2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 779 The Meeting of the Three Giants
P.S.: We're almost at 100 premium items. If you're able, please subscribe to all of them. I'd be incredibly grateful. Also, if you have any votes, please cast them. Thank you so much!
A good investor needs more than just money; they also need the ability to integrate resources.

That's exactly what Tan Jincheng is doing now.

I didn't go into details with Pony Ma, I just said there was an opportunity for his WX Pay to gain at least several million more users who had linked their bank cards, and asked him if he was interested.

How could I not be interested?

Little Ma is really interested!
The reason why WX Pay was so difficult to promote in its early stages was actually a backlash from its past misdeeds. The Q coin system it created back then tarnished Tenpay's reputation.

Both being major internet companies, why did QQ's payment system almost collapse? If it were to happen to WeChat, it would leave longtime users with lingering fears.

It's not that simple to get a new user to link their bank card without any reason.

Another important point is that there is no physical medium. Alipay has gained trust through years of accumulated transactions on Taobao.

Alipay is preparing to launch a new project called Yu'ebao, which is similar to a bank deposit service. Jack Ma has been building up the hype, and it's certain that if it's launched, it will further squeeze Tenpay's market share.

In fact, apart from its large size, Tenpay is not as trusted as Orange Pay in the minds of its users. After all, Orange Pay, like Alipay, also builds trust through a series of orders.

Although it is small in scale, it is quite different from the common perception that Tenpay is only for topping up QQ coins.

"You should know about ride-hailing services, right? I have a project here. If you're interested, let's talk about it during the National Day holiday. As far as I know, Mr. Ma from Hangzhou is already preparing to get involved. You know what that means, right?"

"Okay, no problem, I'll come find you tomorrow."

Little Ma is also a decisive person. In addition, he has cooperated with Tan Jincheng countless times over the years. Although he is sometimes frustrated by Tan Jincheng's pedantic manner, he never talks nonsense when it comes to serious matters.

"Looks like you can't leave tomorrow either. Don't you have any plans for the National Day holiday?"

Chen Weixin, who had been silent the whole time, looked a little confused but also excited. After hanging up the phone, Tan Jincheng looked at him with a smile.

"I've learned another trick from President Tan: when it comes to getting funding from venture capital firms, you have to understand their psychology."

"Mr. Chen is joking. Each round of investors has its own obligations. It's not that investors can just put up money and do nothing. Essentially, this is also an opportunity to do business together."

By getting what each party needs and addressing investors' pain points, more money can be obtained.

"However, if Tencent enters the market, Mr. Chen should be prepared to give up more shares. I estimate that Tencent wants to have a certain degree of control. Of course, they will still maintain a mindset of not interfering with the company's operations, and I will clarify this point."

Chen Weixin nodded, but didn't respond to that question. Instead, he asked, "What about President Lei?"

He still wanted more money, to get more cash and resources all at once, so that he could expand into major cities across the country as quickly as possible and seize the market.

Since Zhou Mingyu used a few tricks, progress in Shanghai has accelerated significantly. The situation in Hangzhou, which was originally difficult to break through, has also begun to improve after learning from the experience of the Shanghai ground promotion team.

By the end of this year, Shanghai aims to attract 1000 drivers and Hangzhou 800, bringing the total to 1800. With the addition of car rental users, the number of drivers in both cities will be sufficient in the initial stage.

Deceptive tactics can only work temporarily. To get drivers to willingly use ride-hailing apps, certain subsidies are necessary.

"Let me ask around for you."

The same rhetoric wouldn't work on Lei Jun's side. He had basically confirmed that MiTalk couldn't beat WX, but with its current user base, if they invested more and did a good job, they could indeed take a piece of Tencent's territory.

Like Tan Jincheng, Xiaomi, which has been defined as a hardware host manufacturer, no longer attaches as much importance to MiTalk.

As I said before, the price is negotiable if it's right.

Tan Jincheng asked Lei Jun if he was interested in participating in the second round of investment for the Kuaidi APP. The lead investor was very likely to be Tencent. If possible, Xiaomi could also get a big piece of the pie from Tencent.

Lei Jun immediately knew what Tan Jincheng was talking about; this was exactly what they had planned.

"Mr. Ma is going to Ningbo tomorrow? In that case, I'll change my itinerary and go there tomorrow too."

After hanging up the phone, Tan Jincheng realized that this was quite a big deal. Ningbo was not exactly a popular internet city, and if it weren't for his persuasion, these two people would probably never have come to Ningbo in their lives.

"We've made a bit too much of a fuss. If we had known we were going to the capital, we could have kept a low profile. Oh well, I'll arrange for someone to secretly bring them to my house tomorrow."

