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

Chapter 374 Meituan's Sale! Pony Ma: Every industry is like a mountain, unless you're Chen Yansen!
On February 2, Liu Qiangdong announced a "rest and recuperation" strategy, voluntarily ending the price war with Suning, Gome, and Yi Xun.

Everyone thought he had "turned over a new leaf," but Zhang Jindong knew in his heart that the handsome young man was going to the United States to study for a three-month MBA course and simply didn't have the time or energy for it.

Zhang Jindong wanted to launch a surprise attack, but he was reluctant to spend the money.

After all, Suning's subsidy activities are always products of being forced into a corner by JD.com.

Half an hour later, Analysys released its January group-buying market report, with Kuaipao once again retaining its champion title with a monthly transaction volume of 14.9 billion yuan.

Lashou.com ranked second with 10.2 billion.

Dianping ranked third with 7.3 million yuan.

Meituan, unsurprisingly, remains the fourth largest player in the industry, with a transaction volume of only 4.7 million yuan.

Lashou.com jumped to second place for the first time.

Although the "Annan Bride Group Buying" business did not generate actual transaction volume, it brought a wave of popularity to Lashou.com. With the traffic and financial support from Qiandu.com, it was expected that it would surpass Dianping.

However, the combined transaction volume of Dianping and Meituan was still less than that of Kuaipao, which surprised many people.

Now that Meituan is embroiled in another public opinion storm, it's not hard to imagine that its performance in February will likely be at the bottom of the list.

Group buying accounted for as much as 27.9% of movie tickets, becoming an important sales channel during the Spring Festival season.

The pre-sale of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" has begun, with exclusive discounted tickets priced at 19.9 yuan on KuaiPao, bringing tens of millions of additional traffic to the group-buying business.

Following this, China Mobile announced its TD-LTE strategy, preparing to accelerate the deployment of 4G and build 20 base stations by the end of the year.

After completing commercial testing of their 4G networks, China Telecom and China Unicom are also making intensive preparations.

3G network tariffs are already showing a downward trend, and there is much speculation about the imminent arrival of 4G.

Ma Liyun, who was staying in her hometown of Hangzhou, couldn't sit still any longer after learning that WeChat users had surpassed 300 million and Orange users had exceeded 200 million.

An impromptu meeting was convened with Lu Zhaoxi, Zhang Yong, and other senior executives of the group, where social software was designated as Ali's core strategy for 2013.

After a day of discussion, an app called 'Laiwang' was listed as the top development priority.

Before the Spring Festival, Ali's HR department sent the recruitment requirements for the head of Laiwang APP to the group's website, social recruitment software, and headhunting companies.

E-commerce giant Ma's first social networking attempt began quietly.

……

……

"Brother Xin, we still have a chance. Isn't it too early to give up now?" Wang Huiwen advised cautiously.

After suffering repeated setbacks for three consecutive days, Wang Xin chickened out and wanted to admit defeat.

He doesn't understand!

If you hold your own clay doll in your hand, it will always remain a clay doll; but if you sell it to someone else, it will become a golden doll.

For example, Renren.com was sold to Chen Yizhou for $200 million seven years ago. The other party slightly changed the name and packaged it, and then went public on NASDAQ, with a market value of $74 billion on the first day.

Take group-buying websites as another example. From the very beginning, they understood that they needed to provide services to more users, and the more users there were, the higher the value of their products.

As it turns out, his business acumen was sound, but there were too many competitors in the group-buying market.

Qiandu.com was the first to enter the market, followed closely by Senlian Capital.

They dethroned Meituan from its position as industry champion, then kicked it down to fourth place. With no one behind them, if they had fallen any further, they would have ended up like Wowo Group, closing down and ceasing operations.

"Old Wang, I'm sorry, I couldn't lead everyone to a decent life."

Facing his old classmates and friends, Wang Xin looked guilty.

In his eyes, only the founding team of Meituan were considered his own people, middle management was like cattle and horses, and the lower-level employees and delivery riders were just consumables, whom he never gave a second glance.

Wang Xin has failed in his business ventures so many times that he can hardly count them on two hands. For him, failure is not terrible; what is most shameful is not daring to start over.

