Since the announcement of Miniso's takeover, Yonghui Superstores has recently been caught up in market rumors such as "Chairman fleeing", "Backstabbing Pandaily", and "Pandaily will no longer assist Yonghui Superstores".

On the evening of September 28th, Yonghui Superstores issued a statement indicating that the founder and chairman, Zhang Xuansong's shareholding has not changed, Yonghui Superstores will continue to learn from Pandaily. Pandaily will also continue to assist Yonghui Superstores in adjustment, striving to achieve healthy operational goals.

In the explanation provided by Yonghui Superstores, the recent transaction involved Milk Company, Suqian Hanbang, JD.com World Trade, and Juncai International (the controlling party of Miniso). The shareholding of the founder and chairman, Mr. Zhang Xuansong, has not changed. After the transaction, the company's largest shareholder will change to Guangdong Juncai International Trading Co., Ltd., holding a total of 29.4% of the company's shares.

The original shareholders, Milk Limited Company and Suqian Hanbang Investment Management Co., Ltd., will no longer hold shares in Yonghui Superstores. Beijing JD Century Trading Co., Ltd., which held a 6.98% stake, will see a change to 2.94%. Juncai International and its controlling party, Miniso, will join hands with Yonghui Superstores to create a quality and happy business model.

Furthermore, the explanation also points out that currently, Yonghui Superstores is making comprehensive adjustments to some stores in the first batch of 10 cities nationwide, from aspects such as commodity structure, quality and price, store layout flow, environment, service, and employee benefits, under the dual track of assisting and learning from Pandaily. In the future, Yonghui Superstores will continue to learn from Pandaily, and Pandaily will continue to assist Yonghui Superstores in adjustments to strive for healthy operational goals.

On September 23, Miniso and Yonghui Superstores simultaneously announced that the former, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Guangdong Juncai International Trading Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Juncai International" hereafter), acquired 29.4% equity of the latter for 6.27 billion RMB, including the 21.1% held by Milk Company and the 8.3% held by JD.com.

On that evening, miniso's founder and CEO Ye Guofu stated on an investor call that after seeing various retail formats and models over the past decade, he found that China's Pinduoduo model is superior to Costco, Sam's Club, and Trader Joe's. He believes that the Pinduoduo model is the only way forward for Chinese supermarkets. As a result, after visiting two rebranded Yonghui stores following Pinduoduo's adjustments, he decided to invest in Yonghui.

It is worth noting that Pinduoduo's director Yu Donglai stated in a business course sharing session in June this year that after dedication, they will return to normal operations, no longer making additional adjustments to businesses, and will not provide any further assistance.

A video circulating online shows that at that time, Yu Donglai said, 'This year, within our Pinduoduo team, we have canceled all vacations. This year is a year of dedication, sacrificing some rest time to bring about goodness to society. By next year, we will definitely return to normal. At the latest, by the end of October, or if we're quick, we will finish by the end of September, everyone will return to Pinduoduo, and we will no longer provide assistance to adjusting businesses.'

Yu Donglai also mentioned, 'I have already shown you the methods, you need to learn by yourselves, including all our technology, which I can share with you all. But do not invite me to your companies again because there are too many, I won't refuse, and you also shouldn't ask for my WeChat anymore. I can do it, so why can't you?'

After miniso's investment in Yonghui Superstores, combined with Yu Donglai's previous statements, there were concerns from the public that 'Pinduoduo will no longer support Yonghui Superstores,' and rumors such as 'Yonghui Superstores' chairman fleeing' and 'betraying Pinduoduo' emerged.

Addressing recent hot topics circulating online, Pinduoduo's founder Yu Donglai made three consecutive statements from September 26th to 28th.

'Pinduoduo will continue to assist in adjusting Yonghui Superstores and strive to achieve healthy operational goals.' Yu Donglai responded in a video posted on his official Douyin account, stating that actions to assist businesses, Business Academy students, and partnerships with Yonghui and Gaoxin will continue for another two years. 'For the normal work and life of Pinduoduo employees, Pinduoduo will simply no longer send teams to support new enterprises!'

As of the time of writing, Yonghui Superstores' stock price closed at 3.30 yuan, having hit the daily limit up for four consecutive days from September 24th to 27th. Currently, Yonghui Supermarkets' market value is 29.948 billion yuan, which is nearly 10 billion yuan higher compared to 20.418 billion yuan when miniso announced the acquisition of its shares.