Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 431 Collaborative Development of Overseas Local Lifestyle Markets?
Fangheng Fashion Center, Beijing.

As he watched the car enter the underground parking garage and even as he took the elevator upstairs, Cheng Wei's expression remained complicated.

He thought back to the morning of 15, the day Chen Xiu left Didi, and the past events came vividly to mind.

At that moment, anyone would have thought that he was the winner who stayed at the poker table, while Chen Xiu was just a lucky guy who left with his chips after a moment of youthful impulsiveness.

No one in the internet and finance circles thought Chen Xiu could successfully start a business again with more than twenty laid-off programmers.

Who would have thought that just over three years later, Douyin's valuation has reached the level of hundreds of billions of US dollars, and even its soon-to-be-listed subsidiary TikTok has a valuation of 300 billion US dollars.

In contrast, Didi...

Although there has been some progress, it is still far behind Douyin.

As the elevator ascended, Cheng Wei's expression shifted between light and dark, his thoughts fluctuating, and the downward turn of his lips revealed his embarrassment.

When the elevator arrived with a ding, Cheng Wei quickly composed himself and stepped out.

His assistant, who reached out to hold the elevator door open for him, followed closely behind.

After announcing his identity, Cheng Wei was led by the receptionist to Chen Xiu's office.

The smooth journey gradually eased the heavy burden on his mind.

After the receptionist knocked to confirm his identity, Cheng Wei asked his assistant to wait in the meeting room, and then entered alone.

As the door to Chen Xiu's office was closed, Douyin's CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Su Yu suddenly walked slowly out from another corridor, followed by more than twenty people.

After everyone stared at the office door for a while, an older-looking programmer came to Su Yu's side and said, "President Su, shall we wait here?"

"No, that won't do! It would look terrible!"

Su Yu shook her head repeatedly, following her older sister's instructions to preserve some dignity for both sides.

He pointed to the open office area that was the only way out of Chen Xiu's office: "Let's go over there, wait for Cheng Wei to finish his business and come out, then we can say hello to him."

The crowd murmured in agreement, and then gradually retreated to the open office area.

They were among the first technical team members who left Didi and followed Chen Xiu to Douyin.

Over the past three years, they have either been promoted to management positions or become technical experts. They are usually scattered across other branches across the country and have become middle-level managers in Douyin, a large company.

The reason we've all gathered here today is to say hello to Cheng Wei.

However, they also knew their limits and understood that they couldn't disturb Chen Xiu's business, so they chose to wait quietly outside.

As Cheng Wei entered the office alone, his gaze quickly swept over the furnishings after the door closed, finally settling on Chen Xiu, who stood tall and graceful, gazing out the window.

Hearing the noise, Chen Xiu slowly turned around, raised her eyes, and stared at Cheng Wei.

I already said, once we've finished discussing things, I'll just post something on my WeChat Moments and that's it.

Sister Xiaoxiao insisted on calling them over, and she really did a great job!
Chen Xiu's thoughts raced, and a smile flashed quickly in her eyes.

He hadn't initially planned to have his subordinates greet Cheng Wei, but since Su Xiao had already called him over, it was no different from him doing it himself.

Since things have already come to this, we might as well try to think about the bright side.

Although Cheng Wei will be a little upset, at least he can make those old friends who were fired by Didi proud!
Thinking about this, Chen Xiu felt that she needed to be more friendly towards Cheng Wei so that he could feel more at ease later.

"Brother Wei, don't be shy, please have a seat!"

"oh oh."

Seeing Chen Xiu walking towards him with a big smile, Cheng Wei felt much more at ease and had more confidence in the purpose of his visit today.

Chen Xiu walked over, took Cheng Wei's hand, and led him to the sofa. Before he could say anything, she opened the drawer under the coffee table and took out a set of pour-over coffee tools.

Seeing this, Cheng Wei quickly stopped him, saying, "Why are you making coffee? There's no need to be so polite..."

"It's nothing. You rarely come all this way, so it's only right that we do this."

Chen Xiu gave a perfunctory reply and then took out a few packets of coffee beans from another drawer.

"Choose a flavor."

"Lightly baked, because I've been feeling a bit hot lately."

Chen Xiuyi selected a packet and poured it into the hand-cranked coffee grinder. Then, while turning the crank, she chatted with Cheng Wei.

"Is your feverishness due to something on your mind? Is there something wrong at work?"

"Yes."

Cheng Wei nodded sheepishly, rubbing his right thumb against the back of his left hand, and said, "Didi has been summoned for talks several times this year, and its ride-sharing service was taken off the market. The impact has been quite significant."

“You should be responsible for this kind of thing.”

"They didn't say they wouldn't take responsibility, it's just that it's a bit too serious..."

Chen Xiu glanced at Cheng Wei but didn't respond.

He was no longer Didi's chief strategy officer, so there was no need to voice his thoughts. After quickly turning the grinder a few times and feeling the resistance decrease slightly, Chen Xiu placed it on the coffee table, picked up the pour-over kettle to get hot water, and then silently began making coffee.

Cheng Wei explained somewhat guiltily, "Liu Jing said that as a platform, the company only needs to assume secondary responsibility for this matter and there is no need to interfere too much."

