Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Backed by Senlian Capital and boasting ten million daily active users less than two months after its launch, Toutiao instantly became the new darling of independent content creators.

Everyone understood the game: a brand-new information platform meant less competition and higher ad rates in the beginning. The first to register would be the first to rake in the cash.

By midnight that same day, just six hours after the feature went live, the total number of registered Toutiao accounts had surpassed 100,000.

The amount of original content in channels like entertainment, tech, automotive, finance, and fiction saw explosive growth.

One article in particular, titled ”Those Absurd Old Stories from the Mountain Village,” completely shattered traffic records. In just six thousand words, it brought four beautiful village girls to life so vividly that it left users hooked and wanting more.

Fortunately, the author knew exactly how to walk the line. The story was suggestive without being vulgar, giving the content moderators no reason whatsoever to ban it.

It garnered over 600,000 reads, earning 1,100 yuan that day alone.

The entertainment channel was flooded with content about the birth of Liu Dehua’s daughter, Mayday’s concerts, the top ten albums at the Mandarin Golden Melody Awards, and the like.

Of course, there was no shortage of fake news, either.

For example, claims that Jet Li had died of a sudden heart attack, Hong Jinbao had passed away from a cerebral infarction, or Xiaoshenyang had died in a car crash. Toutiao’s moderators banned them as soon as they found them.

Various big-name influencers from the tech, digital, and sports spheres flocked to the platform, accumulating followers from across the internet while also making a good deal of money.

「The next morning.」

Chen Yansen arrived at his office and plopped down in his chair.

As usual, he started by looking at the data and handling emails. Once he was done with that, he leaned back and pulled out his phone to kill some time.

”Major Shake-up in the Group Buy Industry: Meituan Jumps to First Place! May’s Group Buy Transaction Volume Hits 1.77 Billion Yuan!”

Chen Yansen was taken aback and couldn’t help but curse inwardly, ’Could Qiu Junping from Maitun Investment be any more useless?’

It had only been two months, and Lashou Network’s market share had already slid from first to third. Even Dianping was now ahead of them.

’It seems history has chosen Wang Xin after all!’

Chen Yansen’s eyes narrowed. He knew that once Wang Xin had a moment to breathe, he would definitely pivot from the Group Buy battlefield into the more high-frequency food delivery industry.

’I just got rid of Eleme, and now Meituan Takeout is closing in?’

Although Wang Xin wouldn’t venture into the food delivery industry anytime soon, the potential crisis was already brewing. He had to cause some trouble for Meituan.

With this in mind, he called Zhu Xiaohu and offered a few strategies.

”President Chen, that’s... a little ruthless!” Zhu Xiaohu said with a dry laugh, a chill running down his spine.

”Businessmen only look at profits, not morals or right and wrong,” Chen Yansen said, unconcerned.

”So, Meituan is in Kuai Pao’s way? How about this, I’ll act as a go-between for you. 300 million US dollars for a full acquisition of Lashou Network,” Zhu Xiaohu proposed.

Compared to the last offer, this was a sudden drop of 300 million US dollars.

Chen Yansen gave a carefree laugh and refused outright. With Jinsha Venture Capital, Maitun Investment, and Renite Fund acting as his ’hired muscle’ and ’cannon fodder’ out front, why would he get his own hands dirty?

Seeing that Chen Yansen wouldn’t take the bait, Zhu Xiaohu could only hang up quietly.

But he knew that the strategies Chen Yansen had suggested were both precise and vicious, aimed squarely at Meituan’s Achilles’ heel.

It was a shame he wouldn’t take over Lashou. Otherwise, with Chen Yansen’s operational skills, Wang Xin would likely be left with no choice but to take the hits passively.

...

...

「Yanjing. No. 6 Wangjing East Road.」

Shan Jiawei, the man in charge of Meituan’s elite ground-promotion team, was greatly surprised to receive a call from a headhunter. ”Meituan is already number one in the Group Buy industry. Do you really think I would jump ship?”

Initially, Wang Xin had thought Ma Liyun sent Shan Jiawei to Meituan to usurp his power.

But after a year, he was surprised to find that Shan Jiawei was a genius when it came to business development. Under his leadership, Meituan had expanded aggressively all across the country.

