King of Capital

A strong wind swept through Silicon Valley last night.

Hail mixed with rain fell for half the night and only stopped in the early morning.

Xie Jingxing and Liu Qing walked out of the hotel. The dark clouds had not yet dispersed and the sky was gloomy. There were gusts of damp and cold wind and the surroundings were silent. They wrapped themselves tightly in their down jackets in silence, got into the car and fell asleep.

After driving for dozens of minutes from the city where Apple's headquarters is located back to the San Jose Airport, the two were woken up by Chen Xi and got out of the car, and entered the waiting room in a daze.

“My flight is here too?”

Liu Qing drank a cup of coffee and ate half a bowl of beef noodles. Gradually she came to her senses and realized that she was going to take a commercial airliner back to Beijing with the Apple investment team.

Xie Jing Xing sat opposite him chewing a Snickers bar: "I'll give it to you after breakfast."

"Thank you."

Liu Qing simply responded and continued to eat the noodles in his bowl. Then the atmosphere fell silent again.

Last night, after the dinner celebrating the strategic cooperation intention between Didi and Apple, the two of them returned to the hotel to rest and had a few words.

For example, in all the mergers and acquisitions led by Xie Jingxing, WhatsApp had been in intermittent contact with Facebook for a year. With Tencent's intervention, a chain reaction occurred, and Google took action. The three companies competed with each other and intensified the competition, and the merger and acquisition was completed in a short time.

Even so, the whole process took two to three months.

In addition, projects like Kuaidi and Meituan, as he told Jim Goetz yesterday, have all been pushed to the point of exhaustion, and once the M&A process is initiated, it appears to be extremely fast.

In fact, it is often the norm for projects like Uber to work and negotiate at the same time, which may take as short as half a year or as long as a year, or even never come to fruition.

So when both parties launched new rounds of financing to replenish their ammunition, Liu Qing posted on Instagram yesterday to publicly express her attitude.

Objectively, I don't agree with Xie Jingxing's so-called life-and-death threat to Jim Goetz, but I don't object to it either. Anyway, it's impossible to integrate them in a short period of time, so let's fight slowly and talk about it later depending on the situation.

The investors’ strong attitude to fight to the end is actually a good thing from the management’s perspective. At least they have the confidence and are not afraid of losing.

But Liu Qing asked himself, he is a normal human being with emotions and desires, not an artificial intelligence tool.

Xie Jingxing sent a message in advance to notify them, and even if they discussed it, he would bypass her and talk directly to Jim Goetz. These two are the top investors in the world, and they tacitly cooperated to fully demonstrate the strong attitude of the investors.

It sounds ridiculous that a president who is filled with a sense of crisis, complaints and resistance is unable to fully grasp the company's strategic decisions.

Liu Qing put down his bowl and chopsticks with mixed feelings: "I'm done eating."

"I send you."

Xie Jingxing picked up his down jacket and handed it to her: "I will have an in-depth discussion with Grab when I go to Singapore this time. They should also be entering the financing cycle this year."

"Didi and Apple have completed their financing, and they will reap the benefits, so you should try to sign the contract as soon as possible."

The war has been going on for more than a year, and the anti-Uber alliance, which includes many partners including Silicon Valley's own Lyft and Singapore's Grab, is generally developing better and better.

Didi is holding up the front, and the capital market sees that Uber is not invincible and is destined to sweep the world, thus giving more confidence to local platforms in various places.

Especially in the Southeast Asian market represented by Grab, although the intensity of its competition with Uber is far less than that in China, it represents about 20% of the global online car-hailing market share.

Demographic dividend, Xie Jingxing needs to show respect and go to express his condolences in person.

"I heard that Chen Huiling has a good relationship with you?"

The San Jose airport is small with only two buildings. While walking to the next entrance, Liu Qing tried to find a topic to ease the relationship.

Xie Jing Xing happily cooperated and joked: "If you two fall into the river at the same time, I will definitely save you first."

"Old-fashioned, you..."

Liu Qing turned his head and pressed the elevator button, but stopped talking halfway as the elevator door opened.

Jim Goetz was seen standing side by side with his arms folded across his chest and Kalanick with his hands in his pockets, looking embarrassed.

Xie Jing Xing was stunned for a moment, then he stepped into the elevator first: "Good morning."

"Good morning, are you going back home?"

It was either a coincidence or destiny. Jim Goetz also looked dazed and greeted him dryly.

Xie Jing Xing looked at them without hiding his gaze: "Are you going to China too?"

Jim Goetz was speechless for a moment. Yesterday afternoon, he broke into Uber's headquarters in San Francisco and left. Kalanick rushed to Sequoia headquarters in Menlo Park overnight to stop him and brought the matter to the board of directors.

