The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Guazi Used Cars started operating from the day his sister got married.

He secured 200 million yuan in funding, and subsequently invested another 1.5 billion yuan into the project.

It has also successively introduced major investors such as Tong Zhelan and Shen Nanpeng.

To date, Guazi Used Cars has completed nearly 4 billion yuan in financing.

This is a huge sum of money for the entire used car industry.

Buying a car is a losing proposition; the cost of getting a new car is often that it's worth 30% of its original price the moment you get it.

Used cars no longer have a purchase tax, and their value has already been depreciated based on the new car price.

You could say that as long as you don't buy an accident-damaged or flood-damaged car, you can get a good deal.

Choosing a used car is a rational and cost-effective decision.

The only obstacle to the development of this industry is the issue of customer trust.

Many used car dealers buy back flood-damaged cars at the lowest price and then sell them to customers at the normal price.

Over time, many people have lost trust in the used car market.

Chen Pingsheng's requirement for Guazi Used Cars is to solve the problem of customer trust.

Provide quality assurance, warranty, and guarantee.

Once this problem is solved, the sheer size of the domestic used car market will easily support an internet company with a market value of tens of billions.

After receiving his investment, Guazi Used Cars quickly surpassed its competitors.

The fundamental logic of internet companies is still very simple: they start by burning money to acquire users.

Then, they leveraged their large user base to secure substantial funding from the capital market.

Use capital to quickly eliminate your opponents, thereby setting new rules for the game.

Both Didi and Meituan have emerged by following this pattern.

The only difference is how much money is spent.

With his support, Guazi Used Cars has hardly encountered any worthy competitors.

The offline used car dealers are no match for him.

Four billion is enough to dominate a niche market.

Guazi Used Cars, which has been in operation for almost three years, is still a little short of being truly profitable.

However, internet companies never determine their market value based on profitability, but rather on their user base and industry position.

Jiang Jia, the earliest co-founder of Guazi Used Cars, was also the goddess of her brother-in-law Hu Lin's classmate.

From the moment he secured funding, his fate took a dramatic turn.

It is no exaggeration to say that Chen Pingsheng now holds an industry position in the capital market that is no less than that of Jack Ma and Pony Ma.

He simply stopped investing in traditional small industries due to his status; it doesn't mean he lost his voice in those industries.

Guazi Used Cars was the first internet project he invested in, followed by Meituan and Pinduoduo.

Jiang Jia set up the headquarters of Guazi Used Cars in Beijing, and also has a large branch in Shanghai.

She doesn't own many shares in Guazi, but if it goes public, its value should be worth several hundred million.

This is much better than working a regular job.

On the last day of February, she brought the Guazi team to Shanghai to meet Chen Pingsheng, the earliest angel investor in Guazi.

And submit detailed operating reports for the past few years.

Even though Jiang Jia is already the co-founder of an internet company and the biggest female boss in the used car industry.

But she was still very nervous and apprehensive when she came to see Chen Pingsheng, just as she had been when she first wanted to get to know Chen Pingsheng through Hu Lin.

At that time, he was a film and television tycoon who controlled half of the entertainment industry's traffic and top-tier celebrities.

Several of his subsequent investments were listed on the stock exchange in less than a year, solidifying his reputation as the top investor in traditional industries.

Online, he's been nicknamed "Uncle Riding a Bicycle" because of his investment in Chu Qiuyan, a popular college beauty from humble beginnings.

On the other hand, Guazi Used Cars is definitely the slowest-growing of his investment projects.

Not only have they not earned a single penny in the past three years, but they have also burned through billions of dollars.

Even so, they never interfered with their specific business operations.

Perhaps it's simply unnecessary. Given the current size of Tencent Group, why would it invest in the catering industry or traditional retail?

I'm afraid people will say I'm bullying a child.

As he himself put it, what is the traditional catering or retail industry?

The couple worked hard to save up several hundred thousand yuan to open a small shop, working day and night.

He went in and immediately received hundreds of millions.

