Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 305 The Second Wallet (Part 1)
Over the course of a few days, the two sides exchanged views on the cooperation, signed contracts for some things that could be put in writing, and put the rest into a memorandum of understanding.

Contract section:

Apple opened its supplier list to Singularity and established an emergency capacity allocation channel. When one party encounters a supply disruption, it can negotiate to use 30% of the other party's contracted capacity, but it cannot directly interfere with Apple's capacity priority guarantee agreement with suppliers.

• Patent mutual recognition: Cross-licensing of 23 fundamental patents, including touch interaction.

Singularity Technology has pledged to temporarily suspend expansion of its Kirin phones into the US and UK markets during the five-year agreement period, and the Kunlun OS open-source code will not include system services for the US market.

Memorandum section:
Both parties jointly developed the "Mobile Application Development White Paper".

• Establish a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) to harmonize API standards
• Regularly exchange research results on 3G/4G evolution technologies

The content is relatively simple; the mutual constraints are nothing more than some contractual penalties for breach of contract, and neither party imposes too many restrictions on the other.

With these things, departmental communication channels are established, making it relatively convenient to consult each other on issues.

Whether a long-term partnership can be achieved depends on the development of each party and where there is a need to deepen cooperation; these issues will be addressed through concrete actions.

However, Chen Xuebing was serious about this "Joint Technical Committee".

We must not only do it, but do it seriously.

Singularity is now planning to establish a research and development center in the United States.

This is the first overseas R&D center, and it will have to undertake a very large number of functions.

When Jobs learned of Chen Xuebing's decision, he did not object to the agreement or have any doubts. On the contrary, he affirmed it, calling it the "only wise choice" to achieve the global strategy.

Talking to smart people is much less costly.

Steve Jobs visited Hongfa Temple several times and seemed to benefit from it. He looked healthier and more radiant. He also wandered around Shenzhen and his prejudices against China lessened considerably.

They claim they want to rebuild Apple China.

And under Chen Xuebing's arrangement, he met with Lei Jun and Ma Yun, who came to visit him.

Jack Ma came because he admired him, while Junzi was a true idol. This young man in his thirties was incoherent when he came up to Steve Jobs, who was in his fifties:

I watched you grow up!

On the fourth night of the China Hi-Tech Fair, Chen Xuebing received a special phone call.

Vice Minister Zhang called, somewhat hastily inquiring whether he had recently had any "special" exchanges with Terry Gou, and whether he had instructed Gou to contact any particular person.

Chen Xuebing sensed something, so he recounted his entire contact with Terry Gou, indicating that there was no special indication of anything.

Vice Minister Zhang was pleased after hearing this, saying that the leaders attending the High-Tech Fair were very concerned about this matter.

Subsequently, the leader's secretary called Chen Xuebing, saying that the leader wanted to invite him to the Wuzhou Hotel for a talk.

Chen Xuebing naturally could not refuse and went to the Wuzhou Hotel to pay his respects.

The female leader, who had been in charge of WTO intellectual property negotiations, was very amiable. There were no secret conversations; she simply inquired about the feasibility of 3G in China and expressed interest in seeing his new products.

Chen Xuebing took out a Kirin phone to explain, and also talked about some recent evolutions of TD technology and Spreadtrum's R&D direction. The two chatted for more than an hour.

The leader was very pleased to hear this, and only spoke at the very end:

“ECFA is very important to us. With young entrepreneurs like you in China caring about this, there is hope for the future.”

"If you have channels for communication with superiors, you can share your good ideas, communicate more, and strive for support before making a decision."

Just listen for the transitions in the story.

The leader is skilled; the real meaning of an hour-long conversation can be found in the last four words.

Upon hearing the phrase "plan before acting," Chen Xuebing knew that the man surnamed Guo had probably filed a complaint. He stood up and stated humbly and confidently, "Understood. In the future, when dealing with foreign businessmen, as long as they are sensible, I will try my best to be cautious."

The leader couldn't help but chuckle, then added with some admiration: "This fine young man has the flair I had back in the day."

Chen Xuebing was also amused.

This child is similar to me.

This is the highest praise a leader can give.

On October 17th, Jobs boarded a plane back to the United States, and then returned to Shanghai at the end of the month.

Chen Xuebing immediately returned to Chongqing.

During this period, many reporters were waiting to interview him. Liu Chuan and Jack Ma also invited him to join the Entrepreneur Club. Even the Guangdong Chongqing Chamber of Commerce, which he had previously joined, inexplicably gave him the title of honorary president and wanted to arrange for someone to make a personal profile of his wealth trajectory, but Chen Xuebing declined them all.