It's just a funding round in the early stages of a startup, so it's best to keep a low profile to avoid too much attention from competitors. However, that's clearly no longer the case now.

The only thing we can do is try to minimize the impact.

"Tomorrow's investment might have a few surprises, but overall, Tencent should have no problem investing in you. I'm giving Mr. Chen a heads-up so you can be mentally prepared."

"As for what the accident was, I can't say for now, but it might be different from what you think."

Regarding the collaboration between WX and MiTalk, many things are uncertain before anything is confirmed, and it's still unknown whether it will come to fruition.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Chen Weixin spent one of the most unforgettable Mid-Autumn Festivals and National Days of his life.

The next day, Tan Jincheng sent his driver Lai Yiu-fai and his full-time assistant Tsang Kei-cheung to the airport to wait for Pony Ma and Raymond Lam. He had already communicated with the two yesterday, and there would definitely be some communication between the three parties for the meeting.

Lei Jun is alright, because the two had already discussed the future of MiTalk before.

Little Ma had a feeling that Tan Jincheng was up to something, and guessed that it might be related to MiTalk, but in the end he couldn't resist the temptation to bring a large number of users who would bind their bank cards to WeChat.

As is well known, due to user habits, once a card is linked, it is rarely unlinked without a special reason.

10 month 1 day.

It was still the same private club he was 'familiar' with.

This private club is not accepting any guests today, and Chen Weixin has not left the house all day. He also urgently summoned Lü Chuanwei.

Soon their team will be facing a giant among BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) companies, and the hottest domestic mobile phone supplier in the current market, Xiaomi 2, which has already exceeded 30 pre-orders in less than an hour since its launch.

In addition, there is Tan Jincheng, who claims to be the number one post-80s entrepreneur in China, owns several best-selling models, and boasts the most advanced intelligent driving technology and a technologically advanced design for new energy vehicles in the entire market.

Today they are facing negotiations with these three people. Although Chen Weixin has his own accolades, he is still far inferior to these three.

On Wall Street, the three of them—Ma Leitan, Lu Chuanwei, and Lu Chuanwei—are all quite influential, and it's impossible for them not to be nervous.

"Hehe, I never imagined that our Series B funding round would attract three giants to personally participate in the negotiations. It's something I never dared to dream of."

"President Tan's influence is truly undeniable; he can summon two well-known internet moguls with just one phone call."

"Stop lamenting. How much money are we planning to ask for? Oh, right, Mr. Tan mentioned that if Tencent wants to participate, they might ask for more shares."

Chen Weixin had been suffering from insomnia for two consecutive nights. To be honest, he was a little excited. The ride-hailing app was an unexpected product of his, and after officially deciding to run it properly, he also wanted to make a splash.

He even consulted Mr. Ma of Ali, who even expressed interest in investing. No one expected things to develop in a direction he couldn't foresee.

In Chen Weixin's view, venture capital and the first round of funding were all taken care of by ByteDance, and the 1000 new energy vehicles provided by Weilai Auto temporarily solved some of the company's regulatory problems.

In the process of app promotion, all the data looks promising. If Ali could invest, the payment issue would be resolved.

No one expected that after Mr. Tan's efforts, the company seemed to have entered a completely different phase.

"Shares are easy to discuss. Shares are all we can offer right now. As long as we have control of the company and the price is right, that's fine. I studied Tencent's investment style a lot last night. They have indeed changed a lot since the 3Q war."

"It's easy to talk to Mr. Tan. ByteDance's reputation has always been very good, and Mr. Tan has a reputation for being good at discovering startups. His help to us in promoting our business is very beneficial. We can make use of this later."

Rumor has it that none of the venture capital firms personally followed by Mr. Tan from ByteDance's advertising platform have failed, and he has even invested in giants like Xiaomi, thus gaining a reputation for success.

There's actually a lot of superstition in the investment or startup circles.

Many entrepreneurs want to gain Tan Jincheng's favor. If Tan Jincheng personally participates in their investment, it would be a great incentive and would also attract more investors.

"If we can add pre-installed apps to Xiaomi phones, as Mr. Lei suggested, that would be extremely beneficial for us."

If we can secure the traffic from WX and MiTalk, and the pre-installed apps on Xiaomi phones, what does giving up more shares matter?
"Should we talk to President Tan? Although he's also an investor, we're on the same side now, so I think it's necessary to get his opinion."

"I could mention it, but if all else fails, how about we convert those 1000 cars into Mr. Tan's investment share?"

"That's a good idea. That way, Mr. Tan's shares won't be diluted."

1000 cars can be converted into 1000 million US dollars, so the valuation of express cars will rise rapidly, wow.

