Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Once the pleasantries were over, Duan Yongping turned his gaze to Chen Yansen and asked curiously, ”When does Orange Technology plan to go public?”

Chen Yansen was taken aback, not expecting such a direct question from the business tycoon. He smiled faintly and said, ”President Duan, Orange Technology has been established for less than a year. We’ll wait until the business is mature and stable before considering it.”

”IDC forecasts that Orange Mobile Phone’s annual sales will reach 30 million units, second only to Mountain Star in the country. It seems President Chen wants to secure the top spot on the smartphone shipment charts before initiating an IPO plan.”

Duan Yongping raised his glass, clinked it with Chen Yansen’s, and said with a complimentary smile.

IDC is an international data corporation that tracks and analyzes the global and Hua Country mobile phone markets annually, producing corresponding paid research reports.

Their content covers aspects like mobile phone shipments, market share, and the competitive landscape of brands, making it essential data for almost everyone in the mobile phone industry and for all investors.

”The gap in global market share with Mountain Star and Apple is still too large. We’ll talk about it when our shipments break a hundred million.”

Chen Yansen replied in a calm tone.

Shipments breaking a hundred million?

Duan Yongping was stunned, then couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He said to Huang Zheng, ”Top off President Chen’s glass and mine. As long as Orange Mobile Phone’s global shipments can break a hundred million, I guarantee I’ll purchase at least 50 million US Dollars’ worth of its stock in the future.”

Hearing this, Huang Zheng stood up, took the wine bottle, and refilled the glasses of both Duan Yongping and Chen Yansen.

He stared intently at Chen Yansen, a look of envy in his eyes.

Sun Tongyu, who was beside them, glanced at him, then back at Chen Yansen, and couldn’t help making a comparison in his mind: ’The once seemingly capable Huang Zheng was completely left in the dust when compared to Chen Yansen.’

”Thank you for your support, President Duan.”

Chen Yansen smiled. The other man’s attitude was certainly agreeable.

No wonder Chen Yongming of OPPO and Shen Wei of VIVO both regarded him as their business godfather and life mentor. They were always ready to pull out their wallets and increase their holdings, voting with real money. No one would be unmoved by that.

Seeing this, Ding Lei pushed up his glasses.

Ten years ago, NetEase faced an existential crisis. Its stock price plummeted from 15 US Dollars to less than 1 US Dollar, and Nasdaq even issued a delisting warning for the company.

At that moment, Duan Yongping decisively invested 2 million US Dollars, pulling the stock price up from 0.5 to 1.6 US Dollars per share, successfully helping NetEase avert the delisting crisis.

This was also the reason why Ding Lei looked up to Duan Yongping as an elder brother figure!

When Zhou Shouzhi heard Chen Yansen say he wanted to get Orange Mobile Phone’s shipments to one hundred million before going public, his pupils constricted. For the first time, he began to seriously consider whether he should find a new boss.

Next, Chen Yansen brought up his purpose for being in Hang City. This time, he didn’t beat around the bush and straightforwardly announced that Fast Taxi was about to begin its Series A financing round.

”Can this project make money?” Duan Yongping asked.

”I don’t know. Maybe it can, maybe it can’t. But user growth is fast, and everyone in Hang City loves using it.”

Chen Yansen replied nonchalantly.

Duan Yongping nodded. His investment creed was to ’never touch what you don’t understand.’ He preferred buying stocks of public companies over investing in startups, because their business models were already mature, making the possibility of losing money extremely low.

But when faced with Fast Taxi, Duan Yongping seemed a bit hesitant. He didn’t believe someone like Chen Yansen would go all-in on an unprofitable business.

”I’ve used this app. The demand from both the driver and passenger sides is very strong, but the policy risks are extremely high. President Chen, I was wondering, is Fast Taxi accepting individual investments?”

Sun Tongyu, who had been quiet for most of the time, suddenly spoke up.

Chen Yansen turned to look at Sun Tongyu and rejected him without hesitation. ”I’m sorry, President Sun. We’re only accepting institutional investors at the moment.”

He brought in Ah Li and Penguin to reduce competition, DST for the sake of overseas markets, and Huake Investment Attraction to secure the authorization documents from the Transportation Association.

If it were just a matter of capital, he wouldn’t need financing at all.

As for Sun Tongyu’s identity, he had recognized him long ago. He was one of the founders of Ah Li, stripped of his title as president of Taobao Network by Ma Liyun a few years ago, and was now an independent entrepreneur.

