Huayu: From Prisoner to Movie King

Chapter 610 Commissioner Smith

Like JD.com and Nantianmen, both changed their office locations at the beginning of this year. There is nothing unusual in the corridor, but when you enter the data center converted from the conference room, the scene that comes into view looks a bit cyberpunk.

The machines that were temporarily moved to the east and west sides had their covers opened to ensure heat dissipation. Cables, both thick and thin, were bundled against the wall as much as possible, but there were a few that were unavoidable and had to run across the ground in all directions.

Coupled with the chaotic employees at more than a dozen workstations, the six big words "Combat Command Center" on the central glass window seem particularly appropriate.

Right below these six characters, Liu Qiangdong was bragging to the secretary of the leader:

“…Although we didn’t know you would come today, several investors have confirmed that they will come to observe, so someone suggested that we tidy up the site in advance to make it look cleaner and tidier.

But I rejected this proposal. I told them that JD.com is currently in a period of rapid growth and every penny and every minute should be spent wisely. If the development of JD.com is delayed because of a mere face issue, then I, Liu Qiangdong, will be the sinner of JD.com!"

At this point, Liu Qiangdong saw Xu Kun coming in and hurriedly added, "I feel so sorry for the brothers who followed me through the hard work of starting a business, and even more sorry for President Xu and Director Xu who gave me real money to support me!"

As he spoke, he took the opportunity to introduce Secretary Cheng to Xu Kun.

"I am extremely grateful to the municipal party committee and government for their attention and care for JD.com..."

Xu Kun has met many leaders in the past few years, especially in the past six months, and has dealt with officials more frequently, so it is natural that his polite words are flawless.

The three of them exchanged pleasantries for about seven or eight minutes before Xu Kun took the time to ask about the whereabouts of Xu Xin and several investors.

"Sister Xu said she would take people to visit our new home of Jingdong. I guess she will be back soon."

As they were talking, they heard laughter outside.

They both thought that Xu Xin had returned with potential investors, so they apologized to Secretary Cheng and went to the door to greet them. However, they found out that it was the crew of "Along the Way of Flowers".

Because this was the highlight, everyone was present except Qin Lan who chose to find someone to substitute for him.

More than a dozen mouths kept calling out "Brother Kun" and "Boss Liu", and the sweet voices instantly filled the command center, causing the people at their workstations to look back frequently.

Seeing that the camera was already set up, Xu Kun curiously asked, "What are you going to shoot this time? A live group buying promotion?"

"That was the last mission."

Gan Wei, the group leader and producer, stepped forward to introduce: "Today, our most important task at JD.com is to select the products we want to group buy, and then connect with the agents as JD.com employees to try to get the lowest price for the event."

As they were talking, Xu Xin and several representatives from investment companies also returned to the command center. However, seeing that filming was going on at the door, they did not rush in.

Liu Qiangdong hurried over upon seeing this. Before he could say anything, a middle-aged white man with blond hair and blue eyes pointed at Xu Kun and the girls in front of the camera and asked if they were shooting a promotional advertisement.

This person's attitude was obviously a bit arrogant, but that was normal. After all, he was one of the main persons in charge of Tiger Fund in Asia. Although JD.com's recent expansion momentum was very strong, in the eyes of this leading global hedge fund, it was just an underdeveloped shrimp.

“It’s more than just advertising.”

Liu Qiangdong used English with a Suqian accent to explain the situation of "Along the Way with Flowers" as simply as possible, and also told the members what they were going to do today.

The middle-aged white man nodded slightly after listening to this: "The group buying model is already very mature in the United States, and it is indeed worth learning from. However, you can think of using variety shows to promote online group buying, which is also a small innovation."

The man's tone was full of criticism and arrogance. In fact, group buying only started in the United States in 2008. Although it has triggered some followers, it is still far from being mature.

He said this purely to put pressure on JD.com.

But as the old saying goes, 'praise and criticism are buyers, applause are idlers'. For now, Tiger Fund is the most sincere institution to invest in JD.com. These apparent arrogance and pickyness are nothing but a prelude to bargaining.

