The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 197 Stars Shine Throughout the City
Xiaoya came out.

The coffee shop outside had already shut down its shutters.

What do you mean?
Are you not doing business in broad daylight?
The sign hanging at the entrance was also turned upside down, indicating that the business was closed.

Qin Xue tidied herself up casually for a moment, then called out to Xiao Ya:

"We'll be closed today. Come with me to the shop next door!"

Will you never open the door again?
She just learned how to make coffee, and now she's going to lose her job again.

Xiaoya was still in a daze when Chen Pingsheng was waiting for them outside. The middle-aged man in the Benz was still there. Was he waiting for her to treat him to dinner?
After Qin Xue and Xiao Ya came out, Chen Pingsheng led them to the Tencent headquarters building.

As soon as I entered, the four receptionists greeted me in unison, "Mr. Chen!"

One of them pressed the elevator button first, and Chen Pingsheng led them to wait on the first floor for a while.

They went straight up to the eighteenth floor.

He wanted to make coffee, so naturally he found more than just these two partners.

Jiang Wei also switched from Bobo Milk Tea, as he already has considerable experience in this area.

I feel a little more at ease using him, as the second-in-command of the original directly operated store has replaced him at Bobo Milk Tea.

Besides him, Tong Zhelan also introduced an internet elite.

Selling coffee is quite different from selling milk tea; in the early stages, you absolutely need to use internet-based strategies.

In other words, they quickly acquired initial users through a money-burning war.

This necessitates developing their own coffee shop mini-program.

Even their own coffee app.

To develop an app, you need an internet team.

Besides these two, there is also a small team that develops and mixes coffee.

All five of them are quite experienced baristas.

Chen Pingsheng introduced his small team to Qin Xue, and he would serve as the coffee president in the early stages.

The project started with an investment of 500 million, and it will be worth at least 10 billion in the future. It's not an exaggeration for him to attach great importance to it.

If this project succeeds, it will definitely elevate him to a higher level.

Qin Xue was also attending this kind of meeting for the first time, and she was quite impressed.

As for Xiaoya, how could she not know that this strange uncle was the top tycoon who recently spent a billion to buy a building next door?

Just outrageous.

Such a wealthy person would actually come to their shop for coffee every day.

Now that we have a startup team, the first step is to choose a brand name.

Chen Pingsheng encouraged everyone to express their opinions.

Coffee brand names should ideally sound elegant and classy.

Everyone racked their brains, coming up with all sorts of high-end ideas.

There are still plenty of people who want to choose an English name.

Chen Pingsheng felt that none of these would work. Besides being high-end, the most important thing for a brand is that it be easy to remember and spread.

If you choose a complicated name, most people won't be able to remember it at all.

He thought about it and realized that it's quite popular to name things after animals these days.

Like Sogou, Tuniu, Fliggy, etc.

He uses this too, so let's just call it Deer Antler Coffee.

I always feel that this word can easily be associated with coffee, and it's also very easy to remember.

It's quite elegant too.

Once the brand name is decided, the next step is to apply for a series of related permits and licenses.

The legal department downstairs takes care of it; they don't need to worry about it at all.

Similarly, the mini-program and app for Deer Antler Coffee will also be developed simultaneously.

At the same time, we also need to start recruiting and training people here.

This matter was still handled by Jiang Wei, who was very familiar with it.

It's just that the previous training program focused on selling milk tea has been replaced with a training program focused on selling coffee.

Besides these, the most crucial thing is to develop several blockbuster coffee products.

These tasks were handled by Qin Xue and several experienced baristas.

Lin Jia's previous research report showed that the price of a cup of coffee is generally around thirty-something yuan.

Deer Antler Coffee is a startup that wants to grow fast, or even acquire customers quickly.

Then we must become disruptors in the industry.

We'll do this in an unconventional way.

In the early stages, don't be afraid of losses.

He has the capability to do this now; the key is to get it listed quickly.

Chen Pingsheng directly priced Deer Antler Coffee at 9.9 yuan.

He was particularly impressed by one of Qin Xue's words: that drinking coffee can be addictive.

As long as we can cultivate this addictive habit in customers, and the taste is decent.

You will surely achieve satisfactory results.

There is still some time before all the work is progressing, and it will take about two months before the business officially opens.

Chen Pingsheng was involved throughout the entire process.

However, after the big kid went to school on September 1st...

Tencent Pictures has some good news: the copyright to the TV series "Three Lives Three Worlds" that they previously invested in has been sold.

He recovered 200 million, which is not bad. The even better news is that Charlotte has been scheduled for release.

It was at the end of September.

Once this movie is released, Tencent Pictures will make a fortune.

