What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 572 Only the Person Knows the Truth (6k)

Lingang Silicon Carbon intends to sell master keys, but it has played its hand all along.

Whether it was Zhou Hongyi, whom Yu Xing truly favored, or Li Yanhong, whom the middleman Xiong Xiaoge persuaded, both parties were fully aware of the silicon carbide's attempt to use the other party to raise prices. However, they were somewhat taken aback that all three parties were sitting at the same table.

This is blatant price gouging, but it's just too blatant!

Zhou Hongyi is not the kind of person who surrenders easily. Oh no, although she has been captured before, she is not the kind of person who willingly lets herself be manipulated.

His personality is like that, and so is his strategy regarding the current potential deal; he speaks in a very destructive way.

“The price of Master Key won’t be high. If the operators continue for another two years, the cost of 4G packages will decrease, and the monthly data allowance will increase. Fewer people will use Master Key.” Zhou Hongyi arrived at the office and, without even waiting for tea to be served, bluntly pointed out the potential problems with Master Key.

He then directly quoted his own price: "Mr. Yu, you actually think 5.5 million US dollars is too little? I really don't know how much you want to sell it for."

As Zhou Hongyi said this, her gaze shifted from Yu Xing to Li Yanhong.

Seeing this, Li Yanhong smiled and said, "President Yu and I talked about this, so the most important thing is how to use the universal key. Carbon silicon data has actually already used it to set a precedent."

Zhou Hongyi frowned slightly; all these things had been said.

Li Yanhong took a sip of tea and changed the subject: "However, what President Zhou said makes sense. President Yu, you have already communicated with President Zhou, and Baidu also thinks it's around 6 million US dollars. We can talk about it within that range."

Zhou Hongyi immediately turned her gun on Li Yanhong and mocked, "President Yu, look at you, you insisted on dragging Baidu over here. Baidu won't help you raise the price. President Li just wants to pick up a bargain."

He continued speaking to Li Yanhong, "President Li, do you think President Yu genuinely wants to sell the universal key to you? He's just using you to provoke 360. Who is he? He's a know-it-all who knows everything. He specifically targets people like you who have a grudge against me to drive up the price."

Yu Xing coughed, and then, after attracting the attention of the two, innocently said, "President Zhou, it's like this, you misunderstood. I didn't intentionally look for people who have a grudge against you. It's just that no matter how I look, there's a high probability that I'll end up with someone who has a grudge against you."

Zhou Hongyi has a history of feuds with Baidu, which escalated to court. He also has a history of feuds with Tencent, including the 3Q War. He has a history of feuds with Alibaba, stemming from disputes during his time at Yahoo and controversies surrounding certain features of 360. Alibaba has declared that it will never cooperate with companies associated with Zhou's investments.

Zhou Hongyi and Lei Jun had a feud. They had a good relationship in the early days, but they fell out over the mobile phone business. 360 launched a special edition phone to compete closely with Xiaomi, and Zhou Hongyi even challenged Lei Jun to a fight at Chaoyang Park.

Zhou Hongyi had a grudge against Sohu and disagreed with the project in the early days. Later, when 360's attempt to acquire Sogou failed, Zhou Hongyi even posted a letter on her WeChat Moments that named Zhang Chaoyang, bringing up the past. She said, "You once said that my company would not survive for more than two years. Now I have outlived Sohu's market value."

Zhou Hongyi opened her mouth, but suddenly found herself speechless.

Li Yanhong laughed heartily.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Hongyi said quietly, "Do you think you're any better than me?"

He often took pride in his nickname "Red Cannon," but when it comes to criticism and grudges, Baixiaosheng Forum has caused quite a bit of trouble. In terms of quality, Yu Xing's Crying Horse is more widely circulated.

Furthermore, Li Yanhong's Baidu also has some disagreements with Baixiaosheng.

Now it was Yu Xing's turn to be stunned.

Li Yanhong's laughter was even louder.

"Alright, Mr. Li, stop laughing. Since things have come to this, let's be frank, it's a pipe dream for Carbon Silicon Data to price Universal Key at a staggering $20 billion!" Zhou Hongyi said seriously, trying to unite the two sides. "Neither Mr. Li nor I will blindly raise prices because of some past private grudges. Baidu said around $6 million, and I agree with that range."

He added, "I believe the market also recognizes this cash price."