In fact, Xu Kun and Liu Qiangdong had previously discussed Tiger Fund's investment in JD.com.

Xu Kun is very optimistic about the future of JD.com and naturally does not want the Americans to take advantage of it, but Liu Qiangdong said that accepting international capital is almost an inevitable choice for domestic Internet companies, because only these large investment banks have enough funds and courage to offer attractive prices to growing Internet companies.

Moreover, most domestic investment banks currently have close ties with foreign capital - the few that do not have such ties do not have the strength to support JD.com's continued development.

In addition, there is another reason that is difficult to state clearly, which is to use foreign powers to bully others.

With the participation of these international financial giants, many troubles can be avoided invisibly - although most of them are minor troubles, when accumulated together, the impact on a startup company is also quite huge.

Later, Xu Xin and even Wang Xing from Fanfou joined the discussion, and the final result was 3 to 1. Even though Xu Kun was still opposed, he had no choice but to accept the status quo.

Back to the present.

The middle-aged white man belittled it and believed that JD.com was a minor revision after plagiarism. Then he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Are these all famous female stars in your country?"

"of course."

Xu Xin smiled and said, "'Along the Way' is currently the most popular show on the Internet, with millions of views for each episode. However, this is only a small part of the celebrity group purchase plan."

"A small part of the celebrity group buying plan?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged white guy from Tiger Fund immediately asked, "Can you explain this plan in detail?"

"of course can."

Liu Qiangdong first motioned the other party to look at Xu Kun in front of the camera, and then said: "Speaking of this plan, we first need to introduce Mr. Xu Kun, the current largest shareholder of JD.com, the Venice Film Festival Best Actor, and the famous director with the highest domestic box office."

The white guy nodded and said, "China Xu, I've heard of him. He once predicted the CD crisis very accurately. When I first knew he was a director and actor, I thought the media had made a mistake."

Xu Xin smiled and said, "Mr. Xu Kun's experience is a legend in both the investment and entertainment circles, but what I admire more is his keen sense of business opportunities and his endless business creativity - this celebrity group purchase plan was designed by him personally."

Baipi heard this and frowned slightly as he looked at Xu Kun who was still chatting with the sisters: "Then why didn't this Chinese Xu come to introduce this plan to us in person?"

The reason, of course, is that Xu Kun is too lazy to argue with foreigners. Anyway, with JD.com's current strategy of e-commerce + Fanfou + celebrity group buying, no one can help and it is impossible to replace him as a core figure.

But Liu Qiangdong and Xu Xin certainly couldn't say that. They exchanged glances and saw that the middle-aged white man was about to move closer to Xu Kun.

Xu Xin, who had a more 'neutral' stance, immediately said, "Commissioner Smith, Director Xu Kun is an artist after all. Although the valuation of the industry he has invested in has exceeded 200 million US dollars, his focus is still on the pursuit of art. He doesn't like to deal with specific business negotiations."

Commissioner Smith stopped immediately. Artistic pursuits were nonsense to him, but he still had to show enough respect for a wealthy man with assets of $200 million.

"Oh~"

He couldn't help but exclaimed: "Xu still looks very young."

"Yes, he is not yet 30 years old this year, and he started from scratch as an extra at the bottom." Liu Qiangdong said, and then changed the subject: "Commissioner Smith, maybe we can go to another place and talk in detail about JD.com's celebrity group buying plan."

Just when Liu Qiangdong led everyone to the next room, Secretary Cheng followed them quietly.

Next, Liu Qiangdong described JD.com’s celebrity group buying plan in a rather exaggerated way.

When hearing that Fanfou already had 50 million registered users, and that nearly half of the celebrities from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong were gathered there, not only were Commissioner Smith and other investors shocked, but even Secretary Cheng, who had obtained the JD.com information in advance, could not help but look at it with awe.

Seeing this scene, Liu Qiangdong and Xu Xin knew that this round of financing was basically secured, but the specific outcome would depend on the quality of the 618 Shopping Festival and celebrity group purchases.

(End of this chapter)