What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 660 Promoting (6k)

Baidu, already embroiled in controversy surrounding its paid search ranking system, saw its stock price drop by another five percent on the second trading day.

In just two days, Baidu's market value evaporated by 570 billion yuan, while the market value of Silicon Carbon Group, which fell below its IPO price on its first day, was 567 billion yuan, which is quite close to the IPO price.

Even if it was Baidu's own problem, and even if the trigger for this incident came from a user of Tencent's WeChat, with Bi Sheng, who is certified as a member of the carbon and silicon industry, taking the lead, and Yu Xing not hesitating to express his views, many people do believe that the big short sellers have really taken action against Baidu.

However, regardless of whether it is true or not, it doesn't stop people from joking that this time, Mr. Yu listed a silicon carbon company and then shorted another silicon carbon company.

Your market value hasn't disappeared; it's just been transferred to me.

Yu Xing's celebration in Hong Kong was just a small team event for the listing. Now that he has returned to his headquarters in Lingang, although the stock price fell below the issue price on the first day, the celebratory banquet was still a joyous occasion.

Ultimately, Silicon Carbon Group only officially started selling cars last February, and it also went through procedural ambiguities regarding the boss's nominal status. Now that it can go public, it shouldn't be picky. Moreover, from the current domestic perspective, Silicon Carbon still has great potential in the new energy market.

The day after the resubscription was the second trading day of Silicon Carbon Group's listing. The share price was still fluctuating around HK$73. Due to Silicon Carbon Group's weight in the Hong Kong GEM board, the S&P Hong Kong GEM index was also significantly dragged down in the past two days.

Silicon Carbon Group has successfully listed, but due to the rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it cannot be included in the "List of Designated Securities for Short Selling" and cannot be shorted. Although the international short sellers who were previously bearish on the stock cannot take any substantial action, they still use the stock price falling below the issue price as the latest material for their bearish attacks.

Hu Zhengnan drank quite a lot at the banquet last night, and he didn't even come to work until the afternoon.

After finishing his work, he went to find his boss, and after wandering around for a while, he ran into his secretary, Zhang Yangxu, and learned that President Yu had gone to inspect the construction of the Lingang No. 2 Factory.

At five o'clock in the evening, Hu Zhengnan came to the president's office again and saw that President Yu was already reviewing the documents he had left behind.

Yu Xing said without looking up, "Pour your own tea."

Hu Zhengnan poured himself a cup of tea, lit a cigarette, and waited a while before checking the online discussions that were still raging against Baidu.

After a long pause, Yu Xing put down the documents in his hand: "Everyone is still optimistic about the prospects of commercial vehicles."

Hu Zhengnan perked up and nodded, saying, "Yes, President Yu, based on the information we have obtained, our visits, and our comparisons, the short-selling factor will not have a significant impact; it might even bring positive impetus."

The second model of the Silicon Carbon Group was originally planned to use range-extended technology to make commercial vehicles, which is still a competitive strategy of market segmentation. At the same time, pure electric models are also being developed as a secondary series.

However, the revelation of the mountain peak's identity left everyone feeling bewildered, and considering the target user group of the model, it immediately added uncertainty.

Last year's public opinion was even greater than the current uproar surrounding Baidu. Regardless of the platform, whether online or offline, domestic or overseas, everyone was talking about the unexpected exposure of the "King of Short Sellers".

Even today, this remains a topic of conversation for many people.

With the media frenzy subsiding and the company now listed on the stock exchange, the question of which car model to choose has resurfaced.

Internally, the company still prefers to continue with the business MPV as the next model to be released by the Silicon Carbon Group, just like the Highlander's past leadership in the family SUV market, and the Buick GL8 is the absolute benchmark for mid-to-high-end business MPVs in China. Through various analyses and comparisons, the core concept of MPVs serving rear passengers is consistent with "Nine Provinces".

In terms of tranquility and comfort, Kyushu is among the top in its price range, to put it modestly.

Moreover, MPVs have longer bodies, allowing for more flexible allocation of interior space. This accumulated experience can continue to drive the upgrading of "Jiuzhou's" positioning in the future.

