2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 695 The Next Five-Year Plan

The night is deep, and the person is asleep.

Tan Jincheng sat alone at the computer desk in the study, with a notebook next to him.

The saying "a bad pen is worse than a good memory" sounds a bit strange in the internet age, where most people haven't used a pen for a long time.

But from Tan Jincheng's own experience, it is still very useful. Even if you have a good memory, writing it down will have unexpected effects.

The lithium battery business can be broadly divided into three categories: power battery systems, energy storage systems, and lithium battery materials.

The power battery system is undoubtedly the most crucial component and is currently the main research focus of Jinshidai.

The power battery system includes cells, modules and battery packs, and its application areas cover electric passenger vehicles, electric buses and electric logistics vehicles and other special vehicles, that is, all electric-driven models.

Before acquiring BMW as a customer, Jinshidai's research direction in power battery systems was rather vague. Apart from some progress in the bus sector in cooperation with Dongfeng, there was not much progress in other areas.

To put it bluntly, Dongfeng's technology is also limited. There is no experience in the world to refer to for this kind of thing, and the old ways of everyday life are obviously not suitable for us, so we have no way to learn from them.

Everyone was working in isolation, and they didn't even know what the customers' specific requirements were.

The arrival of BMW, which provided specific corporate standards, was a huge help to Jinshidai. Even though BMW didn't charge a penny for the hundreds of battery sets they ordered, Jinshidai still made a fortune based on those 800-plus pages of corporate standards.

It's like a blind person walking along and suddenly someone takes their hand.

If the Beicang District Government was a benefactor at the beginning of Tan Jincheng's career, then BMW is definitely a benefactor in the new era of Tan Jincheng in the research of power battery systems.

Since the establishment of formal corporate standards and the assistance of BMW engineers, Jinshidai's R&D progress has been rapid.

Jinxin Technology has made some initial progress in the layout of power battery systems. The remaining tasks are energy storage systems and lithium battery materials. Over the next five years, Jinxin Technology will gradually lay out these plans.

Energy storage systems involve battery cells, modules, electrical boxes, and battery cabinets, including large-scale solar and wind power energy storage systems and other industrial applications.

In the past two years, besides the booming automobile industry, there is another very popular project in China: photovoltaic power generation.

Fun fact: BYD is also very successful in the photovoltaic power generation business today. They did very well in Europe. As for why they stopped doing business in that area later...

Tan Jincheng also knew that Europe was about to implement "anti-dumping and countervailing duties" policies, which were aimed at protecting European domestic photovoltaic companies.

This matter caused a huge uproar in the past, and many photovoltaic companies went bankrupt during this round of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

It seems that the company that claims to be the world's largest thin-film solar power generation company suffered heavy losses under this round of anti-dumping policies. In addition, many other large photovoltaic companies in Jiangxi, Shandong and other provinces also saw their business halved in this round.

Ultimately, after several years of struggling, many companies couldn't hold on any longer. Some went bankrupt, some were delisted, and some were acquired. The first photovoltaic revolution was thus suppressed.

BYD likely abandoned its photovoltaic business during this process.

It should have started around 2010, right?
Goodness, Mr. Wang became the richest man in China in 2009, but 2010 was not a good year for him. Just the anti-dumping measures in Europe on the photovoltaic business that Tan Jincheng knew about, plus the mobile phone market revolution triggered by the launch of the iPhone 4 this year.

Motorola and Nokia, the two major mobile phone brands, were the most impacted by this round of mobile phone revolution. It should be noted that these two brands were BYD's largest battery customers.

Dexian Electronics also takes on some battery business from these mobile phone manufacturers, but the business volume is not large. On the one hand, it is difficult to win them over, and on the other hand, Tan Jincheng knows that these traditional mobile phone brands will not be able to keep going for many more years.

Dexian Electronics' main public relations efforts are currently focused on Apple's mobile phone battery business, starting with the iPod battery business. In addition, they also handle orders from some counterfeit mobile phone manufacturers in Huaqiangbei.

Aside from Apple, these counterfeit brands may seem low-profile, but they can make a lot of money. They don't have high standards, but their sales volume is enormous, not much less than that of big brands.

