Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”President Chen, you can’t be serious. Is Nuomi Network really worth 270 million US dollars? Just a month ago, Lashou Network was only valued at 300 million.”

Chen Yansen’s voice came through the speaker. His tone seemed full of mirth, but it was dripping with contempt.

In the Group Buy industry, Meituan and Dianping were in the first tier, with monthly transaction volumes exceeding one billion Hua Yuan. Lashou was in the second tier—not as good as the top, but better than the rest—with a monthly volume of 500 to 600 million.

WoWo Group and Nuomi Network, on the other hand, belonged to the third tier. Their monthly transaction volume was only 300 to 400 million, they had yet to turn a profit, and they were losing as much as 6 million US dollars in a single quarter.

’He wants to offload a burden but still sell it for a premium?’

’As if life were that easy!’

Chen Yizhou’s expression froze. Being openly mocked by a junior filled him with displeasure, but to sell off Nuomi Network—this albatross around his neck—he suppressed his anger and patiently explained, ”Lashou Network is on the decline, whereas Nuomi Network’s order volume, revenue, and market share are still growing steadily...”

”160 million US dollars,” Chen Yansen interrupted, slashing 110 million off the price in one go.

”President Chen, an offer like that is no way to conduct business,” Chen Yizhou said, his brow furrowed as he demanded stiffly.

’That bastard Chen Yansen. Knocking forty percent off right from the start. This price is a total insult.’

”Nuomi Network’s actual value isn’t as high as you think. After I take over, I’ll have to restructure the organization, the ground promotion teams, and the system architecture. 160 million US dollars is my final offer.”

Chen Yansen snorted and pushed back firmly.

’You’re putting it up for sale, but you won’t let anyone haggle?’

”If President Chen isn’t going to be sincere, then let’s just forget it.” With that, Chen Yizhou furiously hung up the phone.

Renren Group’s games division was making 7 to 8 million US dollars a month. For now, he could still bear Nuomi Network’s losses.

million US dollars?

’That’s like a handout for a beggar!’

Meanwhile, word had reached the mid- and high-level managers at Nuomi Network that the group was planning to sell the company.

And the buyer was very likely Senlian Capital!

When Zhang Xuhao heard the news, he was dumbfounded. ’Was he also fated to work for Chen Yansen?’

”I heard Kuai Pao’s benefits are amazing. You can make sixty to seventy percent of your salary in just overtime pay each month. When is the boss gonna sell?! I can’t wait!”

”Is this news accurate?”

”Duh! It’s not a question. This came straight from President Shen’s assistant. I’d say it’s ninety percent certain.”

The news quickly spread throughout Nuomi Network.

”Zhang Xuhao, come with me.” Just then, Nuomi Network’s CEO, Shen Boyang, called out to him from a junction.

”President Shen, you were looking for me?” Zhang Xuhao trotted over to Shen Boyang’s side.

”You’ve heard that President Chen plans to sell Nuomi Network, haven’t you?” Shen Boyang asked.

Zhang Xuhao paused, gave a dry laugh, and didn’t know how to respond.

It seemed the rumors about Senlian Capital acquiring Nuomi Network weren’t groundless. The thought of fighting alongside his three old comrades—Wang Yuan, Kang Jia, and Deng Ye—again stirred up complicated feelings within him.

”Good, as long as you know. Get your things, you’re coming with me to Qian Du Headquarters this afternoon,” Shen Boyang continued.

”President Shen, shouldn’t we be going to Luzhou or Xucheng?” Zhang Xuhao asked curiously.

”The buyer is Qian Du. Why would we go to Luzhou or Xucheng?” Shen Boyang asked, thoroughly confused.

”Oh, I must have misheard. What time are we leaving?” Zhang Xuhao didn’t press the matter and asked with a smile.

”Three in the afternoon. You have two hours to prepare. Don’t drop the ball,” Shen Boyang said, clapping Zhang Xuhao on the shoulder with a stern look on his face.

Li Yanhong wanted a comprehensive understanding of the Group Buy and food delivery businesses, and from Nuomi Network, the most suitable employee to accompany them was Zhang Xuhao.

As the founder of Eleme, no one understood the operational rules of the food delivery industry better than he did.

It was only then that Zhang Xuhao understood: the person who wanted to acquire Nuomi Network was Li Yanhong.

’Qian Du wants to get into the Group Buy and food delivery space too?’

Two hours later, he was sitting in the passenger seat of Shen Boyang’s car, following Chen Yizhou’s Rolls-Royce as they drove into the Qian Du Headquarters.

