Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

「Three days later, Building 8 of Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.」

In the office, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

Little Ma had offered 300 million US dollars in exchange for 30% of Pinbei’s equity, a much more sincere offer than Ah Li’s.

But this was only the first round of financing. Giving up such a large percentage of equity could easily cause him to lose control of the company.

Senlian Capital held 3% of Cloud Speed Express and 40% of Clound Speed Freight. Despite these two companies having nearly 5,000 employees, they had never contributed a single wisp of Human Dao Fire to him.

This meant that once Chen Yansen lost controlling interest, the employees under him would no longer be able to generate Fire value.

Therefore, Chen Yansen’s refusal was decisive. He told Liu Zhiping that 300 million US dollars for 15% of Pinbei’s equity was his bottom line.

Of course, his actual bottom line was 20%.

To put it simply, Penguin was using its top-tier traffic portals on QQ and WeChat to exchange for 15% of Pinbei’s initial equity. The 300 million US dollars was just a bonus.

With this move, Chen Yansen had effectively set Pinbei’s valuation at 2 billion US dollars.

For an e-commerce platform still in the development phase, this valuation method was completely baseless.

But this money wasn’t an investment in the Pinbei project; it was an investment in Chen Yansen himself.

Liu Zhiping immediately relayed the results of the negotiation to Ma Wenteng.

”Pony, while I agree with your idea of investing in Pinbei, this kid is too greedy. I think we should wait and see how Pinbei develops,” Liu Zhiping said to Ma Wenteng after some serious thought.

”300 million US dollars, plus a top-tier portal placement... Even our own internal projects wouldn’t dare ask for that at a general meeting. He’s certainly got an appetite,” Ma Wenteng snorted, pushing up his glasses.

”So you mean...?” Liu Zhiping asked tentatively.

”Agree to his terms. But for the top-tier portal contract, I’ll only sign for three years.”

Ma Wenteng squinted, and after a moment of contemplation, gave a surprisingly unexpected answer.

Liu Zhiping’s mouth fell open, his face a mask of astonishment.

”What? Weren’t you the one who always wanted me to give up on our proprietary e-commerce strategy? Now I’m doing what you wanted, and you’re making that face?” Ma Wenteng stood up, clapped Liu Zhiping on the shoulder, and teased with a smile.

”But Chen Yansen said the contract would be signed year by year.”

Liu Zhiping snapped out of it and replied with a wry smile.

”What!? He only wants to sign for one year?” Ma Wenteng’s face was full of confusion.

This was a top-tier traffic portal for QQ and WeChat, with hundreds of millions of daily impressions and over ten million unique clicks.

’He went to all this trouble just to sign for one year?’

In Ma Wenteng’s mind, a kid like Chen Yansen would have started by setting the contract term at five years or more.

”He said that if he can’t get Pinbei off the ground in a year, he might as well go find a block of tofu and bash his head in.”

Liu Zhiping relayed Chen Yansen’s exact words.

”Confidence is a good thing, but overconfidence is just arrogance.” Ma Wenteng shook his head, feeling that Chen Yansen was too presumptuous.

Paipai Network was backed by Penguin and had its traffic, yet it couldn’t even break into the industry’s top ten.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be pinning his hopes for the e-commerce sector on an outside company.

At this point, Ma Wenteng wasn’t yet completely disheartened. It was only later, when Paipai Network’s market share dropped to 1%, that he accepted Liu Zhiping’s advice.

He would forge a strategic partnership with Jingdong, giving them money when they needed money and traffic when they needed traffic.

His only demand was for them to help Penguin land a few hard slaps on Taobao in the e-commerce field.

It was just a shame that Handsome Dong from Zhongguan Village remained the perennial number two for over a decade. It wasn’t until Pinduoduo rose up that Penguin finally managed to even the score in the e-commerce race.

”Since the contract is only for one year, just agree to it,” Ma Wenteng said, returning to his seat and frowning in thought. After a long while, he looked up at Liu Zhiping.

”Alright, I’ll arrange it,” Liu Zhiping nodded.

That afternoon, Chen Yansen received Liu Zhiping’s reply. He was told bluntly that Pony had gone to great lengths to persuade Penguin’s management to approve the investment.

Chen Yansen just smiled, not taking the other party’s words to heart.

Little Ma had agreed to such harsh terms. Even Chen Yansen had to admire him; the man was clearly willing to gamble.

