2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 725 New Energy Tycoon?
Little Tan, the shop owner, was unaware that the boatman had his eye on him.

He got drunk at the celebration banquet. He had rarely touched alcohol since Gu Qingqing became pregnant, but today he was willing to get drunk.

Tan Jincheng was not worried that his subordinates would try to fool him with their ambitious plans and project progress.

The power battery project is a collaboration with BMW, and the power batteries produced are intended to be supplied to BMW's vehicle systems. Without BMW's approval, they dare not announce that the project has achieved a major breakthrough.

BMW orchestrated such a grand scheme, even bringing in engineers from their German headquarters, all just to deceive Jinshidai?
How big of a nerve do they have to think like that?

The 800-page enterprise standard has had a significant effect on improving the technology of Jinshidai.

The experience gained from this batch of batteries can also point the way for Jinshidai in the field of power batteries. The most difficult thing in scientific research is to achieve a breakthrough from zero to one. Once you have achieved a breakthrough from zero to one, going from one to 100 is relatively simple.

The drunken Boss Tan slept until dark before waking up, and when he looked up, it was already past seven o'clock in the evening.

To be honest, drinking too much actually allowed me to steal a half-day of leisure.

After taking a shower, feeling refreshed, Tan Jincheng walked out of the room and smiled at Li Yaohui, who was sitting in the suite playing on his phone, "Brother Li, how about we go out for a street food stall?"

I've been to Luzhou often, but I haven't really explored the streets much, and I don't really have any particular impression of Luzhou at night.

"Should we call General Manager Zhang? He came by this afternoon, but left because he saw you were sleeping."

Zhang Xupeng is the junior manager, and Zhang Xuhui is the senior manager. This is how people who are close to Tan Jincheng usually distinguish between the two.

"Oh? Then call him over, let's eat together."

Zhang Xuhui came over in the afternoon and saw that the boss was still asleep, so he waited all night. After receiving a call from Li Yaohui, he came over very quickly.

"Let's go get some barbecue. I know a place that's pretty good. I used to go there occasionally after get off work."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go. Speaking of which, we ate a lot of street food in Beicang when we first started our business."

"you do not say."

Zhang Xuhui also misses those days a bit. In the early days of FlashTech, conditions weren't this good, and it was common to be busy until midnight.

Late-night snacks are just grabbing a bite at a roadside stall.

"By the way, do you have a girlfriend? Pengya is already married. Don't wait until his child is born and you're still single."

Zhang Xuhui gave a wry smile. As the head of a branch office, he held a high position of power, but there were a few people he really dared not offend.

He could handle work-related matters, but these few people kept pressuring him to get married, which made Zhang Xuhui a little scared.

Speaking of which, Zhang Xuhui is only one year older than Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng. He is 26 years old this year. In this era where late marriage is still valued, he is not the kind of "leftover man" that the boss mentioned.

At 26, he owns a house and a car, has a decent education, and is already the head of a company; his future is limitless.

He didn't want to get married so early like his cousin and boss. In fact, he thought that the reason his boss and cousin got married so early was just a coincidence.

The boss is another story; he and the boss's wife have known each other for a long time. As for his cousin's marriage, he sees it as a kind of arranged marriage, though not quite.

"Boss, I don't plan to get married yet. I'm only 26 years old. Don't treat me like I'm 36."

Feeling more relaxed at the roadside stall, Zhang Xuhui took a bite of a skewer and sighed.

"Uh, that's true. I forgot your age."

Zhang Xuhui's words stunned Tan Jincheng for quite a while. The people he dealt with were mostly middle-aged and older, and because of his rebirth, he almost forgot his age if he wasn't with his family.

Zhang Xuhui is different from him and Zhang Xupeng. If he were to pursue a master's degree, he might not even graduate by the age of 26, so there is indeed no need for him to rush into marriage.

"Really? Boss, you can't use your experience with your wife to judge me. You've known each other for so long, if you don't get married soon, it's probably going to fall through."

"That's not wrong. Dating that lasts too long usually ends in failure."

Tan Jincheng smiled, but then added, "If you're not in a hurry to get married, that's fine. However, as a senior executive in the company, there are certain requirements regarding your code of conduct. You can't affect the company's image, you understand."

"I don't have any special requirements for your private life, but there are two things you must abide by. First, don't make it public knowledge, and second, don't bully ordinary people. Even if you keep a minor celebrity as a mistress, it's fine."

The things that happen between men and women are unavoidable for everyone, whether human or ghost. Tan Jincheng never demanded that his company employees meet saintly standards.

The entertainment industry in Beicang District is said to have prospered because of Flash, and the company would privately organize trips to clubs to entertain clients or even its own employees. Tan Jincheng was well aware of this.

