2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 761 The Giants' Fear and Alliance

The Spring Festival in 2011 came earlier than usual.

It was already the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month when I returned to Ningbo from Hangzhou. In another week, the employees of the Flash series would have to go on holiday.

Holidays are the happiest time for FlashCity employees, especially Chinese New Year, which means they can get their year-end bonus and have a prosperous year.

Starting this week, various branch offices have been distributing year-end bonuses one after another.

In the discussion forum of Dingding Group, the most talked-about topic is how much year-end bonus everyone received. Incidentally, Dingding has developed quite rapidly since Zhou Ao took over.

With the addition of a ground sales team and faster online updates, Dingding has evolved to include important functions such as customer expansion, customer service, and customer maintenance.

More than 200 updates have been made to the details.

Although Zhou Ao didn't understand technology, he did understand marketing. In October 2011, Ding Ding assisted the Ministry of Public Security's Anti-Trafficking Office in creating a mobile emergency release platform for information on missing children.

By using the internet to achieve the goal of collective prevention and control and combating human trafficking, a total of 1.3 million people participated in this campaign, which provided Dingding with a large number of daily active users and also brought Dingding an excellent reputation.

In Zhou Ao's words, he learned this trick from his boss. When his boss was developing Happy Farm, he also connected it with a project to help farmers, which reduced a lot of unnecessary attacks on the game project, which was not yet recognized by the public at the time.

Large enterprises, whether state-owned or private, must assume social responsibility once they reach a certain size. Businesses and public welfare have always been closely related.

Zhou Ao's approach may have been somewhat utilitarian, but actions speak louder than words, and his tactic ultimately helped many families.

Through a series of moves, Zhou Ao, a marketing director who transitioned from a physical business, has made a name for himself in the internet industry.

As of December 31, 2011, Dingding had been used by more than 3 million enterprises and organizations, with 12,000 paying users, and had also attracted the attention of the financing market.

Old Ding has asked him more than once when he will raise funds. In his words, this software is destined for him.

Tan Jincheng wasn't in a hurry, but told him that if they needed to raise funds, he would definitely include him, and the specific timing of the fundraising would be decided by Ding Ding's team.

"Boss, the public opinion these past few days has been a bit off. This is the data the public relations department has reported. Would you like to take a look?"

The public relations department discovered that since the boss started his activities in Hangzhou, there have been many news articles and press releases on the internet about the company, the boss, and his family, even though the company currently has no public relations budget for this purpose.

"Oh? Really? Let me see?"

Tan Jincheng was also somewhat puzzled after receiving the data table from Zeng Jixiang.

In recent years, apart from the seasonal Orange Products Fair, the marketing plans of the entire Flash Motors group have focused more on Weilai Auto, and the promotion of Tan Jincheng has also been mainly done through Weilai Auto.

Among the various types of products targeted at end consumers, two-wheeled electric vehicles are more or less known to people because there are products with the same name as the company, and that is Tan Jincheng's business.

Few people know that clothing and electric vehicles for seniors are Tan Jincheng's businesses, especially clothing, because Zhang Xupeng attends far more events than Tan Jincheng, leading many to believe that clothing is Zhang Xupeng's business.

As for "old man's car" (a type of electric vehicle), it's already considered good if they know which company manufactures it. As long as the old men like it, that's all that matters. Regardless of which company manufactures it, when they recommend it to acquaintances, they will only suggest which store to buy it from.

"Goodness, it's the two horses trying to sow discord between me."

After reviewing the data, Tan Jincheng couldn't help but laugh. To be honest, the public relations capabilities of domestic companies are generally mediocre. Many companies don't know how to handle public relations after something goes wrong, their responses fail to address consumers' pain points, and some are even arrogant.

However, Tan Jincheng is a genius; he knows all too well how important public relations are. If a company doesn't handle public relations in a timely manner, it might even cause a run on the company, like Ofo, which was killed by deposit refunds.

