Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 261 Li Bin's Reckless Remarks

The next day, Chen Xiu met the person who had come to solicit investment at her home.

To say that they were trying to attract investment wouldn't be quite right.

Since NIO is not short of investment, Li Bin's visit was simply to give face to Shen Nanpeng, the founding investor.

When Chen Xiu met Li Bin, she felt that he was quite refined, which seemed a bit different from the future Weilai boss who would speak recklessly and become famous for his controversial remarks.

"Mr. Li, it's nice to meet you."

"Hello."

Li Bin warmly shook Chen Xiu's hand and said with a smile, "President Chen, although this is our first meeting, we already have quite a history."

"Oh, where should I begin?"

"The idea for Mobike came about through discussions between Hu Weiwei and me, and I also invested in its founding funds. You gave her strong support; isn't that a connection?" (I didn't check the information carefully earlier, so I'll clarify here: the investment in Mobike by the main character is now Series A, and the investment in Tencent is now Series A+. This doesn't affect the reading experience.)
"That makes sense."

Chen Xiu chuckled and withdrew her hand, but her gaze towards Li Bin held a deeper meaning.

Last month, after reaching a deal with Wang Xin, he successfully completed the share swap.

Li Bin certainly knew that he had sold his shares in Mobike, but deliberately didn't mention it to avoid awkwardness between them, and instead used the matter to bring them closer.

Indeed, those who can succeed in starting a business are definitely not fools.

After exchanging pleasantries, Chen Xiu invited him into the house.

The two chatted and laughed as they entered the living room, where the aroma of food wafted through the air.

Seeing that Li Bin seemed to be pondering, Chen Xiu explained, "I've been eating out a lot lately, so I'd like to have something simple at home today. Mr. Li, you don't mind, do you?"

"Of course I don't mind, I just thought of something."

Li Bin smiled with narrowed eyes, intentionally leaving a hook in the conversation, hoping to provoke Chen Xiu into asking questions.

If anyone else adopted this attitude, Chen Xiu would inevitably make things difficult for them before asking questions.

However, Li Bin's personal visit today, aside from being a guest, already shows Chen Xiu respect.

Since he has not done anything impolite since he came in, it would be inappropriate to leave him in an awkward position.

Thinking of this, Chen Xiu could only patiently ask, "What is it?"

"Hehe, when I took the NIO car startup plan to Mr. Liu Qiangdong before, I also went to his home to talk about it."

Li Bin's smile widened, and he began his typical boastful opening: "At that time, I only spent 10 minutes in total, and President Liu immediately decided to invest in my project!"

"Mr. Liu, he is one of the six founding investors of NIO, right?"

"Yes! There's also General Manager Ma, General Manager Lei, General Manager Shen... General Manager Chen, you seem to know all of these people."

Li Bin's smile froze, and the way he looked at Chen Xiu became strange.

Looking at Chen Xiu's smiling and nodding expression, Li Bin thought to himself: I am over 40 years old and have only just earned a fairly considerable business. On the other hand, Chen Xiu is not even 25 years old, yet he has already achieved this much.

I really have nothing to boast about in front of him...

Li Bin awkwardly changed the subject: "President Chen, is it just the two of us having dinner today?"

"And my girlfriend, another chef, is a mutual friend of ours."

To prevent Li Bin from overthinking, Chen Xiu suggested, "After dinner, let's go upstairs to the study to discuss the investment."

To everyone's surprise, Li Bin didn't seem to mind at all.

"No need for all that trouble, we can just chat while we eat!"

"sure?"

“No problem. When I went to Mr. Liu’s house to talk to him before, his wife was also there. I don’t think there’s any problem.”

"..."

Chen Xiu stared blankly at Li Bin, then mentally revised her assessment of him: Without a doubt, he was a person who spoke without thinking!

……

Meng Ziyi, who had already placed the chocolates in the upstairs room, was unusually quiet at the dining table today.

She sat to Chen Xiu's right and didn't make a sound except when eating.

But her clear eyes kept glancing to the left, as if she were trying to convey all the words she was holding back to Chen Xiu through her gaze.

Sitting to Meng Ziyi's right, Chen Duling remained even more silent.

The three sat in the same row, with Li Bin sitting opposite Chen Xiu. But for some reason, his attention seemed to be constantly drawn to Chen Duling, who was sitting on the far side.

"Mr. Li?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Li Bin stared blankly at Chen Xiu, his mind still reeling: "They look so alike! How can Chen Xiu make these two get along so well? Does she have some unimaginable method? Tsk tsk, she's really got it all figured out!"
Unaware that Li Bin had already slandered her in his heart, Chen Xiu, seeing that he was out of sorts, could only repeat the question.

"You just said you wanted to talk to me about NIO's financing situation?"

"Oh, right, right, sorry, I was a little distracted just now." As he spoke, Li Bin glanced at Chen Duling again, and Chen Xiu finally caught this furtive reaction.

