In 2002, Zhang Yongping bought NetEase for $2 million when the stock price was below $1. He held it long-term and exited around 2010, earning more than 100x returns.
The behind-the-scenes founder of OPPO and vivo, and the mentor of Huang Zheng of Pinduoduo. He spent $620,000 and had lunch with Buffett.
He has held a heavy position in Apple and Kweichow Moutai for over ten years.
Over more than a decade of answering investment questions on Snowball, he has intermittently shared his core principles. I’ve distilled the key ones he repeatedly emphasized:
Three stock-picking standards
Right business — Is the business model good? Can it consistently generate cash flow?
Right people — Is management reliable? Is the company culture healthy and proper?
Right price — Is the price reasonable? Compared with the discounted value of future cash flows, is there a margin of safety?
Only when all three are met do you make a move. If any one is missing, don’t.
Investment principles he repeatedly stressed
Buy stocks is to buy companies — “When I see this sentence, I understand everything. That’s all you need.”
Circle of competence — “Knowing where the boundary of your circle of competence is matters far more than how big it is.”
Don’t easily expand your circle of competence — “Understanding a business often takes many years. Don’t jump in just because you’ve grasped two concepts.”
Look long-term, not short-term — “It’s harder to look three or five years ahead than ten years ahead, and the shorter the horizon, the harder it is.”
How to know you’ve really understood — “You won’t want to ask someone, ‘Do I understand it?’ If you still have doubts, it means you don’t.”
The prerequisite for holding is that you understand — “Most people can’t hold, because they don’t understand.”
Don’t do what you don’t understand — “Doing the right thing means knowing not to do what’s wrong.”
His real-world cases
NetEase: Bought for under $1 in 2002, held long-term, and ultimately returned more than 100x
Apple: Started buying in 2011, earlier than Buffett, and has held a heavy position ever since
Kweichow Moutai: Bought with a heavy position in 2013, never sold a single share, and held it for over 10 years
Judgment standards: The heavy-position stocks he has invested in over a lifetime can be counted on one hand—NetEase, Apple, Kweichow Moutai, and Tencent.
One reminder: Zhang Yongping’s method looks simple, but “simple” and “easy” are two different things. Most people’s problem isn’t that they don’t know these principles—it’s that they can’t do them. Understand first, then practice.
Zhang Yongping’s current holdings: Apple $AAPL , Tencent $TENCENT , Pop Mart $POPMART
The behind-the-scenes founder of OPPO and vivo, and the mentor of Huang Zheng of Pinduoduo. He spent $620,000 and had lunch with Buffett.
He has held a heavy position in Apple and Kweichow Moutai for over ten years.
Over more than a decade of answering investment questions on Snowball, he has intermittently shared his core principles. I’ve distilled the key ones he repeatedly emphasized:
Three stock-picking standards
Right business — Is the business model good? Can it consistently generate cash flow?
Right people — Is management reliable? Is the company culture healthy and proper?
Right price — Is the price reasonable? Compared with the discounted value of future cash flows, is there a margin of safety?
Only when all three are met do you make a move. If any one is missing, don’t.
Investment principles he repeatedly stressed
Buy stocks is to buy companies — “When I see this sentence, I understand everything. That’s all you need.”
Circle of competence — “Knowing where the boundary of your circle of competence is matters far more than how big it is.”
Don’t easily expand your circle of competence — “Understanding a business often takes many years. Don’t jump in just because you’ve grasped two concepts.”
Look long-term, not short-term — “It’s harder to look three or five years ahead than ten years ahead, and the shorter the horizon, the harder it is.”
How to know you’ve really understood — “You won’t want to ask someone, ‘Do I understand it?’ If you still have doubts, it means you don’t.”
The prerequisite for holding is that you understand — “Most people can’t hold, because they don’t understand.”
Don’t do what you don’t understand — “Doing the right thing means knowing not to do what’s wrong.”
His real-world cases
NetEase: Bought for under $1 in 2002, held long-term, and ultimately returned more than 100x
Apple: Started buying in 2011, earlier than Buffett, and has held a heavy position ever since
Kweichow Moutai: Bought with a heavy position in 2013, never sold a single share, and held it for over 10 years
Judgment standards: The heavy-position stocks he has invested in over a lifetime can be counted on one hand—NetEase, Apple, Kweichow Moutai, and Tencent.
One reminder: Zhang Yongping’s method looks simple, but “simple” and “easy” are two different things. Most people’s problem isn’t that they don’t know these principles—it’s that they can’t do them. Understand first, then practice.
Zhang Yongping’s current holdings: Apple $AAPL , Tencent $TENCENT , Pop Mart $POPMART
