Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 307 Bad! So bad! (6k views, please subscribe)

After finishing their business with Lü Yao, Liang Yilan started rambling on about other topics: "You've been so busy lately. I've been to Shangnan several times for work, but I haven't been able to see you yet."

Lu Yao was still pondering the possible next moves of those major internet companies, so he subconsciously said, "This is my fault. I'll definitely treat you well next time I come."

Liang Yilan laughed on the other end of the phone, "When is 'next time'? When is 'another day'?"

Lü Yao was all too familiar with this kind of conversation.

Liang Yilan herself was a wealthy woman who started her career in marketing, so she was very familiar with all the tricks of the trade in the entertainment industry. Therefore, Lü Yao changed to a direct approach and said, "I have indeed been very busy lately and haven't had time to entertain you. It would be great if you were in Shangnan, then we could always find time to meet."

Liang Yilan rolled her eyes on the other end of the phone.

It's not like Lü Yao is the only one who's busy; she's incredibly busy too. They run an advertising alliance; do you think business just comes to them on its own? It's all thanks to salespeople making endless phone calls and running themselves ragged.

Although ByteDance is no longer a small company, its size is still incomparable to Alibaba and Tencent.

Even internet giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu still have salespeople out there running business.

This has led to some interesting developments within the industry.

Take, for example, the grassroots employees of Alibaba. Some of them lead incredibly colorful lives, and their daily routines are even more comfortable than those of many middle and upper management at Alibaba.

Especially before 2020, Alibaba Group seized the major trend of consumption upgrading and was constantly enriching and developing Tmall flagship stores, while driving traffic to Tmall flagship stores. Due to the strict review standards of flagship stores, a lot of gray operations were carried out.

The power to approve applications at the grassroots level was once in the hands of some senior Taobao staff. As a result, these Taobao staff used their power to rake in more than 90 million yuan a year.

The Taobao staff in Hangzhou live a life of extravagance and debauchery. They frequent high-end shopping malls and karaoke bars, where a single night can easily cost them at least 100,000 yuan.

During that period, even the rich second-generation in Hangzhou were not as sought after as the Taobao employees of Alibaba.

This incident only came to light later, which triggered an internal investigation and mechanism changes within Alibaba. However, it also revealed the deficiencies and loopholes in the supervision and operation of emerging internet giants, and foreshadowed Alibaba's later decline.

Because the development model of emerging internet businesses is not yet mature, people like Liang Yilan, who leave home to start their own businesses, are actually much busier and work much harder than many grassroots employees.

While not quite as extreme as Alibaba's Taobao staff, Liang Yilan is indeed traveling around almost every day. She not only has to meet with regional managers in various places, but also needs to personally handle some of the more demanding and difficult business deals.

When it comes to business, it's not the same no matter who you talk to.

So she really didn't have much time to stay in Shangnan, and therefore didn't have many opportunities to hone her card skills with Lü Yao.

Liang Yilan twirled a strand of hair between her fingers on the other end of the phone: "Well, there's nothing I can do then. I'm very busy too. We'll just have to see how things go."

Lü Yao smiled and said, "I'll try my best to make us more connected."

of course.

He was just being polite when he said that.

After resolving the pairing request initiated by Liang Yilan in the void, Lü Yao continued to work, using various means to search for the recent movements of internet giants, integrating information, and then combining it with Lü Yao's own perspective on the future to speculate on their possible next moves.

As Lü Yao returned from his studies abroad and his businesses grew larger and larger, he had a significant impact on the future direction and development of China.

The greater these influences, the greater the discrepancy between reality and Lü Yao's memory of his future study abroad experience.

This meant that Lü Yao could only use his own experience of studying abroad as a reference.

This means that reality is putting Lü Yao to greater and greater tests.

It wasn't until very late that Lü Yao finally leaned back in his ergonomic chair, exhausted, to relieve his physical fatigue.

Now Lü Yao finally understood why everyone in the command post was exhausted after commanding a battle. All intelligence had to be collected through various channels, and they had to judge its authenticity and importance themselves.

Deciding when to attack, when to stop, and when to retreat all require mental effort.

Even internet giants like Tencent cannot be absolutely certain of the accuracy of their decisions. Otherwise, Tencent wouldn't have halted the Weishi project last year, in 2015, causing a short video platform that could have accumulated content to fail just one year before the inaugural year of short videos.

of course.

In the true internet age, platforms like Weishi cannot survive without honing their internal capabilities.

Penguin itself doesn't have any special innovative or creative capabilities. After 2010, under President Liu's leadership, it completely turned to investment banking, making it even less likely to incubate a product like "TikTok".

That's why future internet history will say that Tencent is an investment bank disguised as an internet company.

But it is precisely this company that possesses the genes to truly threaten the short video industry.