Ordinary people simply can't participate. This is the real reason why the government issued official documents restricting Alibaba, JD.com, and food delivery platforms from entering the vegetable selling sector.

If such large capital goes out to compete with vegetable vendors for business, and this is not restricted, it will only allow large capital to endlessly squeeze the living space of ordinary people.

Guazi is doing well. From the moment it received funding, Chen Pingsheng's goal has been to resolve the crisis of trust among customers regarding used cars.

18 was not only the last chance for real estate developers to cash out, but also perhaps the last hurrah for capital.

He insisted on getting the melon seeds to market and cash out before the times changed.

Jiang Jia came to see him and gave a detailed report on the specific operations over the years.

Data shows that melon seeds account for more than half of the market share of online car sales.

It accounts for 15% of the national used car market, or one-seventh.

Even without a single penny of profit, such data would easily justify a valuation of over 10 billion.

And that was indeed the case; Chen Pingsheng sent her to the Hong Kong headquarters.

Contact Guo Ziyi and Tong Zhelan over there, and have them preside over the IPO and financing of Guazi Used Cars.

Tencent Group has a very well-established capital team in Hong Kong, and it can quickly complete its listing as long as the data meets the requirements.

This shouldn't be too surprising, after all, he's not the same person he was three years ago.

A large number of capital tycoons have taken root and grown into towering trees by binding themselves to Tencent's film and television industry. For them, launching a few billion-dollar IPO projects is really too easy.

Only those who haven't entered this circle yet will feel that this process is incredibly difficult.

Once the IPO is completed, Jiang Jia will be able to achieve financial freedom.

He also owns half of the shares in Guazi, and how much he can cash out depends on the IPO figures.

Chen Pingsheng ignored it.

This June, the World Cup, which has a global impact, will kick off in Russia.

This is the world's number one sport, and also the world's largest betting sport.

By then, who knows how many people in the country will go crazy for it.

It's a pity that Chinese football is a truly world-class problem.

Every year they shout that they want to qualify for the World Cup, but every year they just watch from the sidelines.

Zhang Wanyi brought a document to see him. "Uncle Chen, some leaders from the Football Association want to arrange a match between Leicester City and the Chinese national team in Shanghai."

He invested a staggering 10 billion pounds in England to gain the right to buy a club, and then spent 1.5 billion pounds to acquire two world-class football stars, Mbappe and De Bruyne, from Leicester City.

Last year in the Premier League, his newly acquired Mbappe was unstoppable, and he was equally dominant in the Champions League.

Ascendas New Energy, which also advertises alongside Leicester City, has gained considerable global recognition.

The same applies to Deer Antler Coffee, which was added later.

"Arrange for the national football team to play against them?"

Chen Pingsheng said strangely, "If the national football team can play against Premier League clubs, wouldn't it be like beating children if they were to actually play? Does the leadership want us to fake a match to boost the fans' confidence?"

"They didn't say it specifically, but they hope that you can take the time to talk to them in person, Uncle Chen."

"Forget it, let's just refuse!"

Chen Pingsheng said, "We shouldn't get involved in domestic football, nor should we have any dealings with them. I can't cultivate a domestic football king, but it's still very possible to buy a world-class football king from a club."

It wasn't a big secret that he bought Leicester City.

Many people also regard him as a football enthusiast, and the Chinese Football Association frequently sends him all sorts of invitations.

He didn't participate in any of them.

Xu's influence in Chinese football was initially very successful, but once the tide receded, it left a mess.

People in power say every day that there is a lack of young people playing football in the country.

Down below, a mother brought her child who loved playing football. She said that if the child wanted to play football, he had to pay hundreds of thousands of yuan to get into a slightly more formal local team.

And the fact that they have to keep paying money to make progress is driving some mothers crazy.

In the end, only the children of the rich and the families of leaders could afford to play football.

It would be a miracle if this could get better.

He has to admit that even with a golden touch, he still couldn't manage domestic football well.

This is even harder than talking to Qin Shi Huang.

Any big shot who goes in full of confidence will come out cursing.

Xu Pi is an exception, which is why he is so powerful.

(End of this chapter)