Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 368 Didi's Dilemma, Cheng Wei Seeks Advice

"I'm sorry, Wang Wei was a little emotional just now..."

Chen Xiu took Cheng Wei to her office and, after explaining, added with a puzzled look, "I don't know why he's so agitated. He was perfectly calm just now."

"Um...maybe it's because I was thinking about some unpleasant memories."

Cheng Wei explained with an awkward expression, thinking to himself: Tudou.com almost became the first Chinese company to go public overseas, but due to Wang Wei's series of questionable actions, the listing was halted, and Youku beat them to it.

One step at a time, one step at a time.

Finally, the company was acquired by Youku, and he was forced out, just like Lü Chuanwei.

On the other hand, you left Didi voluntarily. Before you left, you stabbed me in the back several times, leaving me with no way to complain. Now, people keep digging up my past and whipping me with your words...

What's most infuriating is that I'm in the wrong, so I have no choice but to humble myself and become your friend.

Thinking of his own experience, Cheng Wei instantly empathized with Wang Wei's agitation, and then realized that his own situation was actually worse than hers...

Chen Xiu looked at Cheng Wei, whose expression had been changing since the beginning, with great interest, and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing. Um, is it alright to have Wei Feng entertain Wang Wei?"

"It's nothing. Wang Wei wants to invite Xiao Feng to dinner and drinks. I've asked Da Xiong to go with him. I'll make sure he has a good time."

"..."

Thinking of Xiong Ben's drinking style, Cheng Wei silently mourned for Wang Wei for two seconds.

Simply change the subject to cover up the awkwardness.

Cheng Wei's fingers, which were resting on his knees, began to tap unconsciously.

When Chen Xiu walked back to the sofa from behind her desk, she saw him still typing: "If you have something to say, you can just say it directly. You don't need to overthink it."

"It's nothing!"

Cheng Wei began to feign death, but Chen Xiu exposed him with a single finger.

He looked at his fingers fidgeting on his knee and immediately realized that Chen Xiu had seen through his unconscious thought.

"Well, there is indeed a small matter..."

"How small? A little bit? We haven't been in touch for so long, and you're suddenly showing up at my door. You're not here to borrow money, are you?"

Unlike when she was with other people, Chen Xiu could skip even the most basic formalities when chatting with Cheng Wei, especially in private.

Cheng Wei pursed his lips and explained, "It's not about borrowing money, I just wanted to ask you for advice on something."

"Is the consultation paid or free?"

"Forehead……"

"Alright, we've known each other for so long, I'll let you see my knowledge for once. What would you like to talk about?"

After saying that, while Cheng Wei was still hesitating, Chen Xiu started brewing tea.

Boil water, rinsing teaware, washing tea leaves, brewing tea...

After completing the entire process, Cheng Wei was still tapping his knees with his eyes darting around.

As she placed a cup of tea in front of him, Chen Xiu said, "Is it so difficult to talk about? Is there anything more difficult than borrowing money?"

"Ahem, well, I'd like to ask you about Didi's future development direction..."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Wei's face flushed red, and Chen Xiu paused in her action of picking up the teacup.

After a moment, Chen Xiu took a sip of tea and said, "This is indeed no easier than asking to borrow money."

"..."

"Does Didi no longer have a strategy department?"

"besides."

"So what is their strategic plan? Don't overthink it, Douyin would never enter the ride-hailing field. If you want to ask questions, I need to understand the situation as much as possible."

"understand."

Cheng Wei's expression shifted from surprise to calm, and then he began to think seriously.

"At the beginning of this year, our strategic development plan was to focus on both internal and external development, diversify our efforts, and pursue steady progress..."

"speak English."

Chen Xiu took a sip of tea and said expressionlessly.

Cheng Wei sullenly pursed his lips, took a sip of tea, and explained, "We're going to seize the overseas ride-hailing market, enter the food delivery market, increase local lifestyle content, and strive to share the market with Meituan and Ele.me."

"..."

Chen Xiu glanced at him, silently keeping her thought of his comment that he'd watched too much Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

"Has anything been accomplished?"

“In overseas markets, we need to cooperate with local ride-hailing agencies. The profits are negligible and can only be used for PowerPoint presentations. The food delivery business was stopped as soon as it started burning money. I only found out when I was having dinner with Wang Xin that you were not optimistic about Didi’s entry into the food delivery field from the beginning.”

"Tsk, he has a pretty big mouth..."

Chen Xiu grumbled at Wang Xin, her brow furrowed in slight confusion: "It's rare for the two of you to sit down and eat together. At the end of last year, you were still openly and secretly fighting over Mobike. Hmm, could it be that Tencent intervened to mediate again?" "Yes."

Cheng Wei seemed completely exhausted, his face full of sighs, and he felt an indescribable envy for Douyin's ability to stand up to Tencent.

"After being summoned by the Administration for Industry and Commerce, Didi was required to make safety rectifications again because of what happened last month. Tencent called Wang Xin and me together and said that with Meituan's IPO imminent, Didi should just focus on its ride-hailing business for now."

