King of Capital

"Get ready, start!"

At the outdoor live-fire competitive shooting range, Xie Jingxing was wearing a full set of camouflage tactical equipment, a baseball cap with noise-canceling headphones and goggles, and holding a HK416 civilian version rifle.

As the coach gave the order, he released his hand on his shoulder, stepped forward and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot was clean and dull, the bullet casings bounced and the smell of gunpowder spread, and the movable human-shaped targets that occasionally appeared from behind obstacles were hit.

"1 minutes 17 seconds."

When Xie Jingxing reached the finish line and collected his gun, the coach immediately stopped timing for fear of counting half a second too much. Applause broke out from the sidelines at the right time.

"7 seconds faster than Lao Li, Mr. Xie is in very good shape!" Cheng Sen, who was dressed in formal attire and looked like a financial elite, was amazed.

Li Yan, with his slightly fat beer belly, looked particularly bloated under his tactical vest. He sighed: "That's right, hard work has no meaning in front of talent."

"Bullshit."

Xie Jingxing cursed with a smile while checking the gun and asking the coach to report the target. It had been a long time since he touched a gun, so it was difficult to judge which was stronger, his shooting talent or his muscle memory that had been honed through thousands of trials.

Fortunately, the number of targets was good. Li Yannian, who had just released the Pacific Ocean, said that he lost narrowly. Cheng Sen nodded in agreement and said that the boss narrowly won, and the main emotional value was maximized.

"Alcohol and sex are really like a knife that scrapes bones. Look at your belly. You are completely decadent."

Xie Jingxing was not serious about it. He took off the gun and returned it to the coach with a joke, then walked into the room first.

Cheng Sen and Li Yan followed on both sides with smiles on their faces. The former had crawled out of a muddy pond, and if he had not overcome all the difficulties, he would not have lived to this day, so his whole character is basically determined.

The latter is completely different. It has changed particularly greatly in the past two years and has been completely reshaped almost along with the growth of secret funds.

The last time Xie Jingxing went to Vietnam and listened to their work reports in person, he knew that Li Yan was keeping a lover there. At that time, he thought it was a joke and thought that he was getting the bonus of the exchange rate difference and experiencing the life of a local emperor.

Now things are out of control. He has officially married a second wife, who is a senior lawyer in a red-circle law firm and a native Singaporean.

Obviously, his material conditions and income level are not enough to make others crazy about him. So it is strange how this relationship can be maintained. Is it true love?

Xie Jingxing didn't care about these, he just hoped that Li Yan would not lose control. The price of trust was extremely expensive, and once lost, it would be difficult to recover.

"I'm in Singapore on a temporary basis and will be leaving tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so I won't listen to your work reports. I'll just briefly talk about a few key projects to come." He started the conversation after returning to the lounge area and closing the door of the box.

Cheng Sen sat upright and responded, "I received your notification last night and sorted out the financial situation. Currently, the Vision Fund has $4200 million in available funds. There are three key investment projects underway, all of which are in talks for lead investment. Each project requires an average of $500 million."

"I will invest another 3 million US dollars. Grab will start the E round of financing. SoftBank will lead the investment and you will follow." Xie Jingxing has made plans.

The result of communicating with Chen Huiling yesterday afternoon was not satisfactory. She did not want to take the money from New DAE, and Xiyou was even less likely to help SoftBank with the investment, as this was related to the brand positioning for the subsequent comprehensive expansion of overseas business.

Starting with the secret fund and spending some spare change, it won't be a wasted trip.

As for Taihe Singapore Office, its positioning is mainly in the secondary market and it has no layout in Southeast Asian venture capital business. This is a problem of isolating Xie Jingxing's personal wealth risks.

"Grab has raised funds very quickly in the past two years, and its overall valuation is inflated. There is a lot of room for negotiation on the specific amount of US$50-60 billion. They plan to release about 10% of their shares, and 3% will be enough for you."

Xie Jingxing thought for a moment and said, "I'll use the remaining money to invest in the mobile payment portfolio strategy."

"India has begun to promote digital economy policies. We can clearly feel that it is warming up for the issuance of the 'demonetization order'. The number of registered users of Paytm has doubled on average every day. In the short term, it will not initiate a new round of financing unless necessary." Cheng Sen took the opportunity to report.

Completely in line with expectations, Xie Jingxing nodded slightly with satisfaction: "What is the shareholding ratio of Alibaba in Paytm?"

“33%. Paytm’s founder regards Jack Ma as…an idol, and Alipay can indeed provide a lot of technical resources. In the first two rounds of financing, Alibaba basically gave them whatever shares they wanted, and we picked up the rest.” Cheng Sen was helpless.

Li Yan added: "Last week, I went to India on a business trip and visited Paytm. I found that Alipay's compliance and risk control team had moved into the company and taught them how to develop product features."

