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

Not enough words to speculate.

Galaxy Technology is considering acquisition, while Lai Song is willing to sell, but there is a significant price difference between them.

Such a large business acquisition naturally cannot be finalized in a short period of time.

Even if the prices are similar, it still takes time to go through the process.

For example, auditing Zhongtong's accounts, taking inventory of assets, and so on.

Now, Lai Song has offered 30 billion, while Xu Zhibin has countered with 10 billion, a huge difference.

Therefore, Lai Song had no intention of continuing the discussion.

He had already made up his mind to go and talk to Jack Ma.

If Jack Ma is willing to offer 30 billion, then we'll sell to Jack Ma.

If Jack Ma can't offer a high price either, then I'll keep it, spend a lot of money, increase market share, raise the stock price, and cash out at a high price.

Having spent many years in the business world, Lai Song quickly came up with various solutions.

After Lai Song left, Xu Zhibin reported the matter to Wang Donglai.

"Ten billion to acquire Lai Song's shares wouldn't be a loss, but it's obvious he won't accept that price."

"It's not a loss if we win, and it's not a big deal if we don't."

Wang Donglai also found the price acceptable.

After all, ZTO still has a lot of fixed assets, which are worth a lot of money.

Whether we get it or not, it doesn't really matter.

It's just a little slower.

If we follow Wang Donglai's true thinking, it would be more appropriate if he couldn't win the bid.

After all, having spent money to buy Lai Song's shares, they still had to clean up the mess left by ZTO Express.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to develop Xinghuo Express properly.

A blank sheet of paper is much easier to draw on than a heavy burden like that of ZTO Express.

Xu Zhibin's answer was simple: he could accept either option.

Buying shares can save some time; the only problem is that integrating ZTO Express will be a bit troublesome.

They could also go public under the ZTO brand, since Wang Donglai has already said that Xinghuo Express is eligible for a public listing.

"It's worth 10 billion now, but in a while, it won't be worth that much anymore."

Opportunities don't always come around.

"But do we really want to do this?"

Xu Zhibin hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't help asking.

Hearing Xu Zhibin's question, Wang Donglai stopped what he was doing, glanced at Xu Zhibin, stood up, and said, "What? Are you hesitating?"

Xu Zhibin shook his head in denial, saying, "Donglai, what we're doing won't affect the overall situation at all."

"From a practical point of view, we are the odd ones out."

"Even if we capture 50% of the express delivery market, based on our expenses, we cannot maintain such benefits indefinitely."

"Not to mention that we will also distribute shares and share the fruits of development with all employees."

"This road may be even more difficult than we thought!"

Wang Donglai looked at Xu Zhibin with an encouraging look in his eyes, urging him to continue.

"It's not that I think we should give up, but I'm wondering if we can try a different approach?"

"Then tell me your thoughts, I'll listen."

"Boss, I think we could call on more companies to form an alliance and work together to promote this."

As soon as Xu Zhibin finished speaking, Wang Donglai shook his head in disappointment, interrupting him.

"What you're saying is absolutely impossible!"

"CATL, we've been working with them for quite a while now. We've given them concessions to ensure they have enough profit so they can treat their employees better. And what's the result?"

"When executives receive bonuses and their annual salaries increase, the ordinary employees below them each get a raise of 150 yuan."

“BYD used to give its employees an apple and a drink for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which cost less than ten yuan.”

"It's better now, but whether we compare ourselves to others or other companies, it's still extremely stingy."

"Touching vested interests is harder than touching the soul!"

“Simply developing technology is unlikely to change the distribution of wealth, which is why I founded Galaxy Technologies.”

"I'd like to treat this as a large-scale social experiment and give it a try."

"What's the worst that could happen? It's just bankruptcy. I'll still be me. We're still so young, we can definitely give it our all."

Upon hearing Wang Donglai's words, Xu Zhibin said nothing more and fell into deep thought.

Seeing this, Wang Donglai didn't say anything more.

People have different feelings at each stage.

He never imagined things would go so smoothly.

……

the other side.

After leaving Galaxy Technology, Lai Song went straight to Beijing.

Jack Ma is in Beijing, and he wants to talk to Jack Ma about selling Zhongtong shares.