The current Kyushu model is 5050mm long. Once the brand positioning is established, it will inevitably need to upgrade from a mid-to-large SUV to a large SUV, with a body length of at least 5200mm. The length of a business MPV is also basically in this range.

We will continue to refine the range-extending technology and improve the riding experience for MPVs, and then use the lengthened body design to accumulate experience for large SUVs, while also considering the future commonality of parts to reduce costs.

With the addition of market competition and other factors, prioritizing business MPVs gradually became the mainstream opinion within the Silicon Carbon Group.

Hearing Hu Zhengnan's firm voice, Yu Xing silently reviewed the comprehensive analysis in the document again, and shook his head slightly: "It's good. This niche market is definitely achievable. It's just that I have indeed offended quite a few people, so it's hard to say about corporate procurement."

Hu Zhengnan wanted to laugh to himself. His boss knew this too. From being a know-it-all to now, he'd made enemies all the way up, and corporate procurement was a major channel for business MPVs—this kind of image transmission was crucial…

He mentioned ideas not written in the document: "President Yu, we don't need to have such high expectations. The storm will gradually fade away, but the riding experience will always exist. At least 60% of GL8 customers are from enterprises, 10% are from public institutions and government agencies, and 20% are from car rental companies. The marketing department is discussing that government agencies and car rental companies are channels that we can compete with on a large scale."

Yu Xing listened intently.

"The policy on government vehicle procurement was introduced in 2012, excluding joint venture brands from the regular procurement catalog of government agencies. In the past, this segment accounted for 20% of GL8's sales. Our Silicon Carbon Group has done a good job in developing new energy vehicles. We have good government-business relations in East China. However, this channel will only lead to the continued decline of GL8 in the future."

"In the car rental sector, we can promote cooperation on discounts or different forms of discounts with large chain rental companies such as CAR Inc. and Shouqi Car Rental, as well as rental companies in various regions. This is because they can actually promote to potential customers and play an advertising role. This is a slow and meticulous process."

"Another factor that cannot be ignored is that many families are also choosing MPVs, as they do offer more space. I believe this channel will continue to grow in the next few years."

"If we can do well in the three sectors of government, leasing, and personal use, the new carbon silicon car models will at least not be too bad-looking, and to some extent, they will be able to compete with corporate procurement. Conservatively speaking, we can say it's a 30/70 split, and optimistically, we can say it's a 40/60 split."

"Moreover, corporate procurement is not necessarily subject to much resistance, which is why we are taking a lenient approach."

When Hu Zhengnan and his colleagues discussed this, they felt that corporate procurement might bring some surprises. If GL8 didn't put in the effort, the Silicon Carbon Group would definitely make the ride experience even better. Moreover, those corporate clients could also buy a car and have something to talk about.

Riding in a car sold by the King of Short Sellers while chatting about his anecdotes—isn't that a unique experience?

More specifically in terms of user experience, Hu Zhengnan used a GL8 when he was running his own company. The car was sometimes on standby all day. Real-time comfort temperature and idling noise performance are areas where new energy vehicles are stronger.

In addition, commercial vehicles run in the city every day, and new energy vehicles have license plates that are not subject to traffic restrictions. This right of way is efficiency.

For cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the marketing team had already considered this when they started planning. The lack of license plate restrictions is a very attractive factor, and for leasing companies, efficiency means more time to make money.

Hu Zhengnan now has strong confidence in extended-range business MPVs.

Yu Xing pondered Hu Zhengnan's eloquent speech, and after a moment nodded slightly: "Since everyone has given it a comprehensive consideration, let's have a meeting next Monday to finalize this matter. Actually, I was quite confident in the commercial vehicle. Our vehicle can support electric discharge, and we can install small printers and computer chargers in the commercial vehicle. This kind of expansion of business scenarios is something that gasoline vehicles can hardly do."

He knew that BYD's Denza D9 and Voyah Dreamer had both made significant achievements in the business MPV market, and that this segment would certainly continue to grow in the future.

Hu Zhengnan smiled, relieved that the project had proceeded without any setbacks.

"What are your thoughts on pure electric vehicles?" Yu Xing asked another question.