"Mobile payment is controlled by foreign capital." Xie Jing couldn't help but smile.

Paytm started with the introduction of the Vision Fund and has received a total of US$7 million in financing from China to date, with Chinese money being the lead investor in each financing round.

Alibaba holds 33% of the shares and the Vision Fund holds 12% of the shares. This shows how crazy this company is. If it were in China, it would be a complete comprador of foreigners.

In the past, the mobile payment market share was just a small thing, but now that Modi is about to elevate it to the national strategic level, this is absolutely intolerable.

When Paytm will launch a new round of financing is of little significance to Chinese capital. No sovereign country will allow foreign capital to control people's spending channels.

But India also has Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia...

Just as European and American capital is wreaking havoc in China, Chinese capital can replicate this across Southeast Asia, so the Vision Fund still has a lot of room to play.

Whether it is Grab, whose valuation has soared and has been taken over in turn by Chinese-owned Didi, American-owned Tiger Global, and Japanese-owned Softbank; or Paytm, which has become like Alibaba, the essence of all this is that the local financial industry cannot match the liquidity required for local business development.

In short, as long as the internal capital of Southeast Asian countries is weak, foreign capital will always pour in unless they close their doors to the outside world.

Xie Jingxing explained to Cheng Sen and the others one by one how to carry out post-investment management for unicorns such as Sea that have potential in the mobile payment business, and try to help them avoid the cost of strategic trial and error.

The whole morning passed like this, and in the afternoon I went to Taihe’s Singapore office to allocate funds to the Vision Fund and check the financial situation.

"618 million, U.S. dollars."

At two o'clock in the morning, Xie Jingxing, who had been sitting in the conference room for ten hours without moving, whispered to himself and fell into a state of deep self-doubt.

I originally wanted to check the revenue accounts of Taihe Investment, but I ended up checking waves of financial and legal staff, each carrying more than ten kilograms of paper materials, and finally came to a conclusion.

——In the 2015 fiscal year, Mr. Xie Jingxing’s personal wealth achieved explosive growth, exceeding US$600 billion!
The 25-year-old is expected to replace the 85-year-old Buffett and become the richest man in the global financial industry, second only to Bill Gates.

“Jingxing Investment Group + Taihe Family Office + Yunhe Logistics + Vision Fund.”

Xie Jingxing relaxed his body and leaned against the back of his chair, tilting his head back to look at a rough organizational chart listed on a piece of draft paper. The incandescent light shone through the thin paper, casting a faint halo in the pupils of his eyes.

There is no need to say much about Jingxing Investment Group. Its desperate rescue operations during the stock market crash have now turned into bottom-fishing for high-quality assets. It also has FOF-type investments such as Xinhai Fund and quantitative funds, as well as fund management income based on a total scale of US$75 billion.

The total asset size is as high as 535 billion US dollars, and he owns 97% of the shares, which is 518.95 billion US dollars.

Thanks to the rapid growth of high-quality projects such as New Oriental, Goodix Technology, and LeTV, Taihe Family Office's 70% stake is worth US$64 billion.

Finally, 28% of Yunhe Logistics' shares were worth $28.3 billion, and the Vision Fund was just a bonus for now. At first glance, it seemed reasonable. Xie Jingxing slowly closed his eyes, raised his hands to block the light, and tried to calm himself down.

Jingxing Investment Group + Taihe Capital + Yunhe Logistics, the total cash reserves are only 43 billion US dollars, but this is his financial empire with nearly twenty times leverage.

No surprises, just a chill down my spine.

Capital operations that are dazzling and frantically expanding their margins often not only deceive outsiders, but are more likely to deceive oneself.

…………

[Cailianshe's February 2 morning featured news: Yesterday, Didi announced that it had introduced $15 billion in strategic financing from Apple. Industry insiders estimate that its post-investment valuation may be close to $15 billion.]

[Lujiazui News Early News on February 2: Didi completed a new round of strategic financing with an overall valuation of nearly US$15 billion, led by Apple. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Didi has demonstrated the innovative spirit of the Chinese iOS developer community, and we look forward to supporting Didi's long-term development.]

[Good morning, listeners, welcome to today's Wall Street News Morning Edition... Yan Wenhua, senior partner and senior vice president of Didi, said: Regarding this round of financing, what I can reveal is that this round of financing is still in progress, but the market has given a warm response. ]

"Foreign monks are good at chanting sutras."

The car audio system was occupied by $15 billion. Yan Wenhua was stuck in a long queue during the morning rush hour, tapping the steering wheel with his fingers, and complaining to himself out of boredom.

Apple’s investment in Didi is comparable to a Southeast Asian Internet company getting investment from Tencent. It can enhance national pride. In the future, we will be a high-end international company like Uber!
Secondly, the official announcement of the transaction on the first working day after the Spring Festival holiday shows that the cooperation between the two parties was very smooth, which is even more rare.