That evening, Lai Song met Jack Ma.

“Mr. Lai, we’ve only invested for less than a year, and the company’s market value has dropped so much. We, as investors, haven’t even held you accountable yet.”

"And now you're telling me you want us to increase our support, including but not limited to investment and preferential orders?"

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

Don't be fooled by Jack Ma's always smiling face when he appears online.

Jack Ma is no pushover; he's built such a large company.

So, after hearing Lai Song's words, Jack Ma's face turned cold, and he retorted with a question.

Lai Song was naturally not as comfortable facing Jack Ma as he was facing Xu Zhibin.

Especially at this moment, seeing Jack Ma's expression, my heart skipped a beat.

Although he is a billionaire with a net worth of billions, his business is heavily reliant on Taotian Group.

Putting aside everything else, if Jack Ma directly shut down ZTO Express and connected it to Taotian Group, it would at least bring down ZTO Express's market value by half.

Not to mention other methods.

Therefore, it is entirely reasonable for Laison to perform this way when facing Jack Ma.

"Mr. Ma, the situation is quite clear now."

"Spark Express is aiming to monopolize the express delivery market. Even if it doesn't achieve a complete monopoly, it's still determined to take half of the market."

"If that's the case, not only will our express delivery business volume decrease significantly, but it will also affect Taotian Group's product delivery services."

"No matter the reason, Mr. Ma can't just stand by and watch someone die!"

“If this drags on, Xinghuo Express’s costs will be much higher than ours, and the consequences will be much greater. I don’t believe Xinghuo Express can keep going like this.”

"Perhaps, Xinghuo Express will soon be unable to hold on either."

Jack Ma was almost laughing in exasperation at Lai Song's nonsense.

However, Lai Song was, after all, a billionaire with a net worth of tens of billions, so Jack Ma still had to give him some face. "Mr. Lai, first of all, whether Xinghuo Express can survive is not up to you."

"Galaxy Technology has plenty of money, and from its inception to now, Xinghuo Express has clearly been implementing Wang Donglai's ideas."

"Losing money is fine. Galaxy Technology has plenty of money. With Wang Donglai's style, he's not afraid at all."

"So your claim that Xinghuo Express couldn't continue because of its high investment costs is simply unfounded."

"Secondly, doing business involves considering costs and benefits."

"What benefits would I gain from receiving investment in ZTO Express and having orders prioritized for them?"

"Why should I choose ZTO Express instead of Yunda or STO Express?"

"Since it's going to cost money anyway, Mr. Lai gave me a reason why I must support ZTO Express."

Jack Ma is not a stingy person; he has always been willing to spend money in many fields.

When they were developing instant messaging and launching Laiwang, I don't know how much money they spent.

To enrich its business ecosystem, it didn't even hesitate to spend tens of billions to acquire AutoNavi.

However, this money is necessary to spend at Jackmare, and there are legitimate reasons for it.

However, when they spent money on ZTO Express, Jack Ma disappeared.

Lai Song was also somewhat stunned when he heard Jack Ma say that.

He hadn't actually figured out how to persuade Jack Ma.

The original idea was simply to use Spark Express's offer as a stepping stone to raise the price and then let Jack Ma take over.

But who would have thought Jack Ma would be so ruthless?

After thinking about it, Lai Song decided to tell the truth.

"Mr. Ma, let's be frank."

"How much are you willing to offer for my Zhongtong shares and control?"

"The price is right, and we can sign the acquisition contract tomorrow!"

Upon hearing Lai Song's words, a smile immediately appeared on Jack Ma's face, a stark contrast to his previous demeanor.

"Mr. Lai, if you had said this earlier, we wouldn't have needed to go through all this trouble."

"Well then, based on the current assessment of ZTO by the capital market, I personally give Mr. Lai two options."

"One is 8 billion in cash, in exchange for the shares held by President Lai."

Upon hearing this, Lai Song almost couldn't contain his anger.

However, Jack Ma hadn't finished speaking when he forced himself to hold back.

"The second option is for Mr. Lai to join Taotian Group's Cainiao with his own shares. I can give Mr. Lai a higher platform."

