Winner Takes It All, Resurrection 2009

Ning Tao has been very proud of himself recently. Although BYD shares did not catch up with the first batch of Chinese stocks listed on the Lijiaopo concept stock sector, it is not far from being approved.

Ever since he got in touch with Qingyun, his position and status have risen sharply as Qingyun has grown.

When I first met Li Zehua, he was only the vice president of sales department of BYD Co., Ltd., and above him were the general manager, the vice president in charge of global sales, and the president.

According to his life plan, he would be satisfied if he could reach the vice president level before retirement. Unexpectedly, a customer from a food delivery company who wanted to pay in installments came to Shanghai.

In just over two years, he became the second most important figure in BYD shares after the old chairman. He not only served as the president in charge of all sales channels of the group.

They may even be rewarded with a portion of the company's shares, and once the company is successfully listed, they can at least become billionaires.

He was sent by the company to Southeast Asia to investigate the market, and stopped in Lijiaopo to observe the listing process closely and prepare for the listing of BYD shares.

After returning to China, before I had time to report to the company, the boss arranged for me to go to Shenzhen to inspect the electric vehicle supply chain.

Before meeting Hao Junjie, he was still wondering, "Isn't it just an electric vehicle? After so many years of production and sales, the connections are ready. Is there any need to investigate new partners?"

When Hao Junjie took him to BYD's friendly factory, he was dumbfounded, "Four wheels?"

Hao Junjie laughed and said, "Didn't the company explain it to you clearly?"

Ning Tao was confused. "It seems that they have mentioned it before, but isn't it too early? At this stage, we can't even keep up with the production capacity of two-wheeled electric vehicles, so why rush to use four wheels?"

"It's not too early. I saw that your company's listing plan clearly mentioned a detailed schedule for the production of new energy vehicles. Maybe it will be launched in September."

The vice president of BYD Co., Ltd. who accompanied us on the inspection warmly greeted us, "We are all the same investor, there is no need to hide some things, it is a good thing to have you enter the market.

With the entry of one more capable company, the new energy industry will become stronger, the supply chain system will be able to improve and grow faster, and perhaps joint procurement will be possible in the future.

I heard that you also have a strategic partnership with Tesla of the United States. Some of their technologies are very interesting. After all, they have accumulated decades or even hundreds of years of technology in the Western automotive industry.

Their car companies have also conducted exploration and research and development in the field of new energy and have strong technical capabilities.

If all goes well, we can bring them in for full technical exchange and authorization, and work together to overcome technical difficulties, which will bring about leapfrog development for the entire new energy industry alliance.”

Ning Tao was not in a hurry to express his opinion because he had not yet figured out what was going on, although in the company, he had always been in charge of the work involving the transformation of two-wheeled electric vehicles into four-wheeled vehicles.

But this has nothing to do with Tesla's technology licensing and cooperative production, and no one told him the complete plan.

Hao Junjie beside him understood a little bit and said with a smile: "We understand what Mr. Zhou means, but before the official document is issued, our words do not count.

However, Mr. Ning and I are inclined to deepen cooperation with BYD. After all, your company is rooted in the new energy industry and must have its own professional advantages. "

BYD CEO Zhou kept smiling and said, "I am looking forward to the day when CEO Hao and CEO Ning officially take office. We will continue to discuss in detail then."

"Then I'd be disrespectful to refuse."

Hao Junjie nodded, turned around and whispered to the still confused Ning Tao: "The boss specifically asked you and me to come over for an inspection, and we have to go through it in detail and write an inspection report.

Combined with your previous experience working at BYD, it is highly likely that they are planning to appoint you as a senior executive of the new energy vehicle company that is about to be established.”

He could see it clearly. The boss first arranged his former assistant Wang Fei to be the president of Qingyun Power Technology, but did not let him prepare to set up a car company.

Wang Fei is quite capable. He is responsible for presiding over the scientific research progress, and has done a good job in contacting and coordinating with friendly companies to improve the industrial chain alliance, especially during his tenure at Times New Energy.

ATL Corporation has been brought to a state of disarray. Although it has the support of the company and the Fujian Provincial Government, it is not certain that the situation can be handled properly if half of the people are replaced.

You should know that behind ATL is the support of the entire automotive industry. It is also the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of laptop and mobile phone batteries, and holds a large number of industry patents.

