King of Capital

"She deleted my post at 3am last night."

Huang Zhang's family left the ward and closed the door. He lay on the bed and spoke ramblingly, recounting the entire story of how his forum post was deleted by Alibaba's public relations department.

During last year's e-commerce promotion, Meizu sold a batch of new models equipped with Alibaba Cloud OS on Tmall and Taobao. At that time, some users reported that the operating system of these mobile phones was terrible, and he and Alibaba Cloud executives exchanged accusations on Weibo.

Xie Jingxing understood it in his heart. At the end of the year, Xu Jiayin organized a party to show his favor to him. Teacher Ma was present. He mentioned this matter in a few words and didn't sound very satisfied.

Therefore, it is nonsense to say that Huang Zhang publicly responded to users' doubts late at night and named the person in charge of his own system R&D because of his spontaneous habits; it is also not frank for the public relations director sent by Alibaba to Meizu to block the forum posts.

If you are sarcastic, I will delete your post. If you dare to delete my post and go too far, I will ask you to get out - both parties have been holding grudges for a long time and are aware of the competition.

"I agree with Alibaba's withdrawal of shares." Xie Jingxing had already made up his mind and expressed his opinion directly.

Huang Zhang was silent for a moment and then asked, "What are your ideas and conditions?"

"This happened suddenly and I need time to think about it. Let's solve the problem first and we can talk later."

As Xie Jingxing spoke, he reached out to grab the fruit basket on the bedside table and took out an orange. His words and actions seemed nonchalant and quite relaxed.

Huang Zhang was speechless for a moment. The progress was unexpectedly smooth. The expected fierce game hit a brick wall. He looked down at his hands wrapped in gauze. The drug had worn off and the burning pain was like ants crawling on the wound, making it difficult for him to concentrate on analyzing the pros and cons.

"The company doesn't have much money. If Ali asks for a lot, I don't mind."

Huang Zhang stared at me for a long time and asked, "Will it be convenient for you to take over when the time comes?"

"We are destined to work together, so let's try to part ways in peace." Xie Jingxing said with a hint of nonsense while eating an orange.

Meizu's proactive repurchase involves performance betting clauses. Alibaba's 10% stake held at an investment cost of 5 billion yuan triggered the "equity-indicated debt" mechanism, and it needs to repay the 10 billion yuan principal plus an annualized interest of 12%.

After the company repurchases the 5% shares, they will be cancelled. The total number of shares will decrease and the shareholding ratio of existing shareholders will automatically increase. The shares can also be shelved and given to new shareholders or transferred to the employee option pool in the future.

Xie Jingxing agreed to Alibaba's withdrawal of shares, which means he tacitly agreed to this repurchase plan.

Huang Zhang initiated the repurchase of Alibaba in his personal capacity. His 68% shareholding ratio is enough for him to make his own decision without anyone else's intervention, but he obviously cannot come up with more than billion in cash in a short period of time.

And this is the general framework of the transaction, but the specific operations are described separately.

After Taihe and Alibaba invested in Meizu, Meizu first turned enemies into friends with Qualcomm and got rid of the chip patent case, and the product supply chain system entered a period of rapid and healthy growth. Then the sub-brand Meizu Blue developed rapidly in the low-end market, the main brand stabilized its decline and regained performance growth, and some online sales channels occasionally had a meal to suppress Samsung.

In short, the company's overall operating performance in the past two years has been very good, and it has already exceeded its performance bet in stages - its shipment volume has reached 50% of Xiaomi's.

Alibaba can choose to abandon the repurchase plan of paying interest in the form of equity-linked debt. Let’s talk about Meizu’s valuation.
A mysterious investor is willing to acquire 400% of our shares at a valuation of 5 billion.

Don't worry about who is such an idiot, just match this valuation quickly and I can give you a 10% discount within my authority.

Meizu refused to accept the offer, so Alibaba sold its shares to Xiaomi at a 30% discount, following the precedent set last year. Knowing that the sale would fail, it disrupted the company's operating rhythm internally and disgusted the brand's valuation performance in the capital market externally.

Compared with Wang Xing, Huang Zhang’s personal scandal of beating female employees is a fatal flaw.

Alibaba has the energy and means to make a big fuss. At the very least, Meizu's new flagship model scheduled to be released next month will definitely suffer a heavy blow, and it will not be a problem to ruin the annual development plan.

The space where Ali Lion opened his mouth wide fell here.

Therefore, the implication is easy to understand. Huang Zhang would rather go to jail and then retire in disgrace, leaving Meizu's business development at risk of a heavy, uncontrollable blow that may never allow it to recover.

Correspondingly, Taihe took over Alibaba's shares at a fair price, increasing its shareholding ratio to 20%, and at the same time took over the entire management rights of Meizu.

"I'm not testing you."

