What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 586 Benchmarking
Du Yuchen was very dissatisfied with silicon carbide's attempt to take back Douyin at a low price.

Although shares in Silicon Carbon Data can also bring good returns, people always strive for better.

Instead of going to Lingang immediately, he felt powerless after speaking with Mr. Yu on the phone. Instead, he first reached a consensus with the five institutions that had participated in Douyin's Series B funding round, and finally approached IDG, which had a great influence on Mr. Yu, hoping to put pressure on them together.

IDG's Xiong Xiaoge once again entrusted this matter to Zhang Suyang.

When Zhang Suyang met Du Yuchen, he told him with a mix of helplessness and amusement, "Mr. Du, I had already tried to make connections once before you did, but it didn't work. Mr. Yu's side has enough votes."

Du Yuchen asked in surprise, "President Zhang, why didn't you contact us?"

Zhang Suyang calmly replied, "Because I already assumed you would oppose it, but Red Falcon, Today Capital, and Zhejiang Investment Group firmly support President Yu. I've been looking around but I'm missing one. We actually discussed the repurchase of Carbon Silicon Data before, but Douyin's prospects are better than we imagined."

The logic is sound; it's highly likely that Carbon Silicon Data will merge with Douyin, which we've known for a long time. It's just that the underlying reasons have changed.

Hearing President Zhang's words, Du Yuchen was not discouraged; instead, he became more energetic: "In that case, I only need to persuade one more company!"

Zhang Suyang shook his head: "No, it's two companies."

Du Yuchen asked curiously, "We have five companies in our Series B funding round, plus IDG. If we find another one, we can make a big splash."

Zhang Suyang informed the other party of IDG's position: "IDG supports President Yu, so you need to find two other companies besides IDG."

He held up two fingers.

Du Yuchen said in astonishment, "President Zhang, you..."

Zhang Suyang nodded firmly: "Yes, President Du, IDG fully supports President Yu's decision. This is President Xiong's and my opinion. Besides, I don't think there's any benefit in making a scene at this juncture."

He gave an example: "Mr. Yu's operation of silicon carbon data and his development of the short video market are obvious to all. I can understand his considerations. There is no need to make things too ugly. Just like before JD.com went public, Mr. Liu also slammed the table, but in the end the board of directors approved the 4% equity award for him personally. Mr. Yu is better. It is not his personal matter. It is just the company's interests that are aligned."

The 4% stake that Liu Qiangdong acquired before the IPO was worth $6 million at the time, and given his firm control over JD.com, the institutions had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

"You understand? Then why did you organize those so-called collusion before? Why didn't you understand back then?" Du Yuchen sneered.

Zhang Suyang calmly replied, "I understand why it didn't work."

Du Yuchen said helplessly, "President Zhang, IDG has such a great influence over President Yu, are you just going to sit idly by and watch him disregard the interests of the shareholders?"

Zhang Suyang laughed: "You've got this wrong. We don't have much influence over him at all. If you insist on stirring things up, it will only make everyone unhappy."

Du Yuchen shook his head and got up to leave.

"Hey, Mr. Du," Zhang Suyang called out to him, and said seriously, "I have a suggestion for you."

Du Yuchen turned around and focused: "Go on."

Zhang Suyang suggested, "Forgive everything when you go to sleep at night."

Du Yuchen turned and left, yelling, "Damn it!"

He was still unconvinced and thought he had to increase Douyin's valuation.

However, whether it was IDG, Capital Today, or Zhejiang Investment Group, everyone's tone was consistent. Du Yuchen searched and thought, and realized that this was truly impossible. But since Douyin's valuation couldn't be changed, he changed his approach and considered whether he could lower the valuation of Silicon Carbon Data.

If prices can't rise here, but they can be suppressed there, then our side can acquire a higher percentage of equity.

As for money, Matrix Partners will absolutely not accept any payment.

Yu Xing knew about Du Yuchen's actions and could understand that the organization was seeking greater benefits, but there shouldn't be any problems with the procedures for this matter.

