[The Epoch Times, November 24, 2022](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Bing) The new energy car company WM Motor was once one of the top four new car manufacturers in China, and is currently going through a cold winter with constant negative news. After the news of “annual loss of 8.2 billion yuan and founder’s annual salary of 1.2 billion yuan” appeared on the hot topic list, Weimar has recently reported that both executives and employees will cut their salaries.
On November 22, an internal communication letter titled “Helping Together and Overcoming Difficulties Together” was circulated on the Internet. salary and late payment of salary, etc.
The internal letter shows that starting from October this year, WM Motor’s M4 and above managers have taken the initiative to cut their salaries, only paying 50% of the basic salary, and other employees are paid 70% of the basic salary. At the same time, the company’s payday is adjusted from the 8th of the next month to the 25th of the next month. In addition, the internal letter also mentioned that additional bonuses (13th salary), retention bonuses (14th salary) and year-end bonuses will no longer be issued this year, and car purchase subsidies will be suspended.
Regarding the authenticity of the internal letter, a WM Motor employee told Beijing Business Daily: “The internal letter has indeed been received.”
According to the prospectus of Weimar Motors, the total remuneration paid by Weimar Motors to directors and supervisors in 2021 will be 1.746 billion yuan, of which Shen Hui will be about 2.01 million yuan in remuneration and bonuses, and the three executive directors Du Ligang, Hou Haijing and Bi Shiyu respectively. About 1.67 million yuan, 2.35 million yuan and 2.07 million yuan. This means that if the calculation is based on 50% of the salary, the annual salary of other executives except Du Ligang will still exceed one million yuan.
Regarding the reasons for this salary cut, the internal letter shows that 2022 is full of challenges and difficulties. Weimar is not only affected by the epidemic in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and other places, but also faces huge challenges in the supply chain. Timely and other serious problems affect the production of WM Motor.
Ling Ran, an auto analyst, told Die Zeit recently, “WM’s salary cut shows from the side that the new energy vehicle industry has entered a stage of reshuffle. In fact, not only WM, but many new energy vehicle companies are in a state of volatility.”
It is not the first time that WM Motor has reported a salary cut. As early as March 4, 2020, according to a report by 36 Krypton’s new automotive media platform “Future Auto Daily”, WM Motor held a meeting for all CTOs (all Intelligent Network Departments) for about 10 minutes. A 20-minute online conference call to discuss the distribution of year-end bonuses. HR notified all employees through an online meeting to cancel the year-end bonus on the grounds that “the company’s annual KPI did not meet the standard last year”.
In the face of declining revenue and huge losses, the salary of Shen Hui, chairman and CEO of WM Motor, has received much attention.
According to a recent report by Jiemian News, data shows that Shen Hui’s salary in 2021 alone will be as high as 1.26 billion yuan, while Weimar’s income in the same year is only 4.7 billion yuan. Shen Hui’s salary alone accounts for nearly 30% of Weimar’s income that year. In the same year, WM Motor paid 1.75 billion yuan in salary to the main management, and Shen Hui alone accounted for 72% of the salary of the main management.
According to the shareholding table of Weima Motor Company, the founders Shen Hui and Wang Lei hold a total of 30.82% of the shares.
Since 2020, Weimar executives have left one after another. In 2020, Liu Liqun, former general manager of WM Motor’s travel division, resigned; former chief retail officer Qi Liren resigned; co-founder Lu Bin also announced his resignation. In 2021, Tang Jun, another chief retail officer of the company who has been in office for less than half a year, will also announce his resignation.
According to the sales ranking of new energy manufacturers in October 2022 recently released by the China Travel Association, Weimar sold only 1,117 vehicles, and it did not enter the top 15 list.
The data shows that the net losses of WM Motor from 2019 to 2021 were 4.145 billion yuan, 5.084 billion yuan, and 8.206 billion yuan, respectively. The three-year loss totaled 17.435 billion yuan, and the loss is still expanding.
Responsible editor: Hu Yulong#