2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 961 Intercourse, the Richest Man!
"Mr. Ma has retired, today."

On Teachers' Day, Mr. and Mrs. Tan Jincheng were invited by the Beicang District Education Bureau to participate in a Teachers' Day event. While the event was in progress, Gu Qingqing quietly spoke to Tan Jincheng.

Just today, Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, announced his retirement and will no longer serve as the chairman of Alibaba's board of directors. Zhang Yong will take over the position.

This Zhang Yong is far more famous than Wei Lai's Zhang Yong. This newly appointed chairman of the board of directors, who joined Ali in 2007, initially served as chief financial officer, and later took over as general manager of Taobao Mall after Sun Tongyu's departure.

From Chief Financial Officer to General Manager of Taobao, then to President, then to CEO of Ali, and now Chairman of the Board, this professional manager who jumped ship from Shanda has reached the pinnacle of his career.

Large corporations have a long-standing tradition of having a chief financial officer (CFO) as the top executive; this is because those in finance tend to be more profit-driven and have a stronger ability to generate revenue, which aligns with the needs of listed company shareholders.

Even Ahri can't escape the common customs.

"is it today?"

Upon hearing this news, Tan Jincheng was somewhat dazed; an era had come to an end.

Before this, he knew more or less that Lao Ma had thoughts of retirement, but he was too busy to pay attention. Besides, he was no longer as concerned about the dynamics of the internet industry, and his information was not as good as that of Gu Qingqing, who was in the industry.

In April, Lao Ma's comment about "good fortune" had a significant impact on the internet, drawing fierce criticism and shattering much of the halo he had built up over the years.

After that incident, Tan Jincheng knew that Lao Ma, who kept talking about retiring, was already planning to do so.

A shrewd, tactful, and emotionally intelligent person capable of building a business empire suddenly spouting abstract ideas is clearly not as simple as the internet claims that he's become arrogant.

"Yes, it's today. Today is quite a memorable day for Mr. Ma."

Starting as a teacher, announcing his retirement on Teachers' Day shows that Lao Ma still has some sentimentality. 2019 was actually still a shining year for the Internet, with BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) achieving success in their respective fields, and emerging Internet companies also flourishing.

Although Lu Qi is no longer with Baidu, its strategy in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving remains its focus, and it has made significant breakthroughs. Baidu was the first company in China to obtain a driverless license.

Whether it's artificial intelligence or autonomous driving technology, Baidu is undoubtedly the number one in China right now.

Unfortunately, despite its strong technological capabilities, this company hasn't made much of a splash in either artificial intelligence or autonomous driving. Artificial intelligence is relatively straightforward, as everyone is working on their own, with almost every major internet company having its own AI model and collaborations being rare.

The reason why Baidu's autonomous driving technology has not yet secured many collaborations with mainstream automakers is not due to its reputation, but rather to its approach to partnering with OEMs.

Baidu's proposed cooperation model with OEMs can be summarized in one sentence: Baidu is responsible for providing intelligent assisted driving solutions, but OEMs cannot modify Baidu's solutions.

Furthermore, the data must belong to Baidu, a demand that no host manufacturer with any ambition would agree to.

Li Yanhong initially approached Wei Lai for cooperation. Based on Baidu's technological advantages, Tan Jincheng was also willing to cooperate, and the two sides tentatively cooperated for a period of time. However, after understanding Baidu's solution, Wei Lai decisively abandoned the cooperation with Baidu.

BYD, which had also originally intended to cooperate with Baidu, had the same concerns about this type of cooperation. Therefore, BYD also abandoned its cooperation with Baidu and instead cooperated with Weilai.

Compared to Baidu's domineering approach, Weilai's cooperation method is more open. It prefers to cooperate with a peer rather than an independent company, which shows how abstract Baidu's cooperation method is.

In reality, no OEM that is unwilling to lose its core identity would cooperate with Baidu. As for some non-mainstream new energy vehicle manufacturers, they do not contribute much to improving Baidu's intelligent driving technology.

