"I still run to and from get off work every day, covering 500 kilometers every month. I am the fastest runner among Chinese entrepreneurs!" This is what Jin Yuqing, the founder of 1M Wade, once said in front of the media. At the beginning of this year, this sentence became "Although I am the fastest runner among entrepreneurs, I will never run." But on August 22, Jin Yuqing’s social media account was cleared. After that, many people began to be unable to contact him. Those who could contact him did not think that he had run away, but also said that he may no longer be in the country.
Shanghai, at No. 1 Henan Middle Road, Huangpu District, stands a stylish all-glass exterior office building.
Not far from here is the Bund.
Having a building in such a prime location shows the strength of the owner.
However, since August, the building has remained the same, but media outlets have successively revealed that there are only about 20 staff members in the building, the lights are turned off in most areas except the lobby, and the elevators are out of service due to arrears in property fees.
This is the headquarters of Yizhaweide, the gym that ranked first in the country in terms of revenue in 2019, and also its last stronghold.
Three months ago, boss Jin Yuqing’s lingering comments on social media were still deafening.
He stood in the middle of his 600-square-meter mansion, patting his chest at the camera and holding a bun in his hand (the video has been deleted by Jin Yuqing):
"We are encountering some financial problems now, but don't be afraid. I used to be a soldier and I won't run away. I have already started selling my house. This is my last breakfast here."
Prior to this, Yizhaweide had also maintained a high-profile effort to create an image of active self-rescue.
First, it denied the red-stamped online document that it would refund customers due to "broken capital chain due to poor management"; it also claimed that it had raised 115 million and would be committed to store operations after the epidemic.
Even after being criticized by fitness coaches and members, it reluctantly admitted the financial problem, but it still maintained the majesty it had before the collapse of the snow mountain, and issued an announcement stating that "it will reorganize One Trillion Weide with the vigorous promotion of the Shanghai Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce."
In a short period of time, this operation brought a new atmosphere to Yizhaweide. The Zhejiang Business Group, which is rumored to be taking over the business, even announced a plan for the two parties to reorganize the new company: the Zhejiang Business Group will hold about 80% of the shares, and YMTC will hold 20%.
Employees who had originally accelerated their resignations have slowed down their pace of resignation. The newly launched monthly cards, quarterly cards, one-year cards and two-year cards have been welcomed to replace long-term cards.
However, the blood regeneration is only limited to a small area. Most of the 1 trillion Wade gyms in most areas are still full of chicken feathers.
In Guangzhou, many Yizhawei stores have been closed since 2023. "Affected by Fuyang", "store decoration", "store malfunction and other reasons" have been posted on the large glass doors outside the store in turn.
In Beijing, customers of Yitong Weide stores that have closed stores in various districts have spontaneously organized rights protection groups. In just one group, the amount of recharged but unused amounts is as high as millions.
The third branch of Wangjing Yizhao Wade has been listed on the list of operating abnormalities by the Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau due to default in water, electricity and rent payments;
Stores in other areas, such as the Xidan store in Beijing and the Phoenix store, have changed owners several times, and the store names have changed 2-3 times within a month. After the series of matryoshkas, there is no trace of Yizhaweide anymore.
Users who had applied for a card in the past could only hold on to the recharged fitness card, unable to withdraw money or use the card. They were separated at the door of the new store and sighed silently.
A large number of fitness instructors have not been paid for several months. A coach in Shanghai revealed that the last salary payment was in March, and the amount was 2,590 yuan, which was just above Shanghai’s minimum wage standard.
At the end of August, some insiders discovered that Jin Yuqing could no longer be contacted, and all her social media accounts had been cleared.
▲Jin Yuqing’s former Douyin account interface
The company headquarters became a scene of chaos. Members who could no longer continue to exercise made trouble from time to time and broke many office supplies. Some employees were frightened so that they did not dare to come to work and automatically worked from home.
Some employees who have resigned expressed their attitude with "pay reminder stickers" posted on the door.
A reporter from the Shanghai Securities News contacted the relevant person in charge of 1Trillion Wade during this period to confirm whether Jin Yuqing had "run away". The answer he received was also: Jin Yuqing has not lost contact and has been actively communicating with the local government, Zhejiang Business Group and other transaction parties.
The person in charge revealed that Jin Yuqing had mortgaged and sold a villa, obtained more than 30 million yuan in funds, and deposited it into the company's joint management account to pay the wages, pensions, and provident fund owed to employees.
But the person in charge also said that Jin Yuqing may no longer be in the country.
According to the "2019 China Fitness Industry Data Report", as of December 2019, there were 132 stores in the country with an estimated overall annual turnover of 1.9-2 billion yuan, ranking first in the country within two years.