After the official contract was signed yesterday and the news was announced, reporters flocked to the scene for interviews, even waiving the travel expenses they usually asked for.

Cheng Wei was guided to express his gratitude to Apple for its recognition, which he wrote in the interview article. Apple's recognition has greatly encouraged Didi, which was established four years ago, and is also a motivation!
In an interview, Liu Qing said that it was not easy for Didi to develop from a small taxi-hailing app into a platform with multiple products. The reporter kindly added: Apple's investment proves the advantage of our competitive strategy.

In order to create publicity, Yan Wenhua had no choice but to accept the interview with a feeling of eating shit. It was exaggerated that the financing was not completed and there were international giants who wanted to invest in us...

The media didn’t get this excited when Didi raised $20 billion in a single round of financing.

"Buzzing."

The cell phone vibrated, Yan Wenhua put away his thoughts and answered the call. After a brief conversation, he thanked her politely and made an appointment to have a drink together when they had time.

The moment he hung up the phone, he smiled with all his white teeth, without any calmness at all, and snorted in excitement and jokingly: "Foreign monk... Ha, damn!"

Yan Wenhua drove to the company's underground parking lot in high spirits, and greeted the employees happily along the way.

"Hey, Mr. Liu, are you going out?" He walked to the elevator entrance and saw Liu Qing, and asked in confusion.

"I forgot to bring the document. I'll go home and get it."

"You really have to do everything yourself. Ask someone to run errands and get it. I have something to tell you."

"Wait until I come back. This document is urgent."

"Okay, then send me a message when you come back."

Yan Wenhua waved to Liu Qing, took the elevator upstairs, and strolled to the chairman's office. Before he could say anything, Cheng Wei's secretary simply told him that Mr. Cheng would not come to the company today.

It's unclear what exactly he did.

Yan Wenhua was completely confused, but since there was no urgency, he would just deal with other tasks first. After every holiday, he would be very busy for a few days and his head would be in a state of confusion.

…………

At the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Cheng Wei and Liu Qing walked into the same presidential suite half an hour apart.

Kalanick arrived earlier than them. Yesterday, after Didi officially announced the introduction of Apple's strategic investment, he flew directly to Beijing.

"This is not about praying for peace, ending the war and achieving win-win cooperation." He emphasized with a blank expression, sitting at the desk with his hands folded.

Liu Qing frowned slightly: "I thought our competition would continue."

“Come on, if it was Xie Jingxing sitting here, no, he wouldn’t sit here.”

Kalanick shrugged and said, "I mean, the same words have different effects when they come from different people."

"I respect you, but with all due respect, you are using negotiation skills to bargain rather than having any real intention to kill the game," he said arrogantly.

Cheng Wei crossed his arms over his chest with an embarrassed look on his face. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly stood up and was about to leave.

"You don't have many chances. Are you sure this is the end?"

Kalanick is as calm and composed as a tough guy, and it should be said that he is indeed a tough guy at this moment.

Three days ago, Jim Goetz and I went to Japan to meet Masayoshi Son, and we were attracted by Apple's investment. The Chinese regard this company as a kind of pride certification, and so do the Japanese.

When the investment in Didi was finalized, Uber’s board of directors made a collective decision, as if to send Uber’s founder to the execution ground, and demanded that he come to Beijing in person to have a formal negotiation with Didi.

It's bullshit!
The cunning Jim Goetz specifically advised the board of directors to bypass Xie Jingxing and contact Liu Qing alone, because the former was a ruthless warmongerer, while the latter was the sweet spot that could be used to exert pressure and gain an advantage.

For this ridiculous statement, Kalanick came to China alone. The board of directors wanted to use his strength and was not afraid of completely ruining the merger and acquisition. Naturally, he had no reason to refuse. It would be best for Didi to refuse the merger and acquisition!
"Travis, you were the one who took the initiative to ask us to meet. Don't act like a child: I don't like you, but I just have to listen to my parents and deal with it. This is too childish." Liu Qing was sarcastic.

Kalanick chuckled and retorted: "A little girl who sneaked out of the house to steal candy without telling her father, are you nobler than me?"

"I have to tell you, if you have this attitude, we won't get anything accomplished. Don't waste each other's time."

Cheng Wei sat back in his original position. Liu Qing clenched his fists tightly, and the blue veins were faintly visible.

Kalanick exhaled frivolously: "Come on, make me an offer."

"Ok, then you should go talk to Xie Jingxing." Liu Qing puffed up his cheeks and spat out a word from between his teeth.

“25% of the shares of the new company after Didi and Uber China merge.”

Kalanick restrained his expression and said solemnly: "For Xie Jingxing's sake, you only have one chance to bargain, don't use him to scare me. In fact, to be honest, we can feel each other's fighting spirit, which is why I came here." (End of this chapter)