However, just as both of the silicon carbide plants in Lingang were making capital operations, bad news came from the silicon carbide plant: the ultra-large die-casting machine used for integrated die casting had malfunctioned and would require at least a week to repair and maintain.

The Lingang factory took into account the stability of the equipment and had a backup die-casting machine, but the backup die-casting machine encountered a similar problem after only three days of operation, with the high pressure causing the tie rod to deform.

The failure of two die-casting machines in succession directly led to the shutdown of the production line, which will undoubtedly result in huge losses.

LK Group urgently dispatched new die-casting machines to Lingang, but this still resulted in a week-long production capacity shortage for Silicon Carbon Group, which directly alarmed the leaders in Lingang.

Zhu Zehui immediately called Yu Xing to inquire about the situation.

Yu Xing was also helpless about this kind of failure: "The die-casting machine still needs to be optimized. We were also a bit unlucky. Lijin is already adjusting the machine."

Zhu Zehui then directly contacted the Power Power Group, calling them almost daily to inquire about the situation, thus exerting pressure in a roundabout way.

Lijing's Vice President Du Yaojie flew to Hong Kong to apologize to President Yu in person because of this incident. Lijing's head, Liu Xiangshang, also called to express his apologies. However, this incident did have a huge impact on the sales of Silicon Carbon Group, causing the Silicon Carbon weekly ranking to be delayed by two days, which made the industry feel a sense of schadenfreude, as if "it was coming as expected".

In the third week of July, Kyushu's sales suddenly plummeted from a stable 1600 units to 326 units, immediately sparking much discussion.

Despite the explanation given by Silicon Carbon Group for the decline, voices suddenly emerged saying things like "Silicon Carbon's orders have been fulfilled," "The market's enthusiasm has faded," and "Silicon Carbon's cars are no longer viable."

In this situation, the Highlander, which is in direct competition with the company, remained silent and simply accepted the explanation that the silicon carbide engine was malfunctioning.

Furthermore, the Highlander team also highly praised the quality of the silicon carbide vehicle at the GAC Trumpchi benchmarking meeting against Kyushu.

Shen Xu, the director of Highlander, did not mock the competitors in the conference room: "Jiuzhou's quality is indeed very good. The integrated die casting that recently had problems is really hard. In addition, its configuration is also very rich. Car owners in first-tier cities may prefer this one."

“Too many features aren’t good either, the price won’t come down. I think we can reduce the features of the cars we’re targeting. Do so many car owners really need a refrigerator? We can cut the refrigerator.” GAC Motor engineer Cai Lin offered his opinion. “Adaptive cruise control is also unnecessary. We rarely use it. Regular cruise control is enough. There’s no need to add millimeter-wave radar.”

"And that massage chair is all show and no substance."

"The screen is definitely a good option; it looks quite high-tech. But we don't need such a large size. A small TV will do just as well."

Listening to Cai Lin's shrugs and cuts on the configuration, Shen Xu couldn't help but say, "Engineer Cai, car owners may not use it, but they may want it. There's a reason for Kyushu's success. Just follow its lead."

Cai Lin disagreed: "We don't make cars in the 30 yuan range. Now Kyushu's sales have also dropped. For our 20 yuan range, we still need to focus on the cost-effectiveness of the configuration. I think it's a waste to use a four-cylinder engine in a range-extended vehicle. In fact, three cylinders are enough. BMW still uses a two-cylinder engine."

Listening to the others in the conference room agreeing, Shen Xu suddenly understood the strange smile the BOSS had given him when he learned that he was coming to help analyze the competitors. Even with Kyushu in front of them, how could these people possibly make a good competitor?

After discussing for a while, Cai Lin concluded, "Many people are now mocking the silicon car as a refrigerator, a color TV, and a big sofa. We still need to bring the price down. We don't need so many fancy features; the basics will suffice."

Shen Xu was speechless. He suddenly hoped that the sales of silicon carbon could be higher, otherwise some people would never be willing to honestly learn by doing.

(End of this chapter)