This is also why he doesn't need to create his own brand, Deer Antler Coffee, to raise funds.

As for Qin Xue's old small coffee shop, after he bought it, it became the first pilot store for Deer Antler Coffee.

It's not open to the public; it's just for serving the employees of Tencent Film Studio.

Qin Xue and the others spend their days researching the 9.9 yuan blockbuster coffee.

Seriously, coffee has never been sold at such a low price before.

She seriously doubted whether there was any money to be made.

But those things were none of her concern.

If a tycoon with a net worth of tens or hundreds of billions says he wants to do this, then there must be a reason.

What she had to do was develop a blockbuster coffee product priced at 9.9 yuan.

As another major investment project of Teng Hui Capital, Deer Antler Coffee is very generous in terms of employee salaries.

Qin Xue received an annual salary of 800,000 yuan, and even her niece Xiaoya received an annual salary of 180,000 yuan.

This is far more than what he used to earn at this small coffee shop, and the other coffee artisans are earning about the same amount.

Chen Pingsheng felt that this kind of business was much easier to run than a traditional restaurant, and if done well, it could be listed on the stock exchange within a year.

Boiling Sheep has been around for several years and has even raised over a billion yuan in funding.

This isn't even on the market yet.

As it turns out, choice is far more important than effort.

Choosing a blue ocean industry with less competition is better than fighting in a red ocean industry where the competition is fierce.

They are incredibly strong.

If he had known Tong Zhelan earlier, he probably would never have gone into the traditional catering industry like Boiling Sheep.

Selling milk tea and coffee is such a quick way to make money.

After receiving the 200 million yuan payment from "Eternal Love", he immediately transferred another 150 million yuan to Deer Antler Coffee.

The remaining 500 million yuan investment will be made up.

He doesn't work like he used to; he definitely won't use any slow-and-steady strategies anymore.

The key is to strike quickly.

After successfully registering a series of brand names for Deer Antler Coffee, all he could think about was how to become famous overnight.

Chen Pingsheng went to discuss it with Qin Xue, but Qin Xue wasn't very good at it.

The key is that the price of overnight fame is quite high.

He thought about it for a whole day and came up with many ideas, but none of them could make him famous overnight.

When he finally went to bed, his wife, Song Yanxi, suddenly stuck out her pert buttocks and said:

"Want to become famous overnight? It's easy. Just gather the Four Heavenly Kings together, hold a free concert, invite ten or twenty thousand college students to watch, and then broadcast it live online. If you're willing to spend the money, how can you not become famous?"

Uh... Chen Pingsheng was stunned. How come he didn't think of such a good idea?
He slapped his wife's butt hard, and the sound was quite loud.

Song Yanxi glared at him angrily: "What's wrong with you?"

"Isn't this a reward for being so happy all of a sudden?"

Song Yanxi covered her bottom; the slap had been quite forceful.

"What kind of reward is that? I was just joking, did you really take it seriously?"

Song Yanxi said, "Let's not even talk about how much it would cost to gather the Four Heavenly Kings. Just inviting 20,000 college students to watch would be a considerable expense. No store opens like this."

"If others don't do it, that's their business. I'm not short of money now, so what's there to be afraid of?"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Making money should be done quickly. What's the point of dragging your feet? Next month is National Day, which will be perfect for me to do this."

"You really want to do this?"

Song Yanxi sat up: "At this rate, how long can you spend 500 million?"

"Just spend it all and then replenish it."

Chen Pingsheng said, "An internet ride-hailing app often subsidizes tens or hundreds of billions of yuan. I'm just playing around with a few hundred million yuan. What's there to be afraid of?"

Song Yanxi ignored him and turned off the lights to go to sleep.

When this man gets excited, he doesn't even check the time, and he even spanks her bottom.

That's really going too far.

Chen Pingsheng glanced at the time and saw that it was already three in the morning, so he didn't bother her.

My wife has to go to work as usual tomorrow.

The next day, he sent someone to contact entertainment companies in Hong Kong, as it was no easy task to gather all four Heavenly Kings at once.

The main problem is that the relationship between these four people is not good.

He had only managed to gather three before, with the God of Songs absent.

This time, I'm determined to collect everything; it's just a matter of paying more.

In addition, we need to contact stadiums that host mega-concerts.

When Chen Pingsheng shared this idea with Qin Xue and the others, Qin Xue was quite shocked.

Indeed, the way big shots start their businesses cannot be judged by ordinary standards.

The store hasn't even opened yet, and they're already spending tens of millions to host a concert featuring the Four Heavenly Kings.

To offer free viewing to people—that's truly an unbelievable idea!
What else could she say but silently support her?