If Lü Yao's guess is correct, Tencent should have already started market observation internally, just waiting for Douyin to pave the way so that they can quickly follow suit and use their social system to once again crush their competitors.

If internet giants were personified, then the penguin would be the ancestor of the Murong family.

With its masterful use of tactics like "shifting the tide," "using their own methods against them," and "striking first after the opponent has moved later," Penguin has mastered the art of maneuvering perfectly.

and so.

It's normal that Tencent hasn't made any moves since the emergency meeting of executives from major internet companies.

Because Tencent is waiting for the first company to successfully develop the short video market and establish a viable profit model. Then, Tencent, which has been building its strength for a long time, will quickly follow suit and crush its competitors with its sheer size.

As for the other two of the three internet giants...

By this time, Baidu was nothing more than a withered skeleton in a tomb, no longer a threat.

Although Baidu still has a keen business sense and a considerable size, its "workshop-style" company management model will ultimately destroy anything it develops and operates.

Baidu's CEO, Hong, is more talented than Tencent's CEO, but Tencent's magnanimity far surpasses Hong's. For the sake of Tencent's development, he was even able to personally bring in a domineering person like President Liu, and even supported President Liu in eliminating the veteran Zhang.

Later, for the sake of Tencent's core business, Teng was able to personally take charge, support Ren Zhengfei, a veteran, and even personally confront Liu, the president he brought in.

Teng Zong has thoroughly mastered the art of balancing power in the eyes of an emperor.

It's fortunate that these two big shots have such distinctive personalities and talents. If President Teng had the same talents as President Hong, then Lü Yao would really be out of luck.

ByteDance was destined to fail.

As for the Alibaba group...

In fact, the CEO of Alibaba's cloud computing division is the same type of person as Liu Qiangdong, the CEO of Tencent. They must have a lot in common to talk about when they get together.

These two can only chat as friends, not work together as colleagues.

What Tencent's CEO Liu wants to do is actually what Alibaba's cloud computing CEO is doing now—to fully transform the company into an investment banking, financial, and voice-driven entity. People like them aspire to become conglomerates like Samsung or Morgan Stanley.

Unfortunately, this land will not allow their ambitions to grow freely. Two years later, Boss Yun will become so arrogant that he will float into the sky. Four years later, Boss Yun will float out of the atmosphere and lose the oxygen to survive.

However, at present, with the domestic economy booming, housing prices rising every day, everyone feeling that the future is infinitely bright, and everyone taking out various loans for overspending, all businesses in China are doing very well.

If you own a house, you can easily get a loan of several million dollars in cash, and the lending companies won't even be in a hurry to ask you for the money.

And you can use that money to do whatever you want.

Spending money, starting a business, going abroad, or using this money to make multiple down payments, then taking out another loan to buy another house... there's no better way to make money than this.

Given this background and business environment, Alibaba's current focus is entirely on e-commerce and finance.

In e-commerce, Alibaba is transforming into a high-end e-commerce platform, with the annual turnover of its Tmall flagship store increasing year by year; in finance, more and more people are using Alipay's "Huabei" to make purchases in advance.

This means that Alibaba may not enter the short video industry.

They don't have the energy for that, so Alibaba will most likely build a moat and participate in this field by investing in Douyin or supporting other short video companies.

and so.

The opponent is still the penguin.

Lu Yao rubbed his temples, pondering how to divert Tencent's attention from short videos and buy some time for Douyin's development... Perhaps he could suggest to ByteDance to slightly slow down Douyin's growth.

It's best not to hold too many activities during the upcoming summer vacation, Mid-Autumn Festival, and National Day holidays.

In addition, Lü Yao also needs to increase publicity for games and accelerate the expansion of Guang'an Network Games in the gaming field.

As for how to intensify the offensive... Lü Yao has already figured it out.

……

Meanwhile, after returning to Beijing, Zhang Xiaonan conveyed Lü Yao's idea to Liang, the CEO of ByteDance.

Mr. Liang hadn't expected Lü Yao to pull such a stunt, but it has to be said that Lü Yao's method might actually have some effect.

Investors are indeed afraid of not getting their money back, but they are even more afraid of missing out on opportunities. In fact, investors are very similar to stock market veterans. In the world of stock market veterans, what's more terrifying than losing money is missing out on a rally.

Because if you miss a move, it means you've lost all your chips, and you're no longer at the table.

Then, endless regret and remorse will subconsciously, obsessively, even to the point of being a demon, seek similar opportunities.

Then they lost even more miserably.

Almost everyone who gets to sit at the ByteDance investor conference table has had this experience: they are like gamblers, but their net worth and health bars are much thicker than those of gamblers, so even if they miss out several times, they still have the strength to return to the table.

However, the card table is unlikely to be the same one as before.