A flash of awkwardness crossed Duan Yongping’s face. He had been considering whether to invest in Fast Taxi himself, but Chen Yansen had just turned down the offer so bluntly.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad he hadn’t brought it up.

”Well... that’s a shame,” Sun Tongyu said, forcing a smile, his disappointment evident.

”President Duan, let’s leave it here for today. I still have a few friends in the next private room. If I don’t get back soon, they might just call the police.”

Chen Yansen stood up and said jokingly.

”Alright, I won’t keep you then.” Duan Yongping stood up to see him off.

”President Chen, once Fast Taxi’s financing is settled, you’re welcome to come to NetEase and have tea with me,” Ding Lei said with a smile.

Huang Zheng and Sun Tongyu also waved politely, following Duan Yongping to escort Chen Yansen and Zhou Shouzhi out of the private room.

Just as they opened the door, they saw Ma Liyun and Cai Xin standing outside, talking to the marketing manager about something.

As soon as Ma Liyun saw Chen Yansen, he waved his hand at the marketing manager and said, ”It’s fine now.”

After seeing Ma Liyun, Sun Tongyu’s expression turned cold, and he had mixed feelings.

Four years ago, Ma Liyun had forced him out of Ah Li. To start Bocasi Education, he sold the Ah Li shares he held.

But to his surprise, Ah Li’s development had advanced by leaps and bounds since 2008. Its annual sales soared from over 40 billion to over 600 billion.

Its valuation had multiplied dozens of times!

Having cashed out his shares so early, he had instantly become the ’fool’ in the mouths of his old colleagues. He could have avoided the hardship of starting a business and just waited a few more years. After Ah Li went public, Sun Tongyu could have effortlessly made hundreds of millions.

In his past life, Sun Tongyu had fiercely struck back at those who mocked him by becoming an angel investor in Pinduoduo.

But now, Pinbei had launched four years ahead of schedule, completely copying Pinduoduo’s marketing tactics and merchant operation strategies.

Even if Huang Zheng were to create an e-commerce platform in the future, it would be very difficult for him to succeed.

Pinbei had already sheared the lower-tier market of all its users and merchants. What the hell was Huang Zheng supposed to use to compete?

With Jingdong in front, Pinbei behind, and Taobao in the middle, there was simply no room for Pinduoduo to survive.

At this moment, Ma Liyun also saw Sun Tongyu. He sized him up with a slightly disdainful gaze.

Old friends meeting again, but there were no greetings, only a bellyful of unspoken complaints.

The moment Ma Liyun thought about Sun Tongyu cashing out all his Ah Li shares, he couldn’t help but want to laugh.

’So stupid!’

But after greeting Duan Yongping, Ding Lei, and the others, he still feigned warmth and invited Sun Tongyu to have a drink with them.

After all, Sun Tongyu’s wife was still a senior executive at Ah Li, so he had to maintain appearances.

Sun Tongyu politely declined and returned to the private room with Duan Yongping and the others.

”President Ding, in how many years do you think Orange Technology can achieve its goal of over a hundred million shipments?”

Duan Yongping asked, sitting on the sofa and holding his wine glass.

”Zhou Hongyi of 360 and Haier’s custom-made phone only sold 2,000 units. This industry looks simple, but it’s very hard to do well,” Ding Lei said thoughtfully. He paused for a moment before adding:

”However, Orange Technology is different. Maybe in five years, they really will have a chance to reach a hundred million shipments.”

He said five years not because he looked down on Chen Yansen, but because NetEase also had plans to make a mobile phone. They had held detailed discussions with Boguide and OPPO, planning to adopt a custom-made phone partnership model. They had even decided on the screen size and processor.

But after seeing 360’s dismal sales, Ding Lei chose to give up.

Therefore, he was well aware of the annual smartphone consumption in the country. The upper limit of buyers was only one to two hundred million units. How could Orange Technology possibly capture sixty percent of the market?

”Within three years, Orange Technology’s annual shipments will definitely break one hundred million.”

Huang Zheng said with a confident tone.

He didn’t understand the mobile phone industry, but he understood e-commerce. Pinbei’s user acquisition tactics, such as the ”Bargain to 0 Yuan,” ”Cash Prize Wheel,” and ”Money Printer” features, all tested the limits of human nature. It was hard for ordinary people to restrain their inner greed.

In his view, with the addition of top-tier traffic portals from QQ and WeChat, as well as exposure on the Orange Application Mall, Pinbei would have no shortage of new customers.

Perhaps in the short term, Pinbei would find it difficult to surpass Taobao in sales volume, but in terms of daily active users, the possibility of Pinbei overtaking it was extremely high.