More bad news came from Hong Kong: they wanted to invite the Four Heavenly Kings to perform together.

impossible.

Unless... more money.

After a day of negotiations, the price was finally settled at 52 million.

Each person's appearance fee is thirteen million.

It also includes round-trip airfare, presidential suite, and a series of other expenses.

Having already spent tens of millions, what's there to be afraid of?
These are all small sums of money, not worth mentioning.

Chen Pingsheng asked Jiang Yilei to come up with online promotional slogans.

After a series of discussions, two decent lines of dialogue were finally settled on.

In the deep forest, no deer are seen; elegance is not innate.

Deer Antler Coffee, shining brightly throughout the city.

The Four Heavenly Kings will perform together on October 1st.

What shocked me most was the last sentence: completely free.

In other words, an unprecedented concert could be attended for free.

The location has not been announced yet.

The specific registration method has not been released, but the news caused a stir online as soon as it came out.

The Four Heavenly Kings on the same stage – this is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Quite shocking.

In addition, he serves as the Chief Online Recommendation Officer for Deer Antler Coffee.

Yang Mi also became a bonus, as she was responsible for the final speech on stage.

The main goal is to promote Deer Antler Coffee.

After confirming the concert date, Chen Pingsheng proactively contacted Youku, Tencent, and iQiyi.

It uses the Four Heavenly Kings as a gimmick.

I'm not worried at all about them not cooperating, since I don't have to spend money to buy live streaming rights anyway.

The competition among the three major internet platforms is also quite fierce.

He sought cooperation with three companies simultaneously in order to expand his influence across the board.

By the time he finished all that, a week had passed.

There's a lot of discussion online, especially in Beijing, with universities asking how to get tickets.

In order to expand his influence, Chen Pingsheng decided that anyone who was a member of the university student union could receive it for free.

It's important to know that in universities, student unions are a very influential group.

He's being selective about who he hires.

In addition, senior white-collar workers from major companies can also go for free.

While it's said to accommodate 10,000 to 20,000 people, the largest concert venue in Beijing can actually hold 60,000.

Either don't do it at all, or do it to the maximum.

At least several hundred people will be needed to maintain order at the scene.

To instantly gain widespread fame, Chen Pingsheng decided to invest 100 million yuan in organizing the Deer Antlers concert. He also planned to spend another 200 million yuan to find a storefront design and decoration company in Shanghai.

His wife even asked him how long it would take to spend 500 million, and it turned out to be just over a month.

Time flies.

It's already mid-September in the blink of an eye.

While the entire Tencent Film Group was still helping to prepare for the Deer Antlers concert, Bobo Milk Tea officially went public in Hong Kong.

The shares were priced at 7 yuan each, and nearly 200 million shares were issued in the first offering.

Immediately after the issuance was completed and the stock price rose slightly, news of rights protection issues broke out in Shanghai.

Many franchisees gathered at the entrance of Bobo Milk Tea to protest on a large scale.

Chen Pingsheng immediately rushed to Shanghai.

……

Bobo Milk Tea, Headquarters.

A small, not-too-tall villa was rented out six months ago to serve as the new headquarters of Bobo Milk Tea in Shanghai.

When Chen Pingsheng arrived, a number of franchisees had already gathered there.

They were holding up signs outside, shouting for a refund.

There was no activity before the IPO, but as soon as it went public, all these people jumped out.

He didn't believe that no one was organizing it.

However, in the past six months or so, Bobo Milk Tea has indeed developed too rapidly.

This inevitably leads to some people targeting them.

Of course, it's only when a company has problems that it becomes a target for others.

After Chen Pingsheng came up, Yang Qian, Chu Qiuyan and the others were all there.

He had already read the news on his way here.

The main issue is the chaotic management of Bobo Milk Tea; there are two Bobo Milk Tea shops within a 500-meter stretch of the same street.

There have even been instances where directly operated stores are competing with franchisees for business.

The news report was very detailed; he couldn't have found such a thorough investigation without spending a month visiting the site.

The news directly caused the stock price in Hong Kong to fall below the issue price.

This is not a good sign.

If something goes wrong with Bobo Milk Tea, it will be much more difficult for Deer Antler Coffee to go public in the future.

"You have evidence, pictures, and all you need to say is that you have a case to follow. Regardless of who orchestrated this whole thing, I want to know how you plan to deal with it?"

Chen Pingsheng stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his hands behind his back, watching the group of franchisees below who were waving flags and protesting.

Yang Qian is the president here, and now, at such a crucial moment as the first day of the IPO, this kind of thing has happened.

They are certainly to blame.

The crucial point is that they were completely unaware of this beforehand.

