Reborn: Billionaire in College

"Mr. Chen, HNA and China Life have sent people." In the office, Luo Wentao reported carefully.

"Find someone to kill time with and tell them I'm busy."

Chen Pingjiang glanced at Zhang Yiming beside him, waved his hand, and dismissed Luo Wentao.

Ever since the question of whether Uber should stay or leave China was brought to the fore, not only Uber itself has been taking action, but also the shareholders and investors behind it.

But what’s funny is that the shareholders behind Uber China are an entire national team, some of whom Chen Pingjiang cannot afford to offend, and he is really annoyed by the harassment.

HNA, Life, CITIC, GAC, Vanke, Minsheng, Broadband Industry Fund...

Just name a few, there are several national teams among them.

Chen Pingjiang felt deeply the ridiculousness of this world.

Uber is a foreign company, and its members are all national teams. On the contrary, AutoNavi has a lot of foreign investment institutions, of course, most of them are shareholders left over from the merger of Kuaidi and Didi.

It is not difficult to explain why.

Uber is trying hard to integrate into the domestic market and localize itself. By bringing in these national teams, it can adapt to the market faster and comply with policies.

Kuaidi and Didi, on the other hand, choose those that have more money and can provide overseas connections.

This wave is really a two-way rush.

The national team has to bear more leadership responsibility than ordinary private institutions when an investment fails, which forces them to look for Chen Pingjiang more frequently.

After dealing with it twice, Chen Pingjiang really had no motivation to continue arguing.

From a business perspective, he has his reasons for not wanting to merge with Uber, and Uber's shareholders naturally want to sell to Chen Pingjiang in order to reduce losses.

No one is wrong, they just have different standpoints.

"Haha, Mr. Chen, Uber must be in a very difficult situation right now, right? Kalanick is being held accountable by Uber's global shareholders in North America, and he is also facing pressure from Chinese shareholders in China. He can't even withdraw completely because the shareholders are unwilling, but they are even more unwilling to continue investing money. How do you think it can resolve this situation?" Zhang Yiming has been very relaxed recently. He has been developing the domestic market very smoothly and has also made some gains in overseas markets.

"How to solve it? There is no solution. They may not look down upon small travel companies. If Baidu or Alibaba take over, I'm afraid that Mr. Li and Mr. Ma will not dare to come in." Chen Pingjiang sneered.

Logically speaking, Baidu has its own Baidu Maps and a travel platform, and is also a major shareholder of Uber China, having invested a solid 1 billion US dollars in it.

It seems like a good choice for Baidu to take over and continue operating it.

But that’s not how it’s calculated!

Although Baidu has a lot of money like a local tycoon, it is not stupid.

Even Uber couldn't defeat Chen Pingjiang, so how could Baidu do it?
What's more, if Baidu wants to continue operating Uber, the investment required is still huge.

Even this doesn't guarantee that you can live for many years.

In the final analysis, Uber's situation is there. It was almost exhausted by AutoNavi. Even if Baidu wants to take power, it dares not.

Since I can't withdraw the money, should I keep some to supplement my capital and continue operating by increasing revenue and reducing expenditure?

The idea is good, but it is unrealistic because shareholders will not agree. If Uber China does not seize market share, how can it go public soon? If it does not go public, when can we shareholders get our initial investment back?

Do you expect the little money you earn a year to be given as dividends?
Zhang Yiming smiled and said, "I can give them a suggestion. Instead of withdrawing and causing huge losses, it is better to sell it to Godra at a low price."

Chen Pingjiang spread his hands and said, "I have no money, and AutoNavi has even less. Overseas expansion requires a lot of money, so where would we get the money to buy Uber? Besides, AutoNavi is no longer suitable for further financing."

…………

Beijing, Baidu headquarters.

After Li Yanhong finished reading the document in hand, his brows were twisted into the shape of a "川" character.

After talking with Chen Pingjiang in Wuzhen half a year ago, he had long given up hope of a merger between the two companies and was instead seeking other possible ways to minimize losses.

But the other shareholders did not understand and still ridiculously placed their hopes on Chen Pingjiang.

"Sometimes I don't know what Chen Pingjiang is thinking. This is obviously a beneficial thing, why doesn't he agree?" Tan Hainan, who was sitting opposite Li Yanhong, shook his head repeatedly.

Li Yanhong smiled and said, "You should ask Chen Pingjiang about this, why are you asking me?"

Tan Hainan waved his hand and said, "We at Tiger Fund are just small minions within AutoNavi. We have no influence and have no say. Chen Pingjiang did explain that there was suspicion of monopoly and that he was afraid that Uber would have trouble getting along with them in overseas markets after it entered the board of directors and got a seat."

The roles of Tan Hainan and Tiger Fund are very complex, and they are connected to Baidu, Alibaba, JD.com and even AutoNavi.

Tiger Fund is not only one of Alibaba's shareholders, but also a shareholder of Uber China along with Baidu. It also unexpectedly became one of AutoNavi's shareholders due to its investment in Didi.

Capital is capital, and capital only serves profit.

In Tan Hainan's view, after the merger, Didi's market value will be greatly increased, shareholders will be happy, and he himself will suffer less losses.

"Because... he is too arrogant, and also because AutoNavi is too strong. In the final analysis, Liu Qing is too useless! The market share gap between the two sides is huge. They occupy 85.3% of the market share, while Uber China only has 7.8%. They don't need to acquire Uber. They can wait for Uber to withdraw and these customers will slowly flow back to AutoNavi. If AutoNavi only has 70% or even 60% of the market share today, and Uber has 20% or even 30% of the market share, do you think they will merge or acquire them?"

Tan Hainan sighed, knowing that what Li Yanhong said was right.

"But things have to be solved. We can't keep dragging it out like this. It's losing money every day. Are we really going to wait until it goes bankrupt?" Tan Hainan thought for a while and suddenly asked, "How about? Mr. Li, why don't you buy it for Uber? Baidu has maps and related businesses..."

After hearing this, Li Yanhong, who is recognized as the most elegant man on the Internet, couldn't help but roll his eyes.

I treated you as a friend, but you wanted to harm me.

He could accept the loss of 1 billion, but if he wanted to take over Uber, he would need at least another 1 billion U.S. dollars. Then he would face Chen Pingjiang's bombardment.

Only a fool would take over?
"Now that things have come to this, everyone has to learn to face it. I, the sucker, have accepted my fate. Haven't you?" Li Yanhong said, "Of course we have to sell Uber China as soon as possible while it still has value. The only solution now is to either sell it to China Travel at a lower price or sell it to Chen Pingjiang at a low price. It depends on your choice."

This is almost everyone's last resort.

Although I don't want to admit it, there is really no better way.

Fortunately, Uber has no bank loans or outstanding debts, otherwise it would be difficult to sell.

Haven’t you seen why no one acquired or merged OFO, but instead let it die?
For a moment, Li Yanhong and Tan Hainan both lost interest. (End of this chapter)