Seeing Wang Xin's appearance, Wang Huiwen looked pained and said, "Brother Xin, it's not the final moment yet."

“If you sell it sooner, you can make some money. If you wait until Meituan’s February sales figures are released, you probably won’t even be able to sell it for 3 million US dollars.”

Wang Xin smiled wryly.

He wouldn't want to sell the company unless absolutely necessary.

However, it currently lacks investors and traffic, and has very little cash left. If it continues to struggle, Wowo will become a cautionary tale for Meituan.

The founder was being chased and attacked by venture capital firms!
"Then who will you sell it to?" Wang Huiwen asked helplessly when she saw that Wang Xin had made up his mind.

"Ali," Wang Xin said through gritted teeth.

Chen Yansen and Li Yanhong have driven Meituan to a dead end, so he's going to cause them some trouble.

Alibaba's strength is in no way inferior to Senlian Capital and Qiandu.com. Once Alibaba takes over Meituan, with the support of traffic and capital, the development of Kuaipao and Lashou.com will inevitably be hindered.

"Ali invested in Kuaipao, is Ma Liyun willing to renege on his investment?" Wang Huiwen was not optimistic about this decision.

"Give it a try. If it doesn't work out, we can sell it to penguins."

Wang Xin said dismissively.

“Okay, I’ll contact Ji Gang from Ali Investment Department first.” Wang Huiwen saw through his old friend’s plan and nodded in agreement.

That evening.

Ji Gang received a call from Wang Huiwen, and after listening to her account, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

He never expected that Wang Xin would lose his fighting spirit after being defeated by Kuaipao and Lashou, nor did he expect that Wang Xin's first choice would not be to merge with Dianping or sell himself to Senlian Capital, but to approach Alibaba.

"Mr. Wang, I need to report to the company first," Ji Gang said after thinking for a moment.

Logically speaking, both Ma Liyun and Cai Xin had previously stated that they would temporarily refrain from investing in Meituan.

But the bosses were very careful with their wording, saying it was only temporary.

If you fail to report a major incident, you might get a scolding.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, Mr. Ji." Wang Huiwen knew that Ji Gang couldn't make the decision on his own.

The other party's direct superior is Cai Xin, and Cai Xin also has to report to Ma Liyun.

It's unlikely to get any results in less than two or three days.

Therefore, after hanging up the phone, he called Lin Chenfeng from Tencent's investment department.

He's not going to be foolish enough to wait for Ahri.

"Mr. Wang, I'm sorry, Tencent has no plans to acquire group-buying websites." Lin Chenfeng refused decisively.

After merging with Gaopeng.com and F-tuan, QQ Group Buying is still barely surviving. Why would they let him buy Meituan, which is rife with negative news?

Did you make a mistake!
He didn't want to be criticized by name by Pony and Martin at the group's senior management meeting.

Wang Huiwen gave a dry laugh and silently put away her phone.

at the same time.

Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital also received the news and immediately called Wang Xin to question him about why he didn't follow his instructions to merge with Dianping.

“I want to cash out, not take the equity,” Wang Xin replied directly.

He needed to sell Meituan to have the start-up capital for his next project.

What will he gain from merging with Dianping?
Wang Xin doesn't believe Zhang Tao can defeat Kuaipao and Lashou.com.

"How about I step in and talk to Chen Yansen of Senlian Capital on your behalf?" Shen Nanpeng suggested.

Not long ago, he participated in OFO's Series A financing. In his opinion, Chen Yansen would give him some face.

“A few days ago, I had Zhang Chaoyang pass on a message that Chen Yansen had no intention of acquiring Meituan at all.”

Wang Xin stated the truth.

“Okay, I understand. If you want to sell the company, I won’t stop you, but the price needs to be approved by Sequoia Capital,” Shen Nanpeng said in a deep voice.

He feared that Wang Xin might engage in underhanded tactics, selling at a low price and harming Sequoia Capital's interests.

"Sure, I have no objection," Wang Xin replied curtly.

Even after all that, Shen Nanpeng didn't mention any additional investment, indicating that Sequoia Capital had already given up on Meituan.