With the increasing worship of wealth, his status has risen too quickly in recent months, seemingly going from nothing to a business leader overnight. Although he is not as well-known as Huang Guangyu, who is more public-facing, news about him often involves hundreds of millions of dollars, leading many to imagine him as a super-rich person who has been hiding for many years.

In reality, he truly had no money.

The money is all in the stock market's expectations, it hasn't arrived yet.

There are so many creditors.

Investment contracts, cooperative companies, expansion of production scale and company structure, and that trust license—everywhere is waiting for him to ask for money. The 7.5 million yuan loan from the China Development Bank is still tied up in the holding group. A new asset appraisal will take time for tax and accounting procedures, making it difficult to get another loan in the short term. Right now, he only has two paths in front of him: either save money or raise funds.

Chen Xuebing chose a third, non-existent path: to persevere.

If BOE can hold on until the end of March next year, when its first investment is released, it will be a turning point in its financial situation.

As long as he keeps making money, he'll have plenty of opportunities.

"A man should have three wallets. The first is how much money you actually have; the second is your credit, how much money you can access in other people's wallets; and the third is how much money people think you have."

The old monk's words echoed in my ears.

The third wallet is not to be used now; that's financing capability.

However, it's time to pull out the second wallet. October 18th.

Chongqing, New York 46, Guan Group executive meeting.

Summary of funding situation in all aspects.

Kan Zhidong: "We explored three bank fundraising channels: the 'Non-standard Wealth Management Plan' jointly offered by China Minsheng Bank and Ping An Trust; the 'Sunshine Wealth Management T Plan' from the Chongqing branch of China Everbright Bank; and the 'Quasi-Credit Asset Securitization Plan' from the head office of Industrial Bank."

"We've agreed on a standard: a 3.5% channel fee and a 13.5% annual interest rate. This means we'll borrow 20.72 billion, receive 20 billion, and pay approximately 2.8 million in funding costs annually. The funds should all be in our account by the 25th."

"We have to bear the risk of this money ourselves. The book loss exceeds 200 million, and we need to replenish the margin in time."

"The requirements of the social security fund and Central Huijin are that 2 billion yuan of social capital and our 200 million yuan of self-owned guarantee funds will be transferred after verification, and the funds will be supervised by the National Council for Social Security Fund."

"This funding carries the risk at the rear, meaning we still bear the risk. If the front-end funding is withdrawn, this funding will have to be withdrawn as well."

Lu Xiaochun: "The Chongqing corporate debt package has now reached a repayment agreement of 1.2 million yuan, and 3300 million yuan has been received so far. According to the plan, we can receive another 2000 million yuan by the end of the month, but the actual situation is hard to say."

"In early August, we sent people to assist Chunying Special Steel in debt restructuring. We have now persuaded the shareholders to provide joint guarantees and are applying for a special loan from the Agricultural Development Bank of China. If the application is successful, we expect to recover the 2.2 million yuan debt and 200 million yuan financial consulting fee within two years."

Hearing this, Chen Xuebing interjected, "The steel industry is currently experiencing strong supply and demand, and prices may reach a high level next year. We must help them get their production lines up and running as soon as possible. Our Gu'an Construction is currently building a large building, and we can use this as an excuse to get involved, help sign a material pre-order contract, and push the bank to release the loan as soon as possible. If we save them, we will have another assistant in the future steel supply."

"Hiss." Yu Chunyin gasped upon hearing this: "Special steel mainly produces structural steel and tool steel, used for industrial molds, automobiles, medical devices, and bearings. It's less commonly used in construction."

"I know," Chen Xuebing said with a smile.

Everyone present exchanged puzzled glances.

Chen Xuebing coughed and said, "Don't make wild guesses, continue."

Xu Jin then continued his report: "From September to now, we have made a lot of money, with a profit of 3.2 million. Including the money that Yufu lent us, the total capital scale has just reached 20 billion. We hold 5.83 million ourselves. But now we are opening up exit channels to withdraw profits. Selling stocks may result in some losses. Many eyes in the market are watching us. If we sell, the wind direction may change."

Chen Xuebing waved his hand.

"No rush, I'll give you two weeks to withdraw slowly. All of Yu Fu's money must be returned, and this money must be repaid."

"Southwest Securities must keep this confidential and not reveal any information whatsoever. Otherwise, we will have to choose another brokerage firm for the next 42 billion yuan to enter the market."

Xu Jin hesitated for a moment: "Is Fund No. 1 also withdrawing?"

"Yes, we've withdrawn everything. Our clients have already made several times their initial investment, so there's no need to keep any margin. It's almost November, and we'll be doing a year-end financial review soon. We'll also need to recalculate our fund returns. A return of over 500% is enough. We're definitely going to be number one this year. The national team's funds will be coming in soon, so we'll temporarily stop raising funds."