An e-commerce platform with over a hundred million daily active users would bring a steady stream of buyers to Orange Mobile Phone.

”Then let’s make a bet! A three-year limit. Whoever loses buys the drinks,” Duan Yongping said.

”No problem.” Ding Lei’s interest was piqued as well.

”If President Ding loses, that bottle of Heidsieck in your office is mine,” Huang Zheng joked with a smile.

「On the other side.」

Chen Yansen, Ma Liyun, Liu Zhiping, Yu Heng, and the others drank until one in the morning before the party finally ended.

Gao Weilin supported a staggering Cheng Weixing as they both boarded the Gusteau parked at the bar’s entrance.

”Back to the hotel.”

Chen Yansen ordered Xiaoli with perfect composure.

Gao Weilin noticed that his boss wasn’t the least bit drunk and was secretly amazed. He had never seen Chen Yansen get drunk.

”Old Gao, this is the business card of Leqi’s chairman. Once the financing for Fast Taxi is sorted out, I want you to ask him if he’s willing to join Pinbei.”

Chen Yansen pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Gao Weilin.

”Boss, I’ve looked into him. This guy got in with Duan Yongping back in ’06 and even had dinner with Buffett. He’s not short on money or connections. Is it really possible for him to join Pinbei?” Gao Linwei took the card and reminded him in a low voice.

”So what? Duan Yongping isn’t his real father. If he’s capable, Duan Yongping might give him a hand at most. If he’s not, do you think Duan Yongping would just throw money at him unconditionally?”

Chen Yansen said with a dismissive curl of his lip.

After Huang Zheng resigned from Google, he first founded a B2C e-commerce platform. Duan Yongping only gave him some distributor resources from Bubugao and OPPO. After three years with no results, he turned around and sold it.

If Duan Yongping had truly treated Huang Zheng like his own son, that B2C platform wouldn’t have failed to even make a splash.

”Okay, I understand,” Gao Weilin nodded in response.

Chen Yansen smiled faintly. He wanted to recruit even Zhou Shouzhi, so bringing Huang Zheng into the fold as well wasn’t too much of a stretch.

In 2012, Huang Zheng was just the small-time boss of an e-commerce agency. Without his connection to Duan Yongping, he would have had a hard time even getting a meeting with Gao Weilin.

「The next morning, at the Fast Taxi headquarters.」

Penguin, Ah Li, DST, Huake Investment Attraction, and Jinsha Venture Capital—a total of five investment firms—were negotiating the final valuation of Fast Taxi.

Senlian Capital would not be participating in this round of financing.

After two capital injections, Cheng Weixing’s equity stake had been diluted to just 15%. If Senlian Capital were to follow up with another investment, Cheng Weixing would be forced into an early exit.

Thanks to the groundwork laid the previous night, the negotiations went extremely smoothly.

Penguin, Ah Li, DST, and Jinsha Venture Capital quickly reached an agreement, setting the valuation at 600 million US Dollars.

Yu Heng of Huake Investment Attraction was only willing to offer 400 million US Dollars. However, Ma Liyun, Liu Zhiping, Zhou Shouzhi, and Zhu Xiaohu all knew very well that Fast Taxi’s future market expansion depended on Huake Investment Attraction’s assistance.

Otherwise, Fast Taxi would have to rely on a bottom-up promotion strategy, using on-the-ground marketing and human-wave tactics to get drivers to download the app one by one.

But this method was far too inefficient!

After some discussion, everyone reluctantly agreed to let Huake Investment Attraction contribute ”technology for equity,” bringing their valuation up to 600 million US Dollars.

It was also stipulated in the contract that Huake must secure the transportation authorization documents for 10 cities with populations over 5 million, or else they would have to pay the difference.

The five investment firms collectively invested 90 million US Dollars to purchase a 15% equity stake in Fast Taxi.

Based on assessments of its market potential, growth prospects, profit model, and cash flow, the 600 million US Dollar valuation represented a premium of over 40%.

Having been online for only a month, Fast Taxi already had one foot in the door of the unicorn club.

That afternoon, the news of Fast Taxi’s financing spread throughout all of Hang City.

A valuation of 600 million US Dollars exceeded everyone’s wildest imagination!

「Three days later.」

Yu Heng from Huake Investment Attraction secured the transportation authorization documents for Jinling.

Upon receiving the notification, Cheng Weixing immediately began preparing technical, operational, and business personnel to get ready for the launch in Jinling!