I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 156: Pinduoduo's Angel Round, Valued at $20 Billion! Acquisition of Yunsu Express (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Three days later, Building 8, Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.

Inside the office, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

Pony Ma offered $3 million in exchange for a 30% stake in Pinduoduo, a much more sincere offer than Alibaba's.

However, this is only the first round of financing, and giving up too high a percentage of equity could easily cause him to lose control of the company.

Senlian Capital holds 3% of the equity in Yunsu Express and 40% in Yunsu Transportation. These two companies have nearly 5000 employees, yet they have never contributed a single ray of humanitarian aid to him.

This means that once Chen Yansen loses control, his employees will be unable to generate salary points.

Therefore, Chen Yansen refused decisively. He told Liu Zhiping that his bottom line was to exchange 3 million US dollars for a 15% stake in Pinbei.

Of course, his minimum requirement was actually 20%.

In short, Tencent used its primary traffic entry points on QQ and WeChat to exchange for 15% of Pinduoduo's original equity, and the $3 million was just a bonus.

Chen Yansen's move effectively valued Pinbei at $20 billion.

For an e-commerce platform that is still in the development stage, the valuation algorithm is completely unfounded.

However, this money was not invested in the Pinbei project, but in Chen Yansen himself.

Liu Zhiping then relayed the negotiation results to Ma Wenteng.

“Pony, although I agree with your idea of ​​investing in Pinduoduo, this kid is too greedy. I think we should wait and see how Pinduoduo develops before making a decision.”

After thinking it over carefully, Liu Zhiping said to Ma Wenteng.

“3 million US dollars, plus a top-level entry point display. Even our internal projects don’t dare to make this request at the conference. He has quite the appetite.”

Ma Wenteng pushed up his glasses and snorted coldly.

"What do you mean?" Liu Zhiping asked tentatively.

“Agree to his terms, but I’ll only sign a three-year contract for the primary entrance.”

Ma Wenteng squinted, pondered for a long time, and then gave an unexpected answer.

Liu Zhiping opened his mouth, his face full of surprise.

"What? Haven't you always wanted me to abandon the self-operated e-commerce strategy? Now that we're doing things your way, you're giving me this look?"

Ma Wenteng stood up, patted Liu Zhiping on the shoulder, and joked with a smile.

"But Chen Yansen said that the contract is signed annually."

Liu Zhiping snapped out of his daze and replied with a wry smile.

"What!? He only signed a one-year contract?" Ma Wenteng asked, his face full of doubt.

This is a primary traffic entry point for QQ and WeChat, with hundreds of millions of daily exposures and over ten million unique visitors.

Why would they go through all this trouble to only sign a one-year contract?
According to Ma Wenteng's plan, Chen Yansen would start by setting his contract term at least 5 years.

He said, "If we can't make Pinbei successful in a year, we might as well find a block of tofu and kill ourselves."

Liu Zhiping relayed Chen Yansen's original words.

“Having confidence is a good thing, but being overconfident is arrogance.” Ma Wenteng shook his head, feeling that Chen Yansen was too arrogant.

Despite having Tencent's backing and a large user base, Paipai.com couldn't even crack the top ten in the industry.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have pinned his hopes for the e-commerce sector on an external company.

At this time, Ma Wenteng was not yet disheartened. It was only when Paipai.com's market share fell to 1% that he accepted Liu Zhiping's advice.

We've reached a strategic cooperation agreement with JD.com, and they'll provide both financial and traffic support.

The only requirement is to help Tencent slap Taobao hard in the face in the e-commerce field.

Unfortunately, JD.com, the "handsome guy" of Zhongguancun, remained the runner-up for over a decade. It was only after Pinduoduo rose to prominence that Tencent regained a foothold in the e-commerce arena.

“Since the contract is only for one year, let’s agree to it.” Ma Wenteng returned to his seat, frowned in thought, and after a long while, looked up at Liu Zhiping and said.

“Okay, I’ll arrange it.” Liu Zhiping nodded.

That afternoon, Chen Yansen received a reply from Liu Zhiping, who said frankly that Pony had put in a lot of effort to persuade Tencent's management to pass the investment decision.