Even though they tried to keep a low profile, the fact that Pony Ma and Lei Jun appeared at the airport one after the other from Shenzhen and Beijing, respectively, and their flight to Ningbo attracted a lot of attention.

Today is the first holiday of the National Day holiday, and no one knows why these two people would fly to Ningbo, a city where the Internet is not well developed.

But everyone knows that this must be related to Tan Jincheng.

The acquisition of Nvidia and the establishment of Horizon Robotics to enter the semiconductor industry marked Tan Jincheng's true entry into the high-tech industry. The cooperation of multiple ministries also officially registered Tan Jincheng in the industry.

Furthermore, judging from the resumes of the officials from these ministries I've met, Boss Tan can rest easy for the next two terms.

People both inside and outside the industry can't help but marvel at how lucky this young man is.

This fellow townsman has repeatedly transferred his businesses back to his hometown province. While developing, he received a lot of support from Luzhou. Moreover, he developed step by step under the nose of the next generation. In addition, he has a clean background, so his reputation is naturally different.

But no matter who you are, you have to admire his ability. A young man who only graduated from high school is daring and hardworking in investment, the internet, and real business.

Before the release of the iPhone 4, ByteDance held almost all of its Apple shares, and this recent reduction in holdings has yielded profits exceeding $17 billion.

According to Apple's latest shareholder list, the three dollar-denominated funds of ByteDance's Huge Engine, managed by Tan Jincheng, have disappeared from Apple's shareholder list, with their total holdings decreasing to 260 million shares.

They reduced their holdings by more than half.

Cheng Linfeng of ByteDance's securities division claimed that the reason was due to its own development needs, which is indeed a valid reason, but such a large-scale reduction in holdings at a high level is still quite eye-catching.

Especially before the release of the iPhone 5.

I wonder what he wanted to do by summoning Tencent's CEO Ma and Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun to Ningbo. The fact that these two came in person means that something very important must have happened.
-
"Tell me, what's going on with Mr. Lei, and what's the deal with the promotion of WX Pay?"

Pony Ma arrived before Lei Jun. He was immediately picked up by his driver and taken to Tan Jincheng's home without contacting anyone. It wasn't that Tan Jincheng didn't want to give Beicang District or Ningbo City a chance; the two giants had rushed to Beicang, and if the local government didn't show any reaction, it would seem somewhat derelict in its duty, especially since Xiaomi is a hardware manufacturer.

Two generations of Xiaomi phones have been bestsellers, with millions of units sold. They are still looking for contract manufacturers, but Xiaomi will definitely have its own production lines in the future.

However, this time it was somewhat unexpected. Tan Jincheng didn't want the express train to attract market attention so quickly. It was better for the startup to keep a low profile.

"Let Lei Jun talk to you about what he said when he arrives; it's not convenient for me to relay his words. Let me talk to you about the promotion of WX Pay."

Tan Jincheng's idea was simple: Tencent would invest in Express, just like Orange Products, and place Express on the main interface, then attract users to link their bank cards through coupons.

"We don't need many coupons. A 10 yuan taxi coupon for linking a bank card will be enough. This way, it's beneficial for both parties. According to my expectations, it's no problem to add 100 million card-linked users to Tencent."

Every internet company has a customer acquisition cost, which increases over time. Using 1000 million yuan worth of coupons can help both Express and WX Pay acquire 100 million users simultaneously. Including advertising costs, the overall cost is not much.

This customer acquisition cost is absolutely worthwhile.

"The idea is pretty good, but currently the ride-hailing industry doesn't allow private individuals to enter, right? There's always a limited number of taxi drivers, and our survey results show that most taxi drivers don't have smartphones."

"Another point is that there aren't as many ride-hailing users as you might think. Most people's income can't support frequent ride-hailing."

"Mr. Ma, it's an insult to me to say that. There's no need to test me like this. Xiaomi has already shipped millions of units, and Apple can sell tens of millions of units in China this year. Is a smartphone still a problem?"

"As for the inability to afford a taxi, that is indeed a problem, but is it a problem for the operating model of internet companies?"

Burning money to quickly cultivate the market and get consumers to develop consumption habits is a tradition of internet companies.

It's also a tradition of capital that all discounts are ultimately priced.

"Besides, what you want is to promote WX Pay. Isn't payment meant to be linked to the most common consumption scenarios? As long as WX Pay can be successfully promoted, what harm will it do you?"

"Haha, you've successfully convinced me; alright then, I'll invest in this project in principle, and then decide how much to invest after hearing their plans. But I'm still more curious about Mr. Lei's matter."

