Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 322 The Dilemma of Wang the Richest Man and Wanda

January 10th, Penguin Coastal Building, Shenzhen.

Ignoring the suspicious looks from those around her, Chen Xiu, wearing a hat and mask, led her assistant to the elevator and went straight upstairs.

The Penguin employees who brushed past him started discussing it as the elevator doors closed.

"Mark, didn't that person who just went in look familiar?"

"You feel that way too?"

"It looks a lot like Chen Xiu."

"That's not surprising, considering he's a shareholder of Tencent. It's a pity he didn't attend the annual meeting last month..."

As one of the top internet companies in China, Tencent often hosts celebrity events, so these employees seem quite calm when they see celebrities.

After taking the elevator, Chen Xiu went all the way to the president's office.

After informing the secretary at the door of the information, Chen Xiu was led into the office and met the person she had arranged to meet, Liu Chiping.

"Hello, Martin, long time no see!"

"Hehe, why are you wearing a mask?"

Liu Chiping came over and shook Chen Xiu's hand, his attitude both gentle and friendly.

Chen Xiu used her other hand to remove her mask, but continued to wear her hat.

"To avoid trouble."

"Okay, tea or coffee?"

"coffee."

After returning to his desk, Liu Chiping used the landline to call his secretary and asked her to bring in two cups of coffee.

After the coffee was served, the two finished their polite greetings and sat down on the sofa, overlooking everything from the Science Park to Pengcheng Bay through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Chen Xiu took a sip of her coffee and said, "Your office has a nice view. Is Pony's place even better?"

He's upstairs, do you want to go see him?

A hint of amusement flashed in Liu Chiping's eyes. He and Chen Xiu had known each other since the beginning of their collaboration with Didi, and over the years, they had developed a habit of exchanging lighthearted jokes.

Chen Xiu shook her head and politely declined, saying, "Forget it, the matter I came here to discuss is already beyond my authority if I ask you for help, so there's even less need to ask him."

"Hehe, it's hard to imagine that you would make a special trip to Shenzhen for someone else's business."

"It wasn't a special trip. I was on a business trip in Guangzhou a few days ago, and after finishing my work, I took a detour to come here."

"Oh, you have a new investment direction?"

Liu Chiping sat up straight, leaned forward a few degrees, and showed interest on his face.

In addition to being the president of Tencent, he is also the company's chief strategic investment officer.

Liu Chiping was extremely impressed by Chen Xiu's ability to invest in Mobike and Pinduoduo, and then, taking advantage of Mobike's strong performance, to accurately shift his shares to Meituan.

Out of professional habit, he wanted to know if Chen Xiu had any new investment opportunities.

"This time, I went to negotiate the cooperation on behalf of the company."

Chen Xiu put the coffee back and said something that avoided the main point.

His business trip to Guangzhou was to discuss cooperation with Xu Yangtian, president and founder of Shein.

Shein plans to expand its global FMCG business this year, betting company resources on cross-border e-commerce. Chen Xiu proposed using TikTok to drive traffic to Shein and provide a traffic entry point.

After a week of communication, the two parties have reached a preliminary strategic partnership, with TikTok participating as the main investor in Shein's next round of financing.

There's no need to explain matters concerning the company's development to Liu Chiping.

Liu Chiping was aware of this as well, and after a moment's thought, he changed the subject.

"Tell me about Wanda's situation! You mentioned it briefly on WeChat yesterday, but I haven't looked into the details."

Chen Xiu sat up straight, thought for a moment, and then began to recount the matter that the richest man, Wang, had asked him to do.

"In 2016, when Wanda was privatized and delisted from Hong Kong, Wang Jianlin agreed with investors that Wanda would be listed on the A-share market before September of this year. Otherwise, Wanda would have to pay investors an annual interest rate of 10% to 12% to repurchase their shares."

"How is the situation now?"

“Wanda is currently 70th in the IPO queue, and it is almost impossible for them to complete the listing before September. Their cash flow and loans started to have problems last year, so they urgently need external funds to intervene.”

"..."

Liu Chiping looked thoughtful, but did not respond immediately.

He remained silent for a while, then began to look at Chen Xiu with a particularly strange expression.

Seeing this, Chen Xiu understood and said, "You're wondering why I'm the one talking to you about this?"

"Right! You don't hold a position at Wanda, do you?"

"No, as I just said, coming to see you this time is already overstepping my bounds. I'm just conveying Wang's thoughts on his behalf, not representing Wanda in negotiations. If you are interested, Wanda will arrange formal business negotiations."

"Will you participate in this business transaction?"

Liu Chiping asked this matter-of-factly.

What he was thinking was: I can't just make a trip for someone else without getting any benefit in return, can I?

Chen Xiu stared at him for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Wanda needs a lot of funds this time, and I don't have enough cash to participate."

Wanda needs approximately 340 billion yuan to fill the hole this time. Although Chen Xiu's net worth is 415 billion yuan, and there are even more unaccounted for, he can only mobilize about 20 billion yuan in cash. This money could generate higher returns elsewhere, so there's no need to bet on Wanda.

The reason of lacking money is quite convincing, and Liu Chiping at least cannot raise any objections.

