Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Hu City, Cloud Speed Express headquarters.

Nie Tengyu sat in Liao Wei’s office, sizing up his competitor at close range for the first time. The man was in his forties, a few years younger than himself.

He had a buzz cut and a round face, bearing a slight resemblance to a chubbier Deng Chao. He wore a triumphant, beaming smile.

”President Liao, you’ve had some good luck.”

Although Nie Tengyu had admitted defeat, he believed Liao Wei had just gotten shit-lucky by latching onto Chen Yansen of Senlian Capital.

They gave him money when he needed money, resources when he needed resources, and business when he needed business. If their roles were reversed, he was confident he would have performed far better than Liao Wei.

Liao Wei chuckled, thinking to himself: ’This old fossil. The only tough thing left about him is his mouth.’

He said nonchalantly, ”President Nie, sometimes luck is a part of strength. Mr. Chen chose me and Cloud Speed Express. Even if you’re not convinced, what can you do about it?”

Nie Tengyu’s expression froze. Stung by Liao Wei’s retort, he was rendered speechless and cursed inwardly: ’Son of a bitch! A petty man enjoying his moment of success!’

Liao Wei curled his lip in disdain, thinking: ’You only see my glory days, but I’m no spring chicken, and the boss is still forcing me to get some MBA. You think my life is easy?’

’What damn luck!’

’This is all strength!’

”I want to sell Yunda Express as a package deal. I wonder if President Liao would be interested?”

Nie Tengyu took a deep breath and stared at Liao Wei as he spoke.

”Of course we are. Cloud Speed has extensive experience in integrating the resources of express companies. You’ve come to the right person, President Nie.”

Liao Wei replied with a smile.

Although Yunda’s strength couldn’t compare to the likes of Shentong or Yuantong, its scale was five or six times larger than Cloud Speed’s had been just a year prior. Nationwide, it boasted 8,000 service outlets, over 70 transfer centers, more than 7,000 direct employees, and another 10,000-plus couriers at its franchised locations.

It originally had nearly 20,000 employees, but during the delivery price war, forty percent of its couriers ended up resigning.

As long as Cloud Speed swallowed Yunda’s freight resources and delivery capacity, it would become the undisputed leader among private express delivery companies.

Seeing Liao Wei agree so readily, Nie Tengyu breathed a silent sigh of relief. His biggest fear was that Cloud Speed would refuse to acquire Yunda.

If they continued to fight, Cloud Speed would lose tens of millions more each month, but Yunda would be left with no way out at all.

As for Ma Liyun and Ah Li, he hadn’t even considered them.

Senlian Capital and Ah Li were partners in the food delivery and ride-hailing industries. He didn’t believe for a second that Ma Liyun would be willing to fall out with Chen Yansen and pump billions into ”Three Passes and One Reach” to keep them afloat.

They were all businessmen and could more or less guess each other’s schemes. Perhaps Ah Li might offer some preferential resources and traffic, but getting Ma Liyun to put in both money and effort was clearly impossible.

Afterwards, the two sides reached an agreement. Cloud Speed would first evaluate and audit Yunda’s existing assets and business scale, and then they would negotiate a specific acquisition price.

Although Nie Tengyu’s bottom line was 1.6 billion, he knew in his heart that Yunda, with its business volume having shrunk by 60%, was worth 1 to 1.2 billion at most.

Besides, that bastard Liao Wei would definitely try to drive the price down.

An hour later, Liao Wei saw Nie Tengyu out of the headquarters building. Gazing at the man’s retreating back, he couldn’t help but reflect: ’Choosing the right boss is really important.’

Back in his office, he picked up his phone and dialed Chen Yansen’s number.

”Boss, Nie Tengyu from Yunda Express just stopped by. He wants to sell Yunda to Cloud Speed,” Liao Wei reported simply.

”What’s Yunda’s current daily parcel volume?” Chen Yansen asked.

”Around 600,000 orders. Plus, we’d have to take on 18,000 Yunda employees. I tested Nie Tengyu’s bottom line on the price; I estimate we can get it done for 600 to 800 million,” Liao Wei replied.

”Alright, I understand. You’ll be in charge of negotiating with him. I’ll have Old Gao send a team over to help you later.”

”Yes, Boss,” Liao Wei answered.

After speaking, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

If he could spend a few billion to buy out all of ”Three Passes and One Reach” in one package and end the price war early, he certainly wouldn’t object.

But Chen Dejun didn’t think that way. As someone used to being the top dog, how could he possibly admit defeat so easily?

That evening, he went to Ma Liyun and relayed the demands of Lai Haisheng and Yu Weijiao.

”You mean, you want Ah Li to give each of your three companies a 500 million investment?”

Ma Liyun snorted coldly, asking in disbelief.

”That’s right. We won’t take it for free; we can exchange it for equity,” Chen Dejun said as if it were a matter of course.

”I’ll think about it,” Ma Liyun said, his face devoid of expression.

Frankly, although Ah Li had raised over 8 billion US Dollars to buy back shares from Yahoo, a mere 1.5 billion was still an amount he could afford.

