2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 624 Earnings season, meeting season.

On March 1, Chang'e-3 officially landed on the moon.

March is the season for meetings and for listed companies to release their financial reports.

This is the first time that FlashDrive Technology's finance department and its newly established securities department have had such heavy annual workload.

This year marks the first annual report since Flash Technology went public. The annual report process for listed companies is very strict, a world of difference compared to the simple financial statements of the past.

Whether a financial report looks good or not can directly affect the stock price.

Flash's financial capabilities, like the company's development trajectory, have grown step by step from small to large. From the initial part-time accountant to the current CFO, Wang Zhilin, many of his classmates have reached the level of Tilanqiao.

The original accountants, Liu Meilin and Gu Haiyan, were indeed not capable enough to match the position of financial director, but they still worked in the finance department of Flash Finance as ordinary employees.

In her own words, not being a leader isn't particularly important; making a stable income is the most important thing. As long-term employees, these people also own a certain number of shares, and with their normal salaries and benefits, it's enough for their families to live comfortably.

From the financial preparation stage, through board review, audit committee review, regulatory filing and announcement, and even investor communication after the announcement, Tan Jincheng had to pay attention to and cooperate with the entire process.

He was very busy throughout March. In addition, Tan Jincheng also had to attend the meeting in March, which meant that he would not be able to leave Beicang for an extended period of time.

When it came to Mitsubishi's joint venture factory, the inspection work in various places had to be entrusted to Yu Nagasawa and Yong Zhang to organize people to lead the inspection teams.

"Anyway, the inspection is just a pretext. Just don't make it too obvious between you and Nagasawa Yu. You know more about this than I do."

Before leaving, Tan Jincheng instructed Zhang Yong that Changzhou should be the first choice for the second joint venture factory.

As expected, after Weilai and Mitsubishi decided on the location for their cooperation, Changzhou also sent an invitation. Changzhou already felt it was a pity that they missed the opportunity to have Flash set up an electric vehicle factory in China last time, so they had to try again this time no matter what.

Through that unpleasant investment promotion experience, Changzhou has learned some lessons. Young and ambitious bosses can accept local protectionism and understand the government's support for local enterprises, but that does not mean they can accept threats.

The negotiations were going well until one of the members of the investment promotion team revealed that if the price war didn't stop, the cooperation wouldn't be able to continue. So he decided to immediately terminate the negotiations.

She really has a unique personality.

Subsequent events proved that such local protectionism was useless in the face of the general trend. What difference would it make if the new traffic regulations were delayed for a year? In the end, people still had to comply with the traffic regulations and policies. In addition, the new national standard for electric vehicles also made it impossible for many small businesses that did not strive for progress to survive.

Aside from buying some time for small and medium-sized enterprises in the area, there are no tangible benefits. In addition, an opportunity to embrace the leading companies in the electric vehicle industry has been lost, making industrial transformation imperative.

The economy of Jiangsu Province is often associated with the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou region, but it seems that Changzhou has fallen far behind the other two cities. If it can reach a cooperation agreement with Flashpoint again, in addition to the car factory, it may be possible to reach a new cooperation agreement with Flashpoint Technology.

The premise is that this time it absolutely cannot be like last time. If we miss this opportunity again, then there really won't be any chance for future cooperation.

It's a bit of a pity that Tan Jincheng himself didn't have time to participate in the inspection, but that's okay, he can send someone to express his sincerity.

In conjunction with the financial reporting period and meetings, Tan Jincheng had more time to stay in Beicang. The joint venture factory in Beicang was progressing rapidly, with banks having provided ample liquidity and no shortage of funds. The project was also strategic, and all procedures were being handled with priority.

The designated area has been determined, and it will be adjacent to the existing automobile factory in Weilai, forming a complete automobile industrial park.

The future plan includes two planned factories, several parts manufacturing plants, testing grounds, car sales companies, and residential areas. Meishan Island will become an important automobile production base in Beicang District, with a certain level of competitiveness nationwide.

For the economic structure of Beicang District and even the entire city of Ningbo, the combination of Weilai, Mitsubishi, and the Zhongtai Automobile factory is of strategic importance.

Just as a special assisted group for listed companies was established to promote the listing of companies in the district, Beicang District has also set up a special automotive industry chain guidance group. In addition to serving companies such as Flash and Mitsubishi, it will also provide a large number of services to automotive industry chain companies that intend to settle in Meishan Island.

When it comes to serving private enterprises, the local government of Zhejiang Province is truly exemplary. As long as it can generate revenue and benefit the local economy, they are willing to go the extra mile and never act superior.

This can also be seen in Xie Hongjun. Ever since he set his sights on Orange Live and talked with Tan Jincheng, he has been visiting him from time to time, and taking the opportunity to have people collect information about the live streaming industry.