In addition, HTC and other clients are also being contacted by DeXian Electronics for public relations. Currently, there are not many domestic manufacturers that have made this early move, and DeXian has established good relationships with these smartphone manufacturers to some extent.

Being the richest person in the world is really not easy. He just became the richest person in 2009, and then he had to overcome two major hurdles in 2010. It was really tough.

Regarding the remaining lithium battery materials and even upstream mining, Jinshidai was not yet fully capable of making comprehensive investments in these three major industry sectors in 2010. However, ByteDance could make some investments in related areas.

For example, Huang Ming spent almost the entire last year working on upstream mining, including domestic companies like Tengyuan Cobalt, and international companies like North American Lithium, Neo Lithium, Pilbara, North American Nickel, and KFM.

In the area of ​​energy storage, Tan Jincheng had also made some contacts with Huang Ming based on his impressions, such as companies like Lead Intelligent Equipment and KSTAR. These were all bugs accumulated from being a leek in his previous life.

I didn't make any money in the A-share market, but I still remember some well-known companies, especially those in popular industries like photovoltaics and lithium batteries.

The strategy remains the same: start with share acquisition. If you can gain direct control, that would be even better. If you can't gain direct control, try to acquire shares. In short, this capital strategy is quite effective.

Between 2010 and 2012, Jinsheng Technology focused on power batteries, prioritizing the development of its own power battery technology and cultivating a number of well-known downstream suppliers.

For power battery projects, no matter how you reduce costs, the customer base is the most important thing.

The new five-year plan aims to transform Jinshidai into a nationally renowned power battery supplier, becoming the 'Bosch' of the new energy vehicle industry, within five years.

As Tan Jincheng was writing and drawing, the door to his study was pushed open.

Tan Lihua, who had gotten up in the middle of the night, asked, "Why aren't you asleep yet, it's so late?"

After dinner, the family chatted for a while, only stopping when Gu Qingqing got tired. Tan Jincheng didn't start working until 10 p.m., and it was already midnight.

"Okay, I'm going to sleep right away. I'll be done in a little while."

Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing were usually night owls, but now Gu Qingqing is under special protection, which has also restricted Tan Jincheng's work hours at night, even though he is staying in the study.

"You need to go to sleep before 12:30. If you're not finished, you can finish it tomorrow."

Tan Lihua gave another instruction and then closed the door.
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ByteDance's advertising platform, Ocean Engine, reported that this was probably the earliest employees had ever arrived at work; by just past 8 a.m., most were already seated at their workstations.

Half an hour later, Huang Ming and Cheng Linfeng walked into the office area side by side. These two hadn't been seen together much in 2009.

The reason for this is that the big boss informed them yesterday that there would be a meeting today.

This must result in a different mental state than usual.

Currently, ByteDance's advertising platform has a total of only 50 employees, divided into two teams. 30 of them are managed by Huang Ming and are mainly responsible for investment research in the primary market, while the remaining 20 are assigned to Cheng Linfeng and manage investment returns in the secondary market.

The investment returns in the primary market are mostly long-term tangible assets, with limited immediate returns. The only company with a chance of going public is Bitauto, which is currently striving for its IPO. Li Bing has spent a long time working on Wall Street.

Speaking of which, this old guy isn't married yet. He's already 35 years old, but it's said that he's dating that famous actress. It's unclear when they'll get married, but it's definitely after the company goes public.

These elites are smart. They still remember the lesson of how Potato dumped his wife, who had helped him through thick and thin, when he was rushing to go public, causing him to miss the best time to go public and allowing his competitors to beat him to it.

For ByteDance, the successful IPO of Yiche.com didn't actually bring in much profit; it just improved its reputation.

In reality, the ones who profited were the domestic companies that had made early investments in lithium-related fields.

At 9:30, Tan Jincheng brought Gu Qingqing to the ByteDance engine.

Gu Qingqing now holds the title of vice president. Although she doesn't manage the business, she still needs to have a certain understanding of the company's financial situation, given the large amount of investment this year.

After glancing around the office area, Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "You're all here today."

