Gome is engaged in a life-and-death struggle with bankruptcy.

According to the public information on the National Enterprise Bankruptcy Restructuring Case Information Network, the subsidiaries of Gome that have already gone bankrupt or are under bankruptcy rulings include: Xiamen Gome, Shanghai Gome, Nantong Gome, Zhenjiang Gome, Yancheng Gome, Anhui Gome, Wenzhou Pengrun Gome, Ningbo Zhe Gome, Yangzhou Gome, and Wuhu Gome. Additionally, a search on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System shows that there are more than entries of "Gome Electric Appliances" in the list of business anomalies, and entries in the list of serious illegal and dishonest conduct.

As the core of Gome, Gome Retail Holding Co., Ltd. (.), has seen its performance in turmoil. According to public financial statements, Gome Retail's operating income only achieved a positive growth of % in the year when Huang Guangyu officially returned. Thereafter, it declined by % in , by % in , and by % in the first half of .

Gome Retail's net profit attributable to the parent company excluding non-recurring gains and losses — Year: - billion yuan, Year: - billion yuan, Year: - billion yuan, First half of Year: - billion yuan.

Gome Retail's asset-to-liability ratio: Year: .%, Year: .%, Year: .%, First half of Year: .% (Total liabilities: RMB billion).

The official statement in Gome's annual report is as follows – such circumstances reflect significant uncertainties regarding the Group's ability to continue as a going concern, and the Group may not be able to realize its assets and settle its liabilities in the ordinary course of business.

Gome Investment has two important listed companies: ZGC (.) and Meixun (., Gome Communication Equipment Co., Ltd.). Meixun has been in continuous loss in 2020, 2021, and the first half of 2022, with negative net assets and a total market value below RMB 1 billion. If the company continues to incur losses in the current year or fails to meet the standards in terms of market value management, it faces delisting. ZGC is a company that strategically positions itself in the big health concept sector, with relatively good profitability. The mid-year report for 2022 shows that ZGC's net profit attributable to the parent company in the first half of the year was RMB 100 million, an increase of 100% year-on-year.

The latest news indicates that Gome is preparing to transfer % of the equity of Chengdu Wenjiang Gome Internet Hospital Co., Ltd. to a company under Zhongguancun at no cost. Another piece of news is that the equity of Zhongguancun held by Gome has been frozen again. As the largest shareholder of Zhongguancun, Gome's two companies: Gome Holdings Group Co., Ltd. holds a % stake, of which % has been judicially frozen; Gome Electrical Appliances Co., Ltd. holds a % stake, of which % has been judicially frozen. From publicly available execution information, the total amount executed against Gome Electrical Appliances has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

At this point, it's up to Huang Guangyu. Just like in the movie "Mission: Impossible," when faced with an impossible situation, all eyes are on Tom Cruise to see how he pulls off a miraculous survival. For Huang Guangyu, the silver lining in his unfortunate situation might be the various funds attached to the Gome ecosystem, as no one wants Gome to really collapse—if it really comes to bankruptcy and liquidation, everyone's losses would be too great.

Referring to the recent bankruptcy liquidation of Xiamen Gome - according to the court's investigation, Xiamen Gome's total debt amounted to . million yuan, but the total assets, even if "selling everything," only amounted to . million yuan. Added to this, the actual realization of assets would also be discounted, so the final result of the bankruptcy liquidation would certainly be minimal.

Therefore, Huang Guangyu must first demonstrate sincerity, sell off assets that can be sold, and do everything possible to raise funds to "extinguish the fire." Then, he must negotiate with all parties, stabilize the banks, creditors, suppliers, and business partners, and inform everyone that all parties are currently in the same boat. With shares available for exchange and Huang Guangyu at the helm, Gome still has a fighting chance...

Does Huang Guangyu still have a chance? In the general perception, today's market has already been divided up by the brutal competition in the internet sector. Platforms like Taobao, JD.com, Meituan, Pinduoduo, and Douyin have penetrated every possible niche and employed every conceivable tactic, which is the real backdrop to Gome's current predicament. However, judging from Huang Guangyu's series of actions, he seems to believe that there is still room in this market for him to reshape Gome's ecosystem.

For instance, the three ecological visions we currently observe from Huang Guangyu: "Retail, +Metaverse Business Scenarios, Industrial Alliance."

1. Industry Alliance

Within Huang Guangyu's envisioned "three major ecosystems," the "Industrial Alliance" is considered the most important. This is according to relevant officials from Gome, who stated that China has a significant amount of factory capacity that remains underutilized, and a large number of products suffer from low profitability due to a lack of brand recognition and marketing channels. Supply chain management and marketing are precisely the areas where Gome has built its foundation and expertise over the years. Therefore, we should empower these numerous industrial factories in China.

If this is an "industrial alliance," we can vaguely see the shadows of Pinduoduo and Shein. However, if it were to be implemented, it would be a version of Pinduoduo and Shein by Huang Guangyu (or Gome).

2. Metaverse Business Scenarios

Another listed company of Gome, Gome Financial Technology (.), is an internet finance company. Compared to its peers, its scale has always been relatively small (total operating revenue of RMB 0.1 billion in the mid-year report). However, in June 2020, Gome Financial Technology suddenly made a move, completing the acquisition of equity shares at a cost of HK$1 billion (holding a proportion of 99.99%), and subsequently announced plans to rename Gome Financial Technology as "Tongtong Social Group".

The acquisition by Gome Financial Technology was of a gaming company. After the acquisition, Huang Guangyu combined internet finance, gaming, and social networking into one. What would that be? But this is "TongTong," another ecosystem Huang Guangyu has envisioned for Gome's future.

3. retail

Retail is the real battlefield of close combat. In a certain month, Huang Guangyu visited Le'erle, the largest hard discount supermarket in China, located in Changsha, Hunan. It is said that significant cooperation has been reached between the two parties. After the Mid-Autumn Festival in the same month, Huang Guangyu went to Guizhou to inspect Yunjucang, another leading hard discount wholesale supermarket in Hunan.

These two actions are considered as Gome's moves to expand into the instant retail market. Combined with Huang Guangyu's long-held plan to sell cars through Gome's automotive experience stores. From Gome's perspective, reshaping the Gome ecosystem, Huang Guangyu has the ambition to reintegrate valuable market elements on a grand scale. Coupled with his vision of "industrial alliances," from the perspective of the entire retail circle, Huang Guangyu has set his sights on the part most coveted by JD.com, Taobao, Meituan, and others—the most profitable segment. That area is already a bloodbath. However, Huang Guangyu is determined to restructure Gome's team and plunge into it.

We already know how JD.com, Taobao, and Meituan operate, but we are still not quite sure about Huang Guangyu today. Back then, against the tide, Huang Guangyu pioneered the Gome model. Today, the "Gome Dream" still persists. Huang Guangyu aims to carve out a path in the life-and-death struggle where bankruptcy looms overhead. Everyone is waiting to see this unfold.