Founder Group was established in 1986 by Peking University. Professor Wang Xuan of Peking University became Founder's first key person, as the Chinese-character laser phototypesetting system that he invented provided the foundation on which Founder was developed. Wang brought Founder into the television and radio industries, positioned the company to expand overseas, and supported the diversification of the group. By 1989, total orders for the phototypesetting system exceeded 100 million yuan. Between 1990 and 1994, under the guidance of Wang Xuan, Founder released multiple technologies, including a long-distance newspaper transfer technology, a color desktop publishing system, a computer management system for gathering and editing news, and the new generation of software and hardware systems. Founder's publishing system became the most popular product of its kind, capturing 80% of the Chinese newspaper market in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and North America. Starting in 1991, Founder started developing Chinese PostScript fonts in Windows. Throughout the late 1990s, publishing systems developed by Founder's researchers dominated the domestic market. Additionally, they entered the international market, with products being exported to dozens of countries all over the world. In the meantime, Founder Group sold its core technologies with independent intellectual rights to global manufacturers, who then applied these technologies in their products around the world. In February 2006, professor Wang Xuan died. In early 2009, the Group established a new three-year development strategy and put forward its development goal to transform itself into a diversified investment holding group. In 2016 Founder Group sold most of the shares of Founder BEA Trust to Wuhan Financial Holdings Group.
Industry groups
Founder Group is currently divided into five major industry groups: PKU Founder IT Group, PKU Healthcare Group, PKU Resource Group, Founder Financial, and Founder Commodities.
PKU Founder IT Group
PKU Founder IT Group is a leader in China's IT industry, possessing more than a dozen technological enterprises, two of which employ 15,000 employees. Its subsidiary, Founder Technology, is the second largest personal computer distributor in China. The industry group covers a wide range of products; from software and industrial solutions to the mobile internet, PCB, semiconductors, hardware, and value-added services.
PKU Healthcare Group
In 2003, Founder Group, in collaboration with Peking University, established the PKU Healthcare Group, and immediately began work on the Peking University International Hospital project. In the same year, the Group acquired Southwest Synthetic Pharmaceutical. With the help of PKU Health Science Center, PKU Healthcare has developed its own hospital network and is now a leading figure in China's healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry. As at 31 December 2015 PKU Healthcare Group owned 40.38% shares of PKU Healthcare.
PKU Resource Group
PKU Resource Group is a real estate holding group specializing in real estate development, education investment, commercial real estate operations, and property management. Since 2013, part of the assets were backdoor listed as Peking University Resources. Incorporated in 1992, PKU Resource Group itself is currently 40% owned by Peking University and 30% by Founder Group. However, Peking University entrusted Founder Group to manage the company. An additional 30% was owned by a third party. PKU Resource Group formed a 51-49 joint venture PKU Resource Group Holdings with Founder Group.
Founder Financial
Founder Financial is an industry group that covers securities, futures, mutual funds, investment banking, direct investment, trusts, corporate financing, insurance, commercial banking, and leasing. The group controls ten enterprises.
Founder Commodities
Founder Commodities is an international bulk commodities supply chain provider that combines investment, manufacturing, logistics, and information services. Currently, its business scope mainly covers areas of bulk commodity futures & spot trading, warehousing & logistic services, and investment & production. The group also does international business and scale expansion.
Founder International
Founder International Software Co., Ltd. under Peking University Founder Information Industry Group Co., Ltd., pursues a development model integrating production, teaching, research with application, adheres to the path of independent innovation, and sets the goal of becoming a leading service provider of software and information technology.
Financial performance
Founder Group earned 24.5 billion RMB in 2005. The total sales revenue of Founder Group reached 6.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. In 2012, Founder Group's total income, total assets and net assets were RMB 61.8 billion, 78.2 billion, and 32.4 billion respectively.