Yang Qian said, "There are more than 70 franchisees who came to protect their rights this time. The main problem is that they not only want a refund of the franchise fee, but also a refund of all the money they have invested."

"Oh... then why did they withdraw?"

"It's because business was bad and we were losing money."

What are the reasons for the poor business performance?

"Several franchise stores have been opened in close proximity."

After Yang Qian explained, Chen Pingsheng angrily said:

"How close is 'close'? Didn't I say before that no second Bobo Milk Tea shop is allowed within two kilometers? What's going on now? How do you manage three shops within 500 meters?"

"More importantly, have you considered that opening a Bobo Milk Tea franchise costs 100,000 yuan, and with the addition of decoration and hiring staff, the investment will be at least 300,000 yuan."

“For you, 300,000 yuan may not be much, and for me it’s less than the cost of a meal, but look down there, many of the people downstairs are stay-at-home moms taking care of their children.”

"After the child turned one year old, they wanted to find something to do. They finally got their husbands and mothers-in-law to agree to spend several hundred thousand yuan to open a milk tea shop, but because of your negligence in management, they lost everything."

"Do you think they only lost a few hundred thousand? They may have lost a happy family."

"Put yourself in their shoes. If this happened to you, forget about getting your money back, wouldn't you even have thoughts of murder?"

What Chen Pingsheng could not accept the most was that after becoming successful, he forgot that he was once an ordinary person.

Put yourself in his shoes, what if he and his wife, Michelle Song, hadn't really made it big yet?

In a family like theirs, his wife, Song Yanxi, emptied their savings and seized the opportunity to open a milk tea shop.

In the end, he lost everything because of other people's problems.

What would he do then?
Asking him to divorce his wife? No way. He'll just burn the entire headquarters down.

Hundreds of thousands.

This is nothing to truly wealthy people, but for ordinary people, it sows the seeds of a broken family.

What he found even more unacceptable was that Yang Qian and the others were completely helpless in dealing with this kind of situation.

"Go and bring them up, and treat them to the best tea and water."

Chen Pingsheng brought them up, and they started arguing incessantly, each one louder than the last.

If you make a mistake, you must take responsibility for it.

As companies grow larger, they cannot afford to disregard the interests of others.

"You have to give us an explanation, or I will take this all the way to the capital and keep pursuing it."

A new mother arrived, travel-worn, and stayed in a small single room shared by several other people.

Her hair was also disheveled and hanging down in a mess.

Chu Qiuyan stood up and explained, "Please don't rush, everyone. This is our boss. He will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

Chen Pingsheng gestured for them to sit down first, and said, "Don't worry, this is our problem, and we will take full responsibility."

"If you find more than one Bobo Milk Tea shop within two kilometers, we will offer a full refund and make up for the time you lost."

"Full refund? How do you plan to process the refund?"

"Retreat immediately."

Chen Pingsheng instructed the finance department: "As long as it is confirmed that it is our problem, refund 400,000 yuan per store, and make up for the time you have lost as a result, based on an average monthly income of 8,000 yuan per person."

"Are you sure?" The mother looked at him suspiciously.

It seems they didn't expect things to go so smoothly.

Moreover, they were satisfied with just getting their money back; they never expected to receive their wages in full.

“When our boss speaks, his word is law.”

Chu Qiuyan told him that the main reason Yang Qian couldn't handle it in time was that the company didn't have that much money in its accounts.

Moreover, with so many refunds involved, she simply couldn't make the decision on her own.

Chen Pingsheng believes that the more crucial factor is the influence of her previous work in a government unit.

With that kind of status, as long as the people's demands don't escalate to the point where the whole world knows about them, they can still have their grievances.

They usually give an answer within a certain number of working days.

Faced with so many people suddenly coming to her door, her instinct was to stall for time.

Let's discuss it and agree on it before proceeding.

It's easy for him to be broke; he can easily transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to his account anytime.

We don't need that many at all; 30 million would be more than enough.

However, this makes Yang Qian unsuitable to serve as the CEO of Bobo Milk Tea.

We must give an explanation to the public and Hong Kong stock market investors.

The stock price fell below the issue price as soon as it opened; that's terrible.

Chen Pingsheng immediately cashed out all his Vanke shares and then announced that he would also serve as the president of the company.

Yang Qian's departure was not unjustified; there were indeed major problems with the management itself.

Now he's become the scapegoat.

However, she can go help out at Deer Antlers Cafe first.

She has enough experience now, but she's not quite suited to handling adversity.

Especially when you don't know who is targeting you.

……

Chen Pingsheng was decisive and efficient in handling matters.