As long as the company's image isn't affected by media reports, Tan Jincheng simply doesn't care about rumors.

However, there is one thing that Tan Jincheng finds particularly objectionable: people in high positions use their power, money, and status to manipulate ordinary people in a roundabout way.

It's very unethical to play around for a few years and then exploit legal loopholes to send people to work as sewing machines.

"Oh, right, not even inside the company. I won't protect you if something happens."

As a high-tech company, despite its engineering focus, Jinshidai has quite a few female employees.

Despite being the provincial capital, Luzhou has a relatively low cost of living. Jinshidai offers good benefits, making it a great choice for university students in the province. After working there for a few years, you can easily buy a house.

"Boss, you really think highly of me. I don't have the means to keep a female celebrity as a mistress."

Zhang Xuhui was both amused and exasperated, but he could tell that his boss was in a really good mood today, even joking with him like this.

"Haha, although you were the poorest among the earliest executives who worked with me, you still have a net worth of tens of millions, so dating a minor celebrity shouldn't be a problem."

By the time FlashTech went public, Zhang Xuhui's personnel file had already been transferred. He didn't receive many shares; of the total 50 shares, 30 of them were purchased with his own money.

These 50 shares, at the current share price, are worth approximately 900 million yuan, and they are unlikely to be sold.

In terms of salary, Zhang Xuhui's annual salary is 50 yuan, and the company provides a car. He is definitely among the top earners in his class, but he is not really rich, after all, he has not accumulated enough wealth in just a few years.

However, that's not how it's calculated. Backed by the Flash Group, its many hidden advantages are immeasurable.

Although he didn't have much money, in this era before celebrities' wealth skyrocketed, dating a minor celebrity wasn't difficult. Besides, he was so young and had a bright future ahead of him.

Let's put it this way: if Tan Jincheng had introduced him, Zhang Xuhui could have easily won over Zhao Baozi at that time.

The boss was joking, but Zhang Xuhui knew he couldn't take it as a joke.

"Don't worry, boss. Although I can't guarantee I'm a good person, I certainly won't do anything particularly bad, nor will I affect the company."

"Just know that, everything in moderation is fine."

Alright, if we keep talking, he'll start to look like a playboy in the boss's eyes. Honestly, aside from social engagements, he really hasn't done anything out of line.

Although the management team of Flashpoint Technology is not highly educated overall, they are generally of good character.

"Boss, stop worrying about my marriage. I've come up with that reward plan you mentioned at noon. Would you like to hear about it?"

"Oh, that's what happened. Well, tell me about it."

I was a little embarrassed to say it to Zhang Xuhui, haha.

Before lunch, Tan Jincheng asked Zhang Xuhui to come up with a reward scheme: those who made mistakes would be punished, and those who made contributions would be rewarded.

Besides, Boss Tan also planned to keep the BMW engineers. There's no reason to return what's been borrowed, at least not all of them.

"Originally, Engineer Lü and the BMW engineers had a target for the project's progress, which was to achieve a breakthrough by the end of June this year. Now that the task has been completed two months ahead of schedule, the original KPI bonus will still be awarded."

"However, since you mentioned rewarding the team, I've devised a separate reward plan. The entire project team will receive a reward of 200 million yuan. As for how to distribute the rewards, I'll let Engineer Lü handle that. He's quite familiar with everyone's contributions during the project's progress."

"I wonder if the boss has anything to add."

The 200 million yuan came from Jinxin Times. Considering that Jinxin Times is still in a loss-making stage, a reward of 200 million yuan is already quite a lot. Any more would be a bit exaggerated.

"That's about it. Also, remember what I said before? BMW's engineers are trying to keep them here. Have you talked to them about this?"

"Hehe, that's for sure. I often come to this barbecue stall with the engineers, just to keep up with each other."

Speaking of this, Zhang Xuhui looked smug.

He was well aware that his boss liked to poach technical talent, and he had been in contact with these BMW engineers ever since he received the notification. Over the past few months, several of them had expressed their intention to stay.

"Oh? How many are there?"

That's BMW. Nowadays, it's not so easy for domestic brands to poach their talent. Judging from Zhang Xuhui's expression, he seems to have kept several of them.

"Three engineers have already confirmed that they will stay, and two more are interested. I estimate that this round of bonuses will be enough."

"Were they talking about joining Weilai Auto?"

“Of course, I’ve also talked to Thomas about this. Thomas himself doesn’t have this idea yet, but he said he could recommend someone to BMW headquarters. I asked him to recommend a design director.”

Weilai Auto is an atypical car company. In an era where all domestic brands are copying each other, Weilai Auto may use design inspiration from existing models, but it is definitely not considered plagiarism.