He handed over the subsequent coordination process to Gao Weilin. On Penguin’s side, it was handled by an old acquaintance, Lin Chenfeng.

The day after the contract was signed, the news shot to the top of the trending topics.

”Business Genius’s Third Venture! Penguin Capital Completes First Investment, Securing Funding of 300 Million US Dollars!”

”Penguin VP Liu Zhiping Reveals: Pinbei to Become a Strategic Partner for QQ, Gaining Access to Its Top-Tier Portal!”

”Rumor Has It: Ali Baba Also Extended an Olive Branch Before Penguin, Only to Be Rejected by Chen Yansen!”

Details about the financing deal were successively leaked online.

This instantly broke the composure of a slew of entrepreneurs desperately seeking funding opportunities, especially Zhang Xuhao of Eleme, who slammed his desk in his office with a loud BANG.

’On what grounds could that Chen Yansen get a 2-billion-US-dollar valuation based on a mere business concept?’

’Is that fair?’

’Damn it!’

’Why is it so hard for Eleme to find investors!’

Zhang Xuhao got so worked up he even blurted out his catchphrase, but unfortunately, there was no one there to answer him.

Even before its launch, Pinbei had already generated tens of millions of views’ worth of hype.

Whether it was users or the merchants and platforms within the industry, everyone was guessing what Pinbei’s business model would be.

But trying to understand an entire company just from its name was undoubtedly too abstract.

When Ma Liyun learned that Chen Yansen had chosen to side with Penguin, he was instantly displeased. However, he was too busy dealing with merchant disputes and the buyback of Ali Baba’s shares to give it much thought.

He scoffed at Ma Wenteng’s decision. ’To make such a huge bet without even a product—is there any difference between that and gambling?’

Chen Yansen was indeed a business prodigy. At such a young age, he was already worth tens of billions and had founded two separate ten-billion-dollar enterprises.

’But in this world, who can win every single time?’

He had previously been willing to offer a 500-million-US-dollar valuation, but that was only because he was optimistic about Chen Yansen as a person.

But 2 billion US dollars was far beyond Ma Liyun’s bottom line.

「Meanwhile.」

After seeing the news online, the Pinbei team members first confirmed it with Chen Yansen. Once they knew the information was accurate, their faces lit up with joy.

Although the project had ample funding, the 300 million US dollars from Penguin carried a different meaning. It represented Ma Wenteng’s full support.

Wang Zihao came from a background in user acquisition, so he knew better than anyone the cost and difficulty of buying traffic. Boarding Penguin’s big ship—even if it didn’t mean they could ride the winds and waves and soar ninety thousand li into the sky—would certainly ensure a smooth product launch.

Zhang Wenbo and Xiang Pengfei were busy with product development, while Song Yuncheng, Chen Xu, and the others coordinated with the HR department, conducting interviews every day.

Zhang Yifeng, Li Hui, and Yuan Wei were sent out by Chen Yansen. Their mission was twofold: first, to visit merchants, and second, to take the opportunity to go deep into the regions of origin for Shatang mandarins, Wogan navel oranges, and other citruses, establishing contact with local agricultural associations to secure firsthand supply and pricing.

All in preparation for Pinbei’s launch!

The other newly hired business development staff took a list of merchant contacts copied from FoxTao and began calling them one by one, inviting them to set up shop on Pinbei.

Without Penguin’s investment and traffic support, these merchants might not have been willing to join. After all, a new platform needs time to grow. Entering too early meant low returns while wasting manpower and financial resources.

After all, Pinbei had high entry requirements. The security deposit started at a hundred thousand, and merchants without sufficient strength simply didn’t have the confidence to join.

But now, with Penguin backing them and promising to embed a redirect link for Pinbei in the top-tier portals of QQ and WeChat, merchants from the Taobao and Jingdong ecosystems no longer hesitated.

Min Jie of Meiters was the first to submit a 500,000 security deposit as soon as Pinbei’s merchant recruitment rules were released, becoming the first brand, besides Orange Technology, to join the platform.

After settling things with Penguin, Chen Yansen called Liao Wei.

The next morning, Liao Wei rushed from Yanjing to Xucheng and walked into Chen Yansen’s office.

”How has Clound Speed Freight been lately?” Chen Yansen asked with a smile, lifting a teapot to pour Liao Wei a cup of hot tea.

