Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 446 I Have a Hundred Ways to Deal with You

Chen Dan looked at Cheng Yi, whose attitude had completely changed, and secretly groaned in her heart.

He came here before to discuss an acquisition, but now he's here to discuss a settlement. The difference is huge.

Chen Dan said with a wry smile, "President Cheng, we are willing to transfer all the users of the campus network to you."

“Those were originally my users,” Cheng Yi retorted.

Chen Dan was momentarily speechless, and said, "President Cheng, it's better to resolve this feud than to let it fester. Although Tencent's size is not comparable to Momo Group, we are still a well-known company in Shenzhen. The internet industry is different from the traditional industry; there's no such thing as one side completely crushing the other. If we cause you trouble in multiple areas, I don't think you want to see that situation, do you?"

Seeing that Cheng Yi remained silent, Chen Dan knew things were looking up and quickly said, "As the saying goes, no fight, no friendship. If you're willing to shake hands and make peace, we'll no longer participate in any of Shengda's plans. How about that?"

"Has Chen Tianqiao ever told you that I hold grudges?"

“I have said that, but I don’t think so,” Chen Dan said seriously. “I think your vision is far beyond that of ordinary people.”

“Then you’re mistaken.” Cheng Yi crossed his legs and laughed, “I’m a very vengeful person. I remember who offended me in kindergarten.”

Cheng Yi looked at Chen Dan, who was in a daze, and said, "Anyone who lays a hand on me will have to pay the price, otherwise everyone will think I'm easy to bully."

Chen Dan frowned and said, "President Cheng, even if we lose the campus market, we still have 200 million users and a game lobby with hundreds of thousands of daily active users. If we continue to fight, we will only suffer losses together."

"Then let's see how it goes," Cheng Yi said with a smile. "Of course, if you really want to make peace, I also have a condition for negotiation."

"As long as you are willing to become a subsidiary of Momo Group, all previous grievances will be wiped clean," Cheng Yi said.

Chen Dan slowly shook her head and said, "That's impossible."

“Nothing is impossible.” Cheng Yi said with a serious expression, “In Tencent’s equity structure, MIH holds the majority, about 49%, IDG holds 14%, and the rest is yours, right?”

"Yes." Chen Dan nodded.

“My requirements are very simple: you give up 17% of the shares, and we will go to MIH and IDG to acquire the remaining shares. Our Momo Group will hold 80% of the shares, and your founding team will hold 20%. You can enjoy all of Momo Group's channels, and I can even hand over the operation of Xiaonei.com entirely to you.”

Chen Dan's face darkened, and he said, "We still have several hundred million in cash. You think you can take us down so easily?"

“Don’t think Shengda is just stupid and rich. They’re from Zhonghai, the smartest group in the business world,” Cheng Yi said. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re barely keeping the campus network afloat, and then transferring hundreds of millions of yuan of cash from the campus network to your Tencent Group’s account through various transactions, right?”

“We didn’t think that way,” Chen Dan immediately denied.

"Then let's assume that's what I think," Cheng Yi sneered. "You can watch and see. In less than half a month, Shengda will set up a campus network liquidation team. Once the liquidation is complete, these hundreds of millions will be back in Shengda's hands. At that time, will you still have cash flow?"

"Half a month is enough time for us to recoup all the free coins. We've already made a profit, and as long as we proceed step by step, we don't need to worry about survival." Chen Dan tried to dissuade Cheng Yi from the idea of ​​acquisition.

Cheng Yi sneered, "Just because we've lost the free coins doesn't mean we can't suppress you anymore."

Cheng Yi said, "Your cooperation with internet cafes for top-ups involves giving up 1% of your profits. That means the internet cafes get the goods at a 9% discount. What if I buy these goods at a 9% discount and sell them at a 7% discount?"

“Your value-added tax is 6%, and there is also a 25% corporate income tax. Even if you enjoy the preferential treatment for high-tech enterprises, there is still a 15% corporate income tax.”

"All things considered, you will only actually receive about 70% of the total amount."

Chen Dan said, "Then we have enough to buy back your 70% discount coins."