All the exterior designs are based on some car models that Tan Jincheng remembered from his previous life. This thing hasn't even appeared yet, so it can't be considered plagiarism at all.

The stylish appearance is a major reason for the success of the Yuechi A1. Since gasoline cars can't compete with others in other aspects, they can only make breakthroughs in design. A car with good looks can often attract more consumers.

Tan Jincheng has finally figured it out. While focusing on internal quality is certainly necessary, a good-looking appearance is absolutely essential. Weilai Auto's main focus going forward will be a design that transcends the times.

We currently have enough designers, but we are still lacking a well-known design director to oversee things.

Tan Jincheng currently looks down on all domestic brands, including large state-owned enterprises. The only models he can clearly copy are the F3 type. Some of them can't even copy properly, and they're just tinkering with the designs.

Therefore, we can only seek help from major foreign manufacturers, but this is not easy. Previously, the domestic car market performed poorly, while the foreign market, whether it was German, American or Japanese brands, was booming.

There is frequent personnel turnover among major car companies, but top talents never consider working for us. Let alone Wei, they wouldn't even consider companies like Dongfeng and FAW.

However, this situation improved after the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, especially after our car sales jumped to first place in the world in 2009, making it relatively easier for our domestic brands to go global and attract talent.

Weilai Auto currently has a number of foreign technical personnel. There are many experts hired from Mitsubishi in the engine department and many in the design department, but none of them are well-known.

Currently, the most sought-after candidate is a highly renowned designer, preferably someone with experience as a senior executive at BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or other American luxury brands. Such experience would significantly enhance the design capabilities of Weilai Auto.

"That's great. Remember to keep in touch with Thomas so he doesn't forget. If necessary, we can also visit BMW's German headquarters."

"Um, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to go there. Boss, you and General Manager Zhang are more suitable. I belong to Jinxin New Era, but I have no official title or status."

"Haha, that brings us to what I'm about to talk to you about. What do you think about merging Hangxin New Energy and Weilai Automobile?"

"merge?"

Zhang Xuhui was shocked; he had never thought of it this way before.

Tan Jincheng nodded: "Yes, actually I had this in mind when I decided to establish the automotive research institute."

Hangxin New Energy is benchmarked against Ningwang, and Weilai Auto is benchmarked against BYD. However, in Tan Jincheng's view, operating two teams is somewhat of a waste of resources. In addition, resource integration in the battery field is not very convenient.

Wouldn't it be more convenient if battery research and development and new energy vehicle development could be carried out in the same place, while other regions could simply be used as production bases?
"It won't be easy to merge them, will it? How should the shareholding distribution between the two companies be calculated?" Zhang Xuhui thought for a moment and asked.

"It's indeed not easy, but we can discuss it."

ByteDance holds a 68% stake in Jinxin New Energy, the parent company of Hangxin New Era, and a 70% stake in Weilai Auto. Other companies such as Sequoia Capital and Beicang City Investment also hold stakes in both companies.

These two investment companies have a long-term partnership with Tan Jincheng and have watched him grow up, making negotiations relatively easier.

The three shareholders, Luzhou City Investment, Chuzhou City Investment, and the Institute of Physics, are facing some difficulties. However, as long as the valuation and shareholding can be agreed upon, the chances of a merger are still very high.

After the merger, Tan Jincheng's control over the two companies will be further enhanced. Currently, at Jinxin Times, both the R&D team and the management team are in Luzhou. It feels like if things continue like this, something bad will happen sooner or later.

As the company continued to develop, Tan Jincheng's mindset also underwent significant changes.

In a way, this is somewhat related to Liu Yifei's last visit to Beicang to see Gu Qingqing.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng was a businessman. His net worth was always considered that of a middle-class or even upper-middle-class person. When he first started doing business, he did have some ambition, but he never thought he would achieve what he has now.

After 2019, he lost all ambition and just lay low.

Power is the best drug for men. After his rebirth, Tan Jincheng's mentality changed step by step. At the beginning of his business, he thought more about money, buying houses, cars, stocks, and saving money.

The fear is that something unexpected might happen during the startup process and they could still become a wealthy man. Even if Flashpoint Technology achieves the number one market share, this mentality hasn't changed much.

The title of "number one in market sales" is actually quite meaningless. The title can change hands frequently; it could be held by companies like Chipstar, Flashpoint, Yadi, or Hermes.

It wasn't until Orange Technology and Flash Technology went public that Tan Jincheng's mindset began to change.

It was a listed company in 2008, not in 2018, and certainly not in 2023. It owns two of the only three listed companies in Beicang District, and Orange Technology is the first internet company in Ningbo to be listed on NASDAQ.

Listed companies, especially private listed companies, are extremely rare these days, and the benefits they can obtain are far greater than what Flash Technology previously claimed to have the highest market sales.

