How difficult is it to start a business now? Several projects that the former richest man Huang Guangyu had bet on after his release from prison all failed. Success is always related to the times. Similarly, Huang Guangyu used to be able to succeed without money or resources, but now he is able to fail with both money and resources. When it comes to Huang Guangyu, many people remember the former Gome Electric Appliances, who once topped the list of China's richest man and was a legendary figure in the home appliance chain industry. In 2020, he returned to Gome after being released from prison and made a bold statement: to restore Gome's original market position in 18 months. At the same time, they launched multiple new tracks with great fanfare, but almost all of them collapsed. Not only did they fail to save Gome, but they also accelerated the consumption of funds. Take stock of his layout after his release from prison and the major businesses that ultimately failed: 1. Truly Happy APP (Entertainment oriented E-commerce) Huang Guangyu's top ace after his return is to directly rename the Gome app as "True Happiness" and position it as an entertainment social e-commerce platform, focusing on live streaming, group buying, and flash sales. The idea is to rely on offline stores to build a Taobao+Tiktok style shopping platform, not only selling household appliances, but also expanding the whole range of fresh food, clothing and drinks. We invested heavily, recruited Baidu executives to operate, and spent hundreds of millions on marketing expenses. The ending traffic is severely falsified, with millions of daily active users being promoted to the public, but there are very few actual real users. Facing the mature ecosystems of Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo, there is no differentiation advantage. Burning money continued to result in losses, and subsequently the app quietly switched back to Gome. The project was declared a failure, and a large number of personnel were laid off. 2. Dress up Home (Home Decoration BIM Platform) Huang Guangyu made his first public appearance after his release from prison to support this project. Gome acquires 80% equity of Meijia, betting on the home decoration industry. The goal is extremely ambitious: to achieve a revenue of 500 billion in 3 years, to impact the trillion dollar market in 5 years, to create a home decoration metaverse, and to integrate design, construction, building materials, and home appliances. Logic seems smooth: decorate before buying home appliances, while Gome enters the home decoration downstream from home appliances, forming a closed loop. The ending coincided with a downturn in the real estate market, leading to a decline in demand in the home decoration industry; Home decoration belongs to the service-oriented industry, with many pain points and difficult delivery, which is completely different from Gome's standardized home appliances sales strategy. The project has undergone large-scale layoffs, with thousands of teams reduced to just a few people, business has basically come to a standstill, and the trillion dollar target has been completely missed. 3. Gome Winery/Gome Cellar At the same time, it entered the liquor race track, launched Gome Wine and Gome Cellar, laid out the famous liquor supply chain, and planned to sell Baijiu relying on stores and True Happiness APP. I want to replicate the home appliance channel model and rely on offline stores for alcohol distribution. In the end, the channel barrier of Baijiu is extremely high, and the brand and dealer system have already been solidified. Gome lacks the genes for alcohol and beverage operations, lacks brand resources, has not opened up the market, and its business is slowly declining. 4. Sales of new energy vehicles During the peak period of new energy vehicles, Gome established a new energy vehicle sales company, planning to rely on stores to sell new energy vehicles and enter the automotive retail industry. The threshold for automobile sales funds is high, and all vehicle brands have their own mature sales networks. The transformation of Gome stores to sell cars lacks competitiveness, and the company ultimately only has a few personnel left, resulting in a business that exists in name only. 5. Acquisition projects such as fold up, big player, etc During the same period, we acquired assets such as discounted retail and big player entertainment, expanded across multiple lines, and simultaneously focused on retail and entertainment. The outcome of the multi line operation dispersed funds, did not form synergy, continued to consume cash flow, and did not run out of a profitable model. The final outcome The original goal of revitalizing Gome within 18 months was later publicly acknowledged by Huang Guangyu as a failure. The large-scale expansion continues to burn money, coupled with the impact of the epidemic, Gome's cash flow is rapidly drying up, and it has begun to owe wages and supplier payments. A large number of stores have closed, and the debt is overwhelming. Once the king of household appliances that swept across the country, after being released from prison, he has been involved in multiple hot topics in business. Each track seems logical, but none of them have been able to run smoothly.