Little Ma is very straightforward. As a businessman, he is absolutely willing to set aside his pride if he has a project he likes. He was prepared to leave something behind after coming to Ningbo.

However, since Tan Jincheng invited Lei Jun from Xiaomi, it must be more than just a simple follow-up investment. For a small project, sending a person in charge would suffice.

Is it a MiTalk project?

Pony Ma is still testing the waters, and he's eager to promote WX Pay, otherwise Alipay will really take it all away. However, MiTalk, which is close behind, also poses a significant threat to WX.

He had also heard rumors that Tan Jincheng was involved in various stages of MiTalk, including its independence.

Judging from the way the MiTalk team operates, they do indeed resemble Tan Jincheng's style. They are imaginative and shameless, either launching new features first or copying others in various ways, which makes Zhang Xiaolong often complain to him.

Putting ourselves in their shoes, if we put WX and MiTalk at the same starting point, they might not necessarily be able to do better than MiTalk, especially after MiTalk added servers and its stability improved.

"Mr. Lei will be here soon. You two can talk it over in a bit. I won't get involved. If you reach an agreement, I'll give you a surprise."

If we can't reach an agreement, I'll give you a surprise, haha.

This year, Tan Jincheng prepared various promotional materials for MiTalk to teach elders how to use it. However, this was just an appetizer; the real killer app was yet to come.

When was WX at its most powerful?
That must have been in 2014 when WX launched its red envelope feature. After a year of promotion, during the Spring Festival of 2015, WX surprised everyone by collaborating with CCTV's Spring Festival Gala to send red envelopes to users through a shake-to-win feature.

Old Ma was on vacation in Hawaii at the time, and was so frightened that he rushed back overnight.

The Spring Festival Gala's red envelope giveaway was incredibly popular and influential, marking not only the official arrival of the nationwide internet era but also changing the format of the Spring Festival Gala.

We've moved from a passive television viewing era to a cross-screen era of social interaction and active participation.

The advertising methods of the Spring Festival Gala have also evolved from simple advertisements and product placements to a multi-faceted interactive model that accompanies various scenarios. The program is becoming increasingly less entertaining, but the revenue is increasing.

If these two can't reach an agreement, Tan Jincheng doesn't mind letting "MiTalk Red Envelopes" appear a year earlier. The effect will definitely not be as good as WX Red Envelopes, but who cares that we are the second-in-command? As long as we can cause trouble for the boss and increase our own value, that's fine.

Speaking of which, what is MiTalk's current valuation again?

Investment banks currently value WX at $124 billion. MiTalk, with only one-sixth the number of users of WX, obviously cannot be simply valued at one-sixth of WX's valuation, but a valuation of $20 billion should be about right.

It all depends on how Lei Jun negotiates. Tan Jincheng had spoken with Lei Jun privately before. If he was unwilling to sell MiTalk a year ago, he is not so conflicted now.

Lei Jun has a grand vision for Xiaomi's industrial chain. Cash is very important to Xiaomi. He truly deserves the title of "Cash King of Beijing" that he was jokingly called more than 10 years later. Lei Jun seems to be very obsessed with cash flow.

Lei Jun was not too late; the two arrived at the same time, just over an hour apart, and both went straight to Tan Jincheng's house.

Tan Jincheng prepared a quiet room for them to discuss the matter amongst themselves. In principle, Tan Jincheng would not interfere with whether or not MiTalk should be sold, or to whom it should be sold. Every successful entrepreneur has their own sensitive spots.

Investors can offer advice, but they can't make decisions for me; Tan Jincheng himself is no exception.

"What's going on? What big thing are you up to now?"

During the National Day holiday in Ningbo, there is often a period of lingering summer heat. Today, the weather is still a bit hot. Tan Jincheng was drinking tea in a shady corner of the courtyard when Gu Qingqing came over with Tan Jinchuan in her arms and asked him what was wrong.

With National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival falling together, we already have quite a few guests at home, but that definitely doesn't include Pony Ma and Lei Jun. Moreover, since noon yesterday, my husband has instructed us not to receive any guests today.

"Hehe, we are indeed planning to do something; on the one hand, it is related to the financing of Express, and on the other hand, we need to see if Mr. Lei and Mr. Ma are interested in cooperating on WX and MiTalk."

"You want them to merge?"

While swatting away the hand that was pinching her son's cheek, Gu Qingqing asked, "These days, people like to merge. Tudou and Youku are good examples of this. Now Yiche and Autohome are also talking about merging."

"Yes, a merger would actually benefit me as well. I have partnerships with both sides, and a protracted war wouldn't be good for me. It all depends on whether the two of them can reach an agreement."