"Are you just trying to help this time?"

"Yup!"

Seeing Liu Chiping's increasingly strange expression, Chen Xiu added, "You can also interpret it as me coming to Shenzhen specifically to visit an old friend and, incidentally, to help Wanda out, to see if Tencent is interested in their high-quality assets."

"..."

Liu Chiping frowned and stared intently, thinking: Is this old friend talking about me?

Liu Chiping's brows relaxed slightly as he took a sip of coffee and continued, "Did President Wang tell you what form he wanted to take to achieve this cooperation?"

"Targeted financing! Wanda plans to divest its real estate business within two years and transform into a pure commercial management and operation company with a light asset model. The new company will try to go public again, and the external funds sought this time will be in the form of a performance-based agreement to ensure the interests of investors."

Chen Xiu quietly explained Wang the richest man's thoughts.

If Wanda successfully transforms, their business model will shift from explosive growth through land purchases and the construction of Wanda Plazas to stable profits from property management fees.

From a risk perspective, Wanda Group, after its transformation, is undoubtedly a high-quality company that better meets investors' expectations.

Liu Chiping sat on the sofa and thought for about three minutes before his eyes finally showed certainty.

He turned to Chen Xiu and said, "I understand what the richest man Wang means. Next, we will arrange for someone to conduct formal negotiations with him."

"Then I'm done."

"So you really were just trying to help?"

“Wang, the richest man in China, has helped me a lot. Now that I have the opportunity, I have to give back.”

Chen Xiu picked up her coffee and slowly sipped it.

Liu Chiping watched silently until he put the coffee back before saying, "I actually have something I want to talk to you about today."

"what's up?"

When do you plan to launch Douyin's next round of financing?

"We don't lack money right now."

Chen Xiu politely declined, as she did not want to pursue further financing.

Douyin currently has 4.5 million monthly active users, and the revenue from advertising and streamer commissions alone is enough to cover broadband fees and daily operations.

After being promoted by the film "Better Days", Dou+ has been initially accepted by the film and television industry, and its revenue has increased significantly in the past two weeks. Many self-media anchors have also begun to try purchasing Dou+ promotions.

With so many stable sources of revenue, Douyin really doesn't need to raise any more funds at the moment.

However, Liu Chiping's attitude was very firm: "Although we don't lack money, financing can help you develop faster. Douyin has already surpassed Kuaishou, just like Didi and Kuaidi, Meituan and Dazhong back then. Don't you want to dominate the short video market even faster?"

"You mean, a merger?"

Chen Xiu looked at Liu Chiping with hesitation, thinking to herself: Tencent is Kuaishou's largest investor. Is he trying to expand Tencent's control over the short video market by urging me to merge?
Liu Chiping stared at Chen Xiu and smiled, "What's wrong with merging?"

"It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's better for each company to develop independently in the future. After all, in any industry, it won't be allowed to have only one dominant player."

"You don't need to worry about that. Even if Douyin and Kuaishou merge, there's still Weishi, right?"

"Ha, they're all from penguins."

There was no more doubt in Chen Xiu's eyes; he was now certain of the penguin's intentions.

Liu Chiping smiled noncommittally: "Chen Xiu, you are also a shareholder of Tencent. Isn't this a good outcome?"

"Of course I hope Tencent will do better and better, but I also hope my own company will do better and better. The two shouldn't conflict, right?"

"Of course there's no conflict. There's no need to hide this from you. According to discussions at internal business group meetings, our focus on the short video sector has been upgraded to a strategic investment standard. You know what that means."

"Same as Meituan."

Chen Xiu said calmly that he knew that Tencent also had a hierarchy among the many companies it invested in.

Meituan is undoubtedly at the highest level among them, even higher than Didi. This is why Pony Ma resolutely stood up for Meituan at the Dongxin dinner when Didi was competing with Meituan for Mobike.

The subtext of Liu Chiping's statement is that Tencent's emphasis on Douyin is comparable to that of Meituan.

It has to be said that this evaluation is already very high at this stage, after all, Meituan's current valuation is 300 billion US dollars, and it will only be higher after it goes public.

However, in Chen Xiu's eyes, this evaluation was too low; Douyin's value was even greater than Meituan's.

So when Liu Chiping said this: "Chen Xiu, if Tencent can facilitate the merger of Douyin and Kuaishou, the competition in the short video arena can be over this year."

"I'm sorry, we have had similar discussions internally regarding the merger, but at present, there is really no need for it."

Chen Xiu refused very decisively.

The moment Liu Chiping's expression froze, he added, "However, TikTok is about to launch its next round of financing. If Tencent is interested, we can talk about it."

"..."

Liu Chiping's expression froze for a moment, staring blankly at Chen Xiu, then as if his petrification had been lifted, he quickly nodded.

"I'm very interested. Your coffee is cold, let me have someone get you a new one!"

"Thank you."

Chen Xiu smiled and nodded, thinking to herself: Compared to the domestic market, which has already reached its ceiling, Tencent is indeed more optimistic about the vast overseas market. But there are also sharks overseas. Hopefully, Tencent won't back down when the time comes.

(End of this chapter)