Zhou Hongyi's meaning is clear: he will not keep this quote a secret, and with 360 and Baidu setting the benchmark, no one else in the market will be taken advantage of.

Since silicon carbon is being sold to so many people through bidding, if you don't sell to me, then don't expect to sell it to someone else properly.

“It’s not that Mr. Yu wanted to invite you two together today.” Xiong Xiaoge disliked Zhou Hongyi’s self-defeating remarks. “It’s because 360 ​​lacks sincerity and Baidu has the idea of ​​entering the short video market that we’re here to talk. The Universal Key is definitely not as worthless as Mr. Zhou says.”

Zhou Hongyi scoffed: "President Xiong, do you know how fast telecom operators can develop packages and infrastructure? If you delay any longer, we won't be offering this price. Forget it, you're in the investment business, there's no need to talk about this."

Xiong Xiaoge was even more dissatisfied and directly pulled out IDC data to argue with Zhou Hongyi.

Zhou Hongyi came to Lingang prepared this time. She hadn't been able to use the data and arguments she had prepared to lower the price before, but now she could finally put them to good use in front of Li Yanhong and Yu Xing.

Li Yanhong took the opportunity to listen carefully to both sides of the argument.

However, as he listened, he suddenly noticed that President Yu was very calm.

Li Yanhong pondered the situation, recalling what she had heard since arriving in Lingang today. Despite President Zhou's somewhat disruptive meeting, he seemed to remain relatively calm.

After Zhou Hongyi gained the upper hand by repeatedly challenging Xiong Xiaoge, Li Yanhong finally asked with a half-smile, "President Yu, President Zhou keeps saying this, but haven't you discussed whether the price of the universal key should be increased? Did someone else offer you a higher price?"

This is a reasonable speculation; otherwise, why would President Yu appear so confident?

Yu Xing shook his head: "Besides 360 and Baidu, we haven't contacted any other companies yet. After all, we're not in a hurry."

Li Yanhong smiled and said, "President Yu, so are you going to sell or not? What are your thoughts on the price?"

“I do want to sell.” Yu Xing lit a cigarette and took a puff. “To be honest, I really intended to sell to 360 because I thought 360 might have this need. As for Baidu, I was contacted through Mr. Xiong.”

"But judging from what you two are saying, I might have to consider Alibaba and Tencent. I didn't consider them at first because I didn't want Master Key to become our competitor in the short video field."

"Mr. Zhou is right. If we delay any longer, the price we can discuss now will be different."

Yu Xing smiled at Zhou Hongyi and Li Yanhong.

Zhou Hongyi and Li Yanhong exchanged a glance and said, "President Yu, do you think Alibaba and Tencent would give you money to compete with them again?"

“It’s all about mutual checks and balances, so I’ll approach Mr. Ma or Pony. If they don’t want it, I’ll give it to the competitor,” Yu Xing said. “We can always talk about it, but I don’t want to do it this way, and you guys just don’t appreciate it.”

Li Yanhong chuckled: "President Yu, you're asking us to buy your stuff, so we're the ones who should be grateful?"

Yu Xing said matter-of-factly, "Of course, buying a universal key isn't just about focusing on Wi-Fi sharing. It's an opportunity to enter the short video market. If we miss this window of opportunity, the short video market will never see new players again."

So calm, so resolute, so...

This is the judgment of the head of Lingang Carbon Silicon.

Even Li Yanhong and Zhou Hongyi felt a chill run down their spines.

Seeing that they were all silent, Yu Xing smiled slightly and said, "Sometimes I find it very interesting that during this period of the past few years, there were two major trends in the internet: group buying and short videos."

"Group buying gave birth to Meituan, which is relatively independent of BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), and short videos gave birth to Kuaishou, which has been developing quietly."

"Mr. Li, if you were to make the decision again, would Baidu still choose to invest in group buying? Or would you spend more energy managing short videos?"

Li Yanhong's expression turned somewhat serious.

Baidu's poor performance in the group-buying market led the company to focus its attention on short videos.

However, Baidu's entry into the group-buying market was the result of much thought and considerable investment. In 2013, it acquired a 59% stake in Nuomi.com from Renren Inc. for $1.6 million. At that time, Nuomi.com was one of the leading group-buying platforms that survived the "thousand-group war".

Baidu was planning to strike later, and then in 14 it acquired Nuomi.com in its entirety, becoming the only player among the BAT companies to directly enter the market.

