperation has not been updated.

A number of Yu Rou employees interviewed said that Yu Rou has flexible screen technology, production line and certain mass production capacity, which is the most valuable asset of Yu Rou at present and the foundation for its subsequent transformation into a screen factory.

Yu Rou has always adopted the parallel business model of To C and To B, but the C-side business is not optimistic. According to many employees in Yu Rou, the sales of terminal products such as mobile phones in Yu Rou are not ideal, but the investment is quite high. Therefore, there has always been the idea of cutting off the C-end and fully transforming to B, but it has never been implemented.

The current problem is that even if Yu Rou gets some B-end orders, it will be difficult to move forward. On the one hand, the production line in Yu Rou almost stopped running and the materials were tight; On the other hand, unpaid wages have caused a serious brain drain, and many employees have started arbitration procedures and started looking for new job opportunities.

According to the interface news report, the company's executives have taken the initiative to interview some core employees, encouraged them to stay in their posts, and paid some employees a stay-in allowance. These retention allowances are not cash, but options. An employee who got the retention allowance told the interface news that everyone got a different amount, but according to the share price of 4 yuan/Share at that time, the value of the options he got was about several hundred thousand yuan.

However, unless Yu Rou can successfully go public, these choices will be tantamount to waste paper for employees.