After seeing the cooperation model between Huawei and Sokon, Baidu also had the idea of ​​entering the car manufacturing industry.

Besides Baidu, Alibaba has also made significant moves this year. Jack Ma's retirement must have been of great significance to Alibaba. In addition, Alibaba has also made considerable moves in the chip field this year, with Alibaba DAMO Academy announcing a large number of technological achievements in quantum computing, chip research and development and other fields.

In 2019, if there was one project that was the hottest in China's capital market, it would definitely be the technology industry, led by chips and semiconductors.

Ms. Dong has already announced that she will invest 500 billion yuan in chip manufacturing, which shows just how hot the chip industry is.

Of the three BAT companies, only Tencent remains as low-key as ever. Pony Ma continues to quietly amass wealth, expanding his gaming business worldwide. Even without Honor of Kings, Tencent remains one of the world's largest game companies.

Through investment and mergers and acquisitions, Tencent has established connections with 60% of the world's game developers, something that Orange (the game developer) cannot challenge with just one game like Honor of Kings.

"Old Ma's retirement is a signal; Orange should keep a lower profile in the future."

After hearing that Lao Ma was retiring, Tan Jincheng lost interest in participating in activities and made an excuse to take his wife and children home.

After the peak comes the downhill slope; this is an age-old truth. As the industry enters a downturn and its bigwigs are summoned for talks, Orange Group, situated in the torrent of the internet, must maintain a low profile.

The era of online public opinion has come to an end.

Originally part of the Tencent ecosystem, Orange Group, now a rising internet star with a market value approaching that of Baidu, has done well in vertical e-commerce, gaming, basic services, and artificial intelligence.

Especially in the field of artificial intelligence, which they entered with an all-in attitude, after launching products such as Little Orange and Orange Cloud, they have become quite well-known in the industry. Currently, Orange itself, Flash, and Weilai are all using their own Orange Cloud.

Through continuous big data optimization, Orange Cloud's stability has been significantly improved.

The development of traditional e-commerce needs no further explanation. Orange Products, which packaged and sold its agricultural assistance business to Pinduoduo and has a deep partnership with SF Express for its logistics business, has now secured its position as the fourth largest e-commerce platform in China in terms of GMV, thanks to years of accumulation and the traffic support from its second-largest shareholder, Tencent.

Jingdong, Pinduoduo, and Chengpinhui, three e-commerce websites with Tencent influence, have formed a pincer movement against Ali's e-commerce business, covering both low-end and high-end markets. This can be considered Pony Ma's unconventional e-commerce path.

Another major source of revenue for Orange Group is its rapidly growing gaming business in recent years. Honor of Kings is already a phenomenal game, and Tan Jincheng almost unwittingly recruited the core team of Honor of Kings from another timeline to operate it, organize competitions, and collaborate with various game developers, making its influence increasingly significant.

Although it lacks the support of traffic from platforms like QQ and WeChat, a truly fun game will never be overlooked. In the first half of 2019, Honor of Kings generated over $7.28 million in revenue globally (excluding revenue from third-party Android app stores), firmly holding the title of the highest-grossing mobile game worldwide.

Every time Orange Group releases its financial report, investors jokingly remark that a single game like Honor of Kings generates revenue equivalent to that of most companies listed on the A-share market. Even companies like Weilai Auto and Tan Jincheng are not immune to this kind of teasing.

Although Orange Group has never disclosed the net profit of Honor of Kings, the earning power of the gaming industry is widely recognized. According to Orange's 2018 financial report and analysis of related mobile platforms, Honor of Kings alone may have brought Orange Group more than US$32 billion (RMB 220 billion) in revenue in 2018.

"One skin from Honor of Kings is enough for Tan Laoban Kuzkuz to sell cars for a long time."

