I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 590 This isn't a merger, it's a complete takeover!

Gan Jiawei called Ma Yun to exchange some information, but at that moment Ma Yun was playing golf with Fang Qingye, accompanied by Shen Nanpeng from Sequoia China.

The venue for playing golf remains the Meilan Lake Club.

This was an invitation organized by Shen Nanpeng. A couple of days ago, he called Fang Qingye and invited him to play golf together, along with Ma Yun.

Fang Qingye accepted the invitation.

This time, Zhang Xiaoxiao and Zhuang Yan weren't invited. The three of them chatted while playing ball, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

When Ma Yun received Gan Jiawei's call, he was focused on the golf ball at his feet, preparing to swing and hit it into the hole, but the phone kept ringing incessantly, clearly affecting his concentration. He had no choice but to apologize and walk aside to answer the call.

He muttered a few words and then walked over, re-adjusting his stance to hit the ball. This time, the ball, which should have gone into the hole, rolled a few times around the edge of the hole and didn't go in.

Ma Yun immediately felt regretful, shook her head, and said to the two of them with a smile, "It seems that your eyesight is not good enough and you made a mistake in judgment."

The other two certainly wouldn't laugh at him. This time it was Fang Qingye's turn to hit the ball. His white ball was about six meters away from the hole. He bent down, swung his club, and the little white ball rolled along the grass and went right into the hole.

"Chairman Fang, I was leading you by one stroke, but you caught up."

"Concession."

When it was Shen Nanpeng's turn to hit the ball, Ma Yun looked at Fang Qingye and suddenly said, "I want to ask a question."

"you say?"

"Ele.me is applying for a payment license. Once the application is successful, will users only be able to use your own Alipay for transactions?"

Ma Yun's words made Shen Nanpeng, who was about to hit the ball, stop his swing and look at the two of them.

Unlike Meituan, which only accepts Alipay and UnionPay, Ele.me now accepts Alipay and WeChat Pay in addition to UnionPay.

Now that Ma Yun has asked this question, Fang Qingye answered readily:
"No, Ele.me applied for a payment license with the intention of making things convenient for users. We won't play the either-or game. In the future, Ele.me will accept all payment methods, including PayEase, Alipay, WeChat Pay, and UnionPay. The choice will be given to the users."

At this point, Fang Qingye paused and added, "I have also communicated with Mr. Ma from Tencent about this matter."

Upon hearing this, Shen Nanpeng smiled slightly and started hitting the ball again. Luckily, the white ball also fell into the hole.

Next, it was Ma Yun's turn. He bent over, looking at the small ball at his feet, and said, "President Fang, there was a rumor circulating online some time ago that you once said you hoped Ele.me and Meituan would merge. Did you really say that?"

"Just a joke after drinking," Fang Qingye said with a smile.

Shen Nanpeng understood.

Fang Qingye meant: I did say that, but I said it when I was drunk, and I take no responsibility for whether it's true or not.

Ma Yun understood the implied meaning in this question, smiled slightly, and continued, "If Meituan and Ele.me really do merge, Mr. Fang, what do you think would be the most appropriate way to proceed?"

"Mr. Ma, you've put me in a difficult position. I haven't really thought about this seriously," Fang Qingye replied, then paused for a moment before adding:

“I think it should be like this: after the two companies merge, they will still be called Ele.me. The two apps can continue to operate independently and remain relatively independent. We’ll see how it goes after they’ve been running for a while. As for the board of directors, the structure will remain basically unchanged. Wang Xing and Gan Jiawei will join the Ele.me board of directors. I can give Wang Xing a vice CEO position.”

"As for the equity, the two companies will re-evaluate the shares and re-determine the shareholding ratio of each investor based on the valuation."

Shen Nanpeng was somewhat taken aback when he heard this.

Who said you haven't thought about it seriously?

It's obvious that you've thought this through carefully and even discussed it with your team!

And what you're doing, is this a merger?
This is nothing short of a takeover! Ma Yun wasn't as surprised as Shen Nanpeng; it seemed like he had expected it. He thought for a moment and then asked, "So, how will you handle the dual-share structure that Ele.me currently has?"

"Unchanged, the shares held by Ele.me in its first three rounds of financing will remain unchanged as B shares."

Ma Yun frowned slightly, said nothing, and swung her club to hit the ball.

Fang Qingye didn't say anything either. After Ma Yun finished hitting the ball, he also started his own game.

The two seemed to be completely absorbed in playing golf.

The atmosphere on the field suddenly became somewhat subtle.

At this moment, Shen Nanpeng spoke up: "Have you heard? The country is going to hold the World Internet Conference in the second half of the year. Mr. Ma, it seems to be held in your Zhejiang Province."

“Yes, I heard it’s going to be held in Wuzhen,” Ma Yun replied.

“Wuzhen is a wonderful place. It’s a water town in Jiangnan known as the ‘last water town.’ Mr. Fang, have you been there?” Shen Nanpeng asked Fang Qingye again.

“I’ve been there too, it’s really nice,” Fang Qingye said with a smile.

Cleverly, Shen Nanpeng steered the conversation to Wuzhen and the upcoming World Internet Conference, and the atmosphere in the room became harmonious again.

After playing ball, we all went to eat together. It was too hot in the afternoon, so we didn't play any more. We just had some tea and then went home.

On the way back, Fang Qingye received a call from Shen Nanpeng.

"Mr. Fang, what you said while playing ball just now, wasn't it just something you said in jest after drinking?"

"Haha." Fang Qingye laughed: "President Shen, you didn't even invite me for a drink, so what are you joking about?!"

"It seems that you have given this matter considerable thought, Mr. Fang."

“You could say that.” This time, Fang Qingye didn’t deny it: “President Shen, you’re an investor in both Ele.me and Meituan. What are your thoughts on that?”

“As Sequoia China, we would be very happy to see your two companies merge. This way, you won’t have to fight a price war, and Ele.me can focus on planning its IPO. This is the ideal outcome for us investors. However, Mr. Fang, your conditions are a bit harsh.”

"Is it harsh? I don't think so," Fang Qingye said. "Ele.me's application for a payment license gives it internet finance capabilities and a strong revenue-generating mechanism. Meituan's market share is currently less than a third of Ele.me's; how can it compete with us?"

"Besides, these conditions of mine don't affect the interests of investors, including you, do they?" Fang Qingye concluded.

"It doesn't really affect most investors, but Alibaba is an exception."

"You mean Ele.me operates on an A/B share structure? If the two companies merge, Alibaba's shares will be counted as A shares, and Alibaba will completely lose control of the merged company."

"So you're saying Alibaba has a very high stake in Meituan? And can control Meituan?" Fang Qingye countered.

"Yes, to tell you the truth, Alibaba now holds 35.4% of Meituan's shares, which is higher than Wang Xing's own 30.2% shareholding. Alibaba is the largest shareholder of Meituan, so Alibaba has the final say on major decisions."

"Alibaba doesn't have absolute control over Meituan, but it still needs the support of Sequoia Capital, right?" Fang Qingye countered.

"Yes, just like I support you, Mr. Fang, on Ele.me."

"Thank you." Fang Qingye was too lazy to argue with Shen Nanpeng any further on this matter.

He knew that Shen Nanpeng had come to persuade him.

"Other issues can be discussed, but this one is non-negotiable!"

(End of this chapter)