Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 785 Taxi service goes public!
Time flies, and it's already early December.

In the Chinese mobile game market, Glory World remains firmly in first place, followed by the newly listed Gods and Demons, while Tencent's Honor of Kings ranks third.

The remaining spots were split between NetEase and Tencent, leaving only one NetEase game in the top ten. However, the game on the list wasn't the newly launched "Onmyoji" from last month, but rather the long-established cash cow "Fantasy Westward Journey Mobile".

In another timeline, Onmyoji should have become NetEase's super money-printing machine—recouping its costs in just two months after its launch, with peak monthly revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan and annual revenue approaching 10 billion yuan.

Subsequently, it spawned IPs such as "Onmyoji Arena" and "Onmyoji: The Card Game," continuously providing financial support to NetEase.

However, now, under the impact of cultural opinion, this game has collapsed halfway before it even took off.

After its public beta launch, its revenue and player numbers plummeted, and now its figures are only one-tenth of those of "Gods and Demons".

This is easy to understand: a game that is authentic and requires no prior knowledge, or rather, allows players to learn about Chinese mythology and supernatural backgrounds while playing the game.

A mobile game that is being developed by a major company on the other side, a product that completely crushes its competitors.

Players voted with their feet, and "Gods and Demons," which seized most of the fortune of "Onmyoji," has become another cash cow for the other side after "Glory World."

Reports indicate that NetEase has decided to abandon the domestic market and shift its focus overseas, particularly to Japan—where players are more receptive to Onmyoji.

This is reminiscent of the early 2000s game "JX Online," which was unpopular in China but became a huge success in Southeast Asia, especially in Vietnam and Laos.

Since there's no way to survive in the domestic market, Ding Lei naturally won't let the "meat rot in the pot." Instead, he'd rather give Xiao Rizhi a little shock in China.

Whether the Japanese were truly shocked remains to be seen.

But the capital market was first shocked by something else—

China's leading ride-hailing company, "Dada Chuxing," has gone public.

On December 15, 2016, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange held a unique listing ceremony.

At the bell-ringing ceremony that day, Dache Chuxing took a different approach. Instead of having management representatives ring the bell, they chose representatives of ride-hailing drivers and passengers to jointly strike the opening gong.

凭借1000万注册司机、1500万日订单的庞大体量，打的出行以42港元/股发行，首日收盘价飙升至46.2港元（+10.9%），市值突破3200亿港元（约412亿美元）。

After the market closed, Wang Weijian, CEO of Dache (a ride-hailing service), said in an interview: "What we are ringing today is not the bell of capital, but the applause of 1 million users."

When asked why he had driver and passenger representatives ring the bell, he smiled and replied, "This reflects our philosophy of 'serving the people's travel needs'—the success of taxi services today is inseparable from the support of every driver and passenger."

This IPO is seen as a milestone in the "sharing economy 2.0 era," and the fact that it puts ordinary practitioners at the center of the capital stage adds another humanistic dimension to the ride-hailing industry.

However, while Didi Chuxing was enjoying a successful IPO, a tense and fierce meeting of senior executives was also taking place internally. In the end, Cheng Wei lost, and Didi will launch its IPO plan next year.
Meanwhile, some subtle changes have quietly occurred in the ride-hailing market.

Previously, Chen Mo and Ma Huateng reached a secret agreement, and Tencent has begun to act according to plan—to re-enter the ride-hailing market. Currently, the Chinese ride-hailing market presents a pattern of "one dominant player, one strong player, and many smaller players."

"One Super": Taxi service, with a market share exceeding 50%;

The top player: Didi Chuxing (after merging with Uber China), with a market share of 30%;

"Small": Local platforms such as Shenzhou Zhuanche, Shouqi Yueche, and Cao Cao Zhuanche share the remaining less than 10% of the market.

Because Shouqi is backed by a state-owned enterprise, Pony Ma initially preferred Shenzhou Car Rental, but after some background checks, he discovered that in addition to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Lenovo Holdings was also behind Shenzhou Car Rental.

Although they eventually chose Cao Cao Mobility, which was the smallest in scale, it was because the capital behind it was Geely Holding, which was relatively pure.

Although Cao Cao Chauffeur only has a market share of 3%, it has its own fleet of new energy vehicles and drivers, and it has strong policy compliance and a very solid framework.

After Tencent sent its financial strategist Martin Lau to negotiate with Geely representatives, in late December, Tencent and Geely reached a strategic cooperation agreement. Tencent invested 5 billion yuan to acquire a controlling stake in Cao Cao Mobility, which was renamed Penguin Mobility.

Although it was Tencent that made the move, it still generated some buzz online. However, Cao Cao Chauffeur's market share is simply too insignificant and has little impact on the overall landscape of China's ride-hailing industry.

Meanwhile, Ele.me, which completed a $27.5 billion pre-IPO round of financing last year and whose valuation exceeded $160 billion, announced its listing plan for next year, which has also attracted much attention.

After all, as a unicorn company under the Beyond Group that occupies two leading positions in the industry, it attracts the attention of countless investors. Many investors only regret that they lack the ability and can only watch others make money.

But there is another person who faces a situation that is half fire and half water.

The last month of 16 was a tough time for Jia Yueting, who had run into a wall with Chen Mo. He didn't know if the sea was boiling or not, but he knew he was about to be suffocated by a giant wave called 'funds'.

On December 6, LeEco's stock price suddenly plummeted in the final minutes of trading, hitting a low of 35.01 yuan before closing at 35.8 yuan, a drop of 7.85%, which has reached the "red line" for Jia Yueting and LeEco.

It's worth noting that on May 12th, the stock price peaked at 179.03 yuan per share, corresponding to a market capitalization of 160 billion yuan. Now that the bubble has burst, LeEco's market capitalization is less than 60 billion yuan.

On the morning of December 7, LeEco temporarily suspended trading. In the evening, it issued an announcement stating that the company needed to conduct a suspension for investigation on relevant matters, and that the company was planning a major event, which was expected to involve the integration of industrial resources.

The fact that LeEco has not yet resumed trading has caused many people to completely lose confidence in the company.

Subsequently, Le Vision Pictures' last blockbuster investment, "The Great Wall," flopped both critically and commercially. Le Vision Pictures' losses over the previous two years, coupled with performance commitments, put the already unintegrated Le Vision Pictures in a precarious position.

In addition, some of the copyrights that LeSports had previously purchased on a large scale have expired, and media reports have revealed that LeSports owes hundreds of millions of yuan in copyright payments.

Faraday Future, the Faraday factory invested in by LeEco, has reportedly suspended operations.

Following closely behind, news of LeEco's outstanding payments for mobile phones surfaced, and reports emerged of a wage dispute outside LeEco's headquarters.

There is only one core issue in all of this.
LeEco is out of money.
(End of this chapter)