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

Chapter 291 Liu Qiangdong: Do you really think I'm a piece of trash? Ma Wenteng: Is President Huang scared?

"Beep...beep...beep..."

At Renren.com's headquarters, Chen Yizhou sat in his boss's chair, listening to the buzzing sound coming from the loudspeaker. He felt a surge of irritation and mentally cursed Chen Yansen's entire family.

Li Yanhong is an old fox, while Chen Yansen is a young fox.

The promised acquisition deal dragged on for a month before buying Lashou.com, while the latter only kept haggling over the price and now they're not even answering the phone.

"Hello, Mr. Chen, what's up?" The call suddenly connected, and Chen Yansen's voice rang in my ears, his tone of doubt tinged with a hint of teasing.

"Mr. Chen, after careful consideration, I am willing to lower the price of Nuomi.com to 1.6 million US dollars."

Chen Yizhou forced a smile and got straight to the point, without beating around the bush with Chen Yansen.

As a shrewd businessman, he wouldn't be foolish enough to ask Chen Yansen why he wasn't answering the phone.

For adults, the reason is simple—they just don't want to answer!

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, after a comprehensive evaluation, the company unanimously believes that Dianping has a more advanced organizational structure, more precise marketing, and stronger on-the-ground sales capabilities. Therefore, the acquisition may have to be scrapped."

Chen Yansen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of Building No. 9 in the Science and Technology Park, looking at the golden wheat field, and said with a light smile.

possible?

Chen Yizhou immediately grasped the subtext in Chen Yansen's words: Senlian Capital and Dianping may not have been in contact yet, or the acquisition price may not have been agreed upon, and Nuomi.com still has a chance.

Of course, another possibility is that Chen Yansen never contacted Zhang Tao of Dianping at all, and said this just to try to lower the price further.

Moreover, Dianping's business growth rate is no less than Meituan's, so Zhang Tao has no reason to sell the company.

After thinking it through, Chen Yizhou cursed inwardly and simply asked, "What is Mr. Chen's bottom line?"

“1.5 million US dollars, this offer is only valid until August,” Chen Yansen replied directly.

The asking price was $1.6 million in July, and then dropped by $1000 million in August?
Chen Yizhou glared at him, wanting to curse immediately, but he swallowed the words back down.

In a market environment where group buying is cooling down and capital is not optimistic, Chen Yansen can be considered a very high-quality buyer.

Although the price offered is low, at least the intention to buy is genuine.

Besides Baidu and Senlian Capital, Chen Yizhou approached a number of investment institutions and internet giants, including Tencent, but none of them were willing to pay for acquisitions or even invest.

"Okay, I agree." Chen Yizhou remained silent for a long while before nodding in agreement through gritted teeth.

agreed?
Chen Yansen was slightly taken aback and immediately felt that the price was too high. He thought that even if he only offered 1.4 million US dollars, Chen Yizhou would eventually sell.

But then he thought again that compared to the group-buying market and Gaode Maps' O2O strategy, spending an extra $1000 million to gain more market share and a better entry opportunity seemed more important.

“No problem. I will send someone to Yanjing tomorrow to set up operations and verify Nuomi.com’s asset status and business data. If the information is correct, I will buy Nuomi.com.”

Chen Yansen suppressed his smile and made a serious promise.

“Okay, I will have Nuomi.com’s CEO, Shen Boyang, fully cooperate with your company’s audit work.”

Chen Yizhou quickly expressed his agreement, and couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally, we sold the loss-making goods!
The burden on my shoulders instantly felt much lighter!

Ma Wenteng had similar thoughts; he also wanted to hand over the three money-guzzling businesses, QQ Shopping, Paipai.com, and Yixun.com, to Liu Qiangdong.

But when he finished his visit to Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park and was about to attend Orange Technology's new product launch, Lin Chenfeng from Tencent Investment Department called to report that Zhao Yingchun, a director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Investment Banking Department, had joined JD.com as vice president, responsible for JD.com's financing and IPO preparations.

In other words, Liu Qiangdong spent a lot of money to poach a financial broker with extensive connections and resources from Wall Street to seek overseas financing solutions for Liu.

Ma Wenteng was well-versed in the workings of the capital market and immediately understood the exchange of interests between Liu Qiangdong and Zhao Yingchun.

Zhao Yingchun has most likely already found potential investors for JD.com; otherwise, Liu Qiangdong would never have so easily given up the position of vice president.

Why would JD.com, a company that's not short of money, accept Tencent's 'junk assets'?
"Have Lin Chenfeng sound out Liu Qiangdong's opinion."

After a moment's thought, Ma Wenteng gave instructions to Liu Zhiping.

"OK, I'll arrange it." Liu Zhiping replied with a tense expression.

Zhao Yingchun's involvement made him realize one thing: Liu Qiangdong was not willing to be a garbage collector.

