King of Capital

February 2th, the third day of the first lunar month.

The Gulfstream business jet took off from Beijing and headed for the Bahamas.

Uber China's completion of a $5 million Series C financing round means that it is able to continue the war, and the possibility of a quick merger and acquisition that Liu Qing expected was ruled out. So she met with Cheng Wei, who hurried back to Beijing, at the airport for a long time, and then boarded the flight with Xie Jingxing.

"You two have worked hard on your business trips during the holidays. We all support you and are waiting for good news at home."

The network signal on the plane was poor, and the temporary board meeting did not mention mergers and acquisitions. It simply communicated the news of the new round of financing, and Liu Chih-Ping made a summary speech on behalf of the whole group.

Currently, there are seven seats on Didi’s board of directors, with three seats held by management and one seat each from Tencent, Alibaba, Xiyou and Taihe.

So when he and Qing Liu came forward together, the vote on the new round of financing was just a respectful notification, and Liu Chih-ping could just smile and applaud.

"Mr. Xie, today is your birthday. All our crew members wish you a happy birthday."

The meeting ended at noon, and several flight attendants surrounded the chief flight attendant who pushed a food cart with cakes on it. Each of them presented a delicate little gift.

Xie Jingxing was caught off guard, but luckily Chen Xi had prepared a red envelope for the start of work, and stuffed it into his hand as a return gift to help him deal with the situation in a lively manner.

It doesn't cost much to maintain such service personnel in the crew, but slaves don't see heroes in the eyes of slaves, and maintaining reliable close contact relationships is a waste of effort.

The flight attendants are all young and beautiful girls who have been learning dancing, flower arrangement and other hobbies at their own expense for a long time. They can even talk about the macro-financial situation in a decent manner.

It would be an exaggeration to say that the ambition is booming, but it is also difficult to call it a Buddhist and stable life.

"Happy birthday. I've been very busy lately. I'll give you a gift later." Liu Qing smiled helplessly.

Xie Jingxing didn't care: "The gift has been agreed upon. Treat me to a meal in the Bahamas."

"I thought you would say the best gift is to acquire Uber," Liu Qing joked.

“This should be considered a trophy.”

Xie Jing Xing swallowed the fried pork chop in his mouth and wiped the corner of his mouth: "Take your time to eat, it will take another ten hours, I'm going to sleep to adjust to the jet lag."

"Good night." Liu Qing enjoyed his sumptuous lunch by himself.

Today I got a first-hand feeling of how peaceful and reserved this guy is in life. When I think about how aggressive and flamboyant he is at work, apart from being rich and extravagant, his overall image is really fragmented.

After finishing his meal, Liu Qing made his bed, put on an eye mask and covered himself with a blanket. When he woke up, he looked out the porthole at the quiet and boundless dark night, feeling inexplicably emotional.

Where is the end for this 25-year-old billionaire?

Liu Qing drank a glass of wine to help him sleep and fell asleep again with curiosity. He was not awakened by the flight attendant until he was about to reach the destination. He used the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes, and walked off the plane side by side with Xie Jingxing in the best condition.

The two transferred at the Bahamas airport, took a seaplane for about half an hour, and landed on a small island.

"Sorry to interrupt your vacation Tim."

"No, I fix this time every year to deepen my friendship with my friends."

"Is this a benefit from Apple? Then I suggest you go to Antarctica next year and bring all your friends with you."

"Hmm, that sounds like good advice."

"Of course. My wife ordered an expedition yacht that is currently under construction. It has the world's highest level of icebreaker performance. It is equipped with two helicopters and two diving chambers and can go anywhere in the world. It will be delivered next year." Xie Jingxing boasted proudly.

Tim Cook, with gray hair and black-framed glasses, had deep wrinkles on his face when he smiled: "Better than Microsoft Paul Allen's Octopus?"

“I don’t know Paul Allen, but the shipyard has assured me that when this boat is delivered, it will be the best expedition yacht in the world, bar none.”

Xie Jingxing shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands: "3.3 million US dollars! If my wife wasn't a biomedical doctor who loves scientific research, I wouldn't pay the bill."

"Wow, it turns out you are more proud of your wife than the yacht. But I have to admit that a PhD in biomedical science is indeed more worth showing off than a yacht." Tim Cook smiled gently.

A young man and an old man were dressed in the same beach pants. The former wore a fancy trendy short-sleeved top, while the latter wore a polo shirt. They sat side by side in the front row of the electric scooter and chatted casually.

Liu Qing sat in the back row, listening quietly and calmly, feeling the warm and moist sea breeze.