The gaming business, with Honor of Kings as its core, is one of the key pillars supporting Orange Group's investment in artificial intelligence and basic services. Thanks to its gaming revenue, Orange Group has surpassed established gaming companies such as 37 Interactive and Century Huatong, firmly establishing itself as the third largest gaming company in China.

Even without engaging in online lending, Orange Group, which boasts the third-largest gaming business and the fourth-largest e-commerce platform in China, remains highly profitable with abundant cash flow, which explains its steadily rising market value.

Of course, the rise in market value is not unrelated to Orange Group's capital operations in the past two years. The joining of Lu Qi, the secondary listing in Hong Kong, and some financing in the past two years have pushed Orange Group's market value up step by step.

Of course, Tan Jincheng's shares were inevitably diluted during the financing process, as was the case with Weilai Group. This is an inevitable situation for the original shareholders of listed companies.

However, without affecting his control, the dilution of his shares is actually a good thing for Tan Jincheng. Don't forget, this year's Forbes rich list is about to be released.

Gu Qingqing smiled and said, "We've already been low-key enough."

Being in the industry, Gu Qingqing understands the changes in the industry. It's not just about Lao Ma's retirement. In fact, since the crackdown on online lending began, public opinion has not been on the side of the internet. How could Orange Group not have made preparations?

Whether or not it's a newcomer, Orange Group carries some of Tencent's genes, and coupled with the founder's management style, it has always been the "least noticeable" internet upstart.

As the business grew larger and the money made increased, the group company had long since begun to reduce the frequency with which it appeared in the public eye.

The founder's personality is reflected in his successor, Lu Qi, who is also a low-key person. Within the Orange Group's management, it is even felt that if it weren't for the immense popularity of Honor of Kings, the market would only know about Orange Group's products and not the company name.

Unfortunately, this is the internet, the industry where information spreads most rapidly and widely.

"In retrospect, our decision to withstand the pressure from shareholders and always keep the company in Beicang was absolutely the right one."

Big cities have their advantages. Ningbo is a city that is generally recognized as lacking in internet genes, and this is even more true for Beicang, which is located in a port city. From the early stages of the company's development, whether it was moving Orange to Hangzhou, Shanghai, or even Beijing, it would have been the best choice.

However, with the changes in the environment over the years, staying in a city without an internet gene is not bad either; just look at Jinshan in Zhuhai.

Urban areas have their conveniences, and suburbs have their tranquility.

"Yes, things are unpredictable." Before 2018, everything seemed fine, but no one expected that things would change so much after 2018. This was true for the internet industry, and it was also true for the automotive industry.

"It's as if consumers have suddenly stopped being able to change their cars."

Looking at the sales data in his hand, Tan Jincheng couldn't help but smile bitterly.

September and October are traditionally peak sales seasons for automakers, and also the two months with the biggest promotional efforts. Stimulated by these preferential policies, consumers' desire to buy cars is at its highest during these two months.

"Indeed, it's as if everything has changed."

Looking at the data in front of her, Wang Fengying also felt somewhat helpless. September and October are traditionally peak months, so sales should be at their best. However, the data showed that the car market had not recovered.

Although the decline narrowed considerably in September, it is still in a downward trend. From January to September, the overall production and sales of the automobile market declined by more than 10%, marking 15 consecutive months of decline.

September has ended. During the National Day holiday, executives from Weilai Auto and Yuechi Auto held a meeting to discuss the sales data for September and whether the two automakers had any ways to improve the current state of the car market.

No matter how much you value technology, you still have to sell the cars first.

"Judging from the performance, our leading car companies are generally stable, but that is based on the situation of large-scale promotions, sacrificing profits to maintain sales, but the result has not met our expectations."

This year, domestic brands have shown a clear polarization. Leading automakers such as Geely, Weilai, and Great Wall have performed relatively steadily. In the field of new energy vehicles, Geely and Weilai, which were the top sellers last year, have maintained a high growth rate.

However, there are also hidden concerns. Currently, new energy vehicles are still not profitable and require high investment, so they will have to start lowering prices and offering promotions.