So the two of them showed up at the San Jose airport and headed to Neon together to meet with Masayoshi Son, the giant on Uber's board, to express his opinion.

"Thanks, I think we need to have a good talk." Jim Gotz improvised and wanted to ask a few people to go out and find a quiet place.

Xie Jingxing looked at Liu Qing and raised his eyebrows: "Do you want to talk to Jim?"

"Jim, our time is precious," Kalanick reminded.

Liu Qing pursed his lips and showed Jim a friendly smile: "Sorry, we are also in a hurry to catch a flight."

"At this moment, your two companies are competing in the market at a high cost of $1 million per week. Your time is indeed a luxury."

Jim suddenly stretched out his hand, and all the elevator floor buttons were pressed: "Why can't you be a little patient and kind and change this situation?"

"Wtf, what are you doing?"

Because it was still early, there were no other passengers in the elevator. Kalanick stared and said, "How should I change? Should I follow the advice and treat Uber China as a "non-performing asset"?!"

"No, Uber China is an excellent asset, and I think you are well aware of its value. Come on, take this opportunity to tell them." Jim Gotz said seriously and calmly.

"Two years ago it only had 1% of the Chinese market share, now it is 30%, and a year later it will be 80%."

Kalanick was so angry that he cursed "shit" and said sarcastically, "If you ask me its value, it is obviously higher than Didi."

"Hula."

The elevator went down one floor and the door opened. Xie Jingxing wanted to go out, but he stopped and said, "Two years ago when I came to Silicon Valley, a kid told me in the venture capital club: Wall Street says you are a supernova. I hope you don't hit the rookie wall. I'll wait and see."

"Then this kid came to China and told me on the rooftop: You conquered Silicon Valley once, now it's my turn to conquer this urban cluster under my feet." Xie Jingxing said to himself: "Guess what? He is still talking in his sleep with his eyes closed, waiting and seeing in two years. Open your eyes and see, you only have 10% market share, and it will be back to 1% in two years."

The elevator door slammed shut, Kalanick took his hand out of his trouser pocket, gestured as if to say something, with a watch dangling on his wrist, which was the one Xie Jingxing gave him on the rooftop that year.

"Uber China has spent more than a billion dollars to cultivate the Chinese market. Its value cannot be measured simply by market share. We should compare it horizontally with Didi. 40% or 30%?"

Jim Goetz took over the conversation and said that no matter what the internal conflicts were, the general direction of initiating negotiations must be unified.

It was still the same theory that he had talked about with Xie Jingxing yesterday. If Didi initiated the merger with Uber China, it would definitely have the bargaining power, and it would be up to Didi to decide whether to accept it.

The elevator door opened again. Liu Qing was tense and quickly glanced at Jim Goetz, then at Kalanick: "No matter how much Uber has paid, as long as it fails to own the market, its value is very limited!"

“Well said, Jim! We have completed 10 billion orders in the global market and our business covers five continents.”

Kalanick responded without hesitation: "We spent more than a billion dollars to lock Didi inside the wall, and it can only drool at the overseas market. This is not expensive, it's too cheap!"

Suppose Uber had not brazenly entered the Chinese market when Didi had acquired Kuaidi and occupied 90% of the market share, but had waited until the latter completed its internal integration before rushing overseas.

The best-case scenario is that the direct battle between the two sides will take place throughout Southeast Asia, and the worst-case scenario is that it will spread throughout the entire world.

By then, there will be no so-called anti-Uber alliance, but two aliens will swing their arms and throw nuclear bombs at each other in the colony, and the indigenous resistance forces will be brutally beaten indiscriminately.

This is the reason why Kalanick is now fighting against his own board of directors - Didi, a platform that started out relying on the huge demographic dividend market, will definitely not be able to stay in one place.

Since war is inevitable, we should start the war at home and make it unable to expand into overseas markets!

"Wow!"

The door opened and the passers-by standing outside blinked in confusion. There were four people in the elevator, three men and one woman, each occupying a corner and confronting each other tensely. He stood there awkwardly, not knowing whether he should go in.

“China, Southeast Asia, India, Russia, Europe and the United Kingdom.”

Xie Jingxing pressed the button to close the door and listed a series of place names: "Even Israel has a local online car-hailing platform. Didi will prove a fact to the world that local platforms can defeat their aggressive multinational counterparts."

"Businesses across five continents will eventually turn into 'M&A bandits'."

He spread his hands and said, "You are like a scoundrel who is using a pitiful market share to blackmail the local platform. Let's merge. Give me 40% or 30% of the shares as protection money."

“I don’t know how many times Uber will be able to pull this off outside of South Africa.”