But they happened to run into Wang Fei, who was good at both soft and hard tactics and was very slippery. Not only did he get full patent authorization from other companies under the nose of ATL through such schemes as exchanging market for technology.

This circumvented ATL's patent barriers in the field of electronic product batteries. After Zeng Yumin led his team to leave ATL, it was Wang Fei who stepped in again and circumvented the non-compete clause by re-employing the university, thus blocking ATL's channel for trouble.

Zeng Yumin is actually in Shanghai now, leading the research and development of new energy power batteries for automobiles.

However, Wang Fei's shortcomings in professional ability are difficult to make up for. He can be an excellent manager and logistics manager, but he can only rely on Tesla's technology sharing and Times New Energy to achieve technological breakthroughs.

Ning Tao gradually figured it out, "No wonder they specifically asked me to focus on the local car sales when I was investigating the market in Southeast Asia. They were planning to transfer me there for a long time.

But I don’t really understand new energy technology!”

Hao Junjie explained: "The key is that you have experience in integrating the industrial chain and managing the sales of electric vehicles. It doesn't matter whether it has two wheels or four wheels, isn't it the same?

Didn’t the motorcycle factory in Yuqing also ambitiously set up its own automobile assembly plant? "

Ning Tao was so amused that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "How can it be the same?"

"It's not surprising that many foreign car manufacturers originally switched to other industries. For example, a well-known sports car manufacturer started out making tractors, but that didn't stop them from racing in the Formula One arena."

BYD CEO Zhou replied with a smile, "Boss Ning, please don't be so modest. Chairman Li must have made careful arrangements for you to come here.

I have read about your several operations in the field of two-wheeled electric vehicles. Frankly speaking, you have done a perfect job, especially in integrating resources and improving utilization rate. You are simply an expert.

It’s not easy to invite you here, and I want to learn from you. I hope you won’t refuse to share.”

Strictly speaking, the automobile industry chain in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is stronger than that in the Pearl River Delta region. After all, there is only one local company, Guangdong Automobile, which specializes in cooperating with chicken enterprises.

In the past, BYD tried its best to approach others for cooperation, but was always turned away. Some auto industry parts suppliers, under the instigation of certain people, also ignored BYD.

The blockade is particularly severe in key technologies.

Fortunately, with the help of Qingyun, several classic internal combustion engine technologies were obtained from Daimler Benz. Although they were all outdated models from the 1990s, they were better than nothing. As for cooperating with Toyota and Honda and obtaining technology licenses from them?
Hehe, then I guess in the next life, we won’t be able to develop an internal combustion engine for domestic new energy vehicles.

BYD tasted the sweetness of the cooperation and turned its attention to some exclusive technologies in Tesla's hands. Qingyun is the largest shareholder of Tesla and also the major shareholder of BYD shares.

Now Qingyun is preparing to set up an automobile company. I heard that the talks with Tesla have almost been concluded. The latter will license the entire set of technologies to Qingyun on the condition that it helps Tesla build a complete parts supply chain in China.

The commercial value contained in this is not low. It is equivalent to Qingyun Power Technology being taught step by step by someone, and it does not need to spend much resources to fully understand the new energy industry chain.

Wang Chuanfu was so envious that he drooled. If one could take a shortcut to strengthen the technological base and increase the brand's competitiveness in the market, who would choose to start all over again from scratch?

That is not a waste of resources and time, but saved financial resources that can be used in more important places. If Tesla has it, Qingyun has it.

And if the two share the same largest investor, wouldn’t that be equivalent to BYD’s pure white girlfriend?

What's more, by building a complete new energy vehicle supply chain in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, BYD can not only make things convenient for Tesla, but also take advantage of the ready-made supply chain, which is better than visiting each company one by one to run the test.

Ning Tao did not refuse, but because the official order had not yet come down, he did not dare to promise too much. Before visiting the factory, he took the time to call his old boss Luo Yuanming.

The latter's signature hearty voice always brought a sense of peace to people, and Luo Yuanming said, "I finally waited for you to call me.

Why, you don’t dare to ask Mr. Li, nor do you dare to ask your own chairman, are you worried that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment?”

Ning Tao laughed and said, "How can that be possible? Isn't this just to learn from you?"

"Nonsense, I have nothing to teach you. Besides, you are a capable guy. Just tell me when I ask you that you don't plan to stay at Yadi any longer. You are trying to climb up the social ladder.