Wang Xin sneered and pressed the hang-up button.

Half an hour later, Wang Huiwen returned and relayed Ali and Penguin's replies to Wang Xin. "Since Penguin won't buy, let's try Baidu." After a moment's thought, a new idea popped into Wang Xin's mind.

Firstly, it would allow KuaiPao and Lashou.com to fight amongst themselves; secondly, with Baidu entering the market, he could also raise his own value alongside Ali.

Otherwise, if Ahri is the only buyer, the other party will definitely try to drive the price down to the extreme.

Wang Huiwen was a smart man and understood immediately. Without asking any further questions, he pulled up a chair and started making a phone call in his office.

Wang Xin, like a hyena on the verge of death, stared menacingly at Kuai Pao and La Shou, wanting to bite them both.

the other side.

The headquarters of Ali in Hangzhou, Peach Blossom Island office.

Ma Liyun's gaze swept over Tang Yongbo, Zhang Yong, Lu Zhaoxi, and the others before she asked, "What do you think?"

“Acquiring Meituan can fill another gap in Ali’s local services business, so that we can have two legs to walk on,” Lu Zhaoxi said casually.

“Confronting Kuaipao and Lashou.com head-on at this time will only waste the group’s resources and funds, and may affect the upcoming listing process.” Zhang Yong shook his head, clearly not in favor.

Chen Yansen is known in the industry for being vindictive. After Kuaipao entered the group-buying market, Wang Xin was forced to withdraw after only showing his teeth once.

If Ali acquires Meituan, it will provoke retaliation from Kuaipao. Should we then engage in a price war?

Fighting would be costly and negatively impact the group's cash flow health; not fighting, however, would be the point of acquiring Meituan.
“By combining Taobao Takeaway and Meituan, using high-frequency services to drive low-frequency services, a complete business ecosystem can be formed. I support the acquisition.”

Tang Yongbo added.

By acquiring Meituan and merging it with its food delivery business, he gained more power, resources, and influence.

If it benefits him, he naturally won't object.

Ma Liyun frowned. Two votes were in favor and one vote was against. He didn't actually want to buy it either.

But then he thought again that Taobao had already ventured into the food delivery industry, and local services were also part of Ali's strategy, so sooner or later they would have to compete with Kuaipao.

From the day he decided to try his hand at the food delivery business, cracks appeared in the cooperation between Ali and Senlian Capital.

"Tell Ji Gang to initiate the acquisition process for Meituan." After pondering for a while, Ma Liyun immediately made the decision.

Instead of trying to hide it, it's better to openly admit Ali's determination to enter the local market.

“Okay, Mr. Ma,” Tang Yongbo nodded slightly.

……

……

"You mean, Wang Xin is planning to sell Meituan?"

At the headquarters of Baidu, Li Yanhong looked at Gong Zhenbing and asked.

"What Wang Huiwen said himself should be true. Meituan's transaction volume in January was only 470 million yuan, a drop of nearly 60% compared to three months ago. Once the data for February comes out, it will most likely not even be able to hold 400 million yuan."

Gong Zhenbing said with a smile.

Despite being criticized and singled out by the Inspection Association last month, Lashou.com's monthly transaction volume reached 10 billion yuan for the first time, making it the second largest in the industry, second only to Kuaipao.

Li Yanhong became friendly and amiable towards him again!

In large companies like BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), timing is crucial for success. You must complete projects to the expected level before your boss runs out of time and patience.

Otherwise, if the project is dissolved, the person in charge will also be fired.

"What is Wang Huiwen's offer?" Li Yanhong asked, his eyes gleaming with interest.

“3.7 million US dollars,” Gong Zhenbing replied.

Li Yanhong recalled that when Baidu acquired Lashou.com, the price was US$4.2 million. At that time, Lashou.com's monthly transaction volume was around 6 million. By comparison, the price of US$3.7 million was not high.

“Put the price down to around 3 million. I’ll have the investment department assist you,” Li Yanhong said.

By acquiring Meituan and then merging with Lashou.com, Qiandu.com will be able to become the number one in the group-buying industry.