He's quick to give bonuses to his employees, and even faster at taking on his corporate responsibilities.

After directly extracting 5000 million from Tencent Film, they immediately began an investigation.

Once it is determined that the poor management and losses were due to one's own responsibility.

Refund immediately.

However, after he withdrew his money, many more franchisees started asking for refunds.

The main problem was the poor location of the storefront, which led to the losses.

When choosing a storefront, Bobo Milk Tea's headquarters has detailed standard data.

Anything that does not meet the standard data is absolutely not allowed to be opened.

It is clear that in the process of rapid development, the company's standards have been lowered to the bare minimum.

Problems are everywhere.

Perhaps that's why Chu Qiuyan hesitated to speak last time.

Chen Pingsheng resolutely took responsibility, preferring to pay out of his own pocket rather than let those who trusted his company suffer losses.

While he was refunding money very quickly, the stock price of Bobo Milk Tea in Hong Kong also plummeted.

In less than a week, the stock price dropped by nearly half.

When it went public, Bobo Milk Tea was valued at 3 billion yuan.

Less than a week after its IPO, it has only about 16 billion left.

The main issue is that the more money he refunds, the larger the financial losses and loopholes will appear on the books.

With such huge losses occurring so soon after its IPO, who would be willing to buy in?

Chen Pingsheng took out 100 million yuan to handle the complaints from franchisees of Bobo Milk Tea.

His own shareholding here has increased from 9% to 13%.

Under these circumstances, the founder was still willing to increase his stake by 4% based on a market value of 25 billion.

This also gave other shareholders a lot of confidence.

In addition, Chen Pingsheng decisively used the 3.8 million yuan he cashed out from Vanke to carry out a share buyback program on the Hong Kong stock market.

At the same time, it was announced in the name of Teng Hui Capital that the original founder of Bobo Milk Tea would use 3.8 million yuan to repurchase shares.

Keep in mind that at this point, the issue price of Bobo Milk Tea had already dropped to 3.5 per share.

The entire market value is now less than 15 billion.

He personally used nearly 400 million yuan to guarantee the buyback, which is equivalent to sweeping up half of the Bobo Milk Tea shares on the market.

No matter how much others throw, he can sweep it all up.

Despite investors having little faith in Bobo Milk Tea, Teng Hui was willing to invest 400 million yuan.

It gives the market a strong sense of confidence no matter what.

That's the power he wields because he has enough cash; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to come up with so much money all at once.

It will probably be sued by shareholders and delisted immediately.

Fortunately, after a period of turmoil, the stock price finally stabilized at 5 yuan.

He made a fortune as a result.

At least they've made back the 100 million they lost before.

You should know that he bought it back for 3.5 yuan, and now it has risen to 5 yuan.

I've made about a third of it anyway.

That's how the stock market is; it's full of excitement and thrills.

Fortunately, the situation has gradually stabilized, and he is still repurchasing shares in Hong Kong.

The goal is to restore Bobo Milk Tea's stock price back to its IPO price of seven yuan.

Once things have finally stabilized on his end, he will begin to adjust the business plan for Bobo Milk Tea.

Just then, Tong Zhelan came looking for him.

She had already cashed out of Bobo Milk Tea, and only 12% of the shares remained. If the stock price continued to fall as before, the remaining shares would be worthless.

There's no way we can wait until we break even.

Fortunately, Chen Pingsheng stepped in again and quickly stabilized the stock price.

The decline has finally stopped.

That's why she enjoys working with him; he's very responsible.

The key is that he has a lot of money; if something really happens, he can hold up half the sky by himself.

They were worlds apart from rich kids like Wang Yanfeng.

At least for Bobo Milk Tea's stock price, he could stabilize it in no time if he were willing to step in.

It's just a matter of getting a little more money.

As it turns out, he really is rich.

She immediately produced nearly 500 million yuan in cash; it would have been quite difficult for her to raise such a large sum of money all at once.

Of course, her shares are now less, as they have been diluted.

The main reason is that Chen Pingsheng took out 100 million yuan to genuinely address the complaints from Bobo Milk Tea franchisees.

This 100 million won't be given away for nothing; they'll have to dilute their shares in him, or they'll have to pay him.

With the stock price plummeting like that, who would be willing to spend money?
Tong Zhelan was quite knowledgeable; she knew that no franchise business was guaranteed to be profitable.

Naturally, there were many complaints as well.

It's just not as concentrated.

This is clearly a targeted attack.

If someone causes her to lose income, she naturally can't do nothing.

The investigation yielded results immediately.

Please vote for me with your monthly tickets or give me a tip; even a small amount is appreciated.

Various requests.

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(End of this chapter)