In the English-speaking world, or the context of the wealthy world, showing off whose private jet or private yacht is bigger is like two men taking off their pants to see whose is bigger.

Sharing a happy family is an important and indispensable part of private communication.

Obviously, Xie Jingxing and Tim Cook are not as familiar with each other as shown in the email. The two foxes have their own plans for each other and have to act out a tender relationship.

"Can this island port accommodate a large ship? An expedition yacht 430 feet long and displacing tons."

The electric car stopped in front of a beach villa, and Xie Jingxing jumped out of the car and started to take off his pants again, endlessly walking naked on his 430-foot boat.

Liu Qing tried to suppress the shame of covering her face with her hands. Cook was very calm and just chuckled: "This island is too small to accommodate your big ship. You can consider buying a big island nearby and we can be neighbors."

The name Bahamas may not sound very familiar, but if you change it to Florida, the US state that does not keep idle people, it will instantly become famous. The two places are only a step away from each other.

Many wealthy Americans like to come here to buy private islands, which not only allow them to avoid taxes and enjoy privacy, but also provide them with the medical and living conveniences of the United States. It is a famous billionaire community.

"May I ask you how much this island costs?" Xie Jing Xing suddenly asked offensively.

Cook straightened up and said calmly: "2300 million US dollars. It is said that the Bahamas recognizes the legal rights of cryptocurrency. The price of the island has increased a lot in the past two years."

"The price is right and the appreciation potential is huge. Anthony Lewandowski will be able to afford it in a few months." Xie Jingxing walked into the living room of the villa and found a place to sit down.

Cook was stunned: "Is Anthony Lewandowski your friend?"

“A friend of Kalanick’s.”

Xie Jingxing succeeded in his sneak attack and got to the point in a flash: "This guy is a star scientist in Google's driverless car department. He was dissatisfied with Google's slow progress in promoting the driverless business. Encouraged by his close friend Kalanick, he jumped ship two months ago to start his own business."

"You are well informed."

Cook sat opposite him without comment. Liu Qing put away his distracting thoughts and observed attentively, trying to find an opportunity to strike a fatal blow.

Xie Jingxing shook his head: "This is not a secret. In the past six months, Uber has poached many managers from Google Maps and received investment from Baidu. It uses Baidu Maps in China and develops its own maps and driverless technology."

"You mean Kalanick will buy Levandowski's startup in the future?" Cook cautiously probed. This is a normal operation. First negotiate with the next company, then resign from the previous company to start a business, showing how many cards are worth how much chips in hand, and negotiate a suitable price with the next company to buy both the person and the company.

——In short, if what Xie Jingxing said is true, Lewandowski's resignation brought out Google's driverless technology!
He was afraid that he would earn less if he joined Uber directly, and Uber was even more afraid that directly hiring him would incur legal risks of stealing core technologies from competitors and using the shell of a startup to launder their wealth.

"Google invested in Uber in 2013, and the two sides had a honeymoon period."

Xie Jingxing did not answer directly, but commented in a joking tone: "But who is Kalanick? In a country that claims that 'the only eternal things in this world are death and taxes', he dares to openly not pay income tax for his employees!"

"..."

Cook was speechless and his mouth twitched. A capable assistant who helped the current president enter the White House was originally scheduled to serve as the Secretary of Health, but his political career ended because he was found to have evaded taxes.

Another capable aide, the current finance minister, barely escaped punishment by pretending to be mentally handicapped and admitting that he did not understand tax laws.

From this perspective, it seems to make sense that Kalanick felt he had grown strong enough to turn against Google and steal its technology. He is an arrogant person with an extremely strong and daring personality.

"Apple and Google also had a honeymoon period. I remember when I was in middle school, the first iPhone I used had Google Maps installed by default."

Xie Jingxing was more and more comfortable controlling the rhythm, as if he was giving a speech: "Until Google released the Android system, Jobs said he would spend all the $400 billion in Apple's account and start a thermonuclear war to destroy Google."

"Later, Google became fully open and Apple became fully closed, and you failed to kill each other on the mobile side." He paused and waited for a response.

Cook remained silent, put his hands on his chest and raised his thumbs, indicating that he should continue.

This is a fact verified by the WhatsApp acquisition case. Apple would rather cooperate with Microsoft than ruin Google's good situation. As for Facebook, it does not rank among the new and old grudges.

In any case, Microsoft is the old king of the PC era, and Google, with its Android system, is the only new king of the mobile era that has the potential to kill Apple head-on.