It doesn't matter to Tan Jincheng who wins, but the two sides are relatively peaceful now with little friction. Once things develop, they will inevitably become irreconcilable, and Tan Jincheng will have to choose sides. Choosing sides means giving up the interests of one side, which is not worthwhile for him.

Gu Qingqing glanced at Tan Jincheng casually, but her heart was filled with mixed emotions.

Unexpectedly, her husband was able to lead a collaboration between two major internet companies. Compared to the merger of WeChat and MiTalk, the investment was so fast it seemed like a bonus option.

Mobile internet has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages.

No matter how low-key the three parties tried to be, the National Day holiday naturally sees a large flow of people. The images of Pony Ma and Lei Jun being picked up at the airport by Tan Jincheng's personal driver and assistant were captured by people at Lishe Airport.

The news quickly went viral on Weibo, sparking a flurry of speculation.

The biggest news in the internet circle during the 2012 National Day holiday came from Ningbo. While there was much discussion, many reporters rushed to Ningbo.

At Ningbo Railway Station and Lishe International Airport, many reporters carrying large backpacks and cameras hurriedly boarded public transportation in Beicang.

"Hey, Ningbo is such a big city, when will the subway open? Boss Tan is such a weirdo, staying by the sea all day is such a waste."

"That's right. If you don't want to leave Ningbo and move to the city center to work, that would save us a lot of suffering."
-
"what's the situation?"

When Chen Weixin brought Lü Chuanwei to Tan Jincheng's house, they saw Boss Tan and his wife, President Gu, playing with their child in the yard.

Didn't they say that Mr. Ma and Mr. Lei had already arrived?

Tan Jincheng clapped his hands, got up from the cushion on the ground, and greeted them with a smile: "Haha, the two of them are upstairs chatting about something. Please have a seat and some tea."

The two had been chatting for several hours, and Tan Jincheng personally brought them lunch.

"Oh? Mr. Ma and Mr. Lei have something to discuss?"

Lu Chuanwei took the tea poured by Tan Jincheng and asked casually.

Tan Jincheng nodded: "There is something to discuss, but it has nothing to do with the financing of the express car. Don't worry, I have already discussed the financing of the express car with Pony Ma. Just name your price."

"Oh, right, I also helped you with a promotional plan, which Tencent is paying for."

Chen Weixin and Lü Chuanwei looked at each other, wondering what was going on. They had spent a long time discussing and thinking of various ways to deal with the situation, and this was the result?
The two were stunned. Tan Jincheng quickly realized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make the decision for you. It's just that Mr. Ma arrived first and talked to me about the promotion plan for a while. He then agreed to the financing, and that's how it was settled."

Tan Jincheng then recounted the WX payment promotion plan he had discussed with Pony Ma, and Chen Weixin and Lü Chuanwei finally realized what was going on.

What a stroke of luck! Not only did they easily secure investment, but they also prepared a promotional plan, all without having to spend any money themselves.

"President Tan, you misunderstand. We are not surprised that you made the decision for us, but that it was so easy. I thought we would have to come up with some persuasive plan."

Lu Chuanwei was the first to react, patting the bus bag he carried with him.

"Ha, so that's what it is. You still need to discuss the operational plan with Mr. Ma and Mr. Lei. But financing isn't actually that difficult. The decision-makers can make it with just a word."

It's already at the highest decision-making level; there's no need to report up the chain of command. It's just a matter of a single sentence.

"Mr. Tan, how much money do you think would be appropriate for us?"

They'd already discussed how much funding was needed, so Chen Weixin didn't mind asking Tan Jincheng for his opinion. It seemed that Mr. Tan was still on Kuaiche's side.

Tan Jincheng thought for a moment and said, "Let's ask them for 1500 million US dollars. Also, be stingy with the equity negotiations and don't give away too many shares. Don't worry, Brother Ma will invest more in the future."

With $15 million, plus the money currently in the company's account, we should be able to support the company until we reach 10 million users. At that point, we can start another round of financing to subsidize ride-hailing services.

After the ride-hailing subsidies started, financing became much more complicated. It seems that the ride-hailing service in another timeline was built up through rounds of support from Ali (the game developer).

How much money will it take to survive until the ride-hailing wars begin?

This was no longer Tan Jincheng's concern. He was too lazy to deal with the rest, so he focused on promoting the Aion S to all parties and making it the true king of ride-hailing services.

At 5 p.m., Pony Ma and Lei Jun appeared in the courtyard, both looking exhausted.

"Let's eat first, everyone. Try the Anhui cuisine my mother makes."

Damn, they talked for seven hours, that's awesome!
I don't know how the conversation went.

(End of this chapter)