If the business MPV is established as the second model, then the product development sequence of Silicon Carbon Group will consist of the family SUV that has already been sold, the business MPV that is under development, and the pure electric vehicle that will inevitably be developed in the future.

Hu Zhengnan hesitated for two seconds before saying, "The pure electric architecture almost has to be completely rebuilt. I think it might be appropriate to place it at Kyushu's future high-end positioning, and release it as a pure electric and range-extended model together, which could help boost sales."

"One of the major problems with pure electric vehicles is that if we continue to use lithium iron phosphate batteries, they will have a disadvantage in terms of density. Without the supplement of a range extender system, the actual user experience will still be significantly compromised."

Silicon Carbon Group is bound to promote pure electric vehicles, but a major prerequisite is the advancement of battery technology. However, now they are considering better safety factors and are not using ternary lithium batteries, which is quite a dilemma.

Yu Xing thought for a moment and said, "Tesla is going to release the Model 3 this month, it should be pretty good, we can keep an eye on it. The battery issue... is indeed a problem."

The key issue is that advancements in battery technology require the Silicon Carbon Group to drive them itself.

CATL has decided to focus more on ternary lithium batteries, while BYD currently has no plans to sell its batteries to external parties. Even if negotiations were possible, the two companies would still be in competition in the future, and it is not good for such a major component to be controlled by another company.

Moreover, BYD's main focus for the foreseeable future will be on hybrid vehicles, so its need for battery technology is not particularly strong at the moment.

The office was quiet for a while.

"The $16 billion raised from the IPO is used for these things." Yu Xing drank the tea in his cup. "Batteries are difficult, but things without value are not difficult. We have the success of range-extended vehicles, and we also have some initial room for error."

There's no rush to finalize the pure electric vehicle model; with the company's listing, the cooperation with CATL can be accelerated.

Silicon Carbon raised $16.2 billion in its IPO, which will be used primarily for three purposes: the Lingang No. 2 plant, the new Ningbo plant, and the joint venture with CATL.

Yu Xing and Hu Zhengnan talked for a long time, until they received a call from Penguin Pony, which brought them to a close.

At 8 p.m., Yu Xing was eating in his office while listening to Pony talk about Pinduoduo.

Pony Ma suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence: "President Yu, are you at the dinner party?"

"Was the dinner party this quiet? I was eating a boxed lunch in my office. We were just talking about company matters and I didn't pay attention." Yu Xing took a bite of rice and said vaguely, "It won't stop me from listening to you. Please continue."

"This is the treatment the big short seller who hurt Baidu received? Who would believe it?" Pony Ma sighed, then added, "Will Baidu's stock continue to fall today?"

Yu Xing replied, "I don't know. I don't pay attention to its stock price, and whether it hurts or not is not my goal. Pony, do you think you can blame me for this?"

Pony Ma said sarcastically, "I don't know. All I know is that Baidu stopped cooperating with Pinduoduo, and you're not happy about that."

Yu Xing asked, "Are you satisfied?" "Never mind, that's not the point," Pony Ma said. "Baidu looked really bad this time. Have you considered doing something about search?"

Yu Xing was a little confused: "Weren't you talking to me about Pinduoduo?"

His next sentence gave a clear answer: "Carbon Silicon Data does not do search business. The company is already doing well if it can do Douyin well. 360 and Sogou are already in the market, and we don't have time. Why are you rushing into this?"

This is inappropriate, both in terms of company strategy and competitive timing.

Pony suddenly said, "Although Baidu handled this very poorly and angered the public, I think its business is still quite stable. Mr. Yu, don't you think that what can defeat search will not be search itself, but a new product?"

Yu Xing took a sip of soup and agreed, "Indeed, Pony, your judgment is correct. In terms of the search market alone, it may be a process of gradual disintegration."

Pony added, "However, we can still compete for traffic in the search business. Is Carbon Silicon Data interested in cooperating with 360 at this time?"

Yu Xing was surprised: "Pony, I didn't expect you to become such a social butterfly. You've made peace with 360 and even helped them get traffic. You have such a magnanimous heart."

"I can calmly discuss cooperation with even the person who poached Martin, and I can communicate with those who openly ridicule and smear me," Pony Ma said calmly. "What else can't I do?"