In the area of ​​public relations, Flashlink may not be the absolute leader, but it is certainly one of the most attentive companies.

The public relations department obtained comprehensive data, and surprisingly, the places where news about the boss and the company appeared in large numbers were Weibo, which is mainly frequented by entertainment stars and their fans, followed by UC, and then QQ Space, where there was also a lot of news about Tan Jincheng.

Damn it, they're not sharing the Young Marshal's articles about loving his family anymore? I remember he was incredibly popular around this time, his social media was full of posts about how much he loved his wife who was nine years older than him, and how much he loved his daughter.

Weibo and UC are both part of the Ali Group. It's understandable that Jack Ma would have a problem with them since they took over Gaode Maps. But what is Pony Ma doing?
Is this revenge against MiTalk?
Then again, no one would know if I gave Lei Jun advice, could it be that Lei Jun let it slip?
By holding multiple layers of shares, Gaode was placed under the offshore company Cheng Yue. This could only be kept secret from the public eye, but it was no secret in the capital circles. Old Ma had been eyeing Gaode for some time.

It's just that Tan Jincheng, who was given a cheat code, took advantage of the time difference to get ahead.

Moreover, no matter how low-key Gaode is, changing its controlling shareholder still requires going through Nasdaq. Although there has been no widespread publicity, the fact that Xiao Tan's boss has a third listed company has already been widely known in the capital circles.

"Should we have the public relations department respond?"

The timing was really good. Unlike internet companies, physical businesses are less focused on work during the Chinese New Year. As for being on duty during the holiday, that's all the leaders' job.

The press releases that broke the news came in all shapes and sizes, some good and some bad.

The most concentrated criticism is directed at Gaode Maps. Some praise Mr. Tan for having his third listed company at such a young age, while others attack Gaode Maps for listing in the US, arguing that it will cause data leaks and endanger security.

Gaode's stock price has been fluctuating wildly in recent days, even affecting the stock price of Orange Technology.

Even QQ Space and other websites under Tencent's umbrella seem more like they're just there to help out, mainly promoting how rich Tan Jincheng and his family are, like they're doing gossip.

"Let Gaode respond to the data security issue, and also do some promotions during the Chinese New Year. Let other comments go."

Old Ma appears magnanimous on the surface, but he's actually quite petty. You can tell from the veiled criticisms he often makes in his speeches; this old guy holds grudges quite a bit.

Furthermore, his network of relationships is extremely complex, which is why Tan Jincheng tries to avoid dealing with him as much as possible. If he were to retaliate, it would be quite a headache.

Before Douyin (TikTok) became popular, it was Weibo's world. Even Pony Ma (Ma Huateng, founder of Tencent) had to advertise on Weibo's platform if he wanted to promote his products.

Data security is a matter that can be big or small. If something really goes wrong, it could be a real problem for Gaode Maps. But thankfully, these days everyone is still busy working to become stronger and bigger.

Over the past year, his investments have ranged from Xiaomi to ByteDance to AutoNavi. Even a fool could see Tan Jincheng's ambition. It's no surprise that he's been targeted by internet giants. After all, Ali's investments over the years have all been related to public opinion.

If a cash-rich, physical enterprise is competing with them for resources, wouldn't they be wary?

As for Tencent, Tan Jincheng plans to call Xiao Ma. You can follow the trend, but revealing your family and wealth is a bit unfair, isn't it?

"We need to be more careful with these internet giants from now on. We can't compete with them in terms of media resources. It would be quite annoying if they kept attacking us every day."

Zeng Jixiang instructed that physical enterprises of the same level are actually much more powerful than internet companies, but why are many physical enterprises unknown, and even locals rarely hear of their achievements?

Besides the inherently low-profile nature of physical businesses, the main reason is that they lack control over media resources.

If you want to promote yourself, you have to spend a lot of public relations money. But internet companies are different. BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) are very powerful, but there are many more powerful physical companies across the country. The reason why they have the highest reputation is because they have a lot of media resources.