Chen Yansen smiled, not taking the other person's words to heart.

Even with such harsh conditions, Ma Ge agreed, which even Chen Yansen had to admire; there was an element of gambling involved.

The subsequent coordination process was handled by Gao Weilin, while Lin Chenfeng was in charge of the Tencent side, which was an old acquaintance.

The day after the contract was signed, the news went viral and became a trending topic.

"A business prodigy's third venture has secured its first investment from Penguin Capital, raising a whopping $3 million!"

Tencent Vice President Liu Zhiping revealed that Pinduoduo will become a strategic partner of QQ, and will have a primary entry point for it!

"It is said that before Tencent, Alibaba also extended an olive branch, but it was rejected by Chen Yansen!"

Details about this financing deal have been gradually revealed online.

This instantly broke the defenses of a group of entrepreneurs who were desperately seeking financing opportunities, especially Zhang Xuhao of Ele.me, who slammed his fist on the table in his office.

Why is it that Chen Yansen, with just a business concept, can get a valuation of 20 billion US dollars?
Is this fair?

Book that!

Why is it so difficult for Ele.me to find investment?
In his excitement, Zhang Xuhao even blurted out his catchphrase, but unfortunately, no one could explain it to him.

Pinbei garnered tens of millions of views even before its official launch.

Users, merchants, and platforms in the industry are all speculating about Pinduoduo's business model.

However, it's too abstract to understand the whole picture of a company based solely on its name. Ma Liyun was displeased when he learned that Chen Yansen had chosen to align himself with Tencent, but he was busy dealing with conflicts with merchants and repurchasing Alibaba's shares, so he didn't have time to think about it further.

He scoffed at Ma Wenteng's decision, saying that he dared to make such a big bet without even having a product, which was no different from gambling.
Chen Yansen is indeed a business prodigy. At a young age, he has amassed a fortune of tens of billions and founded two companies worth tens of billions.

But in this world, who can win every time?
His willingness to give a valuation of $5 million was simply because he had high hopes for Chen Yansen.

However, 20 billion US dollars far exceeded Ma Liyun's bottom line.

the other side.

After seeing the news online, the members of Pinbei first confirmed with Chen Yansen. After learning that the news was true, they all showed joy.

Although the project has ample funding, the $3 million from Penguin is different; it represents Ma Wenteng's full support.

Wang Zihao comes from an advertising background and understands better the cost and difficulty of user acquisition. By boarding the Tencent ship, while it may not be a meteoric rise, the subsequent product launch will naturally be smooth sailing.

Zhang Wenbo and Xiang Pengfei were busy with product development, while Song Yuncheng, Chen Xu, and others worked with the human resources department, conducting interviews every day.

Zhang Yifeng, Li Hui, and Yuan Wei were sent out by Chen Yansen, firstly to visit merchants, and secondly to take the opportunity to go deep into the origin of tangerines, mandarins, and navel oranges, establish contact with local agricultural associations, and obtain first-hand sources and prices.

Preparing for the launch of Pinbei!
The other recruited business partners then used the contact information of the merchants copied from FoxTao to call them one by one, inviting them to open stores on Pinduoduo.

Without Tencent's investment and traffic support, these merchants might not have been willing to join. After all, the development of a new platform takes time, and entering too early is bound to result in low returns, while also wasting human and financial resources.

After all, Pinduoduo has high entry requirements, with security deposits starting at 100,000 yuan. Merchants who are not strong enough really don't have the confidence to join.

But now that Tencent is backing them up, promising to embed Pinduoduo's redirect link in the primary entry points of QQ and WeChat, merchants from Taobao and JD.com no longer hesitate.

Min Jie of Metersbonwe paid a deposit of 50 yuan immediately after the Pinbei merchant recruitment rules were released, becoming the first brand besides Orange Technology to join Pinbei.

After securing the penguin, Chen Yansen called Liao Wei.

The next morning, Liao Wei arrived in Xucheng from Yanjing and went into Chen Yansen's office.

