What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 530 Ready to go
Tencent and Alibaba are each angrily selling off shares of their rival.

While the matter was serious, it became a laughing stock within the industry.

Looking back at the situation, it's quite strange that Tencent holds shares in Silicon Carbon Group, but compared to Alibaba's approximately 15% stake in Meituan, it's negligible and can only serve as a symbol of the increasingly fierce competition between the two companies.

Upon hearing the news of the sale, Liu Wanying immediately contacted Yu Xing, expressing considerable interest in the value of the shares held by Alibaba.

Alibaba invested in Meituan's Series B and Series C rounds, and the value of its shares is roughly $10 billion. Considering Alibaba's anger, the value might be slightly lower. However, along with this sale, Alibaba's contact with Ele.me has also been confirmed in the industry.

Clearly, Alibaba is not willing to let its layout in the local services market be disrupted, and it still wants to continue to fight with Tencent and Meituan.

Media outlets have compiled a summary of Alibaba's recent moves. To date, Alibaba has made inroads into various fields, including instant messaging, short videos, group buying, payments, video, and e-commerce, making a splash in the industry.

"Meituan's shares are very valuable, how could Red Falcon possibly acquire them?"

Yu Xing was somewhat surprised by Xiao Ying's generous gesture.

"Although Alibaba is very powerful, Meituan and Dianping can each occupy 70-80% of the group-buying market. Can it really go against the trend?" Liu Wanying mainly wanted to hear Mr. Yu's thoughts on this matter. "As long as there are no major problems in this area, I will find a few more companies to join forces and acquire shares together. In addition, I received a call from Wang Xing a couple of days ago. He also seems to be willing to see Lingang acquire more shares."

Sequoia Capital participated in Meituan's Series D funding round, which was kept secret from Alibaba. At that time, Wang Xing may have had some concerns about the new venture, Tencent. Bringing in Sequoia Capital was to leave room for future possibilities.

This is undoubtedly a further enhancement.

“I think it will be difficult for Alibaba to make any progress in group buying for quite some time to come. We can invest, but…” Yu Xing said carefully, “It’s just a purely financial investment, so we don’t need to consider the Lingang factor.”

Liu Wanying was a little surprised: "I saw that you on Douyin were already using 'carbon silicon payment' when you were giving out red envelopes during the Chinese New Year. What are your plans for expanding in this area in the future?"

"It's enough to serve users well within the system," Yu Xing said with a smile. "Look how strong Alibaba is, the competition in the ecosystem will definitely be quite fragmented in the future. We'll be good enough if we can do our own thing well."

Liu Wanying thought for a while and then made a request: "Then could you ask Tencent for me how they view Meituan and Dianping, and whether they actually want to merge them?"

The news that Meituan would merge with Dianping after its investment in Tencent has been widely circulated, and there needs to be a change and assessment of the value of the shares before and after the merger.

Yu Xing agreed: "No problem, I'll ask Chiping for you."

Liu Wanying hung up the phone and waited for a reply while thinking about the plan for this operation.

As long as Meituan goes public, Red Falcon Capital will make a profit no matter what. If we only consider financial investment, things are actually simpler.

The call came back in less than a minute.

Yu Xing was a little embarrassed: "It seems he changed his number. I can't find him. I called Pony's number again, but no one answered. Let's wait and see. The merger should be included in the process."

Liu Wanying suspected that either no one was answering the phone, or the other side was unwilling to answer Boss Yu's calls. The former president resigned due to poor performance in the competition with silicon carbon, and the current president had some disagreements with the public. The head of the company had also been visited and cried a few years ago, so it was normal for their relationship to be strained.

She suppressed a laugh, not pointing out Mr. Yu's embarrassment.

As for the takeover of the shares, she can learn more about it when she returns to Shanghai.

However, before Liu Wanying could return, new issues arose with Alibaba.

Following the release of the overseas version of Leyin after the Spring Festival and the sale of Meituan shares, Alibaba's strategy for WeChat has also changed significantly. It did not choose to follow WeChat's lead in integrating Leyin, but the proportion of advertisements in Moments has increased significantly, naturally targeting its Tmall products.

Alibaba's years-long competition and follow-up strategy on WeChat seems to be coming to an end after the Spring Festival, and it will begin to focus on its core e-commerce business.

By February, Yu Xing had tried out the latest version of WeChat and compared it with WeChat. He couldn't help but feel a bit complicated. He hadn't expected the competition between the two companies to turn out this way, nor had he expected it to be so different now.

Almost the core reason that led Liu Chiping to leave Tencent changed after he left.

