2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 549 Standards for Headquarters Buildings

As predicted by Wall Street media, Orange Technology, with the ticker symbol OOTL, finally set its listing date as May 5, 2008, local time.

It has been exactly 26 months since Orange Technology was founded.

There's no real prediction involved; it's just Wall Street capital whispering, "I'm going to fleece you today, come on over."

Beicang District wouldn't stoop to popping champagne halfway through a day. After officially announcing the listing date, Beicang District immediately began preparing a celebration party for Orange Technology's successful listing.

There are subsidies for companies that successfully list on the stock exchange, not only from the local government but also from the national government.

Especially for companies listed overseas, this can be considered as bringing glory to the country, and the subsidies are even higher, with some places offering subsidies as high as tens of millions of yuan.

Beicang District is also well-off, and Orange Technology has received a lot of subsidies.

The celebration party was held again at the Tiangang Hotel near RT-Mart. These days, there aren't many good hotels in Beicang that you can name. Tiangang is at least relatively new in terms of infrastructure, so it's not bad.

The district really put in a lot of effort. The government-organized party might not have been very fun, but it was relatively casual.

Enjoying free food and drinks, Mr. Tan, adhering to the principle of not taking advantage of any opportunity, brought his whole family. Little Princess Tan Jinyue was a little darling in this kind of occasion, while Dr. Tan, who had seen his share of things, was not shy at all and ran around everywhere.

Tan Jincheng often brings Tan Jinyue to such occasions, where there are media present. This allows more prominent people to remember Jinyue's face, which is also a form of protection for her. Although there are media reporters present, they will not report inappropriately.

The so-called "pretending to be weak to eat the strong" only appears in online novels. In reality, if you are a pig, you will be slaughtered first and then we will talk about the consequences. As for the consequences, who cares?
Everyone in the Beicang District who has any standing remembers Tan Jinyue's face. When she goes to school in the future, few people will dare to bully her.

"This little brat is having too much fun. She'll be in for a rough time when she starts kindergarten. You keep an eye on her. I'm going to go over there and have a chat with her."

Zhao Jinsheng kept giving Tan Jincheng meaningful glances, so Tan Jincheng had no choice but to temporarily put aside his social engagements.

There are definitely circles at the party. Ordinary people wouldn't dare to go into Zhao Jinsheng's circle of leaders. Boss Tan plans to go through these ordinary circles first before going there. It seems that Zhao Jinsheng and his group are getting impatient.

That's true, the leaders are all very busy, so it's already a big favor that they even show up.

"Xiao Tan, how's the headquarters building project for Orange Technology going?"

The person asking the question is from the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau.

"Of course we'll build it, but as you all know, the leaders have been incredibly busy lately. I'm overseeing the new car company and its restructuring, and for Orange, the most important thing is definitely going public. This can't be delayed."

"I understand, I understand. Now that the listing process is over, can we finalize the matter of the Orange Technology headquarters building?"

It's not only unprofessional for a listed company to still be renting offices, but more importantly, there's the concern that Orange Technology might run away at any time. The reason we didn't urge them to hurry up before was because Orange Technology was going public and it was difficult to meet with the person in charge.

We absolutely have to take this opportunity to finalize things.

"Sure, leaders, don't worry. Beicang is my second hometown. I am very inclined to establish Orange Technology's headquarters in Beicang. Once we've finished our work, we can talk about this."

It's impossible to refuse benefits that come knocking on your door. Where Orange Technology's headquarters is located makes no difference to Tan Jincheng. Big cities have their advantages, but small cities are not without their own.

At least in Beicang, Orange Technology is the second listed company in the entire district, the first internet technology company, and also the fastest listed company in the country. Its position is unshakable. If it moves to Hangzhou, Shenzhen, or Shanghai, Orange Technology will be nothing.
They'll offer some incentives initially, but if you can't develop your business later, and new, highly competitive players emerge, you'll fall out of favor.

"Is it the same plot of land we talked about last time?"

Seeing that Tan Jincheng had expressed his opinion, Zhao Jinsheng took over the conversation.

He was referring to the location that Tan Jincheng had outlined with Sun Tongyu and the others at the company last time for the future Yintai City. After the district welcomed Sun Tongyu, Sun Tongyu also went to the site to take a look. Sun Tongyu was quite satisfied with the location chosen by President Tan.

Located near the main road of Taishan Road, it is situated between the new district government, hospital, and several high schools. In addition, it is very close to the current headquarters building of Flash Motors. Although the location looks a bit desolate now, it is really great.

I often hear Mr. Zhang from Jinpeng say that when Mr. Tan first arrived in Beicang, he was already very familiar with the area, knowing almost every corner. Now it seems that this is indeed the case.

"Yes, that plot of land is quite close to Flash's current headquarters, which can form a complete business district, which would be more beneficial to our company's development. I know this is a bit difficult, but Orange Technology can offer them some compensation."

Of course, Tan Jincheng wouldn't be the only one eyeing such a prime location. Apart from some farmland and villages, the rest of the area had already fallen into the hands of local developers, who were just waiting for an opportunity to develop it.