"How's Yunsu Logistics doing lately?" Chen Yansen picked up the teapot, poured Liao Wei a cup of hot tea, and asked with a smile.

"Although Ali has resources in international logistics and forwarding, it has currently handed over the cross-border e-commerce business to Yunsu. However, the person in charge has changed, and I am not at ease doing this job."

Liao Wei has been feeling very anxious lately. He had been working with FoxTao and was making great strides in the cross-border forwarding business.

But who would have thought that Chen Yansen would actually sell FoxTao to Ali!
"I've called you here because I need to discuss something with you. I'm planning to acquire Yunsu outright. What are your thoughts?"

Chen Yansen picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and asked softly.

Acquiring Yunsu?
Liao Wei was taken aback, then immediately realized that Chen Yansen was referring to Yunsu Express, not Yunsu Transfer.

"Mr. Chen, to be honest, the express delivery industry has been under great competitive pressure in the past two years. There are SF Express, STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express and Yunda Express ahead, and JD.com, Guofeng Express and Tiantian Express behind. Yunsu's business volume has been shrinking day by day, and now there are only about 300 express delivery points left."

Liao Wei smiled wryly, implying that he was willing to sell, but dared not mislead Chen Yansen regarding the valuation.

After all, the other party is still a major shareholder of Yunsu Transportation, and the rice bowl he is holding now is still given to him by Chen Yansen.

"We're both in the express delivery business, how come you're doing so badly?" Chen Yansen frowned, then joked with a smile.

What does 300 express delivery points mean?
More than a decade later, at its peak, SF Express had more than 20 stations across the country.

Yunsu's size is nothing compared to even a hair on someone else's head.

“Sigh, what can I do? E-commerce has developed rapidly in the past two years, and everyone is vying for market share. I have few vehicles, few employees, and few stations, so I can’t lower the express delivery price. I can’t compete with them, and I can’t outmaneuver them. If it weren’t for my old customers, I would have shut down Yunsu long ago.”

Liao Wei shrugged and complained incessantly.

Chen Yansen smiled, thinking to himself, "This is nothing."

In the previous life, Pinduoduo and Douyin e-commerce entered the low-price e-commerce market one after another, driving the starting price of express delivery fees down to 1 yuan. It was only after the postal service intervened that the price was brought back to 1.4-1.5 yuan.

The market in 2011 wasn't nearly as bad. Even if you signed a contract with the courier company headquarters, the minimum price was still 3-4 yuan per order.

Regarding the price, I will have Gao Weilin from Senlian discuss it with you.

Chen Yansen put down his teacup and said calmly.

With Yunsu's assets, even bundled together, it wouldn't exceed 3 million yuan. Just let Gao Weilin handle the negotiations.

"Okay, no problem! Mr. Chen, now that you've acquired Yunsu, you must be looking for a professional manager, right?"

Liao Wei readily agreed, then smiled and asked further questions.

He knew in his heart that once Ahri kicked Yunsu Yunzhuan away, he would be back to square one.

Following Chen Yansen will change everything!

You should know that a business giant like Tencent dared to invest 3 million US dollars in Chen Yansen without even seeing the product!
Then what was there for Liao Wei to hesitate about? He could just follow along!
"Are you interested?" Chen Yansen looked up at Liao Wei.

He really lacked a trustworthy person. Liao Wei, on the one hand, was capable, yet he made a complete mess of Yunsu Express; on the other hand, he was incapable, yet he made Yunsu Transport a great success.

Despite the help from FoxTao in this process.

However, his own abilities should not be overlooked!

Chen Yansen thought about it and felt that Liao Wei had good execution skills, but lacked pioneering spirit.

To put it simply, he can do the job well, but he's not smart enough and needs someone to guide him.

"Of course! I also want to work under President Chen. If you're willing, I'll treat you like an older brother from now on."

Liao Wei rubbed his hands together and chuckled.

Fuck!
This guy is almost fifty, and he still has such a thick skin!

Chen Yansen cursed inwardly, but the worst thing in business is being too blunt.

Liao Wei did this very well; he was flexible and shameless enough!
(End of this chapter)