The three companies are competing for the highest level of the Internet ecosystem. If Zuckerberg continues to make a fuss, Facebook's ads will be banned...

This was the underlying logic behind Xie Jingxing's success in forming alliances.

So now the question is, where is the direction of the next era?
"Artificial intelligence and the virtual world have too many tempting future stories. For Apple, a mobile terminal, these stories can be as specific as AR smart wearable devices or artificial intelligence cars."

Xie Jingxing smiled modestly and pointed at Liu Qing: "Now Apple only needs to pay $15 billion to buy such a future story and keep the throne in the next era."

"You're as articulate and passionate as Kalanick," Cook said indifferently.

Uber fell out with its investors, and Google lost a lot of opportunity costs and turned back to focus on developing its own driverless technology, and even launched its own online car-hailing business.

Why doesn't Didi kick out its investors and go it alone? Why can't Apple just keep its feet on the ground and go it alone?
Xie Jing Xing fell silent, nodded slightly and raised his hand to cover his lips.

"Tim, I think..." Liu Qing quickly took over the conversation.

Xie Jingxing raised his head again and interrupted expressionlessly: "Last year, I personally paid 125 billion RMB in taxes, setting a record for personal tax payments in China, and it is expected that it will not be broken in the next ten years."

"The tax department plans to give me a certificate of merit or something."

He tilted his head to look at Liu Qing: "I am Chinese, Didi is a Chinese company, and we firmly believe that one day in the future we will drive Didi smart cars on the streets of California. Before that, Apple's enemies are Uber and Google."

"Google invested $2 million in Uber three years ago. Although it wasted a lot of opportunity costs as you said, it reaped a dozen times the financial return on investment, fed AI with massive amounts of traffic information data, and cultivated an Internet travel company with 10 billion orders."

Xie Jing Xing coughed lightly: "You approved the car-making plan two years ago. What's the progress now? It won't still be on the PPT, right? I really think Apple should invest $15 billion in Didi. This is the price you should pay for lagging behind Google."

Cook couldn't help but frown. In fact, today was the second time the two sides met, and it felt like the first time.

This guy was so proud two years ago, and now WhatsApp has become a mess.

Apple's largest financial investment project in history has a gratifying return rate, which sounds like a humorous joke.

"I don't think smart cars are the necessary path for Apple." Cook remained deep.

"Steve Jobs dared to start a thermonuclear war with Google. Now Google has invested in Uber. Why doesn't Apple choose Didi? You are not as good as him?"

Liu Qing, who was silent the whole time and only uttered half a sentence, suddenly started with a close attack at zero frame.

Xie Jingxing looked at her blankly. Cook opened his mouth but no sound came out. For a moment he couldn't think of what to say, and the atmosphere suddenly became weird.

"We have self-developed maps, driverless labs, new energy vehicle R&D teams, and 200 million users with nearly 10 million transactions every day."

Liu Qing sat upright and spoke quickly to express his attitude: "Apple wants to try the smart car road, Didi is the best strategic partner, the enemy of the enemy. In the field of smart cars, Uber is a stronger enemy than Google, and currently only Didi can confront it head-on and kill it!"

"$15 billion to buy a future is very cheap!" she concluded with certainty.

Xie Jing Xing watched silently, and when he felt Cook's gaze on him, he responded with an apologetic smile.

That’s right, this is Didi’s absolute will and it will not change. If no one is convinced, it will stop here.

"As you know, I'm on vacation. Apple has a very professional strategic investment department, and I hope to invite you to visit our Silicon Valley headquarters." Cook chose to accept.

Smart cars may not be the future, but Google is on this path. As Steve Jobs' successor and Apple CEO, it can't afford to miss this opportunity.

The performance of the young couple in front of him was enough to convince the board of directors. He thought for a moment and added in approval, "I will call the head of the strategic investment department and have them conduct a professional assessment."

"Give me two minutes."

Xie Jing Xing glanced at his watch and raised his hand to signal, then he took out his cell phone and dialed the number. After the call was connected and the speaker was turned on, he asked directly, "How much is the best private island for sale in the world right now?"

“Uh, $3 million, $5 million, somewhere in this range?” the head of alternative investment business at Taihe Home Office in Singapore gave the answer.

Xie Jingxing was satisfied and asked again: "Can I have it as a birthday present?"

"Of course, boss."

"Ok, buy it."

Xie Jingxing hung up the phone and said to Cook sincerely: "53 seconds, professional matters should be left to professionals, and you make the decision, right Tim?"

"..."

Cook was speechless and Liu Qing was dumbfounded. (End of this chapter)