”Ah Li has resources in international logistics and freight forwarding, and for now, they’re still letting Clound Speed handle their cross-border e-commerce business. But they’ve changed the person in charge, so I’m feeling a bit uneasy.”

Liao Wei’s mood had been a rollercoaster lately. He had been doing great, following FoxTao’s lead and building up a flourishing cross-border transport business.

But who would have thought Chen Yansen would actually sell FoxTao to Ah Li!

”I called you here to discuss something. I’m planning to fully acquire Clound Speed. What are your thoughts?”

Chen Yansen raised his teacup, took a small sip, and asked softly.

’Acquire Clound Speed?’

Liao Wei froze for a second, then immediately realized that Chen Yansen must be referring to Cloud Speed Express, not Clound Speed Freight.

”President Chen, to be honest with you, the competition in the express delivery industry has been intense these past two years. We’ve got Shunfeng and the ’Three Passes and One Reach’ ahead of us, and Jingdong, Guofeng, and Tiantian Express coming up from behind. Clound Speed’s business has been shrinking by the day. We only have about 300 depots left.”

Liao Wei gave a wry smile. The subtext was that while he was willing to sell, he didn’t dare try to swindle Chen Yansen on the valuation.

After all, the other man was still the majority shareholder of Clound Speed Freight. His current livelihood was a gift from Chen Yansen.

”You’re all in the same express delivery business, so how did you end up so miserable?” Chen Yansen teased with a smile, though his brow was furrowed.

’What does 300 depots even mean?’

’In a dozen or so years, Shunfeng at its peak would have over 200,000 stations across the country.’

’Clound Speed’s scale wasn’t even comparable to a single hair on their body.’

”Sigh... what could I do? E-commerce has developed so fast these past two years, and everyone’s fighting for market share. I have few vehicles, few employees, and few stations. I can’t lower my delivery fees, I can’t win a price war, and I can’t compete in the rat race. If it weren’t for my old clients, I would have shut down Clound Speed long ago.”

Liao Wei spread his hands and complained incessantly.

Chen Yansen just smiled. ’This is nothing,’ he thought.

’In his past life, Pinduoduo and Douyin E-commerce successively entered the low-price market, driving the starting delivery fee down to 1 yuan. It was only after the postal service intervened that the price was pulled back up to 1.4-1.5 yuan.’

’The market in 2011 wasn’t nearly that brutal. Even for corporate contracts signed directly with headquarters, the minimum price was still 3-4 yuan per parcel.’

”Regarding the price, I’ll have Gao Weilin from Senlian talk to you.”

Chen Yansen said lightly, putting down his teacup.

’With Clound Speed’s meager assets, it wasn’t worth more than 300 million all bundled together. Leaving it to Gao Weilin was enough.’

”Okay, no problem! President Chen, now that you’re buying Clound Speed, you’ll probably be needing a professional manager, right?”

Liao Wei agreed readily, then immediately followed up with a smiling question.

He knew perfectly well that once Ah Li kicked Clound Speed Freight to the curb, he’d be right back where he started.

’But following Chen Yansen would be different!’

’Think about it, a corporate behemoth like Penguin dared to invest 300 million US dollars in Chen Yansen without even seeing a product!’

’So what was there for him, Liao Wei, to hesitate about? He just had to follow along!’

”Are you interested?” Chen Yansen looked up at Liao Wei.

He really did need someone he could trust. Liao Wei was an odd case. To say he was capable—he’d run Cloud Speed Express into the ground. To say he was incapable—he’d made Clound Speed Freight a roaring success.

’Although that was with FoxTao’s help.’

’Still, his own abilities couldn’t be ignored!’

Chen Yansen considered it. He felt Liao Wei’s execution was good, but his pioneering spirit was a bit lacking.

’To put it bluntly, the man could get a job done, but he wasn’t smart enough. He needed someone to point the way for him.’

”Of course I am! I want to follow you too, President Chen. If you’re willing, I’ll treat you like my own brother from now on.”

Liao Wei said, rubbing his hands together with a sly chuckle.

’Fuck!’

’This guy is almost fifty, and he’s still so thick-skinned!’

Chen Yansen cursed silently. But in business, being too concerned with saving face was a major taboo.

On this point, Liao Wei was excellent. He was flexible, able to bend and stretch as needed, and sufficiently shameless!