It could even be said that Shan Jiawei deserved half the credit for Meituan’s rise to the top of the market.

”Mr. Shan, how much equity do you have at Meituan? And what’s your annual salary? The company I’m recommending is valued at a billion US dollars. They’re offering a 2% equity stake upon joining, and a pure cash salary of no less than 10 million yuan a year,” the headhunter replied with a smile.

’A 2% equity stake?’

Shan Jiawei thought the man was insane.

”Is it Lashou or Dianping?” Shan Jiawei asked tentatively.

The headhunter’s words hit a sore spot. He had left Ah Li to join Meituan, and while his position was high, he really didn’t have much equity.

He knew that Wang Huiwen was the one truly in Wang Xin’s inner circle.

As for him, he would always be labeled as an Ah Li man.

”If you agree, Mr. Shan, I can arrange a meeting for you. You’ll find out then,” the headhunter said, remaining tight-lipped.

”Alright, set up a time for me.” After some thought, Shan Jiawei decided to meet with them.

’I’m just a guy trying to earn a living. I’ll work for whoever pays more!’

’If not for the money, am I supposed to be working for ideals?’

What Shan Jiawei didn’t expect was that Meituan’s regional heads of ground promotion in North China, East China, Southern China, and Central China all started receiving calls from headhunters. The offers of stock options and base salaries were generous. While some refused, more than half were tempted.

At the same time, the Yanjing City Supervision Association received a joint complaint accusing Meituan of ’false advertising’ and ’failure to deliver offline services as promised in their group buys.’ Meituan’s PR department went to handle it, but to their surprise, the complainants refused to negotiate at all, acting as if they were determined to take the matter to court.

Penguin, Sina, NetEase, Toutiao, and others provided full-blown coverage, digging up every piece of negative news about Meituan they could find.

Fake news stories like ”Meituan’s Funding Chain Has Broken” and ”Merchants Complain Meituan Is Withholding Payments” also began to spread like wildfire.

”Fuck! Who the hell is pulling these strings behind my back?”

Seeing the storm clouds gathering, Wang Xin immediately understood what was happening. Meituan’s ascent to the top of the industry had clearly provoked retaliation from its competitors.

Lashou Network and Dianping were the most likely suspects!

「Meanwhile.」

From his seat as CEO of Lashou, Qiu Junping announced the immediate rollout of an exclusive partnership agreement. Any merchant who signed would receive a three-month commission-free period, forcing them into a ’choose one or the other’ situation and restricting Meituan on the supply side.

Wavering merchants who were on both Meituan’s and Lashou’s platforms would have their traffic restricted, with the excess traffic redirected to merchants who had signed the exclusive agreement.

Poaching talent, forcing exclusive deals, waging a media war, and launching a subsidy war—these were the underhanded tactics Chen Yansen had suggested to Zhu Xiaohu. The methods were dirty, but the results were obvious.

Wang Xin was left reeling from this barrage of attacks!

It wasn’t until three days later, when Shan Jiawei handed in his resignation, that he realized his opponent’s underhanded tactics went far beyond that.

Half of the core members of Meituan’s elite ground-promotion team, including Shan Jiawei, had been poached by Lashou Network.

Lashou Network had paid a hefty price for it, too.

As one’s fortune fell, the other’s rose. Lashou Network’s market share was actually showing signs of a comeback, threatening to catch up.

To cope with the price war between Lashou and Meituan, Dianping had no choice but to also increase its revenue share for merchants and launch flash sales like ’1 Yuan Group Buys’ and ’9.9 Yuan Group Buys’.

With Chen Yansen stirring the pot, the competition in the Group Buy industry grew even more intense.

Zhu Xiaohu and the others had no choice. Their three venture capital firms had invested a total of 200 million US dollars into Lashou. If they didn’t fight Meituan, that money would all go down the drain.

After all, 200 million US dollars was too great a loss to bear.

On May 28th, Shan Jiawei officially joined Lashou Network. He began reorganizing the nationwide network of agents and ground-promotion teams, starting a full transition to a direct-operation model in imitation of Meituan.

The Thousand-Group-Buy War had officially entered a three-way showdown!