Until now, 1M Weide has 1.3 million users. It is the golden brand of the industry and the last dignity of the fitness chain industry. Why has it reached this stage now?
In 1987, the National Sports Commission held a unique bodybuilding competition in Beijing. The scope of the event was originally limited to the weightlifting coaches of professional teams, but unexpectedly the enthusiasm of the crowd was so high that on the day of the competition, the spectators packed the Workers' Stadium.
This scene not only exceeded the expectations of the organizers, but also shocked Ben Wade, the then president of the International Bodybuilding Federation, who came all the way from the United States to be a judge.
The passion of the Chinese people is the market.
Wade stayed and opened the "Wade Fitness Academy". Wade has been associated with fitness since then, deeply rooted in the minds of the Chinese people, and for a long time, he has exuded a high-end western style.
It was Wade who changed Jin Yuqing's fate.
Jin Yuqing went to Shanghai to serve in the army at the age of 18. After he retired, he worked as a security guard in a bank and in a bowling alley. Since he was a child, he has been doing things such as selling ice cream because of his father's death. He has a natural yearning for business and has been looking for opportunities.
After a period of time, he discovered a trend - nutritional supplements for fitness. He borrowed a diamond ring from a friend to pawn it, and used the 85,000 yuan in capital to start the business, and soon earned a profit of over 100,000 yuan.
In the process of trading nutritional products, Jin Yuqing heard Mr. Wade’s name and Mr. Wade’s business in a lecture, and then keenly realized that she could start a new business:
Domestic gyms are more like small squares of exercise equipment piled up in a room, which are quite different from American gyms. If the American gym model can be copied domestically, there will definitely be a market.
▲Photos of domestic gyms in the 1980s
Jin Yuqing did not know Wade, but he did what he thought of: first he came to cooperate with Wade Company and imported a large number of high-quality fitness equipment. Then he contacted Wade himself through Wade Fitness Academy and signed a cooperation agreement.
After holding Wade's hand, Jin Yuqing turned around and started a new business as "Wade's student":
One trillion Wade was established on October 12, 2001. The Wade in the name is the fitness master Wade, and one trillion is 10 to the 12th power. It also means: "In order to satisfy members with 10 points, we have to put in 12 points of effort."
After the company was established, the first thing Jin Yuqing did was not to open a store, but to sponsor the National Games for People with Disabilities to make a name for herself. At the same time, she continued to show off her muscles and create a personal IP for "special forces" fitness entrepreneurship.
After he became more and more famous, he opened the first Yizweide store in Shanghai Hudong Cultural Palace.
The first step is the hardest.
Because the equipment and rent were very high, Wade, who had insufficient financial resources, soon fell into a state of shortage of cash flow.
In order to solve the problem, Jin Yuqing thought of a way to extend the original monthly, quarterly and annual membership cards to three-year, five-year, ten-year and lifetime membership cards. It allows members to pay tens of thousands and up to 300,000 in one payment, and has since pioneered the long-term prepaid model of fitness cards in China.
Under this model, users spend today's money to buy tomorrow's services, and companies can advance tomorrow's revenue for today's turnover. The capital pressure of YTD was quickly relieved, and it soon embarked on a path of fierce expansion.
And, hit it high.
Others place their gyms near living areas, communities, etc., but Jin Yuqing focuses on CBDs and office buildings.
Transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, shining bright lights, neat rows of treadmills, white-collar workers wearing close-fitting sportswear and exquisite makeup... more and more people have become members of 10Wade, and they have continuously supported its continued blooming.
Jin Yuqing, who is growing rapidly, also gave a new definition to his business model:
"Sports itself is the product."
After Beijing's successful bid for the Olympics, the country's enthusiasm for sports has increased, residents' living standards have improved, and their demand for health has also continued to increase. In the eyes of most people, fitness is always closely linked to success. These also form the emotional background of the times for the expansion of 100 million Weide.
Moreover, from a practical business perspective, Jin Yuqing is also sincerely doing this well. The user experience of Yizhaweide, from hardware to software, is striving to be first-class and achieve the ultimate.
One Mega Wade is the first gym in China to open an air purification system, because Jin Yuqing wants to provide fresh air in every corner of the gym.
The size of venues and the diversity of functions have also been greatly improved.
For example, in 2007, the Huangpu City Yizhao Weide Club covered an area of more than 30,000 square meters. In addition to fitness and swimming, it also included basketball, tennis and other sports.
With this project, Jin Yuqing is also upgrading her career ambitions - developing towards "one-stop leisure".