Tan Jincheng was right; his actions in 2011 did indeed arouse the apprehension of internet giants.

In the eyes of the giants, the Flash Group is like a monster that appeared out of nowhere. From the perspective of the product matrix, all companies in the Flash Group are deeply involved in the two aspects of clothing and transportation.

They have their own garment factories, their own garment supply chain, their own import and export channels, and their own e-commerce website that mainly sells clothing. It can be said that although their clothing business may seem insignificant, their entire system is very complete.

The same applies to transportation. Two-wheeled electric vehicles, electric cars for the elderly, and cars—this covers almost all the daily transportation options a person may have from youth to old age, from poverty to wealth. It even provides options for transportation in old age.

Apart from the fact that the automotive industry chain is not yet complete, the other two modes of transportation have complete industry chains, and the entire system can be controlled by themselves.

In addition, the Flash series, which has always claimed to be 'small but beautiful' in the internet field, should not be underestimated.

Orange Technology, which started with games and social networking sites, hasn't made much progress in the social networking sector, but it's doing very well in games. It has now established an independent game studio and is preparing to develop large-scale mobile games.

In the mobile game sector, several of their mobile games have consistently topped the iOS game download charts, and with the popularity of Android smartphones, their user base is expanding.

Fruit Ninja and Talking Tom are games suitable for all ages.

OrangePin has seen its installation rate and daily active users increase year after year thanks to its investment in mobile phone management software and its partnership with mobile phone manufacturers. GMV has also grown year after year.

Furthermore, this year's Double Eleven saw Xiaomi capitalize on its shareholder advantage by launching a pre-sale event for Xiaomi phones, stealing the spotlight.

Orange Products' sales slogan is that their boss is a junior partner of Xiaomi, which makes it easy to secure opportunities in the future. And it turns out that this tactic is very effective. They released several thousand Xiaomi 1 phones at once, a move that was very popular with Xiaomi fans.

As a flash sale e-commerce platform, Orange Products focuses on providing more cost-effective products to attract consumers with limited budgets. This year's Double Eleven featured many best-selling items at their lowest prices of the year.

There are no fancy tricks, just discounts, allowing consumers to enjoy discounts in the easiest way during big sales.

As the most cost-effective smartphone on the market, the Xiaomi 1 perfectly aligns with Orange Products' promotional theme.

The gaming, Orange Products, Xiaomi, and ByteDance companies all have cash flow, applications, terminals, and promotional channels. In addition, they now have their own payment licenses, making it difficult to restrict their access to payment services.

Oh, and regarding logistics, SF Express has developed very rapidly in recent years. Orange Technology, which holds shares in SF Express, is a strategic partner and has fully benefited from SF Express's growth. As the most reputable courier company in the market, if you buy a piece of clothing for a few dozen yuan at Orange Shopping Mall, SF Express will deliver it to your office in the safest and fastest way possible—that's incredibly impressive!

Growing online shoppers subconsciously believe that goods shipped via SF Express are high-end and authentic, while those shipped via other major express delivery companies are less certain.

In addition, the most undeniable factor is the continuous surge in Ding Ding's business, which is a tool that can connect almost all of Tan Jincheng's industries.

Orange Technology's continuous improvement and efforts to address its shortcomings have clearly made the giants somewhat wary.

Internet giants may not care about the physical economy, but it's a different story if a company has a strong physical economy, a well-established internet system, and a huge cash flow.

Ali knows how important map services are to the future of the internet industry, and so does Tencent.

Gaode Maps is like the last piece of the puzzle for Orange Technology, Flash Group, and Weilai Group. By controlling a map company, they can have control over everything from internet order systems to car navigation.

Although he held shares in Orange Technology, when Ali made his move, Pony Ma did not hesitate to follow suit and add fuel to the fire.