But the Cainiao Network he was planning was just an extended service for the express delivery industry. Why should Ah Li be the one to foot the bill?

If he agreed to Chen Dejun’s proposal, wouldn’t Wang Wei of Shunfeng, Liao Wei of Cloud Speed, and others all use the same reason to ask Ah Li for money?

Therefore, Ma Liyun’s thinking was simple: either accept the partnership or get lost!

In his view, after a significant decline, the combined business volume of ”Three Passes and One Reach” was less than half of Cloud Speed’s. Whether they participated or not wouldn’t have a major impact on Cainiao.

Having thought it through, Ma Liyun gave a few perfunctory replies and sent Chen Dejun on his way.

After hanging up, Chen Dejun’s face was ashen. Having been in the business community for decades, how could he not recognize Ma Liyun’s dismissive attitude?

’Partnership, yes. Money, no way!’

’Stingy Ma!’

Chen Dejun couldn’t hold it in and cursed aloud.

Beside him, Yu Weijiao and Lai Haisheng looked at each other in dismay. Their hearts sank as they instantly understood that the negotiations had failed.

Nie Tengyu had guessed correctly; Ma Liyun had no intention of putting up any money.

In fact, according to Ma Liyun, Zhongtong and Yuantong would even have to fork over more money to jointly establish the Cainiao Network.

Lai Haisheng immediately deflated, and his mind started racing, wondering if he should contact Cloud Speed or Senlian Capital as soon as possible.

The other side wasn’t afraid of losses, but he had been unable to bear them for a long time.

’Can Cloud Speed swallow all of ”Three Passes and One Reach”?’

Lai Haisheng thought it was unlikely. ’Looks like I have to beat Chen Dejun and Yu Weijiao to the punch and negotiate an acquisition with Cloud Speed,’ he thought.

’Otherwise, what if Cloud Speed gets picky and is only willing to acquire two or three of us? A few months later, I probably won’t be able to sell even if I want to.’

”President Chen, President Yu, I have a meeting with another investor. You two take your time. I’ll be leaving first.”

Lai Haisheng’s eyes darted as he casually made up an excuse.

Chen Dejun waved his hand dismissively, not saying a word.

He had already approached nearly every domestic investment firm interested in the express delivery industry. But as soon as they heard that Shentong was losing 200 to 300 million a month, they immediately abandoned any thought of investing.

Venture capital firms are in it to make money. The core income for an investment manager comes from the commission on their investment returns.

No one was willing to invest in a company that was continuously losing money with no hope of profitability in sight.

Unless it was a blue ocean market or an industry with a sufficiently large market outlook!

But did the express delivery industry count?

Obviously not!

Two days later, still at a loss, Chen Dejun boarded a plane to Australia, planning to try his luck with foreign investors.

Soon after he landed, he received a call from Yu Weijiao. ”President Chen, Nie Tengyu sold Yunda to Cloud Speed for 760 million.”

Chen Dejun sighed faintly and replied dryly, ”If you want to sell, I won’t stop you.”

”I’m not a coward like Nie Tengyu!” Yu Weijiao said contemptuously.

Of the four of them, he was the one who hid his intentions the deepest. Half a month ago, he had already connected with an investment firm from the Lighthouse Country, planning to raise 150 million US Dollars. Once he had that money, Yuantong Express could continue to hold on.

It was possible that after acquiring Yunda and crushing Shentong and Zhongtong, Cloud Speed Express would end the price war.

After all, while ”Three Passes and One Reach” was suffering heavy losses, Cloud Speed’s losses were even more severe.

What’s more, Investment Attraction, Huake, and Huaxin had jointly invested 1.8 billion US Dollars. This money was meant for Cloud Speed to buy airplanes and land to build operational centers; they would never allow Cloud Speed to keep losing money indefinitely.

He never thought about defeating Cloud Speed Express, but Yuantong only needed to be one step faster than Shentong and Zhongtong.

But what he and Chen Dejun didn’t expect was that Lai Haisheng of Zhongtong Express had already found Liao Wei.

”President Lai, you’re not here to sell your company too, are you?”

Liao Wei couldn’t contain the smile on his face. In the short span of a year, two of the former industry leaders had submitted to him. He was absolutely ecstatic.

’First Yunda, then Zhongtong!’

’In an instant, half of ”Three Passes and One Reach” will be crippled. The remaining Shentong and Yuantong will be nothing to fear.’

”You’re joking, President Liao. If I didn’t come to you to sell my company, did you think I came to invite you for tea?” Lai Haisheng said irritably.

Half of his franchise outlets had already bailed. Once their contracts were up, at least another 20% would be gone too.

The couriers under him were cursing him out all day, wishing they could dig up his ancestral graves. Watching his company’s valuation shrink continuously, what else could Lai Haisheng do?

Without securing financing, all he could do was sit and wait to die.

”President Lai, you love to joke. But there’s no hurry for tea. Let’s talk business first.”

Liao Wei said, his eyes crinkling into a smile.