Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 394 Meituan's IPO: A Hundredfold Return
September 19th, night, Xiangshan Qingqin.

After taking a shower, Chen Xiu came out of the bathroom and looked up to see Meng Ziyi, who was wearing pajamas, lying on the bed, raising her legs, and flipping through a script.

When he went closer to look, Meng Ziyi still hadn't found it.

It wasn't until Chen Xiu chuckled that Meng Da Piao Liang, who was immersed in the world of the script, suddenly looked up and widened her eyes.

"Brother Xiu, are you done washing?"

"Ah."

Chen Xiu sat down on the edge of the bed and glanced at the script.

Are you still preparing for auditions for a role?

"Yes! I feel that the story of 'Qing Ping Yue' is quite different from 'Qin Wang Po Zhen Qu' and 'Xuanwu Gate Incident'."

"What's the difference?"

"The story of 'Qing Ping Yue' seems a bit frustrating."

Meng Ziyi pursed her lips and said that she did not understand the atmosphere of the early Tang Dynasty and the compromises of the Song Dynasty, but she could still draw this conclusion from the lines of the script.

Chen Xiujian could read faces and, from the slightly furrowed brows of the silly beauty, he had already guessed her unspoken "thoughts".

"If you don't like the role, you can just turn it down."

"real!"

Meng Ziyi's lips curled up uncontrollably, but he immediately realized that he had been too obvious, and then he forcefully suppressed the joy that was about to burst out.

"Um, I heard from Brother Yang that you arranged this drama for me. Is it really okay if I don't have to act in it?"

"Heh, it's just a role. Of course, I was just thinking that you haven't gotten any roles this year, so I wanted to find you a decent drama. But if you're not happy with the role, it's better not to take it."

"Great!"

Meng Ziyi clapped her hands twice with a smile, then placed the audition script on the bedside table.

Turning to look at Chen Xiu, she immediately reached out and hugged that familiar arm.

“Brother Xiu, actually I have enough work this year. Look, I’m in the second season of ‘Back to Field’, ‘Ashes of Love’ is the drama I starred in, and I’m the female lead in ‘The Xuanwu Gate Incident’.”

"Besides these, I also took on more than a dozen endorsements and appeared as a guest on several variety shows. With such a heavy workload, it would be good to take a few months off."

Meng Ziyi counted her work on her fingers.

In Chen Xiu's opinion, these were not the main reasons why she did not want to act in "Qing Ping Le".

However, Chen Xiu didn't want to press her for details if she didn't want to talk about it.

Chen Xiu pinched Meng Ziyi's puffed-out cheek and said, "Well, then go to sleep early."

"Oh right! You have to go to Hong Kong City in the early hours of the morning, so you'll have to sleep on vegetarian food tonight."

Meng Ziyi released Chen Xiu's arm, reached over and "tick-tocked" the bedroom light off.

In the pitch-black room, Chen Xiu was lying on his back, sleeping, while Meng Ziyi was sleeping on his side, using his arm as a pillow.

Just as Chen Xiu was about to fall asleep, Meng Ziyi suddenly called out his name.

"Brother Xiu, are you asleep?"

"Sleep."

"Hehe, how could I talk when I'm asleep... I didn't want to act in 'Serenade of Peaceful Joy' because I felt that the character of Empress Cao was similar to that of Empress Zhangsun, and I didn't want fans to compare them in the future."

"That's true, it was my oversight."

Upon hearing this, the room fell silent, and Meng Ziyi's rhythmic breathing also briefly ceased.

A voice called out, and Meng Ziyi, realizing what was happening, sat up and rolled over, pinning Chen Xiu down with her elbow, staring at him with wide eyes.

"You're not surprised at all? I thought that after holding it in for so long, even if it didn't move you to tears, it would at least give you a shock!"

"Hmm~, they are indeed quite daring."

Chen Xiu raised her arm to embrace Meng Ziyi, and when she opened her eyes, her sparkling gaze met that of the silly beauty.

With a glance, Meng Ziyi understood and said, "Aren't you going to Hong Kong later?"

"You can take a nap on the plane."

"Then I'll turn on the light..."

"No need, it's fine as it is."

……

The following day, Chen Xiu, who took an early morning flight, arrived in Hong Kong at 8 a.m. sharp and then took a car straight to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Upon arrival, he was led by the reception staff arranged by Wang Xin to the VIP conference room before the listing ceremony.

Pushing open the door, I found that the room was already filled with people. Wang Xin, dressed in a black suit and blue tie, was sitting at the head of the table, giving a victory speech.

At the receptionist's suggestion, Chen Xiu found an empty seat and sat down. Turning her head, she saw Wang Sicong, who looked sleepy, sitting to her side.

"By the way, he did say he would attend Meituan's IPO..."

As Chen Xiu was pondering this to himself, he noticed that Wang Sicong, who was also trying to stay alert, waved and greeted him.

Chen Xiu nodded in return, and then heard Wang Xin suddenly raise his voice.

"It took us eight years to reach this day!"