To put it simply, even if FlashTech achieved the top sales ranking and secured the title of Olympic sponsor, college graduates would still look down on it when seeking employment. However, after going public, everything changed.

With money in his pocket and a rise in status, everything went more smoothly. As a result, Tan Jincheng's status also soared. Before the company went public, he could use his young age and lack of experience to turn down government positions such as the CPPCC and the National People's Congress.

However, after the company goes public, these are no longer valid reasons. When opening branches in other cities, they will be listed under the name of the actual controller of the listed company, which is a prestigious title.

Taking Orange Technology and Flash Technology public was the right move, and Tan Jincheng's ambitions gradually grew during this process.

In the past, whether it was Jinxin New Energy's power batteries or Weilai Automobile, he positioned himself as a mini-Ningbo or a mini-BYD, following behind these big players and enjoying the fruits of their labor. He didn't really have much ambition for the scale of the company.

Liu Yifei's visit reminded him of something.

Yes, I am politically correct now. I have connections with the next administration, and what I do is all beneficial to the country and the people, and it is in line with the development trend of the times.

If I don't blindly jump into other industries and instead focus on the serious development of the new energy industry, why can't I become a big shot in the new energy industry?

What Ning Wang can do, Hangxindai may not be as technologically advanced as Ning Wang's founders, but we started at the same stage. Given the known future trends, we may not be inferior to Ning Wang.

As for Dizi, they are currently in a bad period. Since the beginning of this year, Dizi has been in a long period of stagnation. Their fuel car business has been a complete mess, and the mass defection of dealers has brought many difficulties to the need to rebuild the distribution network.

To be honest, Dizi's heavy bet on the new energy vehicle industry was out of necessity. The blow in 2010 almost forced them out of the ranks of the top three domestic brands. Apart from low-end models like the F3 and F0 that barely maintained market sales, other newly developed models made little splash.

BYD has been relatively quiet for the past five years. With the foundation laid by the Yuechi A1, it has focused on the SUV market while also conducting research and development on new energy vehicles and battery-related technologies. Perhaps it is another BYD in another timeline.

The power battery project in cooperation with BMW has achieved breakthroughs in both stability and range. Although Jinsheng New Energy is not large in scale, its technology has already entered the ranks of first-tier battery companies.

Turning around, it suddenly becomes clear that Weilai Auto + Hangxin New Energy already has the capability to challenge BYD's future position.

As for Ning Wang? At that time, they were still called ATL, a company controlled by Xiao Rizi Holdings, headquartered in Shenzhen, and it would be some time before it was officially established.

Taking all these factors into consideration, Tan Jincheng believed that merging the two companies would be more effective for future business development, using the profits from Weilai Auto's gasoline vehicles to offset the losses in the power battery project.

As expected, Weilai Auto will be able to turn a profit this year. Instead of paying taxes on the profits, it would be better to use the money for battery research and development.

Another point is that Jinshidai can currently be supported by the cash flow and loans from Dexian Electronics, but if it wants to develop further, it will need to raise funds again.

Even though the founders of Ningwang Group acquired a large amount of capital thanks to their exceptional stock trading skills, they still had to conduct several rounds of financing before going public. Without the cash flow from major businesses, they simply couldn't support the company's expansion.

"If Jinshidai doesn't raise funds soon, it might only last for two more years at most. It would be better to take advantage of our technological breakthroughs now and merge it with Weilai Automobile, leveraging Weilai Automobile's profitability to increase the company's valuation and raise more funds in the future."

Tan Jincheng had nothing to hide from Zhang Xuhui and Li Yaohui.

With two sons, one a top student and the other a poor student, anyone would be willing to invest in the top student and abandon the poor student. It would be better to bundle the top student and the poor student together, at least that way they could be saved.

Zhang Xuhui was aware of Jinxin's financial situation. In fact, he had been looking forward to a second round of financing, as only a second round of financing could solve the current situation of over-reliance on loans and prevent the company from experiencing a break in its capital chain.

"Sure, I'll sponsor the merger. How about this, I'll organize a meeting for senior management tomorrow after I get back, and you can attend as well. We can discuss the merger together then."

The merger must first be approved internally. It is necessary to clarify who is the primary and who is the secondary party between Weilai Automobile and Jinxin New Energy. Only then can the valuation and the shareholding after the merger be discussed with the shareholders.

"Alright, then I'll stay in Luzhou for another two days."

Tan Jincheng was very pleased. Zhang Xuhui had grown up and was able to act decisively once he made a decision. That was the style of Flash.

A barbecue, though without alcohol, lasted for more than two hours. It was at an unknown roadside stall in Luzhou that Tan Jincheng set his sights on becoming a new energy tycoon.

(End of this chapter)