Acquiring this land was no easy task, which was one of the reasons why Tan Jincheng had paused the process due to his busy schedule with the IPO. These days, major internet companies are all building their own headquarters or industrial parks. Tencent's new headquarters is scheduled to be completed next year, and Alibaba is also preparing to build its own industrial park in Hangzhou.

Jingdong, already the second largest e-commerce company in China, did not build its own headquarters building. However, it rented the Beichen Century Center near the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, which is currently the most popular location.

Interestingly, Beichen was also a little worried that Dongge wouldn't be able to pay the rent.

As for the three major traditional portal websites, they are even more financially powerful, and their headquarters buildings are very impressive. Internet giants may not have much else, but they have money, and their headquarters buildings are more expensive than the last.

As a rising star, Tan Jincheng was urged by the district to build a headquarters building, which certainly couldn't be too shabby. However, he also didn't want to be too extravagant. No one could imagine the development of an internet company, and it was almost impossible to do it all at once.

Take Tencent for example. Their new headquarters, which will be completed next year, is very impressive. However, Tan Jincheng knows that this headquarters will not be enough after only two years of use, so they will have to build a new one.

They've built many of these buildings all over the country, and even WX, which hasn't appeared yet, has its own headquarters building.

Orange Technology adheres to the principle of being small and beautiful, but after going public, venturing into e-commerce, and having a new professional executive, Tan Jincheng is no longer sure exactly what the "small" in "small and beautiful" means, and he dares not build the headquarters building too big.

As far as I remember, Taobao's headquarters in Hangzhou cost less than 12 billion yuan, covering an area of ​​50 acres, with a building area of ​​over 8 square meters, and could accommodate more than 8000 people working. That was in 2018.

They hyped it up a lot back then; that period must have been the most glorious time for Lao Ma. There was so much publicity that it was hard for Tan Jincheng, who was also in Zhejiang Province, not to know about it.

To be honest, this cost was considered "economical" for a well-funded leading internet company and in 2018 when housing prices were at their peak.

Orange Technology doesn't have the financial resources of these industry leaders. If it weren't for the district urging them and offering them benefits, Boss Tan really wouldn't want to build a headquarters so early. Besides, Tan Jincheng doesn't really understand the costs involved in construction.

The headquarters building of Flashcart was purchased, not only for its speed and convenience, but also because Tan Jincheng was too lazy to deal with such things; they were just too damn troublesome.

Although the construction and management of the residential building was entrusted to Zhu Chengying, the real estate developer with whom the purchase was made, there were still many troubles involved. Boss Tan really didn't like to get involved in the construction site. The ins and outs of this place were much more complicated than selling electric vehicles.

But regardless, Taobao's headquarters was built in 2018, and it's currently in 2008. If the area is halved and the total investment is reduced to one-third, which is within the range of 4 million, it should be enough, right?
This is Beicang, not Hangzhou, and the location isn't that valuable.

With an investment of 4 million, building a headquarters should be enough for several years, or even several years in total. This is Tan Jincheng's plan.

In addition, Mr. Tan does not intend to personally contribute the expected investment of 4 million yuan. Orange Technology raised 1.5 million US dollars, but that was for company expansion, not for building a headquarters building.

Basically, the main point is to be shameless, have no money, and not build it unless the district takes responsibility for solving the problem.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Jinsheng replied, "No problem. The district will help you coordinate the location. You can also ask for any other assistance you may need."

This location wasn't included in the district's five-year plan, but it is in the ten-year plan. Currently, several plots of land are being hoarded by some small real estate developers, and the district hasn't paid much attention to them.

It would be best if Orange Technology didn't exist, but if you really like it, giving it to Orange Technology wouldn't be a bad idea. Who knows what the situation will be like in ten years? But keeping Orange Technology in Beicang is definitely worthwhile.

Judging from Tan Jincheng's attitude, it seems that if it weren't for this location, he wouldn't have built the headquarters building at all; forget about it.

"You have a really sharp eye." Zhao Jinsheng gave Tan Jincheng a deep look.

This kid has never been interested in real estate, but I have to say, he has a really deep understanding of Beicang District. He doesn't even know about the five-year or ten-year plans for many districts. If he hadn't made progress this time and become a middleman, he wouldn't know anything about this.

"Actually, it's not without its benefits for the district. The Orange Technology headquarters plus the Flash headquarters can form a complete business district, integrating offices, apartments, and commercial facilities, and it's also a large consumer area."

This isn't just empty talk. Imagine a business district with several thousand employees and decent incomes; their spending power would certainly be strong, and it wouldn't be entirely without benefits for the district.

The planning is not much different from that of Yintai City. Only the people of Beicang understand the shopping mall, so it's pretty useless.

Zhao Jinsheng smiled and said, "There is some truth to that."

"But we really don't have the money to build it, so the funds raised can't be used for this purpose."

After all that, Boss Tan finally revealed his true colors.

(End of this chapter)