In September, major automakers launched various promotional policies. Joint venture brands, which have sold very well this year, offered relatively smaller discounts, while domestic brands offered more substantial discounts in order to boost sales.

Take Weilai as an example. Several of its high-end models, including the ES6, ES8, and Weilai L1, are participating in the September discount policy for the first time. The ES6 is 7000 yuan cheaper, the L1 is 6000 yuan cheaper, and the ES8 is even cheaper by 1.7 yuan.

In addition, regardless of which model is purchased from the Weilai brand, a new car gift package worth 5888 yuan will be given as a gift, which even includes the Aion series; of course, these are all targeted at the C-end market.

In addition, there are some financial benefits, such as extended loan periods, etc. This is also the first time that all models of the Weilai brand have participated in the "Golden September and Silver October" promotion.

Yuechi Auto has also implemented attractive preferential policies, all in an effort to maintain sales volume.

Yuechi Auto is doing alright, as its gasoline-powered vehicles already have a mature industrial chain, meaning it will only earn less. However, Weilai Auto is under more pressure, which is a consequence of the subsidy policy's reduction.

Of course, the worst off are the emerging electric vehicle manufacturers. This month, WM Motor's EX5 also experienced a spontaneous combustion incident, following Li Bing's incident, which made headlines for safety-related topics. However, Li Bing's situation is not much better.

Wenjie suffered a loss of 32 billion yuan in the second quarter, averaging 3500 million yuan per day. The speed at which it lost money has caused the market to be extremely worried about the profitability of emerging companies. Li Bing has also been working hard to raise funds recently.

The $6.5 million raised in January has long been spent. Previously, Wenjie wanted to establish an entity and inject specific businesses and assets to obtain RMB 100 billion in investment from Yizhuang International Investment, but this financing ultimately failed to be completed.

In addition, Li Bing, who has not yet received a response from the Luzhou government, is currently planning to negotiate a 50 billion yuan financing project with Wuxing District. Whether it will be successful is still unknown, but Wenjie urgently needs money right now.

As the major shareholder of Wenjie, Pony Ma had no choice but to step in. In September, Wenjie issued $200 million in convertible bonds, of which Tencent subscribed for $100 million and Li Bing subscribed for the remaining $100 million himself.

This can be considered as Li Bing adding money himself. If you want to raise funds, you have to show some attitude. At this stage, the attitude of Li Bing and Tencent is very crucial for Wenjie to raise funds.

However, Li Bing does have one redeeming quality: he is extremely "honest" in the face of capital, which is probably why he is always able to secure life-saving funds.

Li Bing is very good at losing money, but he reports to the investors almost every month, or even every week, in great detail, explaining how each loss occurred, why it happened, and even admitting his mistakes honestly.

The same applies to Tan Jincheng, which is really frustrating. Even if you know that what he says may not be entirely true, you really have nothing to say about his attitude.

Most investors actually fall for his approach; no investor is indifferent to what their every investment is used for, and they want to understand the consequences of any losses.

There's a saying in the capital circles: Wenjie might go bankrupt, but Li Bing himself won't. He's too good at dealing with investors, which is fundamentally different from Jia Yueting.

“Simply lowering prices does have some effect, but as everyone has seen, we need to come up with some diversified promotional plans and also develop some new business models.”

The car market is in a slump; September was already a cold month, but October can't afford to be any colder. Consumers aren't actually unwilling to spend money, but they're just in a wait-and-see mode, hesitating between gasoline cars and new energy vehicles.

On the one hand, gasoline-powered vehicles are indeed better than new energy vehicles, which are prone to spontaneous combustion, in terms of consumer habits and reputation, and they are also more mature in terms of product capabilities.

However, on the other hand, the rise in oil prices is indeed causing some hesitation. As for new energy vehicles, the main concerns are distrust of batteries and the unfamiliarity of suddenly losing subsidies.