"It's more accurate to say that Didi should only focus on ride-hailing and related businesses. It shouldn't get involved in internal competition with Meituan in other daily necessities categories."

"That's what it means."

"So how's your ride-hailing service going right now?"

Chen Xiu put down her teacup, and her expression became serious.

When talking about his company's core business, Cheng Wei finally became more confident: "At the beginning of the year, we established an AI intelligent driving laboratory to prepare for the future of driverless driving. According to the financial report for the first five months, the investment in driver subsidies this year is expected to reach 120 billion yuan."

"How much profit is it?"

"The estimated loss is 100 billion."

"Why is it that before I left, Didi was burning money to seize the market, and after I left, you're still burning money to seize the market?"

Chen Xiu's probing question left Cheng Wei with no choice but to drink tea to cover up his embarrassment.

However, a small cup of tea could not withstand his consumption, and it was quickly drunk up.

Setting down his teacup, and seeing that there was no one else in the office, Cheng Wei disregarded any concerns about saving face and immediately continued to raise questions on the topic.

"What adjustments do you think Didi should make now? I know it's a bit inappropriate to ask you this, but Didi is, after all, a company you founded yourself. Developing AI-powered intelligent driving was your initial strategic development direction. But Liu Qing said that we should try to expand the scale as much as possible, even if we continue to burn money to seize overseas markets, we should make the data on the PPT look good."

Cheng Wei smacked his lips, his face full of helplessness.

Chen Xiu glanced at him and began to analyze Didi's current situation in her mind.

Looking at it from a future perspective, Didi's overseas expansion cannot be said to be completely useless; it's more like a double-edged sword—tasteless to keep but a pity to abandon.

A market with scale but no profit is not very meaningful. It would be better to focus on the domestic market and use the vast driving habits of Didi drivers and the road conditions across the country to build a large-scale AI intelligent driving model for training.

The new energy vehicle market is now booming, and there is a huge demand for intelligent assisted driving.

If Didi can stay ahead of the market and have a big model for intelligent driving, it can either promote driverless technology or cooperate with major new energy vehicle manufacturers and collect patent fees.

The correct answer was given long ago, yet resources and efforts are being used elsewhere...

Looking at Cheng Wei, who was sitting on the sofa with an embarrassed expression, Chen Xiu was about to speak when a sudden thought flashed through his mind, making him stop talking.

"Bad news and the person delivering it will both be disliked. Some things need to be proven with facts. Wouldn't it be better if it succeeded?"

Liu Chiping's words resonated in Chen Xiu's ears like a resounding bell, causing a change in the way he looked at Cheng Wei.

"Beep beep, compared to myself, that's already a thing of the past," Chen Xiuru thought to herself.

Then he realized that even if he gave the correct hints, Cheng Wei might not follow them; and even if he was willing to follow them, others within Didi might not agree...
"Brother Wei, actually, the directions you've chosen all have great potential."

"Oh, you think so too?"

“Some things need time to prove themselves. Didi has developed to the point where it is qualified for an IPO. This year, many internet companies are queuing up to go public. Why don’t you apply in Hong Kong?”

"This one……"

Cheng Wei's lips trembled, and his eyes flashed with a hint of something.

He recalled Chen Xiu's suggestion that Didi, as a company with a large amount of data, should ideally list in Hong Kong, but there were differing opinions within the company.

Chen Xiujian could tell from Cheng Wei's expression that there must be someone within Didi who could influence him.

This further convinced Chen Xiu that instead of saying more about the company's specific development, it would be better to offer some emotional value, which would make Cheng Wei's trip worthwhile.

"Brother Wei, believe in your decision! You've led Didi through so many difficulties, and now you're about to succeed. Don't hesitate because of a temporary slowdown. Just keep going, keep it up!"

Having just finished playing Chen Xiu, who portrayed Li Shimin, Chen Xiu's inspiring words were delivered with such perfect emotional expression.

Upon hearing these words, Cheng Wei's face, which had been lingering with embarrassment, suddenly lit up.

However, a brief moment of hesitation caused by his emotions led him to ask further questions.

"Do you really think there won't be any problems if things continue to develop this way?"

"No matter what, Didi's leading position in the domestic ride-hailing market is unshakeable, and AI-powered intelligent driving is a definite direction for future development."

Chen Xiu reiterated her affirmation to make her suggestion seem less pretentious.

Cheng Wei's expression confirmed his confidence: "You're right, intelligent driving is indeed the future direction. We've already established an AI R&D lab in the US, and I believe we'll see results soon."

"..."

Chen Xiu was speechless. He thought to himself: There are millions of driving data points in China every day, but you can't take them out, and the chips from over there can't come in either. With such a dimensional barrier, what kind of research and development are you doing? What the hell are you doing?

In his heightened emotional state, Cheng Wei took this silence as a sign of approval.

"Show! Thank you for your advice. It helped me sort out a lot of my thoughts. I'll treat you to dinner when Didi goes public. Douyin is doing so well now, it would be a good thing if we shook hands and made peace."

"Haha, as long as you are happy."

(End of this chapter)