In the intricate web of capital, people can be sitting at the table laughing and sharing the spoils one moment, but the next moment they can stab you in the back without hesitation.

Similarly, even after stabbing you in the back, they can still greet you with a smile and cooperate again.

After receiving the call from Tan Jincheng, Pony Ma laughed and said that he just wouldn't admit it. Gaode's announcement hadn't been released yet, but the internet was already full of leaks, all thanks to Pony Ma.

Pony Ma has no shortage of maps; their map service has been around for a long time, and it was separated from other business segments in July 2011. At that time, it was still called SOSO Maps.

"This has nothing to do with me; it's all the work of those marketing accounts."

"Come on, you're kidding me. It's one thing for you to criticize Gaode Maps like Lao Ma, but you can't mention my family. If you keep doing this, I'll really criticize you."

Tan Jincheng was too lazy to beat around the bush with him.

Pony Ma wasn't angry; he just wouldn't admit it: "Haha, let's not talk about that. I'm planning to increase my stake in Orange Technology. Is that okay?"

Capitalists are smart. Internet companies rise quickly, but they can also collapse or disappear just as quickly. In the 10-plus years since the beginning of the century, many of the previously famous internet companies, both large and small, have disappeared.

In the mobile internet era, another batch of companies disappeared, but this certainly doesn't include Orange Technology, whose system is becoming increasingly complete.

Orange Technology, whose stock price had been consolidating on Nasdaq for two and a half years, only began to experience a rapid surge in the second half of this year, which is the best response from capital to its development.

Dongzi, who said a couple of years ago that vertical e-commerce platforms like Orange Products couldn't survive, has now changed his tune.

"What's wrong? Paipai.com is shutting down? Increasing our shareholding isn't a bad idea, what are the benefits?"

When it comes to online shopping, Pony Ma has been trying for many years, spending a lot of money on platforms like Paipai.com and YiXun.com, but he just couldn't make them work. At this point, Pony Ma has basically given up.

After the 3Q War, Pony Ma made some changes to Tencent's style. These past few years have been a period of transformation for Tencent. Not only has it become much more low-key, but it has also either cut off unprofitable businesses or left them to fend for themselves.

However, it's clear that Pony Ma (Ma Huateng) has no intention of giving up on e-commerce. Since he can't do it well himself, he'll invest in increasing the market share and influence of other companies.

The idea of ​​increasing its stake in Orange Technology also originated this year.

Zhang Sanchang pulled him and Dongzi together for a chat. At that time, the two had different ideas and mindsets. Xiao Ma had not completely admitted defeat yet, and Dongzi did not think that he could not beat Ali. They had not yet evolved to the point where they needed to use investment to form alliances.

After all, they are still in their growth phase and don't have much need for investment. If all else fails, then we'll just have to settle things on the battlefield.

Zhang Sanshi really wanted to bring the two of them together. Dongzi wasn't interested for the time being, and Tengzi didn't care either, since his two e-commerce websites could still hold on. Besides, merging the two companies wasn't that simple.

It's obvious that Paipai and Yixun can't compete with Dongzi. If they really merge, what will they be doing?

However, this incident reminded Pony Ma that since he already owns shares in Orange Technology, he could simply increase his stake to gain more influence and, incidentally, take advantage of this opportunity to utilize Orange Technology's unique supply chain system.

As of now, Tan Jincheng and his family hold 29.23% of the shares through various means, while the management team holds 10.09%, plus the 6.8% held by the employee stock ownership plan.

With a 46.12% stake held by the founders and management, Tan Jincheng still maintains firm control over Orange Technology.

The increase in holdings he mentioned is definitely not as simple as buying some stocks on the secondary market. In addition, Tan Jincheng has already transferred shares once this year to cash out, so it is obviously impossible for him to transfer shares again.

The increased stake mentioned by Pony Ma undoubtedly refers to Orange Technology's refinancing; what he wants is certainly not the pitiful amount of tradable shares in the secondary market.