At this moment, Chen Yansen, who had just finished a phone call with Chen Yizhou, returned to his office and invited the two to attend Orange Technology's new product launch.

Ma Wenteng and Liu Zhiping readily agreed.

The group, traveling in a large convoy of over a dozen luxury cars, sped off towards the city center.

There were patrol vehicles clearing the way in front and behind!
Last night, after learning that the chairman of Tencent was visiting Virtual City, Xu Zhenhui immediately dispatched two groups of inspectors to be responsible for the security work of the Science Park and the Sky Garden, respectively.

If anything goes wrong, it will be a disgrace to Xucheng.

at the same time.

Despite his disappointment in love, Liu Qiangdong was thriving in his career. He shook off the dejection and gloom of the past two months and looked at Zhao Yingchun with satisfaction. He then asked, "When will the OTPP investment agreement be finalized?"

OTPP, short for Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, is currently facing a $96 billion CAD pension funding gap and therefore urgently needs a high-yield investment project.

With her superb business packaging skills, Zhao Yingchun touted JD.com as the Asian version of Amazon and the second largest e-commerce platform in China, successfully persuading OTPP's investors.

The two sides hit it off immediately!
OTPP wants to share the fruits of Liu Qiangdong's IPO!
Liu Qiangdong also wants to use the funds from OTPP to further boost JD.com's sales and revenue levels, thereby obtaining a higher IPO valuation.

The quotes given by brokerages in Hong Kong and the United States were an insult to him.

"The initial market research will take a month because OTPP has never been involved in China's internet investment field before. Therefore, it will provide a completely new valuation quote based on information such as JD.com's market size, growth trend, competitive landscape, and policies and regulations."

"The current problem is that JD.com has been overtaken by Pinduoduo in terms of daily active users and sales, which is very likely to affect the final price of OTPP."

With a smile on her face and her toes lightly touching the ground, Zhao Yingchun appeared remarkably calm and composed in front of Liu Qiangdong.

In her eyes, JD.com was nothing more than a stepping stone for her to monetize her resources. Once she had successfully listed JD.com, she would leave.

Let's go for it!

Liu Qiangdong's lips turned down, and a hint of anger appeared on his face, but he was helpless.

JD.com's sales output is mainly concentrated in the 3C digital, large and small home appliance categories. The repurchase frequency is low and the cost of acquiring new customers is high. In addition, there is no free external traffic support, which makes JD.com's customer acquisition cost extremely high. As a result, daily active users cannot increase, and sales naturally cannot increase either.

Since the falling out with Pinduoduo during the 418 Home Appliance Festival, and the subsequent withdrawal of JD.com's self-operated products from the Pinduoduo Mall, daily sales have declined again.

It took JD.com more than a decade to reach a cumulative user base of 100 million.

Pinduoduo only took two months!
Compared to Chen Yansen's trading skills, I feel like a complete novice. All my hard work over the past ten years is not as good as someone else's efforts in just one year.

"I understand. Try to speed things up as much as possible, and ideally finish it before October."

Liu Qiangdong raised his head and solemnly instructed.

JD.com urgently needs to replenish its funds; otherwise, how can it compete with Taobao and Pinduoduo for Singles' Day?

Those damn self-media outlets are spreading rumors all day long that JD.com is at risk of a broken capital chain, and even some suppliers have believed them.

If it weren't for Xu Xin of Capital Today personally lending him 100 million yuan to save him from an emergency, he probably would have already humbled himself and begged Ma Huateng for investment. "President Liu, I suggest postponing the traffic cooperation with Tencent Group for three to six months. It will be more beneficial for you and Tencent after JD.com secures OTPP and European and American financing."

Zhao Yingchun reminded her.

While the primary traffic entry points on WeChat and QQ are important, Ma Wenteng is unwilling to pay in cash, only willing to use equity in three asset-liable projects: QQ Shopping, Paipai.com, and Yixun.com.

"Don't worry, I know," Liu Qiangdong nodded and replied.

After Zhao Yingchun left, Liu Qiangdong finally took a deep breath.

No one understands better than him how many crises are hidden beneath the seemingly thriving and prosperous Di Dong.

Fortunately, Zhao Yingchun joined the company in time and brought OTPP's investment intentions to Dong.

Liu Qiangdong felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, only to be pulled back again.

He leaned back and slumped in his chair, and through the glass, he could see his familiar old workstation.

now,

Sigh, out with the old, in with the new.

Liu Qiangdong smiled faintly, thinking with a rather carefree air.

“Buzz buzz—!”

The phone on the table suddenly vibrated!

Liu Qiangdong glanced at the screen and thought to himself: It seems that Tencent has received the message and wants to test my attitude.

He thought for a moment, then pressed the answer button: "Mr. Lin, has Mr. Ma agreed?"