This year, Baidu announced that it would invest an additional 20 billion yuan in Nuomi's business over the next three years, which can be seen as a last-ditch effort to get Meituan to invest in Tencent.

Baidu still has many plans for group buying, but with the rumors of a merger between Meituan and Dianping becoming more and more real, the overall market trend is difficult to change through tactical changes.

Faced with President Yu's question, Li Yanhong pondered the gains and losses of Baidu's strategy in this regard. Instead of answering, she asked in return, "Why didn't Silicon Carbon do group buying?"

Yu Xing laughed and said, "Mr. Li, it's because we made short videos. Well, if I had to say, I think short videos have a brighter future than group buying. It's not that group buying is bad, but short videos are better."

Zhou Hongyi interjected, "Silicon Carbon didn't have the capability to do group buying back then. You could have poured the money from selling WeChat into it."

“That’s why this is a good question for Baidu,” Yu Xing said, unconcerned by Zhou Hongyi’s objection. “Baidu is an information search engine; shouldn’t it be keenly aware of the changes in information carriers brought about by the transition from 3G to 4G?”

Li Yanhong frowned.

Yu Xing said, feigning sudden realization, "Oh, it's not surprising that Baidu was slow to adapt to the transition from 2G to 3G."

Li Yanhong's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Zhou Hongyi thought to herself, "President Yu's attack power is probably indeed above mine."

However, there is a lot of truth to that.

Why is Baidu the only one among the BAT companies that is outdated? From 2G to 3G to 4G, there are always new things coming out. Why can't Baidu catch the trend?
Zhou Hongyi suddenly asked, "Hmm? President Yu, then tell me, what opportunities will arise from the transition from 4G to 5G?"

Yu Xing smiled and pointed to the direction beside him: "It's over there."

Zhou Hongyi asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"

“The silicon carbon group next door,” Yu Xing replied. “We will try out the changes that 5G’s high speed and low latency can bring to the industry.”

Li Yanhong and Zhou Hongyi both fell silent; this was not their area of ​​expertise.

Zhou Hongyi sensed that the initiative in the conversation had subtly shifted, and her resentment resurfaced: "President Yu, it's not necessarily true that there won't be new opportunities in the short video market after the second half of the year."

Yu Xing did not argue: "Okay, President Zhou, you can have different ideas, but..."

He stubbed out his cigarette and laughed, "TikTok has done even better this year."

Zhou Hongyi could still refute, but faced with the truly developing Douyin, he felt that verbal disputes were pointless.

Li Yanhong said, "President Yu, since Douyin is doing so well, wouldn't 360 just be entering the market and offering itself up as a scapegoat if they made short videos too?"

Zhou Hongyi's eyes widened: "President Yu, since Douyin is doing so well, isn't Baidu, which has suffered repeated defeats, also getting beaten up when it enters the market?"

"The short video market is huge. In the end, who will be left, Douyin or someone else, depends on their own abilities," Yu Xing said calmly. "When you're outside the game, you can't see clearly. You only know whether you'll get beaten up after you get in. Since things have come to this, let's eat first. There's no need to talk any more. Let's look at the Master Key from our respective perspectives."

Even if you want to get beaten up, you have to get on the field first.

Not entering the market means remaining hypothetical forever, and you can only watch helplessly as the trend passes by.

The market is a big stage; if you have the guts, come and join us.

Yu Xing did not engage in the usual price negotiation, but Zhou Hongyi and Li Yanhong became much quieter.

360 and Baidu each have their own shortcomings, and are far less powerful than Alibaba and Tencent, which makes them even more in need of breakthroughs in new businesses. Yu Xing treated the two to lunch, making no mention of the price of the universal key, but taking the opportunity to recommend his own company, Kyushu Auto.

Regardless of how the Master Key deal goes, we still have to give them this much face.

Carbon Silicon Kyushu has received orders for four top-of-the-line Max models, which has even accelerated the car buying process.

They arrived by plane, and the next day, four cars drove directly back to Beijing.

Yu Xing happily saw the two bosses into the car.

Zhou Hongyi touched the car door and suddenly said, "President Yu, I'm going back in the same car as President Li later. Are you afraid we'll discuss the price privately?"

"You can negotiate the price, but can you reconcile the interests of Baidu and 360?" Yu Xing said nonchalantly. "This is a matter of trial and error; only you yourselves will know whether you need it or not, and what the true value of the universal key really is."