The business model of the live streaming industry is still not very clear. For platforms, whether it is advertising revenue or gift revenue sharing, most websites are still in a state of loss, and many websites are struggling to survive due to limited funds.

Xie Hongjun was quite troubled by this. As someone who ran a real business, he really couldn't understand how these companies, which had been losing money for years, managed to swindle money from investors.

"That's normal. Orange Technology is also losing money. You'll see in the official financial report in a few days, but that doesn't affect its value." Orange Technology has already released its preliminary earnings report, showing revenue of between US$2500 million and US$3000 million in 2008, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 60%, but that doesn't affect its losses.

Delivery costs, salary expenses, and substantial investments in warehousing are all significant expenditures for Orange Technology's core project, Orange Products Club. However, Wall Street is quite satisfied with Orange Technology's preliminary earnings report.

Delivery costs (express delivery, packaging, warehousing rental, etc.) will definitely decrease year by year in the future. As long as other expenses are controlled, it is only a matter of time before Orange Technology becomes profitable.

Wall Street labeled Orange Technology's first earnings report as exceeding expectations, positioning the company as a combination of Pig Farm (games) and Ali (online shopping), albeit a smaller version.

Using games to ensure the company's cash flow and using online shopping to expand the company's market scale, it would be even better if the user conversion rate between the two could be improved. Currently, the user conversion rate between these two groups is still too low.

"Can live streaming really reach the scale of Orange Technology?" Xie Hongjun knows how to focus on the key points.

Tan Jincheng thought for a moment and said, "It's unlikely that you can reach the scale of Orange Technology, but once mobile phones become widespread and internet speeds improve, the market conditions are still good, provided you can survive until then."

Live streaming requires the cooperation of smartphones and 4G networks. In fact, Douyin (TikTok) only really took off in 2016. Before that, neither live streaming nor short videos had much development potential.

Fragmented business models can only maximize their commercial benefits when they can be viewed anytime, anywhere.

Xie Hongjun raised an eyebrow: "That's fine too. As long as the business model is viable, there's no need to worry about whether it can be sustained."

Neither Tan Jincheng nor Shanchi, nor the current city investment companies, are short of money. Video websites don't require much investment in the early stages, and Xie Hongjun is confident that he can persevere.

"If you really want to invest, that's fine, but I can only give you 5% of the shares, because I'm going to invest myself."

After being pestered by Xie Hongjun for several days, Tan Jincheng finally had no choice but to give in.

Frankly speaking, he doesn't really want to involve local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) in the financing of internet companies now. Compared to LGFVs, professional investment institutions like Sequoia Capital are more suitable. In addition, it is a bit troublesome for such investment institutions with official characteristics to list in the United States.

"Damn, you invested in it yourself? No wonder you wouldn't budge. 5% is fine, it's better than nothing."

Xie Hongjun was so shocked that he cursed. He had been pestering her for so long just to get more shares during the venture capital round. He had previously sounded out He Jia, the project manager, that the venture capital round wouldn't cost much.

"Haha, I acquired a small video website and merged it into Orange Live."

The acquisition of AcFun was handled entirely by He Jia on behalf of Tan Jincheng, and it went about as Tan Jincheng had predicted, costing 400 million yuan.

Actually, the founder of AcFun was not the same Chen who later became a certain fish, but someone else. This was just a title he gave himself. Chen is currently working at Bianfeng, but in his previous life, he acquired AcFun before it became famous, so he could be considered one of them.

But he's probably done with this for the rest of his life. It's uncertain whether he'll even appear on Douyu, which originated from AcFun.

With 400 million yuan invested, the founder of AcFun, who had always worked out of passion, surrendered immediately. What more could he ask for?

"How about 100 million? I'll give you 5% of the shares for 100 million. That's all I can offer. It's not a lot of money, just treat it as a game."

Tan Jincheng has direct control over Orange Live. He received 30% of the shares from his 400 million yuan investment, He Jia's team received 15%, and the remaining 55% went to the parent company, Orange Technology.

Beicang City Investment wants to acquire shares, specifically 5% from Orange Technology, but it will definitely require a premium.

Tan Jincheng didn't ask for more than 100 million yuan; it was a friendly price.

"Okay, it's settled then. 1 million it is, it's nothing." Xie Hongjun is quite wealthy now, so getting a participation prize with 1 million is not bad.

Jianghu is not about fighting and killing, it is about human relations.

Xie Hongjun understood that this was a favor from Tan Jincheng. The biggest characteristic of the Internet industry is that valuations change rapidly. 1 million yuan can become 1000 million yuan or even 100 million yuan in no time.

Finally, there's a chance to make up for the investment mistakes in Orange Technology, which will further solidify his position.

(End of this chapter)