Yu Xing liked a financial analysis on Douyin, and one sentence in it really resonated with him.

—Perhaps this marks the end of a rare period of competition reminiscent of Murong Fu's style.

Yu Xing has a more instinctive intuition about this shift: once WeChat is made to operate around Alibaba's e-commerce, it may really be doomed. This includes, but is limited to, products that are being or will be incorporated into Alibaba's ecosystem.

Alibaba doesn't seem to like this Murong Fu-style approach after its IPO, but in the future... it may find that Murong Fu's approach is already the upper limit of what it can do well.

Yu Xing didn't discuss his thoughts with anyone; the more important thing was the performance of the Silicon Carbon Group in February.

He was somewhat anxious, but it seemed that the local people in Lingang and the investment institutions were even more anxious than him. The reasons for this situation were twofold: first, the first car of the Carbon Silicon Group itself was uncertain; and second, the "Tang" launched by BYD last month did not receive positive public opinion.

Although the Tang was launched in January and online pre-sales started simultaneously, only 100 units were initially available, including two high-speed versions priced at 600,000 yuan. Delivery of these units is not expected to begin until April or May, and larger-scale sales are not expected to start until after June.

After a brief internal analysis of the situation, the Silicon Carbon Group concluded that BYD was testing the market response and was therefore proceeding with great caution. They believe it is very likely that BYD will adjust the price in June based on feedback.

This move is undoubtedly safe, but it will also consume market attention and user enthusiasm.

Silicon Carbon Group is even more aggressive in this regard.

On February 5, Yu Xing accompanied Director Zhu Zehui, who was visiting again, to inspect the operation of the carbon silicon group's factory.

Looking at the rows of "Jiuzhou" cars already in mass production, Zhu Zehui couldn't help but take a deep breath: "President Yu..."

Yu Xing answered without waiting for the director to finish speaking: "Okay, we are confident."

Zhu Zehui pursed his lips: "How much?"

Yu Xing gave a conservative figure: "Twenty or thirty thousand is definitely achievable."

Based on the price of "Jiuzhou", 20,000 vehicles would generate 7 billion yuan in revenue for the whole year.

Zhu Zehui nodded, thinking that it would be quite good if they could achieve 30,000, no, 25,000 at this price point.

He then moved on to another issue: "I've seen you arguing quite fiercely with the penguin side."

Yu Xing said innocently, "It has nothing to do with me. I didn't even talk back."

Zhu Zehui smiled and said, "Then you don't need to talk back." The new president of Tencent, Ren Yuxi, has a different style from the previous president. He seems more aggressive. Therefore, the public opinion at the end of last month has continued into this month. The reason is the competition between Tencent and Silicon Carbon, and the trigger was Yu Xing's interview.

Ren Yuxi was initially dissatisfied with Yu Xing's evaluation, but then turned to disdain for his discussion of specific competition.

Yu Xing mentioned a type of competition that has emerged since the rapid development of the mobile internet – burning money on subsidies.

Burning money is not a healthy way to compete.

Ren Yuxi responded to this topic on his WeChat Moments: "President Yu, there's no need for your condescending comments. Just stop wasting money."

Yu Xing did not respond to Ren Yuxi. Instead, many investment institutions expressed their criticism of the new president of Tencent on different platforms.

Liu Qin of Morningside Capital commented directly under Ren Yuxi's post: "To be fair, Mr. Yu was not the one who took the initiative in burning money. I think the party that actively burned money but did not achieve better results should reflect on the shortcomings of the product."

Zhu Xiaohu of GSR Ventures expressed his opinion on Weibo: "What Mr. Yu said is obviously a fact that everyone knows. Relying solely on burning money will only leave a mess in the end. The thousands of group-buying companies are still in dire need of repair, and the ride-hailing market is still losing money. Since Mr. Ren has taken on a more important position, I hope that Tencent can have a better new look, instead of getting entangled in the public opinion arena."

Cao Yi of Source Code Capital posted a short video on Weishi, stating succinctly: "I think Mr. Ren is not as good as Mr. Liu."

Cao Yi's short video was posted in the morning, but disappeared in the evening.

The issue of burning money has already accumulated dissatisfaction in the investment field. This small topic in the public opinion is just a pretext. However, Ren Yuxi did not back down. Instead, he commented on almost every emerging investor, which attracted more statements.

Such frequently updated content has naturally become a hot topic on the Baixiaosheng Forum recently.

Yu Xing did not expect this situation to occur. Some of the investors were indeed people he had never dealt with before. In his latest post, Ren Yuxi pointed out a potential conflict of interest: these investors thought that Douyin's lead would guarantee victory. I can only say that they underestimated Weishi and Tencent.

