When I am reborn, I just want to be a top student

"Your company has been quite active lately, with Xinghuo Express and Pinhaofan."

"Mr. Wang, I'm wondering if we could have some kind of collaboration?"

On the phone, Jack Ma stated his thoughts directly.

When Jack Ma mentioned Pinhaofan and Xinghuo Express, Wang Donglai was not surprised.

The domestic internet industry can be described in a blunt statement: it appears to be a diverse and vibrant sector, but in reality, it has already formed a substantial monopoly.

Tencent and Taotian together account for almost half of the domestic internet industry.

Several years ago, Chinese internet entrepreneurs had to consider what to do if their business caught the eye of Tencent or Taobao.
This is a question that venture capital firms always ask.

Emerging internet businesses, if they don't develop, that's fine, but as soon as they show their potential, they will be targeted by capital.

This is not an exaggeration, but the true state of business.

Because penguins are so rich, and the richer they are, the more they need a larger market to ensure a return on capital.

This is precisely why these funds continue to invest in emerging industries, even when the market outlook is unclear, they are willing to spend lavishly.

Even if it's just about throwing money at it to create a consumer market, it's still worthwhile.

It's like food delivery.

In fact, there isn't much of a food delivery habit in China.

However, capital, through its relentless spending and by treating consumers to meals and milk tea, has artificially cultivated consumers' habit of ordering takeout.

The listing of Huangtuan today is a prime example.

The capital institutions that invested in Huangtuan have made a fortune.

However, Tencent is Huangtuan's largest shareholder, and Jack Ma has fully acquired Ele.me.

Now, upon hearing Jack Ma mention "Pinhaofan," Wang Donglai instantly went through all that information in his mind.

He naturally understood what Jack Ma meant.

Ele.me was never a match for Huangtuan, and it has been retreating steadily in the food delivery market, with its market share constantly shrinking.

Jack Ma naturally wanted to get back at them. Now that he saw Wang Donglai coming down with Pinhaofan to seek an alliance, the second and third brothers teaming up against the boss was the old rule.

"I didn't expect Mr. Ma to have time to care about Pinhaofan."

Wang Donglai did not give a direct answer, but instead changed the subject.

"Mr. Wang, I have an idea."

“Since Mr. Wang wants to enter the food delivery industry, we can definitely cooperate.”

"I can contribute 49 percent of Ele.me's shares."

"Let's join forces and have a good fight with Tencent in the food delivery industry."

Jack Ma, true to his reputation as a martial arts enthusiast, couldn't help but get excited when talking about his fight with the penguin.

He himself has no personal grudge against Penguin Horse, but their competitive relationship has never changed.

Although one is involved in social networking and gaming, and the other is involved in e-commerce.

However, as they grew and expanded, the two groups began to compete in multiple business areas, including entertainment, travel, and local services.

This naturally affected their relationship.

As for the yellow dumplings, it can only be said that they are timely.

Wang Donglai was not excited or thrilled by Jack Ma's gesture of goodwill and his offer of 49% of Ele.me's shares.

The reason is very simple.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world; every gift from fate comes with a price.

"Mr. Ma is so generous in giving up 49% of Ele.me's shares. He can't be doing this without asking for anything in return. Why don't you tell us?"

Wang Donglai asked in a calm tone.

Upon hearing Wang Donglai's words, Jack Ma immediately said, "Mr. Wang is a straightforward person, so I won't hide anything from you."

“I spent over 70 billion yuan on Ele.me, originally intending to combine the instant delivery network with the new retail ecosystem to promote the ‘three-kilometer ideal living circle’ strategy.”

"As the core of the local life platform, Ele.me can also expand its business from food delivery to all fields such as fresh food and medicine."

"According to this development plan, I also plan to invest no less than 30 billion yuan in the later stages."

"However, since Mr. Wang has also set his sights on the food delivery industry, instead of spending so much money to build it from scratch, why don't we all cooperate?"

"A 49% stake in Ele.me is definitely the most sincere offer I can make."

"Mr. Wang, you can rest assured that what I just said is indeed Alibaba's strategic plan."

"The necessary investments will be made."

"So, how about we exchange these 49% of our shares for 10% of your company's shares?"

The price Jack Ma offered made Wang Donglai laugh.

Indeed, Ele.me spent over 70 billion yuan on Jack Ma.