Jim Gotz suddenly woke up and realized that if Uber really withdrew from the Chinese market in the future, it would be difficult for it to play the role of a robber!
"That's a good proposal. How many shares is Didi willing to give to buy Uber China? We have already found a direction for cooperation." He appeared calm but his thoughts were racing as he observed everyone's expressions.

Liu Qing shook his head slightly: "It depends on its true value."

"Travis, will you go to China when Uber China goes bankrupt? If you show up in person, I'm willing to buy it for $5000 and buy you a first-class ticket back to Silicon Valley!"

Amidst the fierce verbal exchange, the elevator finally reached the first floor. Xie Jingxing reached out and grabbed Liu Qing's shoulders, half pushing and half dragging her away.

Kalanick was so angry that his neck stretched out and veins bulged: "My promise is forever valid. The position of CEO of Uber China will always be reserved for you."

Everything happened so fast in just a few minutes that Jim Goetz had no time to try to stop them. Looking at the backs of Xie Jingxing and the other man walking away, he felt inexplicably powerless.

Both investors and founders have strong personalities and are difficult to work with, so one side always has to compromise.

Specifically speaking about the Didi project, perhaps he made a wrong judgment at the beginning and should not have chosen to contact Xie Jingxing first.

…………

Xie Jingxing escorted Liu Qing through security check and met with Apple's strategic investment team. They had a brief conversation and then parted ways. The Gulfstream turned into an air mule and flew directly to Singapore.

This was the longest flight in recent days, a total of seventeen hours. When I got off the plane, my legs were so weak that it felt like I was stepping on cotton. My scalp was numb and I gritted my teeth and got into the shuttle bus to go to Grab’s new headquarters, the Marina Bay Financial Centre Phase II building.

When Xie Jingxing met Chen Huiling for the second time, this woman with dark skin and short hair who looked like Li Yuchun had just moved to Singapore from the headquarters in Malaysia and was squatting in the office installing office chairs by herself.

She expressed confidence and anticipation that she would own an entire floor of this top-notch office building in two years.

Now it has been done. Grab's headquarters has been relocated to Singapore, which is more conducive to radiating the whole Southeast Asia. Last month, Grab officially launched the Grabply mobile payment product, expanding Internet finance based on its core online car-hailing business.

“I think I invested in Alibaba.”

Xie Jingxing took a general look around the office area and gave compliments with great interest.

Chen Huiling led him into the office: "You suggest that Grab do e-commerce business?"

"..." Xie Jingxing was speechless.

"Just kidding, we actually want to expand the takeaway business."

Chen Huiling laughed, poured him a cup of coffee, paused and added: "But Uber and Go-jek involve too much of our energy. We must do our best to defeat each other. It is difficult to be distracted before that."

"I've read your financial report last year. You have dominant markets in Malaysia and Singapore, which is enough to support a strong offline team." Xie Jingxing responded selectively.

The secret fund that Cheng Sen is in charge of has already invested in high-quality projects in Southeast Asia. Go-jek, the Indonesian online ride-hailing giant, was his chosen project, so it is inevitable that it is a bit embarrassing to mention it at this time.

The takeaway business is another line. Chen Huiling contacted the company several times via email to inquire about the relevant business model and asked about every key development node in detail.

After careful consideration for a long time, I came to the conclusion that food delivery is a good thing, but unfortunately Grab is unable to fight on two fronts and burn money in a short period of time.

Xie Jingxing proposed to help introduce strategic investment from New DAE, and then naturally enter the Southeast Asian mobile payment portal head-on. Chen Huiling had a subtle attitude towards this.

The entire Southeast Asian venture capital circle is basically the same. They are afraid that taking money from Chinese Internet giants will lead to the loss of actual control and being caught up in proxy wars, and they are also afraid that their competitors will be unscrupulous and act as translators and guides and take off on the spot.

"I came here mainly to talk to you about the online car-hailing business. Food delivery is not the focus. I just personally think that you have the ability to enter this track and seize the first-mover advantage."

Xie Jingxing frankly resolved the temptation and got straight to the point: "The competition between Didi and Uber has entered a new stage. The intensity of competition between the two sides will be exaggerated in the future."

"I've been paying close attention to this recently. The showdown between the two giants has attracted the attention of the entire capital market." Chen Huiling commented with a meaningful expression and smiled sheepishly.

Grab is currently competing with Uber in the Vietnamese market, burning an average of US$70 per month, causing local drivers to exclaim that it is a thrilling battle and they are making endless money.

On the other side, the real Celestial Empire burns 50 to 60 million US dollars every week...

The contrast is even more shocking, and it is really hard to join in and fight as a vanguard. (End of this chapter)