"Since the founding of Meituan 10 years ago, we have overcome many difficulties. We fought our way out of the group-buying war, captured 60% of the market share, and then merged with Dianping. It took us a total of 5 years."

"Then, we continued to expand Meituan's local services offerings, adding ride-hailing and bike-sharing services to our existing food delivery offerings. And today, we're finally about to succeed!" *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Chen Xiu clapped along with the others, while thinking to herself: I wonder if the applause when the bell is rung will be even louder than when Pinduoduo went public.
Wang Xin raised his hand to suppress the applause and continued speaking.

He was undoubtedly excited today, but such moments are certainly worth being excited about.

In fact, Wang Xin's state was already considered relatively calm. The Meituan management team members near the main seats were almost all beaming with excitement.

Chen Xiu glanced at the prospectus on the table. He already knew the contents, and since he had nothing better to do, he might as well take a look at the details.

Opening the prospectus, the first page prominently features Meituan-Dianping's development and financing history.

On the left is the financing timeline, and on the right are the companies that participated in the financing, the financing amount, and the company's latest market value. Among the dense list, Tencent stands out.

Furthermore, there's a parenthesis after Tencent's name that says "lead investor".

Then there's Sequoia Capital, and other international capital.

Continuing on, the last piece of information before the IPO was the $27 billion acquisition of Mobike.

In a sense, Mobike's startup was a failure, but the founding team successfully jumped ship at the right time, earning financial freedom for their efforts.

Chen Xiu chose an even better time; when he exchanged Mobike shares for Meituan shares, Mobike's market value was far higher than $27 billion.

His current 1% stake in Meituan was acquired in exchange for the $500 million he invested in Mobike.

The prospectus shows that Meituan's issue price was HK$69, and its market value was approximately US$500 billion.

Chen Xiu's 1% stake is worth $500 million in terms of value alone. The initial investment of $5 million has already appreciated 100 times here, and it will be even higher in the future.

Even if it's just for the money, he's not losing out by coming to Hong Kong today to participate in the bell-ringing ceremony.

Time flew by during Wang Xin's passionate speech, and when the clock on the wall struck 9 o'clock, an alarm suddenly rang in the office.

"Dingle bell! Dingle bell!"

The passionate speech paused for a moment.

Everyone turned around helplessly, trying to find out whose phone it was that was so rude.

After looking around, everyone's disappointed gazes finally settled on Wang Xin, who was in the main seat.

Wang Xin, whose face was already flushed with excitement, took out his still-ringing phone from his pocket and turned off the alarm clock, seemingly unconcerned about the stares of the crowd.

"Everyone, it's time to go out!"

"Splash splash splash~"

After a final round of applause, Chen Xiu got up and followed the crowd out of the conference room and into the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lobby.

The remaining procedures were basically handled by Wang Xin and Meituan's senior management, while Chen Xiu, a major shareholder, only needed to act as an observer.

Fortunately, there were other people to keep me company, so I wasn't bored.

Wang Sicong walked over with two cups of coffee, and his first words were sarcastic: "Brother Xiu, why are you late again today?"

Why aren't you wearing a suit today?

Chen Xiu reached out and took Wang Sicong's coffee, then retorted sarcastically to his T-shirt and shorts outfit.

Wang Sicong pursed his lips: "It's comfortable to wear this, and I'm used to it."

"Are you dressed like this for the party tonight too?"

"This needs to be done more formally..."

Wang Sicong chuckled awkwardly, knowing full well that if he went to the party dressed like that, he would lose face if Wang the richest man found out, and he would definitely be in trouble when he got home.

"Since you're going to change it sooner or later, why bother being unconventional?"

Chen Xiu asked a question and left, then gestured for Wang Sicong to follow.

The two arrived at the bell-ringing site, looking at the huge bronze gong that was taller than a person, and Wang Xin and Meituan executives standing on the right, and Meituan delivery riders, merchants and user representatives standing on the left. Finally, their gaze settled on the time displayed on the LED screen.

Chen Xiu silently counted down the last minute before the market opened, while Wang Sicong seemed somewhat indifferent.

Considering that he owns less than 0.1% of Meituan's shares, this attitude is quite reasonable.

"Brother Xiu, you just said you were going to the cocktail party tonight, right?"

"Well, what happened?"

“A kid contacted me a couple of days ago and said he wanted to get to know you.”

"You still have friends in the port city?"

Chen Xiu glanced at Wang Sicong with suspicion, not finding his down-to-earth style compatible with the fastidious style of Hong Kong.

Wang Sicong hesitated for a moment and said, "We're not really friends. He's also starting a business in e-sports, and that's how we met and talked about you. He happened to know that you would be attending Meituan's celebration dinner, and he wanted me to act as a go-between."

"Who?"

"The youngest son of the He family."

"..."

Chen Xiu glanced at Wang Sicong speechlessly, without responding, because it was already 9:30.

"duang~~"

The sound of gongs rang out repeatedly, forcing Chen Xiu to cover her ears with her hands while her eyes remained fixed on the transaction display next to the LED time board.

Meituan's opening price jumped to HK$72.9, a 5.65% increase from the issue price, with the stock trending upwards...

(End of this chapter)