Douyin's promotion in January was very effective. Although the internal data has not been released in detail, everyone is actively making estimates about it.

In addition, Kuaishou officially announced its data in January, stating that it has accumulated more than 1 million users and its daily active users have exceeded 1000 million for the first time.

Amidst competition from Alibaba, Tencent, and Silicon Carbon, Kuaishou has truly captured everyone's attention with its astonishing data, making it the first brand among numerous short video products to officially announce its statistics.

In this way, people outside the industry have a benchmark to refer to.

When asked about data during an interview with NetEase, Douyin President Lv Haiying did not give a clear answer, but simply smiled and replied, "A little more than that."

This slight increase further boosted investors' confidence in TikTok.

Those who have already invested are naturally overjoyed, while those who haven't are itching to invest. And with the new president of Tencent, Ren Yuxi, making a bold move, it's natural to support whoever wins. Douyin hasn't truly secured its position yet, and it will inevitably need to raise funds again as it burns through cash.

Yu Xing had noticed the public opinion, but he really didn't want to get entangled with Ren Yuxi, nor did he want his personal image to cause any fluctuations at the crucial moment of the Silicon Carbon Group's final sprint.

He responded to Director Zhu Zehui: "I am already a mature boss and can maintain restraint."

Zhu Zehui laughed upon hearing this and said, "Okay, if the new car sells well, Mr. Yu, please don't rush to their door and yell at them."

Yu Xing felt that his superiors had misunderstood him.

He concluded by introducing the arrangements to the director: the 21st was the new car launch day, while the 19th and 20th were open to the media and the public for visits, with advance promotional pushes. Of course, partners like Focus Media had already adjusted their screen advertising content this month to feature the arrival of the new car from Silicon Carbon Group.

"Mr. Yu, the announcement is on the 21st, so when will it officially go on sale?" Zhu Zehui asked.

Yu Xing replied, "Sold simultaneously."

Zhu Zehui repeated, "Simultaneous release?"

Yu Xing nodded.

Zhu Zehui reached for a cigarette and offered one to President Yu.

Yu Xing took the cigarette and was about to light it himself when he saw the director bring the lighter closer.

The secretary next to him shifted his feet, seemed about to say something but then hesitated, before silently retreating to the side.

Yu Xing took a deep drag on his cigarette; it tasted good.

Zhu Zehui didn't say anything more, but after they finished their cigarettes together, he said, "I was determined not to come before the press conference, and I'll just wait and see if it goes well or not. Mr. Yu, it's 30,000, right?"

Yu Xing nodded.

Zhu Zehui squeezed Yu Xing's hand tightly: "Let's do 30,000."

Yu Xing wanted to speak but held back, and nodded instead.

He saw the director off to his car, and then looked back at the rows of new cars under the setting sun, feeling that there could have been... a little more.

"Jiuzhou" is ready to go. Bi Sheng, who is tinkering with selling more leftover stock, also made an appointment with Xu Xin to take another trip to Lingang, planning to blow up Alibaba's bunker.

Just as Yu Xing considered when organizing the event, Bi Sheng had extensive experience in selling leftover stock.

When Bi Sheng mustered the courage to actually do this, he quickly considered the needs and current situation of the lower-tier markets and decided that the initial users would mainly be from third- and fourth-tier cities, because they would pay more attention to the practicality and price of the product than the brand image.

His own Letao.com was initially mainly established in second- and third-tier cities, where customers were more particular about brand recognition.

As for products, they rely on small and medium-sized factories and leftover stock. The latter is still Bi Sheng's forte, while the former is actually a resource that is gradually becoming difficult to obtain in the Taobao ecosystem. As the Alibaba ecosystem grows larger and larger, Tmall is becoming more and more of a focus, and cheap goods are no longer favored by Alibaba.

Take Tudi Village in Anjing Town, Chengdu, for example. It has hundreds of garment processing factories and is known for its cost-effective clothing on Taobao. Or Yanxia Village in Jiangsu Province, which specializes in selling seedlings and bonsai. 400 households have set up more than 800 online stores. However, their customer acquisition costs are rising.

Bi Sheng spent time thinking and visiting people before and after the holiday, and found that the source of goods, which he originally thought would be difficult to deal with, was not a problem at all.

With a source of goods, customers, and connection tools, plus free shipping for 9.9 yuan...

Bi Sheng felt that there was nothing wrong with Letao.com, but the Yu brothers were thinking of their own company, and Pinduoduo could have even greater potential.

(End of this chapter)