However, compared to Ele.me's market share, this price is simply not worthwhile.

Not to mention, Wang Donglai was aware of Ele.me's current situation; it couldn't be described as bankrupt, but rather as barely surviving.

The streets are full of yellow-skinned delivery riders, while the number of blue-skinned Ele.me delivery riders is much smaller.

In terms of return on capital, the benefits of partnering with Ele.me are far less than those of partnering with Huangtuan.

As for the development plan that Jack Ma mentioned, that's true.

The biggest problem is that Alibaba is an e-commerce platform, and it relies on traffic.

When entering other industries, they all approach development with an e-commerce mindset.

Neither the entertainment business nor other businesses have made much progress.

Even in its strongest area, e-commerce, it has been overtaken by the rising star Pinduoduo.

Jack Ma's remarks at the Bund not only interrupted Alipay's IPO journey but also caused him to fall into obscurity, while Taotian was also fined a huge sum of money.

Even disregarding the future development of Jack Ma and Taotian Group, a 10% stake in Galaxy Technology is not commensurate in value.

"Mr. Ma, you're not joking with me, are you?"

"I never expected that in Mr. Ma's eyes, Galaxy Technology is only worth a little over 300 billion."

Wang Donglai said this half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"Haha, Mr. Wang, let's not beat around the bush."

"I've heard that many of your group's patents are licensed out through licensing agreements, and the actual patents are not held by the company. Is this true or false?"

Jack Ma was extremely uncomfortable discussing these trade secrets over the phone.

But given Wang Donglai's attitude, Jack Ma didn't have any good solutions.

"That's right!"

Wang Donglai didn't hide or deceive, and directly admitted it, then said, "If President Ma sets the valuation of Galaxy Technology at 300 billion for this reason, it's probably a bit unreasonable." "That's impossible. Actually, I have a very high opinion of President Wang, but I missed a good opportunity to join before, which I regret very much."

"If there weren't other reasons, I would be very satisfied if they could just invest money in me."

"But I heard that President Wang doesn't plan to go public, but instead plans to implement an employee stock ownership plan, just like drinking chrysanthemum tea?"

When Jack Ma asked this question, his tone was extremely serious.

When Jack Ma asked that question, Wang Donglai understood everything.

“Mr. Ma, the employee stock ownership plan is real, and I have no objection to going public.”

"If Mr. Ma lowers Galaxy Technology's valuation to this extent for these two reasons, I will not accept it."

"I appreciate Mr. Ma's kindness."

“We’ve already set up the organizational structure for the meal service. At this point, the employees are working hard and diligently, but I, as the boss, am thinking of taking shortcuts. How can I face my employees?”

"Let's forget about the shares. But if Mr. Ma is interested, we can still cooperate."

"Moreover, Mr. Ma, our views are different."

"Although holding 49% of the shares makes me the second-largest shareholder, it's still not as satisfying as having my own controlling stake in a company."

"For example, I don't think Mr. Ma would approve of the compensation offered to delivery riders by Pinhaofan."

For some reason, Jack Ma detected a hint of sarcasm in Wang Donglai's words.

For a moment, Jack Ma thought he must be hallucinating.

However, the idea only briefly crossed Jack Ma's mind before he dismissed it.

However, he was somewhat embarrassed when Wang Donglai asked him.

He was aware of the employee benefits at the joint-meal restaurant.

The base salary is about 3,000 yuan, with eight days off per month. The riders' electric bikes, delivery uniforms, helmets, and insulated boxes are all standard equipment and do not require employees to pay for them.

Five social insurances and one housing fund, high-temperature allowance and cooling allowance, severe weather allowance, birthday bonus, year-end performance bonus...

These benefits are directly comparable to those of Galaxy Technology.

Furthermore, Pinhaofan is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Galaxy Technology, and all its employees are not outsourced but have signed formal employee contracts.

Even Jack Ma was shocked and troubled by Wang Donglai's wealth and power when he heard about these benefits.

To be honest, with such good benefits, Pinhaofan's employee expansion speed is extremely fast.

There's no need for much advertising; any delivery rider who knows about the employee benefits at Pinhaofan will find it irresistible.

As long as you switch jobs, you can easily earn two or three thousand yuan a month.

Riders don't have any professional loyalty; they go to whichever company pays the most.

