Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 236 It's not the tree branch I believe in

"Mr. Xiao, please provide an account of the group's funds."

"Uh... the group's funds mainly come from the previous loan of 3.5 million. After allocating it to three subsidiaries, 1500 million was left. 1.5 million was distributed as bonuses before the holiday, so there is still 1.35 million left."

As Xiao Haidong spoke, he glanced cautiously at Chen Xuebing.

"Of that, you have about 1000 million in loans."

He was referring to the portion transferred to Li Xueling, as well as the more than 100 million yuan that Chen Xuebing took out when he was short of money on several occasions.

Chen Xuebing waved his hand: "I'll find a reason to cover the money I personally borrowed, and I'll borrow another 1000 million into my account later."

He did not distribute the group's shares; they remained the same, held by him and Lu Yiwen, precisely for this convenience.

"Uh ok."

Xiao Haishan knew very well that he, as the group's chief financial officer, was not in charge of the actual group's accounts. It was just a holding group, and each of the companies under it had its own set of accounts. He could only manage them if the chairman told him to.

If you don't let him manage things, he's just Chen Xuebing's personal butler; this group company is just for his convenience in transferring money.

"Over there at Changzheng Capital." Chen Xuebing glanced at Kan Zhidong, remembering that he had just arrived, and then looked at Xu Jin, the only one who had been online the whole time during this period.

Lu Xiaochun interrupted, saying, "Before today's meeting, BOE's stock price rose by 6%, and our BOE stock has a floating profit of 1.68 million yuan. Currently, we have a total of 4.1 million yuan in our account. In addition, there is a loan collection of 830 million yuan that has been settled. ICBC has cleared 1037 million yuan of debt in a package deal, and the debt collection company took 20%."

He's the vice president, and he's been here recently, so he should be the one to answer this question.

When Chen Xuebing saw Lao Lu declare his sovereignty, he knew that if anything happened at Changzheng Capital, he would need to contact the president and vice president.

Wu Zisheng, Xu Jin, Liu Zengcheng and others have distanced themselves from him even further.

Wu Zisheng, who had just returned, was indeed a little unaccustomed to facing his two new superiors. In the past, he was the one who reported these matters to the chairman.

But he had long known that he couldn't run this lucrative company himself, so he could only force himself to gradually get used to it and do a good job as the head of the securities department.

However, at least he got the stock options, which was a huge improvement in his income as someone who received an administrative salary.

Liu Zengcheng didn't care. He made a living with his skills, and it didn't matter to him how many leaders were above him.

"4.2 million?" Chen Xuebing nodded slightly. "What about Singularity Technology?"

"3300 million!" Lu Weibing's voice was loud and confident.

Of the 100 million yuan invested by the group, they paid out 82 million yuan, leaving only 18 million yuan. But that was the money spent on Kirin phones.

Qidian has to support so many people, and it also spent tens of millions to build a factory. He also has to develop the popcorn series that he is in charge of. Since he joined the company in October, he has accumulated 15 million yuan in assets for the company.

He deserves his million-dollar annual salary.

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "General Manager Lu's management is excellent, not bad."

“Everyone deserves credit.” Lu Weibing looked around, focusing on the management team he had brought with him.

This is to help his team get stock options.

Chen Xuebing understood perfectly, but a mere ten million didn't concern him. He was the one who laid the foundation for Qidian Technology's current profitability, and if he took over management, he would only save a few million.

"President Lu, the company is still small now, but it will grow big soon. When that happens, you should make good use of your management skills."

After Chen Xuebing finished speaking, Liang Hui received a glance from Yu Chunyin and knew it was time for him to speak.

"Gu'an Construction has 1100 million yuan in its accounts. Previously, Chongqing Jiaotong University donated 500 million yuan, and there is also 300 million yuan in sand mining fees to be paid to the government at the end of the year. In addition, after the settlement of livelihood projects, we have a profit of more than 400 million yuan, including the Taohuaxi project."

Liang Hui kept very detailed accounts; despite being from the least valued company, he was full of ambition.

Seeing that he had taken out his notebook and was about to launch into a long explanation, Chen Xuebing raised his hand to interrupt him: "Just give a general account. The money in the account is enough to lay the foundation for the building, right?"