"At that time, Taotian Group can also allocate more orders and provide more traffic incentives."

Lai Song sneered inwardly.

He instantly understood Jack Ma's scheme.

Eight billion is even more ruthless than Xu Zhibin's asking price. It's clear that they think they have me in their grasp, otherwise they wouldn't have offered such a price.

As for the second option, that's even more unseemly.

The first option at least involved being willing to put up 8 billion in cash, while the latter wasn't even going to put on an act.

Even if you join the rookie group and have a lot of shares, what good will it do? You'll become Jack Ma's subordinate, with your life and death in his hands.

He's a big boss himself, it would be a joke for him to become a subordinate.

His face turned ashen, and he instantly lost all desire to continue talking with Jack Ma.

So Lai Song stood up and said to Jack Ma, "Mr. Ma, I'll think about it and then I won't bother you any longer."

After saying that, he turned and left without waiting for Jack Ma's reply.

Watching Lai Song leave, Jack Ma didn't get up to see him off, but a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Actually, Jack Ma is not short of money.

He just didn't want to spend the money.

What Lai Song could think of, he could naturally think of as well.

If Xinghuo Express really develops and squeezes the business market of STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express, it would be a good thing for Jack Ma.

Merging STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express into one company, making it a subsidiary of Taotian Group, and thus better controlling it, would be very beneficial for Taotian Group's development.

Jack Ma had wanted to do this for a long time, but he hadn't taken the plunge in the past because he didn't have enough funds.

Later, when we had more money, the major express delivery companies (STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express) had already developed, and doing anything further would have been too costly.

Even so, Jack Ma still managed to create a new business by leveraging the shopping platform.

Now that such an opportunity has finally come along, allowing them to combine the three major express delivery companies (STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express), Jack Ma is naturally not going to let it go.

For him, it doesn't matter whether the merchants of Taotian Group choose to ship via Xinghuo Express, STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, or China Post.

As long as the platform can sell goods, it doesn't matter which courier company delivers them.

First, take advantage of the impact of Xinghuo Express to corner the three major express delivery companies (STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express).

When the time comes, the cost of acquiring it myself will be much lower.

Once all the acquisitions are complete, the delivery methods can be integrated immediately, making it easy to regain market share in the express delivery industry.

Just like how Pinduoduo supported Xinghuo Express.

As long as you own the platform, there are countless merchants who want to make money on it, so you don't have to worry about them not listening to you.

After walking outside, Lai Song felt half angry and half confused.

The prices offered by both Spark Express and Jack Ma were too low, far below his receiving capacity.

After thinking it over, Lai Song decided to give it another try.

With so many venture capital firms both domestically and internationally, there might be one willing to take over at a high price.

Even if they can't offer 30 billion, 20 billion or more would be fine.

With that in mind, Lai Song left without hesitation.

Inside the room, after waiting for a while, they confirmed that Lai Song had indeed left.

Jack Ma chuckled softly and said to the person next to him, "Sometimes, you have to be decisive in business."

"It's obvious that Spark Express, with the support of Galaxy Technology, is not short of money at all. They can fight a price war like crazy, and they can hold out for a year or two without any problem."

"The meaning of the previous courier industry exchange meeting was very clear: it was obvious to everyone who was being criticized and who was being supported."

"Doing business is sometimes like being a gangster; you need connections."

"JD.com has its own express delivery system, Pinduoduo has Xinghuo Express, and SF Express offers high-end and express services, winning customers with their service. Only Tmall does not have its own express delivery system."

"It's not easy to find a newbie, but there are still a lot of problems. It's not as convenient as having direct control."

"Now, the opportunity has come."

"If the three major express delivery companies (STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express) can hold on, then they are truly impressive. But if they can't hold on, then these prices won't be available anymore."

"Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp, and shrimp eat mud!"

"It's said to be a competition in the express delivery business, but in the final analysis it's a competition in the e-commerce business. Lai Song isn't unaware of this, but he's unwilling to see his own wealth shrink."

Little did they know, once the opportunity is missed, it's gone forever!

Jack Ma shook his head and said this to the people around him.

Everyone nodded in agreement, echoing Jack Ma's statement. (End of Chapter)