However, Li Yanhong overlooked one thing: business mergers are an extremely complex task. From a macro perspective, they are very simple, as simple as '1+1=2'.

From a micro perspective, factors such as senior management handover, business integration, and personnel turnover can all affect the combat effectiveness of the merged team.

运作成功，1+1＞2；运作失败，1+1＜2。

The following morning, while attending an internet entrepreneurs' exchange meeting, Ma Wenteng was asked by a reporter: "Mr. Ma, what is your opinion on Qiandu.com's foray into ride-hailing and group-buying businesses?"

If it were more than ten years from now, Pony Ma would probably just casually say, "Baidu has a very good technological foundation, and I believe Robin can also achieve some success in new fields."

However, Gaopeng.com and QQ Group Buying made him lose face in the group buying industry, so Ma Wenteng spoke very bluntly: "Generally speaking, it is impossible for a company to do two different types of business well across industries, unless you are Chen Yansen."

The reporter was taken aback and instinctively asked, "So, is this the reason why Tencent has repeatedly failed in the e-commerce industry?"

Little Ma's face darkened, and he narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Which media outlet are you a reporter for?"

Damn it, you only hit people in the face, right?
The reporter was startled, gave an awkward laugh, subtly covered the logo on the microphone, and then ran away.

To Ma Liyun and Li Yanhong's surprise, Wang Xin changed his mind the very next day.

Hong Jing from General Atlantic approached him, offering to invest $1 million in Meituan.

In the eyes of foreign investors, Meituan's market share is not high, but it still occupies the fourth position in the industry.

Although Wang Xin didn't understand, he didn't refuse and readily agreed.

They exchanged 20% of their equity for $1 million in financing.

Ma Liyun was dragged around by Wang Xin and became so angry that she cursed loudly.

Li Yanhong was also dumbfounded. His and Lao Ma's actions had actually helped Wang Xin successfully raise the price.

But he was helpless and could only mutter a few curses.

……

……

"It seems that Kuaipao's 4% equity stake is far from satisfying Ma Liyun's appetite."

After learning that Wang Xin had outmaneuvered Li Yanhong and Ma Liyun, Chen Yansen did not gloat.

Does Ma Liyun want to buy Meituan?

What's that old guy up to?!
Not satisfied with just food delivery, do you also want to enter the group-buying market?

The 100 million yuan that General Atlantic Capital gave to Wang Xin undoubtedly pulled Meituan back from the brink of death.

But he didn't care too much, at most he would just let Meituan hold on for a few more months.

Outside the window, the snow is white and the wind is biting. There are only three days left until the Spring Festival holiday.

There are now 5700 users who have collected all five blessings. Compared to the previous few days, the number of new users collecting all five blessings has increased by more than 100 per day, and the average amount shared per person on the activity page is also decreasing.

Users have extremely conflicting feelings. Before collecting all five blessings, they wished Orange Pay would send out 10000 "Dedication Blessings" a day; after collecting them all, they wished Orange Pay would only send out one a day.

Regardless, OrangePay's marketing campaign successfully attracted the attention and high participation of hundreds of millions of users.

at the same time.

Stanford University, located next to Silicon Valley in the United States, is a beacon of hope.

“Jerry, look what I found! A brand new mobile operating system, wow, they even have their own open source community.”

A computer science student enthusiastically shared his experience with his classmates.

"Aurora Future OS? What's its architecture like?" Jerry turned to the side and glanced at the computer screen before asking.

"I'm still studying it. The underlying technology of this system is very advanced, with a clear layered architecture, optimized memory management and multi-task scheduling, and a message passing mechanism that is stronger than iOS,"

Bunian replied.

"Send me the link to the open-source BBS." Jerry immediately became interested after hearing this.

With promotion through Mimo, Wired magazine, and other channels, Aurora Future OS has gradually gained some popularity among development enthusiasts.

The Aurora Future bug bounty program, totaling $30 million, has spurred a large number of developers to research the Aurora Future system.

Apple, which has obtained a license for the Orange Z1 instruction set architecture, is using the new CPU architecture to design the A7 chip.

(End of this chapter)