"So please don't say things like it's too serious. This is simply a result of insufficient platform supervision. Flowers may bloom again, but youth never returns!"

After saying that, Chen Xiu placed a cup of coffee in front of Cheng Wei.

Having felt he'd given them enough face, he cut to the chase: "What brought you here today? Don't give me any of that stuff about wanting Didi to participate in TikTok's pre-IPO. By strategic cooperation standards, Didi isn't a match for TikTok."

"This one……"

Cheng Wei awkwardly touched his forehead, his gaze towards Chen Xiu becoming somewhat unfocused.

"Actually, I really want to establish a strategic partnership with TikTok."

Ok? ? ?
Who gave you this misconception?
Chen Xiu paused for a moment, then leaned forward and stared at Cheng Wei: "Strategic partnerships are about mutual benefit. First, tell me what TikTok can bring to Didi, and then I'll ask you what Didi can bring to TikTok?"

As the negotiation process began, Cheng Wei's expression turned serious.

He took a sip of coffee, leaned forward, clasped his hands together, looked up, and his glasses reflected light.

"Since the beginning of this year, Didi has been vigorously developing overseas markets. Based on TikTok's current overseas user base, online promotion can help Didi increase its overseas market share more quickly."

"For this kind of collaboration, you can simply spend money to buy traffic on TikTok."

Chen Xiu replied earnestly.

Putting aside the fact that Didi is unlikely to invest in TikTok, even if the investment were successful, Didi would still need to spend money to buy traffic if it wanted to use TikTok's traffic to promote its overseas business.

Therefore, Chen Xiu did not find Cheng Wei's reasoning sufficient.

Seeing that his argument was not convincing enough, Cheng Wei pushed up his glasses, his expression darkening.

He covered his mouth with his hand, carefully leaned close to Chen Xiu's forehead, and whispered, "Actually, I want Didi to establish a strategic partnership with TikTok to jointly develop the overseas local lifestyle market!"

Oh ho!

Chen Xiu turned her head and stepped back, her eyes shining as she stared at Cheng Wei.

Upon receiving his feedback, Cheng Wei nodded with shining eyes, feeling that the matter could be accomplished!
“We have studied Douyin’s characteristics. When users get used to browsing Douyin every day, they will browse some local related content on it.”

"At this time, as long as some stores purchase Dou+ or Juliang Qianchuan services on Douyin, their exposure will increase significantly, which will directly increase their turnover."

“Meituan has already taken over the domestic local services market, and it won’t be easy for Douyin to get a piece of the pie. But there is a vast and untapped market overseas.”

Cheng Wei danced with excitement, as if the vast market was right in front of him, within reach.

After his brief daydream, he turned to making empty promises to Chen Xiu, while also emphasizing Didi's important role in this collaboration.

“Show! Local lifestyle content, to put it bluntly, is just about the daily lives of ordinary people: food, clothing, housing, and transportation.”

"The apparel market is too big, the upstream and downstream industrial chains are too dense, and it is closely related to e-commerce, so it is not appropriate for us to get involved."

"As for the remaining dining, hotel, and transportation, Didi can handle the last one, but TikTok can subtly capture the overseas market for the first two by recommending content to users."

After the division of labor was completed, Cheng Wei clenched his fists and approached Chen Xiu, inviting her, "Let's work together to develop the local lifestyle market overseas. Isn't that enough to establish a strategic partnership?"

Chen Xiu slowly leaned back, increasing the distance between herself and Cheng Wei.

He looked Cheng Wei up and down, wondering: This guy seems pretty normal, so why is he talking nonsense?

What else? Let's develop the overseas local lifestyle market together?
If I hadn't seen Meituan's analysis of expanding into overseas local life markets and the level of difficulty mentioned therein, I might have been fooled by you!
"Whoo~"

Letting out a breath, Chen Xiu shook her head and said, "Not good! If you want to expand your market overseas, let's talk about cooperation on user acquisition and promotion. Don't mention anything else, like local services."

"why?"

"If we were to talk about the reasons, we wouldn't have enough time to discuss them all day. We can only briefly mention that TikTok doesn't have the money to burn in the overseas local services market. We're satisfied with earning advertising revenue for now."

"you……"

Cheng Wei looked at Chen Xiu with a face full of surprise, his open eyelids revealing lines of forehead wrinkles.

After a moment, he smacked his lips and said, "I remember, when we started our business, you were the one who was radical."

"Back then, during that seven-day, seven-night business battle with Kuaidi, you were the one who proactively went to Shenzhen to persuade Tencent to join the fight when you were sure that Lü Chuanwei was going to make a move. Why have you become so conservative now?"

Internet investment has entered its late stage. At this point, engaging in money-burning competition can no longer be called aggressive; it can only be described as harming others without benefiting oneself.

Chen Xiu silently complained in her heart, then raised her eyebrows and looked at Cheng Wei with a blank expression.

"Are you interested in a user acquisition partnership?"

"Let's talk."

Cheng Wei nodded repeatedly, thinking: Since we've come all this way, we can't just go back empty-handed!

(End of this chapter)