"No, no, no." Cheng Yi shook his head and laughed, "Currency wars aren't just about me selling and you buying. If I sell at a 30% discount, your game lobby users who want to quickly cash out will need to sell at a 40% discount. Of course, you can also buy back their Q coins at a 30% discount, but even if you buy them back at a 30% discount, the actual recharge ratio on your recharge platform will already be 30%."

"At that time, many people will rush to buy back the coins at a 25% discount and then resell them. Do you think many people will still buy the coins from internet cafes at the original price? I only need to put out 100 million to play around with, and I can make your users hesitate." Cheng Yi laughed, "Besides, if internet cafes can't make money, do you think they will continue to cooperate with you?"

"Of course, this is just one method," Cheng Yi laughed. "I have many more ways to deal with you. Would you like to hear them one by one? For example, regarding the gameplay in your game hall, I can find a few people to get addicted, let them gamble away all their money, and then cause some family conflicts, publish it in the newspaper or something, so that everyone can see that the game hall has a gambling function. Moreover, do you really dare to buy back the Q coins produced by the game hall?"

Chen Dan stared at Cheng Yi with a look of horror, her eyes filled with anger, but she still patiently said, "If you do this, you will ruin Lianzhong Games just the same way!"

"That's wonderful! Double happiness! I'll accept both of your families' gifts!" Cheng Yi laughed heartily.

Looking at Cheng Yi's unrestrained smile, Chen Dan didn't know what to say.

He knew that when the two sides were not evenly matched, the stronger party could really do whatever it wanted.

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "Even if I don't deal with you, given your current operating situation, our Momo Group has a hundred ways to buy back these 63% of the shares from MIH and IDG. Once we buy the shares, do you think you'll still have the final say?"

"I have a piece of advice for your boss, Mr. Ma. Please pass it on verbatim. Whether you agree or not is up to you."

Cheng Yi said, word by word, "Sell it for a good price before it gets smashed. Once it's smashed, you won't be able to sell it even if you want to."

Cheng Yi's words were harsh, which made Chen Dan's expression turn quite unpleasant.

Chen Dan stood up and said, "Okay, I will definitely pass on the message to our General Manager Ma when I get back."

Cheng Yi stood up and said with a smile, "President Chen, do you remember what I said last time? I think we will definitely become colleagues."

Seeing Cheng Yi extend his hand, Chen Dan shook hands with him, though she was somewhat reluctant.

As Chen Dan walked out of Handong University, she couldn't help but look back at the main gate of the university.

Is Cheng Yi really a college student?

Neither his shrewdness nor his ruthlessness are qualities that a college student should possess.

Cheng Yi's words just now put immense psychological pressure on Chen Dan.

Encountering such an opponent who will stop at nothing is truly devastating.

The scariest thing is that everything Cheng Yi said is actually possible.

Ultimately, it comes down to their weak cash flow.

As for things like suppressing the base price of Q coins, as Cheng Yi mentioned, if Tencent had a billion yuan in cash on hand, they wouldn't need to worry about such things at all.

If you have more money, just buy it; we'll take it all and even make a small profit.

But they don't have that much money right now.

If they want to reclaim their Q coins, they can only wait for the funds from internet cafe top-ups to flow back. And there's a lot they can do during this process. In fact, while they're waiting for the funds to flow back, Cheng Yi could actually drive the price of Q coins down to 6% or even lower. Once this causes panic among users, all users will adopt a wait-and-see attitude towards topping up Q coins.

The worst thing is this wait-and-see attitude; so many companies have died because of these two words.

This time, Cheng Yi didn't send a car to take Chen Dan; he didn't even see her off. Chen Dan took a taxi to the airport, called Ma Huateng, and recounted in detail what Cheng Yi had just said.

After listening to Chen Dan's words, Ma Huateng fell into deep thought.

The methods Cheng Yi mentioned are all considered overt strategies.

Moreover, it's an easily circumvented scheme; all you need is money.

But what they lack most right now is money.

If Cheng Yi really does that, their only source of revenue will be in serious trouble.

After all, their QQ coins are different from game points. Game points are consumed at a fixed rate every moment. No one would dare to use real money to undercut the price of something that can be consumed at any time.