Liang Hui was stunned for a moment; he had never built a building before.

He quickly looked at his chef, Master Tang.

After taking a sip of tea, Tang Qiankun gave his answer: "The single-story load of a four-story building is relatively small. The geological conditions of that land are hard clay and sand, so a shallow foundation is sufficient. It's no problem to pour out the independent foundation for a little over ten million. If we were to build a raft foundation, it would cost two or three million less."

Chen Xuebing tapped his fingers on the table: "Let's build a deep foundation. The seismic resistance coefficient needs to be up to standard. The main reason is that there is a warehouse there, and the concentrated load is relatively large. A pile foundation is more stable."

Older buildings typically have strip foundations, which are prone to settlement and cracking.

Better ones have independent foundations, which cost 10%-20% more than strip foundations.

An even better option is a raft foundation, which offers strong overall integrity but costs 30%-50% more than an isolated foundation.

These are all basic concepts.

If it's a high-rise building, deep excavation is required, which necessitates pile foundations, costing almost half again as much as raft foundations.

When Tang Qiankun heard Chen Xuebing mention deep foundations, his expression changed: "Chairman, I know you care about your reputation, but deep foundations are slow to construct and expensive. For a building that's about 20 meters tall, a raft foundation is definitely enough! There's no need to waste money on this!" Chen Xuebing coughed: "I already said there are warehouses and a large concentrated load."

"Warehouse? How big of a warehouse? It's just a shopping mall, right? It doesn't need to be a big warehouse, does it? Besides, the warehouses are all scattered around," Tang Qiankun said.

Chen Xuebing didn't want to explain much: "Just listen to me."

That's Pang Donglai's warehouse. With that kind of sales volume, how big the warehouse needs to be, and how much stuff will be stored inside, even he doesn't know.

Tang Qiankun clicked his tongue: "Then it will be slow. The basic construction alone will take four or five months. It would be the limit to build the building within a year. Adding decoration, I'm afraid it's impossible."

"Take a urging to Jiaotong University to send the person in charge of the basic drawings to the site. They can design while digging, and start construction tomorrow. Once the drawings are completed, we'll immediately add more manpower. If the construction costs are insufficient, I will transfer the money to you in installments."

Chen Xuebing waved his hand and began to discuss the next issue: "The construction team needs to expand quickly. Next, we will be working in Pengshui, where there may be highways, docks, and even larger projects. We need all nine types of personnel. Good workers can be selected and signed contracts to become foreman. Don't be afraid to hire people. In the short term, we need to expand our on-site management team by more than 100 people."

"Hiss!" Tang Qiankun gasped upon hearing such specific requirements: "It's easy to find the right people, but signing contracts without projects is going to be stressful. A site management team of 100 people will need at least 20 office staff, and at least a thousand temporary workers."

“The project will definitely be in place before you have all the necessary personnel,” Chen Xuebing said confidently.

"In addition, apart from this building, the group will no longer subsidize Gu'an Construction. If you need money to take on projects in the future, you can only borrow. However, the entire group is currently burdened with 7.5 million yuan in loans. As an affiliated company, you can't borrow from banks. But you can borrow from Changzheng Capital. Qidian Technology can also borrow if needed, but there will be interest and a time limit. It's not an endless loan. Mr. Kan, as Changzheng Capital is an internal bank, you need to do a good job of project evaluation when you borrow money. Everyone's finances are independent, and each person's profits are calculated separately."

Kan Zhidong hesitated for a moment: "We can't lend out the money we raised. If we lend out all our own funds, how can we develop by relying on fundraising?"

"No need, you'll have a real bank soon."

After Chen Xuebing finished speaking in an unquestionable tone, he moved on to the next topic:
"I've looked at the plans for the mobile phone assembly plant. The main structure is already built, so it shouldn't cost as much as the initial plan, right? If we use the best equipment, how much will it cost to set up the plant?"

Upon hearing that the equipment was the best, Qi Guangming's eyes gleamed, and he loudly replied, "Chairman, 7000 million!"

“Okay.” Chen Xuebing nodded: “But an annual production of 50 units is too low. Can we increase it to 60 units?”

"Then give me an extra 1000 million! I'll remove the machines from the small factory next door and replace them with a large production line, which can produce an additional 15 units!"