"This round of financing was actually initiated by Mr. Shen from Sequoia Capital. He said that if you are interested in NIO, he is willing to transfer part of Sequoia's financing to you."

"Give it to me?"

Chen Xiu looked puzzled, wondering why Shen Nanpeng would give her a project for free out of the blue.
Oh, I suppose it was during Mobike's Series C funding round last year when he mentioned resource exchange... He reciprocated by giving NIO a portion of its shares in return for Sequoia Capital's selection as one of Douyin's Series B investors.

Resource exchange in the investment world is a perfectly normal practice.

Having figured this out, Chen Xiu then inquired about the specifics: "President Li, what exactly is the share being transferred here?"

"0.5%."

Li Bin probably felt the number was daunting, and immediately began to explain after he finished speaking.

"The main reason is that there are many investors who are optimistic about NIO. Although Sequoia Capital has participated in previous rounds of financing, their share this time is not large."

"understand."

Chen Xiu nodded slightly, already calculating the share in her mind.

New energy vehicles are expected to be a hot sector in the next few years.

He himself sold half of his Didi shares, and the majority of the proceeds went to buying Tesla and Apple, but unfortunately, he bought them on the secondary market, so the gains were limited.

As one of the three major brands in the early stages, NIO is sure to make money by investing in the initial public offering (IPO) shares in the primary market.

Even if the market value hits new lows in the future due to various problems, you can still exit the market as long as you find the right time to do so.

More importantly, investing in NIO's initial public offering (IPO) now is equivalent to obtaining an entry ticket to the new energy vehicle industry. You might also be able to benefit from the investments in other emerging brands.

These thoughts flashed through Chen Xiu's mind quickly, but she only smiled slightly: "President Li, could you please explain the current situation of NIO Auto?"

"of course can!"

Li Bin, who got the chance to pat the cup, was instantly beaming with joy.

He picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, leaned back in his chair, and tried to cross his legs, but ended up having a thud with his feet on the table... so he had to awkwardly put his feet down.

"Ahem, last April, we reached a cooperation agreement with JAC Motors, and on November 21st, NIO's first model, the pure electric concept supercar EP9, was officially unveiled."

"The preliminary preparations are very thorough. We expect our mass-produced electric vehicle to be officially launched in the fourth quarter of this year. My idea is to hold a launch event for it."

"If you have time, Mr. Chen, please be sure to come and participate. With your popularity, you might even become the spokesperson for NIO, or we could simply open an account on Douyin to broadcast the event live."

Chen Xiu looked at Li Bin with shining eyes, feeling that although he was somewhat reckless in his speech, he was talented and had ideas.

However, he's a bit too arrogant.
"Mr. Li, I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"explain."

Li Bin raised his hand and smiled in a somewhat nonchalant manner, making Meng Ziyi and Chen Duling feel that this man in his forties was not as steady as Chen Xiu.

Chen Xiu seemed unconcerned about this: "I'd like to ask how you view Tesla's market competitiveness in China? It should be an unavoidable benchmark in the electric vehicle industry, right?"

"Tesla is the benchmark..."

Li Bin's lips curled into a sneer as he said, "That's because you haven't tried out NIO's cars yet. NIO has everything Tesla has! And it might not have everything I have! What's the big deal?"

"Will you say the same thing when facing questions from customers in the future?"

"That's definitely not how you say it."

"Really?"

Chen Xiu looked at him with suspicion, almost blurting out Chen Luyu's classic line.

Perhaps because NIO hasn't gone public yet, Li Bin's mindset isn't too inflated. Faced with Chen Xiu's questions, he still gave a matter-of-fact answer.

"Currently, Tesla doesn't have a production base in China, and all its cars are imported. Not only are they expensive, but the delivery time is also very long. NIO's car factory delivers cars faster, and the price isn't as high as Tesla's. How could it possibly lose!"

"Oh, that's how it is."

Chen Xiu looked at Li Bin expressionlessly, thinking: Once Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai is built, I hope you'll have some new ideas.

Li Bin couldn't guess what Chen Xiu was thinking, and just assumed that he was simply someone who didn't like to smile: "President Chen, let me continue to tell you about Weilai's development plan."

"no need."

"Ok?"

"Sequoia and Penguin have already done the necessary assessments and investigations for me, so I trust them. 0.5% is not a big deal. I just hope you can help me make money."

Chen Xiu said directly that the points Li Bin mentioned earlier were quite interesting, especially the mention of Douyin Live's year-end press conference.

The press conference was full of memorable moments, and the owner's wife of NIO, who seemed like a perfect match for Li Bin, generated another wave of buzz...

Seeing how straightforward and easygoing Chen Xiu was, Li Bin, who disliked being long-winded, also developed a liking for his way of doing things.

Li Bin glanced at Meng Ziyi and Chen Duling, who were standing silently to the side, and suddenly suggested, "President Chen, why don't you bring your girlfriend to the press conference? Ms. Chen Duling can also go; I'll send you a separate invitation."

(End of this chapter)