Hearing this, Yu Xing thought to himself, "Could it be that external pressure really makes people grow? This old rascal actually has a new year."

After thinking for a while, he declined, saying, "Douyin's traffic is not suitable for 360. Douyin is already diverting traffic to other products for strategic reasons, and will not add more now. Pony, Mr. Ma, since you have made that judgment, then I will extend an invitation to Tencent on behalf of the DLF Foundation."

Yu Xing said earnestly, "What can defeat search is definitely not search. I talked about this at the Internet Conference before. Search is still about people looking for information. In the future, information may be provided to people more proactively. The DLF Foundation is a leading machine learning institution in China and a non-profit organization that aims to share open source technology. On behalf of the Foundation Committee, I would like to sincerely invite Tencent to participate in promoting technological progress."

Upon hearing the sudden invitation and the mention of the "committee," Pony Ma inquired about the situation with curiosity.

Yu Xing gave a brief introduction to the DLF Foundation's mission and structure.

After listening silently, Pony Ma asked, "How exactly will this drive technological progress? And what is the nature of your invitation?"

Yu Xing gave a concise answer: "Pony is just about giving money. You just need to give money."

Pony Ma: "..."

After waiting a while without any response, he asked, "Give me money? You want me to pay? What will I get in return?"

Yu Xing replied, "It's due to technological advancements."

Pony Ma asked doubtfully, "The problem is, you say this is open source, so can't I just wait and still benefit from technological progress?"

“If you contribute ten or twenty million US dollars in sponsorship, the technology may advance even faster,” Yu Xing said. “Moreover, Pony, do you know Yu Kai, who came from Baidu Research Institute? He founded Horizon Robotics, which is to develop hardware solutions for car driving, and later software solutions and intelligent driving solutions. This is a potential competition with Silicon Carbon Group.”

Pony Ma knew about this because, on the one hand, Horizon Robotics was generally seeking financing in China and had contacted Tencent, and on the other hand, this person had also appeared in the news about Lingang.

He will pay extra attention to what's happening in Lingang.

“Horizon Robotics will receive assistance from the DLF Foundation’s research, and so will Silicon Carbon Group, but the two sides will also compete in the future, possibly in a very direct way,” Yu Xing said seriously. “If that’s the case, then I’ll just bring all the funds and resources back and put them all into Silicon Carbon.”

He continued, "However, the industry still needs competition to progress. When there are solutions that create pressure outside, there will also be pressure and motivation inside the company. This is what is meant by 'like polishing jade.'"

After listening to such high-sounding persuasion, Pony Ma remained silent for a while before saying, "Isn't it because the sponsorship that the DLF Foundation managed to get is simply not enough for you to get into the Silicon Carbon Group?"

Yu Xing said frankly, "That's one way to look at it. Such an institution is quite attractive to scientific research talents. Andrew Ng, the current director of Baidu's research institute, is also leaving Baidu to come here."

Pony Ma heard something even more interesting: the head of Baidu Research Institute was leaving at this time to join the DLF Foundation, a rival organization, where Yu Xing was the organizer and a committee member. He also believed that a new era of products would defeat search.

This seems to be the most ingenious form of disintegration.

He gave a biased answer: "Your 'polishing and grinding' technique does have some spirit; I'll have the company study it."

"Isn't it because you know that the DLF Foundation has attracted talent from Baidu?" Yu Xing retorted, then added, "Foundations also have terms and restrictions. Give me a straight answer. The amount of money isn't important; what's important is whether they'll give it or not. Otherwise, I'll have to talk to other people next week."

Upon hearing this, Pony pondered and said, "Alright, Penguin can show its appreciation in terms of technological advancement."

Yu Xing didn't ask how much the gift was; he simply brought up the topic back to Pinduoduo.

Pinduoduo's financing is basically complete, with a valuation of $12 billion. Bi Sheng has also accepted the performance-based agreement, which is based on the performance growth in the next two years. If the target is not met, he will have to give up his super voting rights and continue to sell some of his shares.