The brilliance of Lü Yao's move lies in the fact that he is fully capable of taking over the chips from other investors. And when the chips from other investors are taken away by Lü Yao without hesitation, these people will think – "Could it be that my judgment is not as sharp as that young CEO Lü's?"

What if I miss a step?

This approach, in turn, helped stabilize ByteDance's investors. After understanding this, Mr. Liang praised Zhang Xiaonan highly and also became more inclined towards Zhang Xiaonan's operational strategy.

After all, Zhang Xiaonan herself has mature and successful operational experience, and Lu Yao's business operation cases are readily available, not to mention that Lu Yao's own history of making a fortune has a legendary quality.

In addition, Jian Xiaojie, who was very close to Zhang Xiaonan and had a somewhat unusual relationship with her... Unconsciously, President Liang suddenly felt that Zhang Xiaonan seemed to have accumulated a very powerful and enormous energy.

This made President Liang very willing to invest more in Zhang Xiaonan.

Two days later.

At an internal high-level meeting at ByteDance, President Liang informed ByteDance's senior management and many investors about Lü Yao's actions; and at this meeting, he expressed his firm support for Zhang Xiaonan for the first time.

This even surprised Mr. Zhang, who was hiding behind the scenes and in control of the technology.

Other ByteDance executives and investors were discussing Liang's attitude, and many chuckled as they remarked:
"Mr. Liang, look at what you're saying. We are still full of confidence in the future of our company."

"Some of our previous statements were also for the better development of the company."

"What you said is somewhat hurtful to us."

After Mr. Liang explained Lü Yao's actions in a relatively tactful way, investors holding ByteDance shares expressed their positive attitude towards ByteDance's bright future. The various negative comments that had previously shrouded ByteDance and Douyin seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye, as if illuminated by the sun.

Looking at the harmonious atmosphere of the meeting, General Manager Liang couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's good that everyone thinks this way. I am also full of confidence in our future, especially in the operational strategies of our General Manager Zhang. Although the operational effect of Douyin has declined slightly, this is normal."

The high-level meeting between ByteDance and Douyin concluded in an exceptionally friendly atmosphere.

However, after the meeting ended, the investors in attendance began a real "investor exchange meeting" in private groups.

"That young Mr. Lü from Shangnan is really arrogant. He even offered to buy all our investment shares at a 10% premium? He's got some nerve."

"Although ByteDance has completed multiple rounds of financing, we haven't even recouped our investment, let alone made any money. And yet they're thinking of taking our shares directly!"

"Anyway, I will not sell my shares."

"It's not like anyone's going to make a move!"

In a group chat with ByteDance investors, they firmly stated that they would not give Lü Yao the opportunity to acquire their shares.

But almost simultaneously after they ended their chat, they started contacting Nan.

Lu Yao also owns an investment company, which is currently mainly managed by Liu Mulin. At the same time, Liu Mulin also helps Rong Nianqing manage a quantitative company.

Most investment negotiations with outsiders need to contact Liu Mulin before they can reach Lü Yao.

It's now virtually impossible to contact Lü Yao directly. Even through the company, one can only reach Lü Yao's office secretary and make an appointment before receiving any further response.

This is a standardized process in company operations.

Otherwise, if everything piles up on Lü Yao's side, he'll be too busy answering phone calls and replying to messages every day.

However, standardized processes also mean a long time. The time of those who invested in ByteDance is very precious, especially now when every second counts. These investors were talking passionately and disdainfully in the group chat just now.

In reality, they were all racing against time to contact Lü Yao, hoping to get a good price upfront.

Because you can tell from the tone of the chat in the group that everyone is actually thinking about cashing out their shares as soon as possible.

Most investors certainly wouldn't sell their ByteDance shares at a low price. The same goes for Toutiao, Neihan Duanzi, and Huoshan Video. But Douyin is a different story.

Douyin has been operating for almost a month now.

However, the thin content, short duration, and simple software functions were all considered very unreliable by investors. When Zhang Xiaonan advocated this design, they were still thinking about seeing how good it was. Now that the software has been online for a month, most investors have already made their judgment on its quality.

So they want the next buyer to take over their business.

It was at this juncture that Lü Yao unexpectedly stepped forward.

Therefore, everyone is using their personal connections to seek Lu Yao's private contact information.

After pulling several strings, Ling Haoyun, the investment president of Haina Venture Capital, finally obtained Lü Yao's private contact information from Shang, the CEO of Xiaomi. Upon receiving the information, Ling Haoyun immediately sent a text message:
"Hello Mr. Lü, I am the Investment President of SIG Venture Capital. I would like to discuss with you the issue of the acquisition of Douyin shares. If you are interested after seeing this news, we can talk about it. I look forward to your reply."

Shortly after Ling Haoyun sent the message, he received a message from Lü Yao: "I am indeed very interested..."

Ling Haoyun immediately perked up.