At the end of the year, investment company employees actually have a lot of miscellaneous things to do, especially those responsible for the primary market, who have to conduct research and travel, so they don't actually spend much time in the company.

As for the secondary market employees who maintain profits, they are relatively relaxed now.

ByteDance is now a large investment company, and it's impossible for it to engage in ultra-short-term trading like it did during the 2007 bull market. Playing with that too much can easily backfire.

Investment cycles that are monthly, quarterly, or even annual are typical of the secondary market.

"Long time no see, boss and boss lady."

As soon as he entered the conference room, Huang Ming joked, "It really has been a long time."

"Haha, is Mr. Huang blaming me for taking too long to get rid of him? But it's no use complaining now. You'll have to keep suffering this year."

Due to his long-term business trips, Huang Ming's physique has changed quite a bit. Compared to when he first joined ByteDance and was quite idle, Huang Ming, who had gained some weight at that time, now looks much thinner, but he is much more energetic.

"Haha, I wouldn't dare say that. It's a good thing if the boss assigns me work. If I'm too idle, he'll fire me."

"Stop talking nonsense. Aren't you and President Cheng also bosses? Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Tell me how much cash the company currently has available. We need to make an investment plan for 2010."

The main goal is to acquire shares in Xiaomi. Lei Jun is known for his big moves; otherwise, he wouldn't have visited dozens of investment institutions without securing funding.

"Does it count as stocks?" Cheng Linfeng asked.

"Okay, let's clear out all the miscellaneous car stocks like SAIC. Keep the ones that can't be cleared out. The index has already doubled, and we probably won't be able to do anything fancy this year. This year, our investment focus will be more on the primary market."

Cheng Linfeng nodded in agreement. He agreed with this point. After reaching a high of 3400 points, the market did not change much. Currently, there is a downward adjustment trend. He had already arranged for people to reduce their holdings in some stocks that had generated huge profits.

However, the boss's idea is more radical; companies like SAIC simply clear out their inventory.

Huang Ming and Cheng Linfeng exchanged a glance: "Then Director Wang should report to the boss."

The CFO of ByteDance's advertising platform is Wang Zhilin. In fact, ByteDance's financial situation is quite simple. There are only three shareholders, and the secondary market value of funds and stock market value are readily apparent.

As for the primary market, it's clear how much money has been invested.

“In 2008, we organized an overseas investment of 20 billion RMB, and a total of 64 billion RMB was returned. After deducting the 20 billion RMB that remained overseas, 44 billion RMB returned to our domestic accounts.”

Wang Zhilin calmly addressed the computer screen, having already prepared the company's financial data for this very moment.

"Of the 44 billion yuan, after deducting the company's normal expenses and reserve funds, 10 billion yuan was used for investment in the primary market, and 30 billion yuan was used for reporting and bottom-fishing in the secondary market."

"The 30 billion yuan secondary market investment was diversified across sectors such as automobiles, liquor, energy, and real estate. With leverage, the overall return in 2009 was 82.55%, which is a very good return. The automobile sector contributed the most to the returns. The boss has an unparalleled vision."

Wang Zhilin became more and more excited as he spoke, and even offered a compliment.

Stocks in the automotive sector that were bought at the bottom rarely doubled; most yielded two or even three times the return. In the boss's words, they made a fortune.

How much cash is available?

With the success of Hong Kong stocks as a precedent, Tan Jincheng seemed relatively calm. Compared to mature markets, A-shares still fall short. If it weren't for the "bug" and the advantage of capital, he really wouldn't have been able to make so much money.

"If we remove this year's budget and clear out some stocks, we have no problem using 50 billion yuan of our own funds. If we add leverage, we can use at least more than 70 billion yuan in cash."

Damn, people in finance are making so much money! A company of 50 people has generated billions in revenue.

Huang Ming holds 5% of the shares, and Cheng Linfeng holds 1%. In just a few years, even Cheng Linfeng has become a billionaire. Even though Cheng Linfeng was previously engaged in the financial industry, he was still shocked by the speed at which ByteDance made money.

"The boss really has an unparalleled vision. From 2007 to 2009, he was able to catch up with every market change, and we all benefited from it."

(End of this chapter)