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

Chapter 957 Ant's Dream Shattered
"The success of all enterprises in history is due to their seizing of the opportunities of the times and responding to the needs of the times."
Only those who seize the opportunities of the times can unleash their full potential, whether it's a company like Tencent, a tech giant, or even an ordinary person like ourselves.
When the time is right, even without Alibaba and Jack Ma, there will be Alibaba and Niu Yu.

Times have changed; the company is now just an ordinary website, and the person is just an ordinary English teacher.

Great entrepreneurs need great times, and great times create great entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs of every era have their own historical context and mission, but they need to understand the era, and even more importantly, understand themselves.

With the official stance set and the charge taken, some media outlets that accurately grasped the situation followed suit, while many media professionals revised their original drafts.
That evening, at Nanshan No. 1 Courtyard.

Chen Mo silently watched all of this, while the "Horse Has Now Subdued" project plan beside him had been turned to the last page: Beat the drowning horse!
He picked up his phone and called Chen Tong, his tone calm:
"Respectfully bidding farewell to Mr. Ma on his final journey."

At a single command, the media matrix under Beyond was fully activated, fueling the momentum.

The speech clips that were "overlooked" at the Davos Forum are now being spread by the Taiwanese media, who have already prepared materials, making a huge splash.

Old Ma's name frequently appeared in headlines and trending topics, and the incident quickly escalated, becoming the focus of nationwide discussion.
That same evening, at Ant Group's headquarters in Hangzhou.

Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing convened a meeting of senior and middle management overnight, the air thick with an almost frozen tension.
Jing Xiandong stood at the front of the conference room, looking tired but trying to remain calm, and announced to the core team members who still harbored the dream of going public the decision that everyone vaguely knew but was still unwilling to face:

"The news that has been coming in the last two days is probably known to everyone."

The coming period will be the most difficult time for the company, and now is the time to test everyone.

Please reassure the team; we cannot give up hope—this is only a temporary suspension of the IPO, not a termination.

I estimate that restarting the IPO plan will take at least six months. I'd like to pass on this confidence to you all!

His voice was calm, but every word struck the hearts of the attendees like a heavy hammer.

He further explained that the newly issued regulations are a clear signal that Ant Group's most urgent task is to "meet all the requirements in the draft for comments as soon as possible."

At the same time, all funds used for IPO subscriptions—whether from strategic investment institutions or ordinary retail investors—will be returned to their original source.

The meeting continued until late at night.

The next morning, after seeing the overwhelming news online, the atmosphere at Alibaba's headquarters instantly split, presenting two completely different states.

One group consists of "stockholders" who are still shaken. They are mostly middle-level managers or early employees of the company who originally hoped to achieve a leap in wealth through this listing, but now they are feeling extremely uneasy.

They gather in the break room or around their workstations, exchanging the latest gossip, their faces filled with anxiety and unease. Every time a piece of negative news pops up, their hearts tighten.

Another type is the schadenfreude of those who "didn't participate." These employees, either because they joined the company later or because they weren't at a higher level, were unable to participate in this grand event and are now experiencing a complex bystander mentality.

On the surface, it was sympathy and concern between colleagues, but their words inevitably revealed their own thoughts, and they even discussed the company's past aggressive style in private, believing that the current situation "was not without warning."

In this delicate and tense atmosphere, whispers could be heard constantly: "Have you heard?" "Have you seen the latest news?"

Not long after, everyone was urgently notified to attend a meeting. Within half an hour, all the meeting rooms at Alibaba headquarters were full.
The meeting had no specific work agenda; the only theme was: accept reality, remain silent, and stabilize emotions.

Once upon a time, these towering buildings were filled with an atmosphere of euphoria, and everyone's eyes gleamed with the light of financial freedom. Every brush of shoulders in the corridor, every brief conversation in the break room, was brimming with boundless anticipation for the future.

However, just two months later, the world turned upside down.

The same place, the same people, yet they are experiencing a dramatic shift from heaven to hell in an instant.

In the conference room, a mix of emotions—sorrow, shock, helplessness, and disappointment—was palpable. Even tiny ants emitted mournful cries like wolf howls, echoing throughout the Xixi Park and bringing tears to the eyes of all who heard them.

For those senior employees who originally held stock options, at this moment, their world collapsed!
After the meeting, many people shuffled out of the meeting room like zombies, not even remembering how they got back to their workstations.

At this moment, they had no heart for work.

Ant Group announced that it will postpone its listing on the A-share and H-share markets.

The message was like a boulder thrown into still water, its ripples spreading throughout the entire internet.

When Lin Tianming saw the official announcement on the website, he read it several times before confirming that he wasn't dreaming, and his last shred of hope was completely shattered.

He was clearly in a daze, and he heard his colleague's voice filled with endless sorrow: "He was fine yesterday, how can something as big as the IPO be stopped just like that? Are you kidding me?"

Yes, a trillion-dollar scale, attracting worldwide attention, just one step away from completion, how... how did it happen?
Lin Tianming's heart sank further and further.

Previously, he had just bought a large apartment worth over 16 million yuan. Seeing that his colleague had ordered a Lamborghini, he gritted his teeth and ordered a brand new red Ferrari at the urging of his girlfriend, spending another few million yuan.

Now, considering the mortgage and car loan payments, the monthly repayments, including principal and interest, amount to over 200,000 yuan, and this has been ongoing for ten years.

Without the stock options to liquidate, a monthly salary of less than 100,000 wouldn't last even two months.

The thought of the situation he was about to face made Lin Tianming feel dizzy.

Ironically, as a P8 algorithm engineer at the company, his job was to accurately identify target users who were overspending through big data models.

After all the calculations, he and his colleagues turned out to be the most "over-consumption" users, prematurely experiencing the bitter consequences of excessive consumption for the general public.
Just then, a group of colleagues hurriedly walked past him.

Upon inquiring, Lin Tianming discovered that they were checking out as a group.

Going to work? Now is not the time to go to work. Getting out of this mess sooner will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars!

He now wants to return not only the hotel but also the car. As for whether to return the car to the woman who keeps talking about Ferrari, he's still undecided.

As the weather turned cooler, he grabbed his coat from the back of the chair and hurriedly caught up with the group.
(End of this chapter)