"No, Mr. Ma's intention is still to adopt a payment method of 10% cash plus 90% equity," Lin Chenfeng replied with a smile.

Fuck!
Do you really think I'm a garbage collector?
Suppressing his displeasure, Liu Qiangdong calmly asked, "So, Mr. Lin, did you have some good news for me?"

"The Jingdong Investment proposal that Mr. Ma has agreed to will be proposed at next week's board meeting. There is little chance of any unexpected situations. I would like to communicate with Mr. Liu in advance about the review time for financial and business data so as to determine the valuation and equity ratio as soon as possible."

Lin Chenfeng explained slowly.

"I see. The whole company is busy preparing for the Double Eleven promotion, so it might be inconvenient."

Liu Qiangdong made up an excuse to delay the time.

Ma Wenteng doesn't treat him like a human being, so there's no need for him to hide anything from him.

Liu Qiangdong knew that no matter how much nonsense he made up, Lin Chenfeng wouldn't believe him.

Anyway, it's not that he won't talk, but he'll take it slow, talk slowly, and talk in an orderly, regulated, and high-quality manner.

Lin Chenfeng instantly understood the meaning behind Liu Qiangdong's words: "We're all shrewd old foxes, why are you trying to play these ghost stories with me?"

They simply secured investment and then abandoned Tencent.

Lin Chenfeng smiled, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then hurriedly hung up the phone to report to Liu Zhiping.

the other side.

Upon learning this, Liu Zhiping forwarded the message from Lin Chenfeng to Ma Wenteng.

"I'll suspend Jingdong's investment plan. He wants to stall for time, so I'll grant his wish."

Ma Wenteng waved his hand dismissively.

Just because he can stand someone up doesn't mean others can stand him up. Investing in a company is an option, not a necessity.

As for Liu Qiangdong, we're not in a position to negotiate with him yet. Let's wait and see for a while!
Liu Zhiping nodded in agreement, understanding Ma Wenteng's plan: he would wait for Liu Qiangdong to come to him for help.

With QQ and WeChat, two major traffic engines, how could Tencent not handle a guy from northern Jiangsu?

The two exchanged a smile, and though they didn't speak, they understood each other's meaning.

Next, Tencent's main focus in the e-commerce sector remains Pinduoduo.

The street scene outside the window kept flashing by; the plane trees in the height of summer were lush and leafy, and the urgent chirping of cicadas could be faintly heard.

Five minutes later, Ma Wenteng's Mercedes-Maybach 62S stopped at the entrance of the Sky Garden.

Luxury cars filled the parking spaces, and the lobby on the first floor was bustling with people. Inspectors patrolled both indoors and outdoors to maintain order and ensure the safety of the attendees.

It's worth noting that, given Orange Technology's position in the mobile phone industry, it had over thirty top international suppliers invited to participate.

The group of competitors included Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Coolpad, Xiaomi, 360, NetEase, and many other companies, ranging from established telecommunications companies to internet-based mobile phone manufacturers. The CEOs who attended the press conference were all quite wealthy.

In addition, there are a large number of news media and fans.

The largest banquet hall on the top floor, which can accommodate thousands of people, seemed inadequate today.

As soon as Chen Yansen got out of the car, Wang Teng came up to him and said, "Boss, we should move. Otherwise, we'll have to go to Luzhou, Shanghai, or Nanjing to hold new product launches in the future."

"Wait two more years," Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

The construction of the Luzhou headquarters has just started, and it won't be completed in less than two years.

"Have Lei Yijun and Zhou Hongyi arrived?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"They've arrived. Director Ye received them. There are six seats between them, so it should be fine," Wang Teng replied immediately, knowing what his boss wanted to ask.

"That's good, I'll go up and take a look first." Chen Yansen felt a little relieved.

While the outside world was unaware, he knew perfectly well that the two had indeed sparred offline, and Zhou Hongyi had been practicing freestyle fighting for the past six months.

She probably wants to meet with Lei Yijun again, since he suffered a great loss last time, getting beaten black and blue and not going to the company for half a month.

Chen Yansen led Ma Wenteng, Liu Zhiping and others to the banquet hall on the top floor.

This is the largest banquet venue in the virtual city, and the central government's meetings are also frequently held here.

The room was brightly lit and packed with a huge audience.

"Mr. Chen!"

"Mr. Ma, what brings you here? Does Tencent want to make mobile phones too?"

"Martin, it's been a long time!"

As soon as the three appeared, a bunch of business partners from the industry surrounded them.

"It's not like Tencent hasn't made phones before, Mr. Huang, are you scared?" Ma Wenteng shook hands with Huang Zhang of Meizu and joked with a smile.

Tencent did make mobile phones, but those were carrier-exclusive models and contract phones, and had little to do with Tencent.

(End of this chapter)