In 2008, as the operator of the future fitness center in the Expo Village, Yizhaweide designed an open-air swimming pool, fresh air system, microcirculation water system, air purification system, etc. for the venue. Details such as shower gel are also extremely high-end, using expensive herbal essences.
While OneTrillion Wade continues to attract new middle-class consumers, Mr. Jin’s side is gradually becoming “nobody’s business”.
Recording activities, accepting interviews, cooperating with Ali Sports, laying out the grand blueprint for "big health", opening Ali Sports Wade Fitness Academy, advocating the concept of "not fitness, but life", etc.
▲Jin Yuqing (first from right)
In 2020, Yizhaweide ushered in a bright moment, with cumulative members reaching 1 million, and stores across the country serving more than 50,000 people every day, making it a well-deserved fitness leader.
At this time, some subtle cracks showed that this prosperous industry hegemon was slowly deteriorating.
Many members said that the signs before their store closed began in early 2020: the swimming pool was closed for a long time.
The explanation given by Wade is that swimming pools will accelerate the spread of the virus.
But looking back now, the bigger reason may be that the operating costs are high, and the company cannot make ends meet, so it has begun to cut costs to extend its life.
Later, some members analyzed online that this was a "signal" to test whether the one trillion yuan in funds in an area was normal. Once a store's swimming pool is closed, the next step is for the entire store to close completely or change owners.
When physical stores are having a hard time, most of them will talk about the epidemic. In a short video, Jin Yuqing also complained about the difficulties of those three years:
Just operating the current store costs 2.2 billion, of which personnel costs account for 60%. Even though the card surface has recently been changed and annual passes have been sold, 50% of them have to be given to the pre-sales team and the remaining 50% are reserved for store decoration and equipment purchase. The business is still struggling.
But as far as One Trillion Wade is concerned, the epidemic is one of the reasons, but it is not the whole reason.
In 2020, a company that makes offline trendy fitness cabins launched online live fitness classes, and the number of paying users reached 400,000 that month. What’s more terrifying than the surge in users is that this fitness brand called Super Orangutan has subverted the capital turnover model of the fitness industry that has lasted for many years.
In Super Gorilla’s offline stores, the traditional model of selling long-term fitness cards has been canceled and replaced by the sale of single classes (group classes/private lessons). In group classes, which generate the main revenue, fitness studios no longer have sales staff who take the trouble to sell various cards. Users only need to scan a small program code to "practice a class and buy a class" on demand.
After Super Gorilla, Lucky and Keepland continued a similar model.
On the other side of the accelerating development of new models, the risks and drawbacks of the traditional prepaid card-based chain fitness industry have become increasingly prominent. First, almost every white-collar worker hears news about gyms running out of business, closing down, and membership cards being wasted. In addition, more and more people are discovering that applying for a membership card does not strengthen self-discipline. There is no time to implement it, and even applying for one is in vain.
On the one hand, the new model is destroying the old model, and on the other hand, the old model is self-destroying. The combination of these two forces has finally led to a major reshuffle of fitness chains that have long been raising new money to pay off old debts, and has also pushed large institutions such as One Trillion Weide to the precipice.
According to the China Fitness Industry Data Report 2022 by the China Bodybuilding and Fitness Association, the total number of commercial gym closures nationwide in 2022 will be approximately 9,751, with a closure rate of 10.39%, which is equivalent to one out of every 10 gyms.
If One Trillion Wade, a symbol of industry confidence, eventually collapses, the entire chain of gyms may have a greater chain reaction.
In the first half of 2023, according to statistics on complaints received by the National Consumers Association, there were a total of 26,035 complaints in the "cultural entertainment and sports service category", ranking fourth among several major categories. Commercial gyms are one of the areas with the most complaints.
When Jin Yuqing was interviewed in 2019, a reporter asked what was the most important thing in running a gym. He pondered for a moment and replied: "It's the U.S. dollar."
At this time, he seemed to have felt a certain crisis, but the stall had grown so big that it was too difficult to turn back, so he had no choice but to continue playing music, dancing, and retreating while sewing and mending.
In 2020, One Trillion Wade also received a total of hundreds of millions of yuan in bank loans. After recovering, Jin Yuqing still strives to maintain his status as an outstanding entrepreneur: he organized a "hundred-person charity ride to help veterans go home" and raised 27 million yuan in donations in the first half of the year.
Even after the scandal completely broke out, Jin Yuqing was still working hard to recover, and even introduced black technology in the restructuring announcement, striving to create a "Yuanverse national fitness brand".
Nowadays, people all over the Internet who have applied for a 1 trillion Wade fitness card are waiting for news from Jin Yuqing, who "claims that he will never leave the game and may become the next Luo Yonghao."
But that figure of hard work has not appeared publicly so far.