Zhou Hongyi sighed and said sincerely, "Pony's biggest mistake back then was not getting you in."

Yu Xing punched Zhou Hongyi's shoulder twice.

Zhou Hongyi shook his head and got into the car. He had actually had a brief conversation with Li Yanhong last night and keenly noticed that her mentality had changed. The already fragile price alliance was now teetering on the brink of collapse.

The actual value of the master key has now become a matter of trial and error, and needs to be further discussed in conjunction with one's own strategy.

"Mr. Yu, how much do you want to sell the master key for?" Secretary Zhang Yangxu asked in a low voice, noticing that his boss was still watching the convoy drive away.

Yu Xing glanced at his secretary: "What? Did they give you a bribe? Want to hear my opinion?"

Zhang Yangxu said, feeling wronged, "President Yu, how could I possibly do that!"

Yu Xing shook his head: "I won't force you, I'll give you whatever I think is appropriate."

I'll give you whatever you ask for, but it has to be at least double their current quote.

Zhang Yangxu then shared his impression: "President Li is more...gentle and refined than I imagined."

Yu Xing smiled and said, "Yes, a gentleman's sword."

Zhang Yangxu: "..."

He felt that his boss made the right decision to manufacture cars; otherwise, with his mouth alone, he would have offended countless people on the internet.

Xiong Xiaoge hasn't left yet. They were supposed to leave together today, but Yu Xing kept him behind, hoping to make the most of his social skills.

Yu Xingxian briefed this important shareholder on the development of Carbon Silicon Group and Carbon Silicon Data Company, and then made a new request: "President Xiong, Bi Sheng's low-price e-commerce platform Pinduoduo is developing very fast. Alibaba hasn't reacted much to it. I still hope that it can take advantage of this period to get more traffic support. Do you think Tencent can take Bi Sheng to talk to them again?"

Pinduoduo has not publicly disclosed its data and development, but its investors are aware of it.

The project has reached nearly 1000 million users in just six months, an achievement made even amidst the rivalry between WeChat and WeChat. It is absorbing white-label merchants eliminated by Taobao and JD.com at an astonishing speed.

Both Xiong Xiaoge and Xu Xin were extremely surprised by this, as it completely shattered their previous understanding.

The market now generally believes that e-commerce is dominated by Alibaba and JD.com, and vertical e-commerce is only left with scraps. Yet, low-price e-commerce still manages to thrive...

This surprise is akin to witnessing the rapid revenue growth of Silicon Carbon Data, a development that breaks with convention.

"We can only meet in secret," Xiong Xiaoge said carefully. "Logically speaking, Penguin should not mind and would be happy to support us."

He exclaimed, "Wow, this combination of low-priced e-commerce and instant messaging software is a match made in heaven. Its power is far more than just 1+1=2."

Yu Xing nodded: "So, this matter should have been agreed upon back then, but Tencent didn't have a high opinion of Pinduoduo. Now that it has achieved some success, it should be possible to reach an agreement smoothly. I hope Pony won't act impulsively."

Xiong Xiaoge hesitated for a moment, but finally commented: "We are all human after all, and it is difficult for us not to act impulsively at all."

Yu Xing thought that President Xiong was implying something to him, and pondered, "Are you saying that the one who tied the knot must untie it? Should Liu Chiping talk to Pony?"

Xiong Xiaoge stared blankly at President Yu, "You're not human!"

But then he thought about it again and immediately agreed: "Yeah, that's what I mean. Liu Chiping should talk to Pony first, and then I'll take people to the secret society."

Yu Xing agreed and added, "Alibaba is very arrogant now. They are promoting consumption upgrades on Tmall. Mr. Xiong, you should ask those venture capitalists to spread the word in the market. Tell them that Pinduoduo's model is doing the work for Alibaba's e-commerce business. Once users' consumption habits mature, they will naturally switch to Taobao, which has a better experience and better products."

Xiong Xiaoge was silent for a moment: "This mentality is really Alibaba."

He added, "They also developed a three-dimensional combat system."

"Alibaba is too strong. Its overseas music streaming service didn't make much of a splash before, but now it's actually starting to buy traffic again." Yu Xing shook his head. "The strong should be challenged."

Xiong Xiaoge laughed and said, "President Yu, you really are a venomous snake lurking in the shadows."

