Guizhou Maotai Group is once again experiencing personnel turmoil as Zhang Deqin steps down as chairman after just a year and a half, to be replaced by Chen Hua, the director of Guizhou Provincial Energy Bureau. This marks the fifth change in leadership at Maotai Group in seven years, with the previous three chairmen all falling due to corruption issues, sparking high market attention on the “curse of leadership turnover” at Maotai.
According to Xinhua Finance, Maotai Group held a senior management meeting on the morning of October 25 to announce that Zhang Deqin would no longer serve as chairman, with Chen Hua taking over the position.
Following the relevant procedures, Chen Hua will serve as the Party Secretary of Maotai Group and Guizhou Maotai, the listed company. After the shareholder meeting review process, he will officially assume the position of chairman of the listed company.
Since 2018, the chairman position at Maotai Group has seen frequent changes, a level of personnel turnover that is rare among large enterprises in China.
In March 2020, Gao Weidong replaced Li Baofang as chairman; in August 2021, Ding Xiongjun took over; in April 2024, Zhang Deqin assumed the position; and now Chen Hua is taking the reins. In just seven years, Maotai Group has changed chairmen five times, with an average tenure of less than two years.
What’s even more noteworthy is that several former chairmen have fallen due to corruption issues, casting a lingering shadow over Maotai Group.
Former chairman Gao Weidong was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery in 2024; Ding Xiongjun was placed under investigation for serious violations of discipline and law in January of this year; and Yuan Renguo was handed a life sentence in 2021 for family-style corruption.
The new chairman, Chen Hua, has a resume that starkly contrasts with his predecessors.
Chen Hua has long worked in the Guizhou energy system, holding multiple management positions at Panjiang Coal and Electric Group. He served as Vice Mayor of Liupanshui City in 2014, General Manager and Deputy Chairman of Guizhou Panjiang State Capital Operation Co., Ltd in 2017, and has been the Party Secretary and Director of Guizhou Provincial Energy Bureau since March 2022.
In comparison, former chairman Zhang Deqin is a typical “Maotai veteran.” After graduating in Fermentation Engineering from Guizhou University of Technology in 1995, he joined Maotai and has been engaged in the liquor industry for a long time, being extremely familiar with the industry and the company.
Chen Hua, on the other hand, lacks experience in the liquor industry and is effectively being “parachuted” into Maotai from the energy sector. This cross-industry transfer is seen by outsiders as a signal of strengthening supervision against the backdrop of deep adjustments in the liquor industry.
When Zhang Deqin took over as chairman of Maotai Group in April 2024, the liquor industry was undergoing a period of deep adjustment.
During his tenure, Maotai implemented a series of reform measures, including the abolition of the controversial “unboxing order” policy, in an attempt to stabilize market expectations. However, the industry still faces significant downward pressure.
Over the past two years, Guizhou Maotai’s revenue growth has slowed significantly, with revenue growth in the first half of this year falling to single digits for the first time since 2015. Maotai, once seen as a “perpetual motion machine,” is also unable to escape the impact of industry cycles.
Currently, the liquor industry’s deep adjustments are ongoing, with market prices continuing to be under pressure. According to third-party platform data, the wholesale price of Feitian Maotai in recent days has fallen below 1,800 yuan for multiple consecutive days, putting significant downward pressure on the prices of core products.