The number of delivery riders at Huangtuan is dwindling, and Eleme is not far behind.

In particular, many of the managers at Pinhaofan were poached from Ele.me.

The idea of ​​Jack Ma and Wang Donglai discussing cross-shareholding cooperation didn't just pop up out of nowhere.

At this moment, facing Wang Donglai's question, Jack Ma hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Mr. Wang, the profit margin of food delivery is not high to begin with. It is also a labor-intensive industry with extremely high requirements for cost control. According to the benefits offered by your company, I'm afraid only a company as wealthy as yours can afford it."

"If we were like your company, it would probably take us many years to recoup our costs and start making a profit."

"The risks are too high, and the returns are not high, or even extremely low."

If he were facing outsiders like media reporters, Jack Ma certainly wouldn't have spoken so frankly.

However, when facing Wang Donglai, one of his own, Jack Ma naturally wouldn't say those nice words.

The food delivery industry is not considered a highly lucrative industry.

Because the amount of money that can be earned is fixed, there is a cap on the delivery fee when consumers order food on the platform. It's impossible to order a meal for 20 or 30 yuan and then pay more than 10 yuan for delivery.

Even if the delivery fee is only a dozen yuan, a portion of it must be allocated to the riders, and another portion must be used as platform operating costs.

In the end, only two or three tenths, or even less, might be included in the profits.

Fines for exceeding time limits, fines for negative reviews, and algorithm manipulation—these beastly methods may seem inhumane, but they are indeed inhumane.

The reason behind this is quite simple: capital's pursuit of profit margins.

A rider can have a few hundred yuan deducted each month, but if the scale is large, it becomes a considerable income.

Riders are penalized for poor service, but the money ends up in the platform's hands and becomes profit.

Even money that should be returned to consumers can be delayed. If consumers are not sensitive to this, it can accumulate into a sum of money that can be freely disposed of, and can also generate additional profits.

By using financial means and economic methods, one can make more money simply by abandoning some useless conscience and morality.

Jack Ma is well aware of these things.

The clearer things become, the more they realize how much damage this "group meal" strategy has done to Huangtuan and Ele.me.

Just like Ele.me, which had to invest an extra billion yuan to improve employee benefits, retain merchants, and conduct advertising and marketing due to the disruption caused by Pinduoduo.

Originally, this money didn't have to be paid.

If, like Pinhaofan, all delivery riders were provided with social insurance and housing fund contributions, a base salary, an annual bonus, uniforms, electric scooters, and essential tools like insulated boxes, then this expenditure would be negligible compared to the financial strength of Taotian Group.

But if Jack Ma were to actually do that, it would certainly draw dissatisfaction from shareholders and questions from executives.

Therefore, Jack Ma would naturally not do that.

Wang Donglai was not surprised.

"Mr. Ma, this is what I meant before: people with different values ​​cannot work together."

"Pinhaofan is not doing this because we are new to the market. Rather, we plan to increase the average order value by providing better treatment to our employees in order to ensure better service and thus create a positive cycle."

“Simply focusing on price reductions is not advisable. Food delivery is also a service industry, and the service level and quality should be guaranteed. Finally, as an entrepreneur, one must still shoulder the social responsibility that comes with it.”

"Galaxy Technology never thinks about monopolizing a certain industry or field, because only full competition can make the industry develop better."

Jack Ma's face darkened; how could he not understand the unspoken meaning in Wang Donglai's words?

Pinhaofan will not monopolize the market; instead, it will occupy the mid-to-high-end market through high-quality service, leaving the remaining low-end market to them.

Feeling frustrated, Jack Ma had already suffered several setbacks in front of Wang Donglai.

Wang Donglai is like a stubborn, unyielding rock, full of sharp edges, completely different from a successful businessman.

Instead of thinking about making money, he focused on running his business well and helping his employees get rich.

He's absolutely unique!
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Ma, our company has a movie that's about to be released. Could you please go out of your way and let it be properly promoted and distributed?"

Suddenly, upon hearing Wang Donglai say this, Jack Ma was overjoyed.

Without the slightest hesitation, he patted his chest and said, "Since President Wang has spoken, there's definitely no problem. As long as it's released, we guarantee it will get plenty of viewership and buzz."

"By the way, what's the name of this movie?"

Wang Donglai's voice came from the other end of the phone: "A life against the tide!" (End of this chapter)