Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

May 20th, another perfectly ordinary Sunday.

Chen Yansen slowly opened his eyes, went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, then changed into a fresh white T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. He leisurely walked downstairs, slid into the driver’s seat of his Bentley, and headed toward the Science and Technology Park.

The sky was overcast, and the streetscape blurred past him.

He couldn’t help but recall a few news stories he had just seen.

Sina, NetEase, Renren, and Shanda, after seeing that the 360 Mobile Phone was about to break one million in sales, had all announced their entry into the mobile phone industry. They planned to partner with handset manufacturers to launch their own custom phones.

The number of smartphone users had surpassed PC users for the first time, and the scales were beginning to tip from PC internet to mobile internet.

Additionally, Yang Zhiyuan of Yahoo had finally relented and agreed to Ma Liyun’s stock buyback request. The two parties had reached an agreement: Ah Li would use 6.3 billion US Dollars in cash and 800 million US Dollars worth of Ah Li preferred stock to buy back 20% of its shares held by Yahoo.

The remaining 20% would be bought back at the IPO price when Ah Li went public.

Yang Zhiyuan had invested 1 billion US Dollars in Ma Liyun’s company in 2005. Seven years later, he recouped 7.1 billion US Dollars from just half of his shares. Once Ah Li went public, the other half of the shares would be worth at least 24 billion US Dollars.

In nine years, Yahoo had made a staggering 30 billion US Dollars.

It was perhaps the best investment decision Yang Zhiyuan had ever made in his life.

Once this matter was completely resolved, Ah Li would likely initiate its IPO plan. Along with Jingdong, the two major domestic e-commerce platforms were both heading down the path of fundraising and public listing to secure more capital for development.

Chen Yansen, however, wasn’t the least bit worried. The 300 million US Dollars provided by Penguin alone was enough to cover Pinbei’s operating expenses for two to three years, not to mention the 60 million in gross profit coming in daily.

This was also the reason he had been reluctant to accept any financing.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen drove into the Science and Technology Park and parked next to a Gusteau.

He raised his wrist to check the time. It was exactly 5:30 AM.

He couldn’t help it. He was currently getting less than four hours of sleep, waking up early every day. With nothing better to do, besides reading and studying in 0418, his only options were to come to the company to review business reports, restructure the Aurora OS architecture, or optimize the algorithm model for the Moss Intelligent Voice Assistant.

As he passed the beverage machine at the front desk, he spotted a bottle of mango yogurt. Chen Yansen grabbed it and walked straight into the elevator, heading up to his office on the top floor.

He turned on his computer and logged into the data backend.

Pinbei’s current daily active users were holding steady at 50 million, with mobile users accounting for 23% of that. Compared to last December, this was a full 15% increase.

This clearly showed how rapidly smartphone sales were growing in the domestic market.

In 2011, smartphone shipments were only 80 million units. But in the first four months of 2012, cumulative shipments had already surpassed 60 million. Many data research firms in the tech circle predicted that smartphone shipments in 2012 could very well break the 200 million unit mark.

The only problem now was that 3G data plans were too expensive, which greatly restricted the development of the mobile internet.

Otherwise, Pinbei’s mobile user share should be at least 40%.

Regarding this, Chen Yansen’s hands were tied.

Getting the three major carriers to spit out the meat they already had in their mouths was practically impossible.

Unless a big shot from above gave the order!

Chen Yansen remembered clearly. In his previous life, it wasn’t until the second half of 2013, when he went to Hu City for an internship, that he had bought a China Telecom corporate plan card on the Taobao Network.

The monthly fee was 19 yuan for 1GB of nationwide data, and any data used beyond that was 10 yuan per GB.

But in 2012, data prices were still sky-high. Users even had to turn off their mobile data when they slept, terrified of waking up to find they owed the carrier enough money to buy a house.

Therefore, for apps like e-commerce platforms that needed to load numerous main product images and detail pictures, a user’s meager data allowance was simply not enough.

Kuai Pao Delivery’s coverage had expanded from Luzhou and Hu City all the way to Jinling, Hang City, and Su Cheng. Its daily order volume reached 800,000, and its team of couriers had grown to over 7,000 employees, with an additional 2,200 part-time delivery staff.

Delivery guys who quit from the ”Three Passes and One Reach” companies either went to Clound Speed or joined Kuai Pao.

In the cities where Kuai Pao and Fast Taxi operated, Gaode Map had launched ride-hailing and food delivery services. This not only directed traffic to Kuai Pao and Fast Taxi but also opened up a new revenue stream for itself.