There's really no way to change this for now. Although Weilai does live streams of battery testing every month, CATL does it too, and BYD followed suit with live streams after launching a new battery, they haven't been able to change consumers' minds yet.

The main reason is the lack of competitiveness of these new energy vehicle manufacturers; they have had far too many spontaneous combustion incidents.

"That's really the only way, but we can develop more B-end users, like Yuechi's tank series, which I think is a good target for development."

Zhang Yong, who has extensive experience in the B2B market, also offered his opinion: if it's hard to make money from C2C ​​users, then we should try harder from the B2B direction. Tank series vehicles are perfectly suitable for use as official vehicles, especially for some special departments.

The Tank series, with its advantages in both off-road performance and urban driving experience, is definitely worth developing.

"In addition, our ET5 can also be developed for some official scenarios, such as official receptions, business research and so on."

Tan Jincheng nodded: "That's certainly possible. It can also help raise our profile. Mr. Zhang, please make the arrangements. If necessary, we can donate a portion first."

Once trams are used as official vehicles, there will be far fewer concerns about their safety.

"Also, we can hype up the boss's status as the richest man, which can boost sales to some extent."

Zhou Ao, the marketing vice director of Weilai who claims to be Tan Jincheng's apprentice, is really always thinking about how to take advantage of the boss. Everyone laughed when he said that.

Throughout September, Tan Jincheng reaped considerable gains in the capital market. He acquired an A-share listed company through the privatization of ByteDance's IPO, completing the first truly meaningful privatization tender offer case in the A-share market, and was praised by the Securities Times.

In addition, at the end of September, Tan Jincheng completed the equity transfer with Liu Fangyi. Tan Jincheng spent 3.45 million yuan to acquire 1865.88 million shares of Yingke Medical from Liu Fangyi at a premium of 15% over the market price.

As a result, Tan Jincheng's shareholding in Inco Medical increased to 7865.88 million shares, raising his stake to 33.33%, while Liu Fangyi's shareholding decreased to 6281.84 million shares, reducing his stake to 26.62%.

With this, the actual controller of Inco Medical has changed, but the specific management rights are still in Liu Fangyi's hands. Referring to the concerted action agreement model of iFlytek, Liu Fangyi is much more at ease. In addition, he has successfully cashed out 3.45 million yuan, which is a transaction plan that is satisfactory to both parties.

After successfully acquiring control of Inco, Tan Jincheng now effectively controls three companies listed on the A-share market: Orange Group, Orange Live (controlled by Orange Group), and Bafang Electric, which is scheduled to be listed in November.

Tan Jincheng's listed companies have reached a record six, and with the rebound of Weilai Shares' stock price due to institutional support and the rise in the market value of Orange Group, plus a huge engine.

Tan Jincheng, who has been making frequent moves in the capital market over the past six months, has effectively become the richest man in China.

According to current statistics from various institutions, the assets controlled by Tan Jincheng and his family are likely around 3000 billion yuan, far exceeding Ali Ma's 2800 billion yuan. Although the rich list has not been released, Tan Jincheng has actually been the richest man for several months.

Of course, after November, it will be unclear who will win the battle for the title of richest person among these two, and even Xiao Ma. On November 26, Ali, which had previously delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, will have its secondary listing in Hong Kong.

In addition, Ant Group also has plans for IPO financing. Nobody knows how long Tan Jincheng can remain the richest man, or even whether he can hold on until the Forbes rich list is published.

"You little rascal, you're really trying to fleece me! Can't you think of other marketing methods?"

Tan Jincheng was truly at a loss for words. As Zhou Ao's most trusted subordinate, he couldn't say anything about what Zhou Ao had done. Exploiting Zhou Ao's personal brand was also a form of marketing.

"Times have changed, boss. You have nothing to worry about. Our General Manager Ma has retired. What's wrong with you going up and taking this position?"

There are actually quite a few people who share Zhou Ao's thoughts.

(End of this chapter)