Huang Zhang quietly watched Xie Jingxing finish eating the orange, then he started the conversation again and continued, "I've wanted to retire for a long time."

"I know." Xie Jingxing peeled another banana.

Huang Zhang's lips moved: "You didn't have dinner?"

"Strip one for you?"

"..."

Huang Zhang said nothing with a numb look on his face. Xie Jingxing chewed the banana in his mouth slowly and the ward fell into silence.

I was expelled from high school and then kicked out by my father. I worked as a laborer at the Shenzhen docks and picked up cigarette butts at the Singapore Computer City. I stumbled into the consumer electronics industry and worked for others. I suffered from my lack of education and did not understand what equity was, so I was kicked out by my boss.

As a result, the self-created company firmly controls all the shares. Employees secretly curse Huang Shiren and Zhou Paopi as landlords and rich people. The outside world laughs at the foot binding and the cerebellum binding, and the technology company pretends to be the remnants of the Qing Dynasty.

Go to their mothers. People who have not experienced drifting around like a duckweed have no right to judge me. No one can make me wander again!
——Every entrepreneur has his own obsession, and this one belongs to Huang Zhang, but it is particularly inappropriate.

When the company faced difficulties, he was forced out by the executives and compromised by introducing Taihe and Alibaba as strategic investors. He launched sub-brands to operate low-end product lines, and co-developed mobile phone systems. Li Nan was overly focused on advertising and marketing, and the product iteration design concepts were at odds...

Things like these that went against his will gradually made Huang Zhang realize that although he no longer had to wander around, he had a dog chain around his neck without even realizing it. No matter how he tried to struggle and resist, he always had to face the reality of the performance bet.

As the saying goes, escaping is shameful but useful. Since the current situation cannot be changed, it is better to retire from the arena. Anyway, the company's development is back on track, and we can just proceed step by step and wait for the bet to expire.

Huang Zhang had a bad attitude and wanted to go home several times since last summer to become a carefree major shareholder. It was only after Xie Jingxing persuaded him again and again that he managed to hold on until now.

However, Alibaba remained indifferent and continued to press forward aggressively. If it had slowed down the pace, it would not have come to this today.

He felt that he was a bloodthirsty rabbit that was forced into a corner, and not what Bai Yongxiang and others mistakenly believed: a feudal emperor who was greedy for power and deliberately stirred up trouble.

"I have to go. I'm going to go back to the hotel and sleep for two hours. I'll go appease the supplier at dawn." Xie Jingxing threw the banana peel into the trash can to break the silence.

Huang Zhang's frown relaxed slightly: "Thank you for your hard work."

"I'm the CEO. If you need my cooperation when discussing the repurchase plan with Alibaba, just tell me directly." Xie Jingxing smiled.

Huang Zhang watched him walk to the door of the ward, and suddenly repeated: "Thank you for your hard work. The company is in your hands."

"Have a good rest." Xie Jingxing paused and left the last words. He pushed the door open without looking back, causing a breeze to blow through the hall, bringing a slight damp and cool feeling, like the desolate and lonely farewell at the long pavilion and ancient road.

Huang Zhang had the answer in his heart.

…………

"I'll plan my schedule for this month. I'll stay in Zhuhai and won't go anywhere."

Xie Jingxing walked out of the hotel at dawn, took a shower without sleeping, changed his clothes, and drove to the government building to meet the leader in charge of the economy.

Chen Xi was busy nearby, calling Su He and telling him that he didn't need to come to Zhuhai. He also separately notified LeTV President Liang Jun, Nanke Holdings' Song Anli, and Xiyou Entertainment Investment Partner Miao Nan, asking all Xie's pan-entertainment partners to pay close attention to online public opinion events.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Xie Jingxing left the government building and headed to the hotel where the Sony technical team was staying.

Li Nan had done the groundwork in advance. He attended the event and both parties had a sincere exchange of attitudes and made adjustments to the scale of supply orders.

"I am very confident in the new model and will personally host the new model launch event next month. I hope Nakamura-kun will attend with me then."

"Not just you, I would like to invite all suppliers to send representatives to come on stage with me, and then I will use the big screen to display the list of all Meizu suppliers to express my gratitude."

“I am not worried about information leakage or being targeted by competitors, because I always believe that the supply chain has made modern technology great, and how to manage the supply chain is worth learning for my peers for a lifetime.”

"Two years ago, I joined Meizu as CEO. The first business I was directly involved in was to visit and research suppliers. At a small factory that produced battery flame retardants, I saw workers exposed to the polluted environment without any protective measures."

"I personally paid for protective clothing for them, but when I went back to the manufacturer at the end of my tour, the protective clothing was scattered all over the floor. The workers told me that the boss refused to provide industrial cooling measures in order to save electricity, and the workers would suffer from heat stroke if they wore protective clothing."