Then I started composing a text message to start the deception.

In investment banking and finance, almost everyone is a con artist, even entrepreneurs seeking funding need to be good at it.

Mr. Jia is very qualified to speak on this point.

So Ling Haoyun analyzed the development prospects of their fund company and Douyin, as well as the current market changes, in order to continuously increase the value of the chips in his hands.

After sending the message again, Lü Yao looked at the lengthy message, which was almost like the preface of a thesis, and couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Then he typed back, "So, what do you mean by this, Mr. Ling?"

Ling Haoyun didn't mince words and simply said, "Increase the price by 20%, and I'll give you my Douyin shares."

ByteDance's shareholding structure is extremely complex. During ByteDance's rapid development, CEO Zhang, CEO Liang, and ByteDance's CFO have all been manipulating the shareholding structure, imitating the equity structure of its neighbor Shilla, to build a secure moat for themselves.

Therefore, ByteDance Group has many companies under its umbrella, and their shares are intertwined, forming a very complicated shareholding network.

Furthermore, the shares held by core executives such as Mr. Zhang and Mr. Liang are not held by ByteDance.

The further we go, the more complex the shareholding structure of China's super-large companies will become.

Let alone outsiders, even many senior executives within the group don't understand these things. They need specialized lawyers and financial advisors to guide them through the accounting and verification process before they can roughly figure it out.

As for whether there are any hidden tricks or sinkholes behind this, further investigation and verification are needed.

This is how bytes work.

Alibaba in Hangzhou is the same.

Therefore, even if Alibaba's cloud director goes overseas and is unable to return to China for several years, it will not affect his status at Alibaba; even if ByteDance's CEO Zhang resigns from all positions at ByteDance, it will still not affect his actual control over ByteDance.

This complex equity structure design left even the gods of heaven somewhat helpless.

As one of the early investors in ByteDance, SIG not only holds shares in ByteDance Group, but also shares in many other companies under ByteDance. It can be said to be an investor that is not large but deeply rooted in ByteDance.

However, Lü Yao had no intention of bargaining with the other party.

He directly added Mr. Ling of Haina Venture Capital on WeChat, and then pulled Mr. Ling into a group chat on an overseas chat software. The group chat was called "Douyin Share Acquisition Group".

The moment Ling Haoyun saw the group's name, he had a very bad feeling. After reading the members in the group chat, that bad feeling made Ling Haoyun cover his face.

President of Investment at Mangrove Capital.

Investment President of the Internet Finance Vision Fund.

Eastern Region Investment President of Tiger Global Fund.

President of Investment, Eastern Region, Pan-Asia Pacific Investment Fund.

Pacific Rim Investment Fund East Region Investment President...

These people are all investors in ByteDance, and their numbers are only two or three fewer than the ByteDance investor group. If you didn't see the group name, Ling Haoyun would have thought that he had accidentally switched to the wrong software and returned to their own investor group.

Isn't this fucking embarrassing?!
And these people are so mean! One by one they were saying in the group that it was impossible to sell the shares, and then they all turned around and came to find President Lü, even faster than we were!
bad!
so bad!
Ling Haoyun rubbed his forehead, feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation, and even a sense of helplessness.

Shortly after he joined the group, messages began to pop up rapidly:

"Yo yo yo, a new person has arrived!"

"Let me see who's here this time? Old Ling! Come out and say something!"

Others in the group chimed in, "Tell us, what price did you offer?"

"Hahaha, let's wait a bit longer. Maybe everyone in our little group will eventually be able to gather here."

"If I had known, I would have just added President Lü to our group directly. This whole thing is really a bit of a joke."

If only a few people were brought in, they might have some reservations. The bigwigs from the investment institutions that were initially brought in by Lü Yao did have some complaints, feeling that this young man, Lü Yao, was acting without any sense of proportion.

But as more and more people came in, their mindset gradually changed.

It's like you and a few friends are helping a poor girl in a back alley, and while you're waiting in the lobby, someone else you know comes in... At that moment, everyone will feel a little awkward.

But if two more groups of acquaintances arrive right afterward, the awkwardness will disappear, and the atmosphere will become relaxed and humorous.

This can also be considered a kind of "law of the unity of the filthy".

In the midst of these few teasing words, Ling Haoyun's embarrassment and amusement vanished in an instant, and he even started praising each other in the group: "Oh dear, I'm still too late. I'm still far behind all the masters."

Haina Venture Capital is indeed no match for capital giants like Tiger, Mangrove, Pan-Asia Pacific, and Rim Pacific. Ling Haoyun's experience is also much less than that of these capital giants in the group, so there's nothing wrong with what he said.

As Lü Yao watched the atmosphere in the group chat shift from its initial somber tone to its current relaxed and humorous one, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

really.

There's more fun in the investment world.

(End of this chapter)