Shen Nanpeng, not a director of Meituan

On June 14, Meituan announced that Shen Nanpeng resigned as a non-executive director due to other work arrangements, ending his 9-year directorship in Meituan.

Shen Nanpeng's sudden resignation still left the outside world talking. After all, Meituan is a great investment for Shen Nanpeng.

In Meituan's first round of financing (early June 2011), Shen Nanpeng spent 12 million US dollars. At that time, he held 22.5% of the shares, which was a 99.48% discount to the selling price. Shen Nanpeng's investment made nearly 200 times of the floating profit when Meituan was listed.

At the end of June 2011, Sequoia Capital invested in Meituan again, and this investment was about 70 times more profitable than Meituan's listing. In February 2015, Gaoling, Sequoia and others invested $700 million, and this investment was about twice as profitable. In addition, Sequoia Capital has also made several investments in public comments.

At the beginning of Meituan's listing, Shen Nanpeng's Sequoia China held 573 million shares of Meituan, accounting for 12.05% of Class B shares. It is rumoured that Shen Nanpeng has always believed that investing in Meituan is the most important investment in his investment career.

However, Shen Nanpeng and Sequoia China, where he is located, began his cash out journey from April 2021 (also the time when policy risks increased and continued to decline after Meituan cut its waist). From April 2021 to April 2022, in one year, Shen Nanpeng's shareholding decreased from 7.72% to 3.98%, and the cash out exceeded HK $34 billion;

For a long time, Shen Nanpeng has reduced his holding of 468 million shares compared with Meituan when it was listed, with the shareholding ratio shrinking from 10.4% to 1.86%. It is worth noting that from Shen Nanpeng's reduction on April 19, 2021 to the end of the reduction on August 31, 2023, Meituan's share price fell from HK $289.2 to HK $128, a sharp drop of 55% in the range.

According to incomplete statistics, since April 2021, Shen Nanpeng has reduced his holdings of Meituan by at least HK $60 billion. However, people familiar with the matter said that this was Sequoia China's underweight, not Shen Nanpeng's individual underweight. Sequoia China has invested in Meituan for many times since 2010, which is the normal exit of its funds.

There is no doubt that Shen Nanpeng is one of the greatest investors recognized in the Chinese market. Ma Huateng even called Shen Nanpeng "the most successful investor in China".

Even looking at the Chinese investment market, Shen Nanpeng is the first VC and Zhang Lei is the first PE. As the top investors, they have dominated the VC and PE lists of Zero2IPO for three consecutive years.

Shen Nanpeng was born in Haining, Zhejiang Province in 1967. He won the first prize in the National Mathematics Competition and became Ma Huateng's "Olympiad champion"; Let's put it this way: the total score of the high school entrance exam was 600, and he scored 594. He also reflected on the lost six points.

In July 1989, Shen Nanpeng stepped out of Jiaotong University and went to Columbia University Business School to continue his studies. He had thought of mathematicians, but after doubting and pursuing the meaning of life, Shen Nanpeng, who was decisive, withdrew from the Department of Mathematics of Columbia University and actively prepared for the Yale University Business School, was finally admitted successfully. In 1992, Shen Nanpeng, a "half monk", graduated from Yale University with an MBA degree and became a "Yale Scholar".

After graduation, Shen Nanpeng entered the Investment Market Department of Citi, mainly responsible for helping clients plan investment plans. As China's capital market started, he was keenly aware of opportunities. In 1994, 27 year old Shen Nanpeng resolutely quit his job at Citibank and returned to Hong Kong despite the dissuasion of his relatives and friends. From abandoning business to abandoning the United States and returning home, the two key choices also laid the foundation for him to become a top investor.

In 1994, Shen Nanpeng joined Lehman Brothers Asia and returned home to take charge of China Investment Bank projects; From 1996 to 1999, Shen Nanpeng joined Deutsche Bank as a director and head of China's capital market, responsible for China's debt capital market. In 1998, Shen Nanpeng became the youngest managing director of Deutsche Bank.

In 1999, he returned to Jiaotong University, met Liang Jianzhang, and founded his first entrepreneurial project Ctrip. Four years later, Ctrip was listed on NASDAQ; In 2003, Shen Nanpeng and his partners founded Home Inn, and in October 2006, they came to NASDAQ again and went public. In the past three years, the two founding enterprises have been listed, and Shen Nanpeng has also completed the transformation from a professional manager to an entrepreneur.

In 2004, Sequoia Capital decided to set up its first branch here after investigating the Chinese market. Shen Nanpeng, who has investment background and entrepreneurial experience, became the preferred partner. In 2005, Shen Nanpeng set up his own investment organization with great ambition. Shen Nanpeng, 38, can be said to have completed the fourth transformation.

As the founder of Sequoia China, Shen Nanpeng is known as the "king of venture capital", ranking first in "Forbes Global Best Investor" for three consecutive years. He has invested more than 300 enterprises with an investment amount of more than 50 billion. Meituan, Didi, Gaode, Pinduoduo, Alibaba, Jingdong, 360, and Today's Headlines are too numerous to see.