Yu Xing's eyes quickly swept across Xiong Zong's face. As expected of an investor who specializes in judging people, his judgment is really accurate.

The two sides discussed the competition draft and soon took action on their own.

Yu Xing calculated the time difference and called Liu Chiping, who was far away in New York, in the evening to inquire about his life and work on the other side of the ocean.

Liu Chiping is very hardworking. He left Tencent, where he had a stable job for many years, to join MusVid in the overseas market. The new environment and new career brought him more passion and motivation than he had imagined. In addition, President Yu trusted him completely, and the ambition of a top professional manager was fully unleashed.

The two chatted on the phone for a long time, outlining a future blueprint for short videos.

Yu Xing felt the atmosphere was right and made a request for help from Pinduoduo.

There was a sudden silence on the phone.

After a long silence, Liu Chiping asked with a hint of resentment, "President Yu, do you not treat me like a human being?"

"It's good for Pinduoduo, and it's also good for Tencent. Hasn't Tencent always wanted to encircle and suppress Alibaba in e-commerce?" Yu Xing explained in detail. "Pinduoduo has proven with its actual development that this is a good opportunity."

Liu Chiping still sounded resentful: "I'm no longer the president of Tencent."

Yu Xing asked, "So, do you still care about penguins?"

Liu Chiping answered without hesitation, "I don't care."

Yu Xing then asked, "What about Pony?"

Liu Chiping couldn't help but say, "President Yu, you... there's a reason for your success."

Yu Xing said, "Mr. Liu, this is not a requirement. I was just asking you."

Liu Chiping replied, "Let me think about it."

After much deliberation, he concluded that this was indeed a beneficial collaboration for Tencent, and moreover, it wasn't with silicon carbide, but rather with Pinduoduo.

Liu Chiping didn't have Pony's number in his phone, but he always remembered it.

He hesitated before making the call.

Pony, who was in Shenzhen, was in his study browsing recent data from Weishi and the company's internal evaluation of Douyin's data when he saw an unfamiliar overseas number. He answered, "Hello, this is..."

Liu Chiping said directly, "Pony, it's me."

Pony was taken aback: "You... how did you end up calling?"

Liu Chiping made no attempt at small talk, and quickly and concisely discussed the prospects of cooperation between WeChat and Pinduoduo, a topic he had discussed during his time at the company.

Pony didn't care about that; she just asked, "You called to tell me this? Nothing else?"

Liu Chiping remained silent for a moment, then said, "Yes, I think this is a very good opportunity."

Pony took a breath and still questioned, "Did Yu Xing send you to make that call?"

Liu Chiping did not give a direct answer, but emphasized: "Pinduoduo's development has been unexpectedly good, and Tencent's resource cooperation with it should be carried out in secret."

Pony already understood the answer, and only one thought remained in her mind: he treats you badly.

He still offered his advice, personally flying to Lingang: "Martin, come back."

Liu Chiping sighed: "Pony, I will always be grateful for your guidance and for the Penguin platform. But I can't go back. I'm doing very well at MUSIC. There is no competition between our overseas business and Penguin. I really hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future."

Hearing this bureaucratic tone, Pony asked, "You have a lot of objections to Ren Yuxi becoming president, don't you? You should tell me directly."

Liu Chiping, however, was unusually calm and said, "It's all in the past."

He concluded by saying, "I wish you and the penguins all the best."

The call ended.

Pony held her phone, still feeling uneasy.

Two days later, Tencent finally initiated a non-compete process against its former president, once again shocking the industry.

Meanwhile, Xiong Xiaoge's secret visit to Pony for cooperation negotiations received a positive response.

Upon hearing the news, Yu Xing complained helplessly, "Boss Xiong, look at your terrible idea!"

Xiong Xiaoge said innocently, "I didn't say that at all; it's your own interpretation!"

Yu Xing frowned: "You're implying that to me, Mr. Xiong? Well, that's just how you investors are."

He never expected that such a situation, which he thought was almost impossible, would emerge like this, but... fortunately, the process is bound to be complicated, and there is a high probability that Liu Chiping can be saved.

That afternoon, just as Yu Xing was listening to the opinions of domestic legal professionals, Li Bin from NIO arrived in Lingang with his team, hoping to pay homage to the carbon silicon industry.

　Um, I'll be doing 6-8K tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)