How about giving you primary access to the QQ platform?

"Wow? You're so generous? Really?"

Little Ma's words really surprised Tan Jincheng. The so-called primary entry point was simply adding the Orange Products shopping portal directly to the QQ Life and Entertainment channel, similar to the WeChat service bar a few years later.

This is a huge traffic source, and it's not so easy to acquire.

"You're not short of money, all I can give you is this little bit of traffic, how about it, is that okay?"

"Great, that's fantastic! How many shares do you want?"

As Pony Ma said, Orange Technology doesn't make any big investments. With the cash flow from games and e-commerce, it really doesn't need financing to support an e-commerce business.

As long as Orange Technology doesn't recklessly develop new businesses or make reckless investments, they'll never run out of money.

But traffic is really scarce. All e-commerce websites are short of traffic. Ali is acquiring companies everywhere, just to replenish his traffic.

This is also true of Alipay's later elaborate and flamboyant designs; there's no way around it, this is a weakness stemming from the lack of a social system.

If you put Tan Jincheng in Ma's position, his investment approach would only be the same as Ma's.

"How about another 10 points?"

Tencent currently holds a 10% stake in Orange Technology, making it the second-largest shareholder alongside Sequoia Capital. Pony Ma answered the phone quite quickly, clearly indicating that this was a decision they had made after careful consideration.

Even without Tan Jincheng's call, he would have called anyway.

Zhang Sanshi's arrangement gave him a reminder: if he couldn't beat Jack Ma in e-commerce, he might as well integrate an investment circle similar to an e-commerce alliance to counter Ali. Orange Technology was one he was optimistic about, but it was also an experiment.

If the results are truly good, then merging the resources of Paipai.com, YiXun.com, and other subsidiaries with Jingdong would be a logical next step.

"Ten points, that's not much."

Unlike Xiao Ma's thoughtful consideration, Tan Jincheng clearly did not expect Xiao Ma to bring these things up at this time. Considering this guy's exaggerated revelations, this is just... well, let's just say it's ridiculous.

After listing, further financing would fall under the category of private placement in the A-share market.

Increasing his shareholding from 10% to 20% is indeed not a large amount, and given the way the two companies have joined forces this time, Tan Jincheng doesn't want to have conflicts with both of them at the same time, even though he has a good relationship with Lao Ding.

Even though Zhang had already told him that ByteDance's flagship product, a certain product, would be officially launched during the summer vacation this year.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. There's no reason to turn Xiao Ma, with whom we currently have a good relationship, into an enemy.

However, simply having QQ as a primary entry point is clearly not enough.

"I can give you 10 points, but that's not enough for just a primary entry point on QQ. I also want a primary entry point on WX in the future. Is that okay? As for the money, just give me whatever you want."

"What do you need WX for? We haven't done that yet, and we don't know if we'll do it in the future."

At that time, WX had not yet exceeded 1 million users and was not commercially available. It was just a simple YP software with a basic interface. Pony Ma really did not expect Tan Jincheng to make such a request.

"Haha, I'm optimistic about WX. If you're going to do it, give me an entry point; if not, then just ignore what I said."

"You're bullish on WX, yet you're giving advice to MiTalk? Are you split personality?"

"Haha, it doesn't conflict. I'll just add some difficulty for you, otherwise you'll be invincible, and life would be so boring. How about it? I'll add it. You'll definitely be using WeChat commercially in the future. Trust me, I know you better than you know yourself."

Tan Jincheng didn't believe that WX, which was still in its early stages, could possibly have the same level of understanding as him, even if Little Ma had high hopes for WX. Moreover, Tan Jincheng had added some difficulty for him, as he was currently locked in a battle with MiTalk.

If we seize this opportunity and secure these two major traffic entry points, Orange Products Club will be truly secure.

Pony Ma didn't give a direct answer: "Let me think about it, have a meeting to discuss it, and then I'll get back to you."

(End of this chapter)