The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 738 A Doomed Failure

"Uncle Chen, the project we're discussing today is because Su Zi's father has some minor collaborations with us, which is why we asked a vice president to attend the meeting in person."

Because the information An'an revealed a few days ago was so surprising, Chu Qiuyan was able to learn about the young female CEO Su Zi and the projects she had brought over in advance.

After a pause, Chu Qiuyan continued, "Unfortunately, her project is too far-fetched. Not to mention that this project overlaps too much with Tencent's core flagship WeChat, our cooperation with Tencent has been going on for fifteen years. Our relationship has always been a strategic alliance of external competition and internal mutual support."

Her meaning was very clear: everyone knows that the core of Tencent is WeChat.

This is a truly national-level app; almost everyone has one.

If forced to choose, most people would probably uninstall Douyin and keep WeChat.

Under such circumstances, they want to compete with Penguin in this area of ​​business.

Leaving aside the technical aspects, they can easily replicate it.

In terms of funding, without tens of billions, it's simply impossible to reach the threshold of competing with Tencent.

The Dream Foundation is certainly not short of money, but their relationship with Tencent has been a strategic alliance for the past fifteen years.

The same applies to big ones.

Under such circumstances, it is absolutely impossible for Chu Qiuyan to invest tens of billions in Su Zi.

It could be said that her failure was destined from the moment she stepped into this building.

"Don't worry about my connections. I'm just a driver there, nothing else."

Chu Qiuyan felt relieved upon hearing this, as if the big boss really did have some special connections over there.

She would invest that money no matter what, and would even do everything in her power to support the project.

Even if it means penetrating the core social networking field of Tencent.

Over the years, the giants have developed a tacit understanding.

Aside from Baidu, which has completely fallen behind, there's Tencent's social networking, Alibaba's e-commerce, and ByteDance's short videos.

These are areas that other giants simply cannot penetrate, nor would they attempt to disrupt.

In the early years, they fought fiercely against each other, but later they found that neither could do anything about the other's core business.

Blindly calling out will only be a waste of money.

Everyone simply gave up, except for one company: Baidu.

Since AI search emerged, very few people still use this search software that has been around for decades.

Chu Qiuyan understood very well whether it was the current Dream Realization Fund or the traditional areas managed by Princess An'an.

In fact, none of them can compare to Tengfei's three flagship businesses: AI, mobile phones, and automobiles.

It's even less comparable to Tencent Media, which is managed by Zhang Wanyi and has influencers, short dramas, live-streaming e-commerce, supermarkets, and is one of the top five shareholders of Douyin.

If we really have to compare, her Dream Realization Fund is well-known outside of China.

Within the group, it's not even considered a core business.

With such a position, how could it possibly compete with the giant penguin? It's impossible for it to compete.

Chen Pingsheng himself often went abroad to have tea and chat with these two Mr. Ma, and they had a pretty good relationship in private.

They have also collaborated on numerous projects overseas. If they were to fight each other, it would be quite a spectacle.

This will only lead to countless investors rushing to choose sides again, just like twenty years ago.

Only then can we talk about making money.

This won't necessarily harm the already established domestic businesses, but there's no doubt that all three of them will become more prominent and attract more attention as a result.

This is also the main reason why Su Zi could not succeed.

To put it bluntly, the affairs between these three families are none of the business of outsiders.

Anything can be settled privately with a few cups of tea and a few light laughs.

If they really can't reach an agreement, either someone has to back down or someone has to mediate.

It's unlikely that things will escalate to the point where one company has to spend hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars, and the fight becomes public knowledge.

This is the direct monopoly formed by powerful families and giants after a business model has taken shape.

The road ahead is blocked; let alone the difficulty for ordinary people to transcend social classes.

Even a rich second-generation like Su Zi cannot take the leap from an ordinary second-generation to a top-tier second-generation.

If she really succeeds in this project, she'll be worth at least tens of billions.

It's a pity, she probably won't have that chance at all.

If Chen An'an were to step in, it would be a completely different story, because she is a member of this circle, and a top one at that.

Chu Qiuyan's choice was not wrong.

No matter how well Su Zi prepared, or how eloquent her speech was.

What is destined to fail will not succeed. Even at the very end, Chu Qiuyan did not appear.

After drinking tea for an hour, Chen Pingsheng didn't even glance at the financial statements laid out in front of him.

This made Chu Qiuyan feel that the big boss was really going to completely withdraw.

An indescribable feeling surged through her chest without hesitation.

That was ignorance and awe of the road ahead.

In the past, no matter what, as long as the big boss was in the group, everyone knew that no matter how big the difficulties were, the big boss would step in to solve them.

He is everyone's god.

And now, at its peak, the heavens have retreated without any warning or surprise.

And they retreated so thoroughly.

Even his wife is still fighting in her own field.

Chu Qiuyan was certain that only a major boss could retire so completely at the peak of his career.

As for what he said, human wisdom is limited.

He has dedicated the best eighteen years of his life to the group.

When the group finally flourished across the country, he didn't even hold a grand retirement ceremony for himself.

Chu Qiuyan was quite certain that any big boss would hold his own retirement ceremony.

That would surely shock the entire nation and even the global business community.

Outsiders only assume that the mysterious founder of Tengying Group is still here in charge.

Little did they know, he had been planning his complete withdrawal for the past five years.

Starting five years ago, he gradually relinquished his management duties across the entire group.

No one would have expected that the big boss would leave five years later.

Whether it's Tengying Group or the current Tengfei Group, they remain like a ray of light in the rising sun.

It was dazzling, yet it illuminated most of the ordinary lives.

Chu Qiuyan stood upstairs. Uncle Chen didn't let her see him off, partly because he didn't want to attract the attention of the whole company.

That great person who illuminated her path and guided her forward all the way.

In the end, as he himself said, we are all just ordinary people.

We come into this world, live amidst its splendor, and ultimately return to the ordinary.

Life has three distinct paths, and not everyone can navigate them all perfectly.

Not everyone can complete the journey.

Most of them have always remained trapped in the small circle of their birth.

They could never transcend the circle they were born into.

Take a real look at this beautiful and prosperous world.

Compared to her current complex emotions, Su Zi was perhaps the one who was more disappointed.

Her father had warned her not to try to get involved in the core areas of the giants.

But she didn't believe it; she was determined to seize this opportunity.

Despite all the preparations, the vice president truthfully told me that they could easily have the group's technology department replicate seventy or eighty such projects in no time.

But why wasn't it done?
That's because they know that trying to break down the core competitive advantages that giants have built up over decades is a risky endeavor.

That's simply unrealistic and completely impossible.

Just as any outsider who tries to invade their core territory will be annihilated without a trace by them using the best technology, the most funds, and the greatest resources.

No one lies to her because at their level, there's no need for it.

Fifteen years ago, they maintained a long-term and positive cooperative relationship with Tencent and Alibaba because of Tencent Entertainment!
Why should you, an outsider, break this rule?
So, big projects are dead, but small projects can still be done.

The ruthless and cruel truth was laid bare before Su Zi.

Of course, she wasn't without a chance.

In the end, Chu Qiuyan still had the vice president secretly pass her a message.

In Chu Qiuyan's mind, whether this project succeeds or not is not important.

It's nothing more than a matter of money and resources.

The main reason she had someone pass a message to Su Zi was that she didn't want the big boss to...

Retreating too early...

(End of this chapter)