You look down on a small factory like us that hasn't even gone public yet, right?"

Luo Yuanming joked, and then quickly added: "Boss Li is a man who cherishes old times. This time he took the initiative to talk to the old boss. The old boss is now successful and famous, and he is not as hardworking as before.

But it doesn't matter, he should enjoy himself. You deserve to be so lucky, so many people failed to get in touch with Mr. Li, but you grabbed him and refused to let go.

As for the specific situation, you will know it clearly when you go to see Mr. Li in the evening. I just want to tell you that no matter where you go, don’t forget that Yadi is your mother’s home…”

Ning Tao quickly expressed his opinion, "How dare I forget."

"Okay, don't play that trick in front of me. It's a pity that the boss's proposal was not passed."

Luo Yuanming then talked about the inside story, "In fact, I knew from the beginning that you would be in charge of this business. Qingyun sent someone to propose it a few months ago, but the boss meant...

Is it possible to set up a new subsidiary within BYD to specialize in the production of four-wheel electric vehicles? After careful consideration, Qingyun also proposed the review conditions and future development expectations.

It is true that we are not strong enough. Even if we give them some consideration out of our past friendship, it is still difficult. We cannot even raise the funds for the first phase of cultivating the industrial chain even if we sell the company.”

Ning Tao was puzzled and said, "Isn't it going to be listed soon? I heard that the preliminary price is 16 US dollars per share. If it doesn't work out, they can issue corporate bonds."

“Are you stupid? Others raise funds from the market because the risk is too great and the future is full of uncertainty, so they need to share the risk. It is better to lose money with other people’s money than to lose money yourself.

But can Qingyun’s business be the same?

Although Tesla is still making losses, it has finally figured out a complete profitable business model, and with BYD there is huge special subsidies from the state to support it.

Qingyun has its own business base to support it. Not to mention the distant future, just the online car-hailing platform can handle millions of vehicles internally in the future, so it will not lose money no matter how it does it.

It’s a real loss, but there is still the market support for Chinese stocks in Lijiapo, so how much profit do you think the company can make? "

At this point, Luo Yuanming sneered, "The boss is a little discouraged because of this problem."

Ning Tao was very surprised. "That's impossible. With Mr. Dong's personality, he wouldn't have a conflict with Mr. Li over money, right?"

"Of course not with Qingyun."

Luo Yuanming sighed, "It's with other shareholders and investors in the company.

What Mr. Dong meant was that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially now that there was Qingyun’s sales channel, the two-wheeled electric vehicle business was developing exceptionally smoothly, and the company’s interests alone could solve a small half of the funding needs for the new energy vehicle program.

The worst that can happen is that we can borrow money from the bank, add in the investment from Qingyun, and grit our teeth and persevere for three to five years. It will be better to succeed in the future than to be stuck in the middle now."

Boss Dong also has a broad vision. Seeing the far-reaching layout of Qingyun in power technology and new energy, he also wants to follow it to the end.

However, other directors and investors within the company only saw the huge investment and short-term profit loss, and they voiced strong opposition.

They were particularly dissatisfied with Mr. Dong's decision to delay the listing. Are you kidding? We had waited for so many years and finally saw the hope of cashing out through listing, but he ruined it with just one sentence.

Not only will they be unable to enjoy the wealth brought by the high premium, but they will also have to sink their profits into the bottomless pit of new energy for another three to five years, and not only will they not receive any dividends during this period.

Still have to take big risks?

Isn't this making a joke of everyone's interests?
Li Zehua couldn't interfere in this matter. After all, he was the major shareholder, not the sole shareholder with full control, and he had to consider other people's feelings when doing things.

Since everyone is unwilling, he will not force it. As for raising funds after the listing, he is not stupid. Why not use the successful business to contribute to the stock market?
Therefore, Ning Tao was transferred out to be responsible for the new company's new business. Mr. Dong also invested a sum of money privately. Anyway, he was sure that what Qingyun put a lot of effort to promote must be reliable.

“I don’t know if these shareholders will regret their short-sightedness today in the future!”

This idea popped up in Ning Tao's mind inexplicably, but it was hard to say whether it was right or wrong. After all, not everyone has a big picture, and it is not necessarily wrong to quit while you are ahead.

But he knew very well that the board of directors of BYD seemed to have made the most prudent choice, but missed the hope of becoming a leader in the automotive industry in the future. (End of this chapter)