Adding in the Orange Mobile Phone, Toutiao, and Lingxi Browser, Chen Yansen had already locked down the entry points to the mobile internet in advance.

He was just waiting for the policy to ”increase speeds and lower prices” to be announced, and then he would be able to jog into the new era.

The old era of the internet had the tycoons of BAT, but the new era would have only one god.

’I’ll have to wait another year.’

After finishing his work, Chen Yansen held out his hand, and his phone flew into it.

As the chairman of Orange Technology, the phone he used was naturally the Orange C2. He opened a scanned e-book version of *Propulsion Systems* and began flipping through it quickly.

He read through more than a dozen books in one go. A faint glimmer of dawn shone through the glass window, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the floor.

It wasn’t until 8:30 AM that Chen Yansen put away his phone, took the elevator to the first floor, and headed for the cafeteria.

As soon as he walked in, a few of the local Xucheng ladies working there quickly greeted him loudly, ”Good morning, Boss Chen! Today we have pumpkin congee, millet congee, wontons, dumplings, and douhua. What would you like?”

”I’ll have the douhua. Easy on the soy sauce.”

Chen Yansen glanced around, picked up a tray, chose a few of his favorite breakfast items, swiped his card, and accepted a bowl of freshly prepared douhua. He then found an empty seat and sat down.

By this time, a few scattered employees were trickling into the cafeteria for breakfast.

Orange Technology, Pinbei, Toutiao, and Orange Pay all started work at 9:00 AM, had a two-hour lunch break, and finished at 5:00 PM.

It was a six-hour workday, and overtime was not mandatory.

However, since every project was in a high-growth phase, and with overtime pay reaching up to three times the normal rate, most employees’ schedules had them starting at 9:00 AM and finishing at 8:00 or 10:00 PM.

Just their overtime pay each month could amount to 70% of their base salary, or in some cases, even more than the base salary itself.

”Morning, Boss!”

Just then, Ye Qiuping, holding a tray, walked straight over and sat down opposite Chen Yansen. She gave a faint smile and greeted him in a soft, gentle voice.

”Done with the act?”

Chen Yansen looked up, glanced at Ye Qiuping, and finally let his gaze fall on her bowl of savory douhua, which was covered in chili oil.

”People from Qin Island eat savory douhua, too,” Ye Qiuping retorted with a smile.

Her voice was soft and sweet, much like her figure.

But Ye Qiuping’s work style was the complete opposite: sharp, decisive, and never wishy-washy. She could turn hostile in an instant.

”Is the Paramount situation handled?” Chen Yansen asked casually.

”The contract is for five years, at 20,000 US Dollars per year,” Ye Qiuping replied.

*Star Trek* was indeed a huge IP, but Alexa was just an intelligent dialogue system in the movie, so of course the licensing fee was ridiculously low.

When Paramount heard that a tech company from Hua Country wanted to license a character from *Star Trek*, they had hoped to make a killing. But when they learned the character was Alexa, they were momentarily stunned and promptly tossed the partnership to an intern in the licensing department.

After all, nobody cared about a contract worth just a few tens of thousands of US Dollars.

”200,000 US Dollars for a one-time buyout,” Chen Yansen said flatly.

He was afraid that if the Alexa Smart Speaker became a massive hit in the European and American Markets, Paramount would jack up the price later.

”And if Paramount doesn’t agree?” Ye Qiuping pressed.

”Then we drop it,” Chen Yansen said with a shrug, unconcerned.

It would be best if they could ride the coattails of the *Star Trek* IP, but he didn’t care if they couldn’t. To him, creating a *Star Trek* co-branded smart speaker was just icing on the cake.

For the Alexa Smart Speaker to sell millions, or even tens of millions, of units in Europe and America, its success would ultimately have to rely on its own product strength.

”Okay, I understand,” Ye Qiuping said with a nod.

Chen Yansen grunted in acknowledgment and said no more, focusing on his breakfast.

As Ye Qiuping ate her douhua, she secretly sized him up. His brows were like distant peaks, his eyes deep and bright. The aura of power between his brows was growing stronger by the day, and he exuded a complex mix of boyishness and the air of a business tycoon.

Most importantly, whether compared to innocent college boys or seasoned entrepreneurs, Chen Yansen’s looks and physique were in a league of their own.

”What are you planning, staring at me like that?” Chen Yansen asked without looking up.