Chen Xuebing originally intended to leave the clients' profits in the account, but unilateral withdrawal would cause trust issues, and subsequent returns would be difficult to calculate.

He withdrew all his profits, but the clients' profits are still being used as principal. It would be wrong to continue giving him 40% of the profits; the fund's accounting procedures would be incorrect, and a new investment agreement would have to be signed.

Anyway, with the next round of funding from the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, half of the money will have a fixed interest rate and high returns. There's not much point in keeping too much of the raised funds. So why not distribute the money generously and realize the returns? Everyone will be happy.

Kan Zhidong frowned upon hearing this: "There's no need to withdraw Yu Fu's money for now. They haven't been urging us. President He often comes to Changzheng Capital to inquire about market news. We're all quite familiar with each other. We've made a full profit on that money."

Chen Xuebing grinned: "If I don't pay them back, how can I borrow money? Not only do I have to pay back that money, but I also have to pay interest, twenty million."

Having said that, he made the decision.

"Regarding the use of the 42 billion yuan industrial funds, 22 billion yuan will go into the stock market. I have already reached an agreement with BOE. They will invest 10 billion yuan through a private placement at 5.2 yuan per share. President Cai will arrange for three finance-specialized directors to join the company, and select a vice president of finance from among them. In addition, they will assist Changzheng Capital in contacting ARM China to express their investment intentions. If negotiations proceed, Qidian will send a vice president to participate."

Upon hearing this, Cai Zhijian and Lu Weibing both felt a headache coming on.

"Chairman, I really have no one left. The people assisting Chunying Special Steel in its debt restructuring are people I found with great difficulty."

"Chairman, I'm out of people! Singularity is restructuring the group, and the whole company is working non-stop. I'm even thinking of using the management trainees we recruited in Shanghai last month. Where am I going to find a vice president to participate in the negotiations?"

Chen Xuebing leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh.

"Comrades, let's hurry up and train reserve talents. Next year, the group will expand rapidly, and I don't want to hear the words 'we don't have enough people' anymore."

"Let's set a goal ahead of time! Next year! Complete the accumulation of reserve funds and core capital! Triple the size of the company's management team!"

Everyone present nodded in agreement.

Previously, the chairman was recruiting people everywhere, and everyone had opinions, fearing that the company would become too bloated. Now, both the group and Qidian Company are facing a severe shortage of manpower. Changzheng Capital is barely enough, and for many projects, newcomers are not yet able to fill the gaps, so we have to find experts from outside.

Yu Chunyin felt somewhat superfluous in the room: "We...don't need to expand our enrollment for the time being, do we?"

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "Well, there's no need for that. When projects worth tens of billions come your way, if you can't handle them, I'll just buy a construction company and acquire you."

Yu Chunyin immediately started cursing: "If that's how you put it, I'll expand recruitment tenfold! Then there will be dozens of managers and hundreds of construction workers. Don't say I'm wasting my time!"

Chen Xuebing touched his forehead: "Never mind, I'll take over the adjustments after I'm done with this busy period. You need to prepare the existing management team mentally, and the job levels of the existing staff may need to be readjusted."

After saying this, Chief Engineer Tang Qiankun, who was attending the meeting, picked up his water glass to hide his expression.

Liang Hui was also a little nervous, but he gritted his teeth and said, "Chairman, I'm not capable enough. You should let me go as vice president."

Liang Hui took the initiative to express his opinion, and CFO Xiao Haidong and Administrative Director He Yue also became somewhat uneasy.

When they joined the group, the chairman talked to them and said that their current positions were only temporary. As the company expands, their ability to perform their current duties will be reassessed. He only guaranteed that their salary and benefits would not be reduced during the contract period.

They all thought it would be at least three to five years, but they didn't expect that day to come so soon.

Chen Xuebing also fell into deep thought.

During the company's development, some essential positions cannot wait for anyone. Not everyone can immediately recruit someone like Joseph Tsai. Therefore, he did not hesitate when recruiting and assigning positions. Now that the company has expanded, the authority of equivalent positions has increased significantly, and there are more and more people to manage, so it is inevitable that some people will need to be replaced.

With the fourth quarter already upon us and the year drawing to a close, it's time to spend some time adjusting our internal management.

Adjustments are necessary, but maintaining social stability is also crucial.

The chairman tapped his fingers back and forth on the table for a while, then said:

"Don't worry too much about the job adjustments. I will take the time to talk to the senior management individually. The contributions of veteran employees will not be overlooked, but we should also focus on developing our own abilities. Everyone should study more in their spare time. I assure you that in the competition for positions with equal abilities, I will give priority to veteran employees."

(So ​​sleepy, I'm going to take a nap now, I'll write more tomorrow)
(End of this chapter)