Just like legendary game cards, there's no pressure to stockpile hundreds of them, since there are so many players who keep spending them.

But Q coins are different. They don't have that many loyal users. Many people recharge Q coins just to buy a QQ Show or other small accessories, and they may not need Q coins again for a year or two after that.

Therefore, it is easy to become saturated.

Q coins nowadays rely entirely on the game lobby.

Players use Q coins to exchange for game beans, and then exchange the game beans back for Q coins.

Then resell the Q coins.

There's a huge pitfall here: the identity of the recycling party.

The third party that recycles these Q coins can be any person or company, but it absolutely cannot be Tencent.

Once Tencent reclaims these Q coins, the situation will completely change.

This is the penguin's Achilles' heel; once it's caught, it's extremely difficult for it to recover.

At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through Ma Huateng's mind.

Whether to surrender or not became a difficult problem for him.

The price has dropped, but this gives them access to Momo Group's distribution channels. Judging from Momo Group's current unstoppable momentum, the growth rate of Momo Internet Cafes is unlikely to stop.

If they were to acquire Momo Group, QQ would have two major distribution channels.

These are the Windows channel and the Moc-OS channel, respectively.

Although their shareholding has fallen to 20%, their revenue is likely to double.

However, if they surrender, it would mean standing on the opposite side of Shengda, whose strength should not be underestimated. If Momo Group cannot withstand Shengda Group's attack and is defeated in this war without gunpowder, then the future of Tencent will be completely ruined.

After thinking for a long time, Ma Huateng finally sighed.

Small companies like theirs have a hard time surviving in such a precarious situation, and now they have no choice but to compromise with the worst party.

At the very least, Shengda Group wouldn't do something like suppressing their Q coin market.

But Momo Group really knows how to do it.

Ma Huateng gritted his teeth and said, "You tell Cheng Yi that as long as they can acquire the 63% stake, we are willing to give up 17% of the stake and become a subsidiary of Momo Group."

After saying these words, Ma Huateng felt much more relaxed.

Actually, there's no need to be so hard on yourself; just do whatever makes you comfortable.

If it turns out that joining Momo Group was a mistake, they can always start over from scratch.

"Okay." Chen Dan wasn't surprised to receive this answer.

If he were Ma Huateng, he would make the same choice.

Chen Dan said, "Then I'll go back now and talk to Cheng Yi about the specific acquisition price."

“No need for now, come back first. We’ll talk to Momo Group formally after we’ve carefully considered it!” Ma Huateng said. “We must talk to Momo Group, not this Cheng Yi.”

"Understood," Chen Dan replied. "I also think this person is not very reliable. He can say such threatening things to us, so he must not be a good person."

"Okay." Ma Huateng exchanged a few pleasantries with Chen Dan before hanging up the phone.

No solution...

At this moment, Chen Tianqiao was sitting in his office, racking his brains, but he still couldn't come up with a specific solution.

The university market must be abandoned; it's not their home turf.

However, the funds they just injected into QQ Campus Network must be recovered as soon as possible, whatever amount they can get back, at least to give the shareholders an explanation.

Looking back on everything, Chen Tianqiao suddenly discovered a pattern: almost all investments targeting Momo Group failed, while projects unrelated to Momo Group were handled exceptionally well.

He even suspected that Momo Group was their nemesis.

The series of defeats had made Chen Tianqiao lose patience, and he finally decided to compete with Momo Group in the game market.

Gaming is their domain!

With their Legend 3 about to be released, plus NetEase's "Westward Journey 2" and the upcoming "Bubble Fighter", they've practically collected RPGs, turn-based games, and casual games.

In this round, the advantage is on their side.

Chen Tianqiao put the campus market out of his mind, got up and called Ma Huateng, saying, "Mr. Ma, this is the policy, we can't force it. Let's shut down QQ Campus Network for now. I'll organize a bankruptcy liquidation team to go there tomorrow and handle the final work of QQ Campus Network."

“Okay.” Ma Huateng, who had already decided to surrender, didn’t say anything more.

At this moment, Ma Huateng felt much better. At least, what Cheng Yi said had come true.

These stingy people from Zhonghai are really starting to settle scores with them.

(End of this chapter)