From this perspective, the giants and smaller giants involved in this round of financing are somewhat hesitant about Bi Sheng's abilities. Pinduoduo's low-price e-commerce logic seems promising, but they are only giving Bi Sheng two years to prove that he has the ability to lead Pinduoduo to rapid growth, otherwise he will lose the initiative.

Pony Ma's meaning was even more straightforward over the phone: if Bi Sheng couldn't do a good job, then he would consider bringing in senior executives from JD.com to take over.

Compared to Bi Sheng's qualifications, JD.com's executives obviously seem to have more e-commerce experience and are a reasonable backup option. Moreover, JD.com has also invested money and traffic this time, which clearly means that Tencent and JD.com have reached an agreement.

Yu Xing tried to advocate for Bi Sheng over the phone, but Pony Ma was very resolute this time, so he had to give up.

After the call ended, he reviewed the information revealed by the other party, carefully considered it, and then called Bi Sheng to discuss the bet and the subsequent possibilities, saying that there was still a chance to back out.

"Mr. Yu, thank you. I've thought about the bet." Bi Sheng maintained a cautious confidence. "Tencent's WeChat traffic is very important, and social fission will still be a great help in the next two years. I think the market is still quite promising. If we really can't make it, then we're willing to accept the consequences."

Upon hearing this statement, Yu Xing said nothing more, simply stating, "Alright, let's do it then. We'll talk about the rest later."

When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it. The situation is changing, and we can't predict what will happen in the future.

He chatted with Bi Sheng for a while, and it was already late at night.

Yu Xing left the office and called Yu Kai of Horizon Robotics again before the next day, asking the DLF Foundation to try to increase its efforts to poach people from Baidu Research Institute.

Yu Kai was surprised by the change in President Yu's attitude over the past two days; how did he suddenly become so unrestrained?

Yu Xing's answer was straightforward: "Tencent will foot the bill."

The penguin is willing to show his sincerity, which should be enough to poach money from people. If that's not enough, he'll take his people to Shenzhen to beg for alms in person.

Baidu's stock price fluctuated on its third trading day after a sharp drop.

Public opinion is outraged, and policy actions have been taken, but in any case, Baidu is still the Baidu that holds an absolute advantage in the search market. There will be a limit to the decline, and it is impossible for it to suddenly collapse.

The market was closed for two days over the weekend, and the joint investigation team also needed time to reach a conclusion.

Upon returning to Lingang, Yu Xing did not remain idle. After sorting out the main tasks of the silicon carbon group, he led a team to Ningbo, which is located across the bay, to inspect the preliminary work there.

Silicon Carbon plans to establish a vehicle manufacturing plant in Ningbo, but it's a relatively late addition to the project's development process. Currently, it's in the preliminary planning stage. Zhejiang Province has been quite generous in this collaboration, offering the same cash subsidies for car purchases as last year.

Yu Xing kept a low profile and didn't make a big fuss about his whereabouts, but he hadn't even been in Ningbo for half a day when he received a call from Zhu Zehui, who was on his way, asking him to meet up in Ningbo.

Around noon, Yu Xing met Zhu Zehui, whom he hadn't seen for a while.

"Director, oh no, leader, you are even more charismatic than before."

Yu Xing pretended to blurt it out.

Zhu Zehui laughed heartily: "President Yu, you are truly more impressive. I heard you've shorted Baidu again."

Yu Xing said seriously, "This is pure rumor. It's not that I didn't want to short sell; it's that I simply didn't have time."

Zhu Zehui shook his head: "I'm just saying what I really think."

"When I meet the leaders, what can't I say?" Yu Xing said. "Without the guidance of the leaders in Lingang, there would be no carbon silicon today, and there would be no business for us in Ningbo."

Zhu Zehui's business has moved from Lingang to Zhejiang Province, and to a considerable extent to Ningbo.

He listened with a smile throughout as he listened to the past achievements and future prospects.

The two, who had previously helped each other achieve success, met at this moment, both hoping that the other would do even better in the future. During their close communication, Sun Hongbin of Sunac, who had previously tried to resolve the conflict through Zhu Zehui, was not mentioned at all.

Silicon Carbon has already gone public, and LeEco has collapsed. Whether we talk about politics or not is in the past; looking to the future is what's more important.

(End of this chapter)