Chen Xuebing was finally satisfied with "65 units": "President Lu, when will your popcorn phone be developed? The Kirin phone development cycle is long, and Singularity Technology is now counting on you to make money."

When Lu Weibing mentioned the 1.5 million yuan to develop Plan B, he was mainly referring to the factory construction and advertising costs. Although the R&D costs for popcorn haven't been much, he has the authority to freely allocate the Kirin R&D team. After so much time, there should be some clues by now.

Lu Weibing chuckled upon hearing this.
"Chairman, if you want to build a machine that makes money, I can do it anytime. But we've become too picky. I don't want to use MediaTek's kit, Marvell's 90nm chip, some inferior components, and our own UI. Let's make a small-screen, low-end version of Kirin, priced at 2999. What do you think?"

Chen Xuebing was stunned by what he was told.

"2999, didn't you say you were targeting the low-end market?"

"The competition in the low-end market is fierce right now," Lu Weibing sighed.

"The Nokia N7260, with its 6-color screen, only costs 680 yuan. The Sony Ericsson K700c, which also comes with a 3.0-pixel camera, costs 780 yuan. Counterfeit phones have forced the entire low-end market to lower prices. We don't have enough room to go downmarket anymore. Without brand effect, a product can't become popular without spending tens of millions on advertising. I've been thinking about how to achieve a premium price and strive for profit. I think the only way is to use this amazing UI and system to make a truly full-screen smartphone. We won't make 4.2-inch or 3.5-inch screens. 30-inch screens are enough. We'll compete with those high-end phones that cost 4000 to 5000 yuan."

Chen Xuebing fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

He hadn't paid attention to the counterfeit market for a long time, but he never expected that starting out in the counterfeit business would lead to its own downfall.

UI design may indeed have no marginal cost and the cost of copying is almost zero, but what can you make by forcing a smartphone with 3000 yuan?
"90nm chips are much cheaper, but installing that UI system will consume more power. A 3.0 full-screen design means the battery area will be small. To ensure standby time, the battery needs to be thicker, which will make the phone very thick. You can't make it look like a mishmash. It's one thing if it doesn't sell and you lose money, but you need to consider the overall strategy. Don't ruin the user's perception in advance and block the path of Kirin."

"No need to make it smaller!" Lu Weibing immediately retorted, "We can make the bezels bigger and add some patterns. The phone's area won't be smaller than Kirin's. It's just that the proportions won't look as good as Kirin's. With the same battery and a 3.0-inch screen, the standby time might even be longer than Kirin's!"

Chen Xuebing paused for a moment.

He found himself trapped in his own thinking; these days, mobile phones come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and there's no such thing as a standard bezel.

"Can you make money from that?"

"We used an 800,000-pixel camera and an inexpensive screen, costing no more than 2,200 yuan! It's just that the system software development is not yet perfect and may take some time. Our software team is still working hard."

Chen Xuebing perked up as soon as Lu Weibing mentioned this.

"Tell Lin Bin not to haggle with that old man in Switzerland anymore. Just agree to whatever price he asks for. Come back immediately to set up a software company and organize a team to start developing basic mobile software!"

“Uh, is there any need to rush? A software team needs at least a dozen technicians, and these people are very expensive, which could easily lead to staff redundancy,” said Zhang Hongbin, who is in charge of technology.

"Redundancy? There's no end to development. One team isn't enough; there need to be at least three. After finishing one product, we move on to others: music players, video players, camera apps, mobile games, document readers, email—we have to develop all the basic software, and after that, we have to keep upgrading it."

Zhang Hongbin was taken aback: "We have to make both video and music players? Chairman, making a player, especially a video player, is very expensive, requiring a lot of decoding licensing fees. Actually, we don't have our own system right now, so there's no need to make this. Based on the Linux 2.6 architecture, RealPlayer, Qianqian Music, and Kugou can all support driver adaptation."

Chen Xuebing shook his head, interrupting him.

Do you know why birds can stand on even the thinnest branches?

There was silence.

"Because the bird trusts not the branch, but its own wings."

“We don’t have our own mobile operating system right now. Once we do, you’ll realize how important the software ecosystem is. Without software development for us, our system is useless. So before that, we must build a software ecosystem that we control.”

(End of this chapter)