"Now this factory is no longer in the Meizu supply chain. My financial investment platform provides venture capital for a small factory that is willing to protect its workers, my bank provides a special loan for this factory, and Meizu provides a large order."

"This small factory has grown very fast. This year, it received the excellent private enterprise certification issued by the local government. Their boss will personally attend the press conference next month. I plan to reward him with more orders, lower interest loans, and more favorable venture capital terms."

Xie Jingxing kept talking wildly. At first, the Japanese could still respond with a few words, but soon they couldn't keep up.

The young female translator no longer cared about her professional ethics. She watched his performance with her big eyes blinking frequently, and helped to brag about his reputation as the young marshal of the financial empire, the king of venture capital, and the industry leader.

Nakamura was stunned by what he heard. He was moved but also a little scared. If they couldn't reach an agreement, they would just build him into the concrete foundation...

He quietly asked in Japanese whether the young imperial commander in front of him was the Chinese version of Masayoshi Son. The female translator replied that if Xie Jingxing was Oda Nobunaga, then Masayoshi Son could only be Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Li Nan had a background of studying abroad in Japan, and when he heard the two of them whispering, he almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

The metaphor is quite apt. Both are super rich second-generations who became gods after one battle at a young age. Both have ruthless personalities who want to conquer the world and are playful and have constant scandals. However, it is somewhat outrageous to let Masayoshi Son be a retainer and eat his leftovers.

Li Nan changed his mind and thought about how humble he was. Then he listened to the female translator's nonsense and inexplicably felt that it was not funny anymore. Women who only care about looks are vulgar and shallow!
"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom."

The atmosphere of the conversation gradually became more lively. Xie Jingxing left the table with a smile on his face and walked to the door of the hotel's executive lounge.

“It’s on trending searches.”

Chen Xi lowered his voice and reported briefly, holding the phone tightly in his palm, suppressing his understandable excitement.

【Huang Zhang fights each other】

[Meizu and Alibaba employees fighting]

[Meizu conference room injured someone]

Three consecutive entries topped the hot search list, with clear pictures and detailed text. The conference room was littered with broken glass and blood stains, demonstrating the intensity of the incident.

Hundreds of employees witnessed the incident with their own eyes, and all colleagues in the company knew about it. The so-called gag order and the control over Alibaba's HRBP were just lies to deceive themselves and others. If the news was not blocked on the entire network at an inestimable cost, it would inevitably be made public and criticized.

Huang Zhang took the initiative to choose not to compromise until his death, and Xie Jingxing agreed to this. He tried to focus on the incident itself through the social media channels that Xie's family could influence.

The hot search terms on Weibo in the morning were Huang Zhang beating women, Meizu male employees beating up Alibaba female employees, and even Sony forcing Meizu female employees to drink with them.

Lock the entry to remove the heat, artificially search for hot search entries to limit the scope and feed the public to vent their anger, remain silent and wait and see the first round of public opinion fermentation and respond accordingly. The public relations strategy can only be like this.

"When will the rain stop?" Xie Jingxing tilted his head and looked out the window.

Chen Xi couldn't help but lower his head and brows: "The weather forecast shows that the rain will stop at noon. Wu Minzhi should arrive in Zhuhai in the afternoon at the earliest."

"Inform Bai Yongxiang to ask the city's Internet monitoring unit to cooperate and find out the list of employees who leaked the information. Regardless of their rank, they will all be included in the end-of-year performance review and dismissal list."

Xie Jingxing continued calmly, "Without my permission, no one in the company can contact Ali without Huang Zhang, including Bai Yongxiang."

"We will second a brand public relations and HR team from Xinda E to work in Meizu immediately. Please draft the documents and I will sign them immediately." He straightened his collar and returned to the executive lounge.

Chen Xi hesitated and said, "We are not familiar with the higher-level supervisory unit of the local Internet monitoring department in Zhuhai."

"Please say hello to the leader you met this morning. Also, give my brother-in-law a raincoat and have him stand guard at the company gate."

"Uh, how long do we have to stand here?"

"Stand until he dies."

Last year, Mrs. Yu asked for 1% of Meizu shares and a board seat for her cousin, with whom she had a very good relationship. The latter used the title to embellish his status and was completely unaware of the tense situation of Meizu's management.

No one will die from standing guard in the rain. At most, you may catch a cold or have a fever.

"Why do you think I own a bank? Don't mind this little thing. At this moment, I am the CEO of Meizu. From now on, I will put Meizu at the top of my work priority list, and improving the supply chain system is precisely the most important part of this. Mr. Nakamura, please believe that I have the ability and willingness to lead Meizu to grow, and we will achieve great things together..."

Chen Xi looked at Xie Jingxing's smiling face from afar, and was sure that he was going to eat up Meizu.

The beast doesn't trust anyone when it eats, so someone needs to guard the door... (End of this chapter)