”I’m not looking at you,” Ye Qiuping denied flatly, seeing that he hadn’t even raised his head and assuming he was just making a wild guess.

Chen Yansen ignored her, finished his breakfast on his own, and prepared to get up and leave.

”Boss, I need to report to you about work in a bit.”

Ye Qiuping pressed her legs together, blinked her eyes, and said softly.

’What is this woman trying to do?’

Chen Yansen’s brow furrowed slightly. ’When to flip through a book—at what angle, with what force, to what depth—that had to be his decision.’

”I don’t have time today,” Chen Yansen refused outright.

With that, he placed his tray at the dish return station and unhurriedly walked back to his office.

He had just sat down when he received a call from NetEase’s Ding Lei.

Chen Yansen thought for a moment and guessed the reason for the call. ’Looks like the ”pig farm” phone isn’t far off.’

”President Chen, when are you coming to Hang City? I recently got my hands on two bottles of fine wine. I’ve got the wine, all that’s missing is a friend like you to share it with.”

Ding Lei said, laughing cheerfully as he made small talk.

”If President Ding can’t wait, you could always bring the wine to Xucheng and find me,” Chen Yansen replied with a teasing smile, leaning back on the sofa.

”I have to personally go all the way to Xucheng just to invite you for a drink? You’ve got a bigger ego than Zhang Chaoyang, kid.” Ding Lei knew he was joking and bantered back good-naturedly.

”You said it yourself, we’re friends, so let’s cut to the chase. I’ve seen the news. NetEase wants to make a phone, right? So tell me, are you looking for patent licenses, or do you want the Orange Factory to be your OEM?”

Chen Yansen’s smile faded as he asked bluntly.

”Both!” Ding Lei gave a dry laugh, then explained, ”I set up an R&D studio in Hang City and was originally planning to create a NetEase OS. But after thinking it over, I decided to use your Aurora OS instead.”

It wasn’t hard for him to see from the market feedback for the 360 Mobile Phone and the Xiaomi 1S that in terms of hardware compatibility, system resource management efficiency, and security mechanisms, Aurora OS was far superior to the MIUI system.

The result was the awkward situation where the Xiaomi 1S couldn’t outsell the 360 Mobile Phone.

It was also the first time users had realized that simply piling on high-end hardware wasn’t enough for a phone; hardware compatibility, memory utilization, and operational smoothness were just as important.

With the same processor performance and memory configuration, the 360 Mobile Phone was smoother than the Xiaomi 1S.

So, Ding Lei had made up his mind. He would poach some R&D engineers from companies like Huawei, ZTE, and Coolpad to handle only the phone’s hardware and industrial design. For everything else, like the operating system, built-in apps, and driver development, he would just use Orange Technology’s products.

After all, in the mobile phone industry, an ’oddball’ like Chen Yansen who would license his own operating system to other companies was a rare find.

Although Blackberry would do the same a few years later, that was a move made just before Blackberry planned to exit the smartphone market.

To put it bluntly, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, so it was perfectly reasonable to use its operating system to make a bit of money.

But Orange Technology was different. With monthly sales of its three models exceeding 4 million units, there was no reason for them to do this. Yet, Chen Yansen did it anyway.

”No problem. Just assign a point person, and we can sign the licensing agreement anytime,” Chen Yansen agreed readily.

In his mind, the Orange Phone Factory was ten times more important than Orange Technology.

Besides, the tech patents he licensed to 360, NetEase, Meizu, and OPPO were all a version behind what the Orange Mobile Phone used.

It was a win-win situation: he could earn a patent licensing fee and also increase his Human Dao Fire income. There was no reason for Chen Yansen to refuse.

”Alright. Once I’m done with things here in a few days, I’ll head to Xucheng to have that drink with you.”

Ding Lei was deeply moved. The guy was really showing him a lot of respect. He knew Chen Yansen didn’t just grant licenses to anyone who asked.

At the very least, Big Pepper and Hammer Mobile Phone had been rejected by Orange Technology.

”I’ll be waiting, then,” Chen Yansen said with a smile, then hung up the phone.

Although Toutiao and NetEase News were competing websites, NetEase’s profit center had long since shifted to the gaming industry, so there wasn’t much of a conflict of interest between the two of them.

The morning passed quickly. During the lunch break, Liang Bo sent a message: ”Boss, the creator platform features have passed acceptance testing.”

Chen Yansen shot up from the sofa and headed to the office area where the Toutiao project team was located.