Compared to Nuomi Network’s offices, the Qian Du headquarters was far more impressive. It covered an area of 91,500 square meters and was located in Hua Country’s internet industry hub, neighboring Lenovo’s R&D base, Shen Zhou Digital Technology, and Zhongguan Village.

One had to remember that in the acronym ”BAT,” Qian Du came first, which showed just how high its standing was in the internet industry in 2012.

Chen Yizhou, along with his assistant, Shen Boyang, Zhang Xuhao, and the others, was led by Liang Zhixiang all the way to Li Yanhong’s office.

When Li Yanhong saw Chen Yizhou’s group, he quickly rose to greet them. Although Chen Yizhou’s Renren Group didn’t have a high market cap, he was still a major tycoon worth several billion. The fact that he was willing to personally visit Qian Du was clearly a show of respect.

”President Chen, long time no see. The last time we met was at the Shencheng City Tech Conference back in March. And these gentlemen are?” Li Yanhong asked proactively.

”This is Shen Boyang, the CEO of Nuomi Network, and Zhang Xuhao, the head of Nuomi Network’s North China Region. He was originally the founder of Eleme.”

Chen Yizhou introduced them matter-of-factly.

Zhang Xuhao sighed to himself. ’A loss is a loss.’ Although the title of ”founder of Eleme” brought a flush of shame to his face, in the professional world, you had to bow your head sometimes. He put on a smile and greeted Li Yanhong.

Over the next while, the group chatted about everything from the Group Buy industry to food delivery, but Li Yanhong never mentioned the acquisition once.

Listening to the experiences shared by these two industry veterans, Shen Boyang and Zhang Xuhao, Li Yanhong’s own strategic plan for Qian Du Network’s O2O ecosystem began to take on a clearer shape.

At the same time, from his conversation with Chen Yizhou, he also learned the real reason he wanted to sell Nuomi Network.

Although the ”war of a thousand groupons” was in its final stages, the five major platforms—Meituan, Dianping, Lashou, Nuomi, and WoWo Group—were still in the ”five-into-four” finals. To fight for more market share, they were spending up to 6 million US dollars every month on subsidies for merchants and users.

Only 6 million US dollars a month?

Hearing this, Li Yanhong remained completely unfazed.

Perhaps the 50 million US dollars that DiDi Dache was losing every month had already numbed him to such figures.

After gathering all this information, Li Yanhong simply gave a few noncommittal replies.

Seeing this, Chen Yizhou quickly lowered his asking price from 270 million to 240 million US dollars.

”President Chen, I’ll have to think about it. Whether it’s 270 million or 240 million US dollars, it’s no small sum. It will need the board’s approval,” Li Yanhong said, offering a casual excuse.

After seeing Chen Yizhou’s group out, Li Yanhong called Zhu Xiaohu.

Zhu had approached him previously, wanting to sell Lashou Network to Qian Du for 320 million US dollars.

He wasn’t interested then, but now he was.

Li Yanhong’s thinking was similar to Chen Yansen’s: Lashou Network had a higher monthly transaction volume and market share, and the price difference was only a few tens of millions of US dollars. Buying Lashou was a better deal than buying Nuomi.

As Chen Yizhou left Qian Du Headquarters, his face was dark the entire time. He knew perfectly well that Li Yanhong was trying to lowball him.

Chen Yansen was a ruthless bargainer, and Li Yanhong was a cunning strategist.

Chen Yizhou took a deep breath. He decided to wait a few more days, then lower the price to 220 million US dollars. If Li Yanhong still didn’t agree, they would go their separate ways.

He refused to believe that among all the potential domestic buyers, not a single one was willing to offer a high price.

...

...

The next morning, 360 Search quietly went live.

After achieving great success in the mobile phone industry, Zhou Hongyi was now expanding his business into the search engine sector.

The default search engines for the 360 Browser and 360 Navigation had previously been Google and Qian Du; now, they were replaced with 360 Search.

”There is a search giant in this country that monopolizes eighty percent of the market, leaving users with no choice. Google, on the other hand, frequently suffers from network outages. When users have no alternatives, the search giant dares to manipulate search results at will. I’m not creating 360 Search to make money. I just want to break the monopoly, improve search quality, and let the users be the winners!”

Half an hour after the product launched, Zhou Hongyi posted this on Weibo.

Although he didn’t name anyone, netizens all knew that Sect Leader Zhou was calling out Qian Du.

”Way to go, Sect Leader Zhou! Qian Du Search is full of ads. I support this!”

But Zhou Hongyi deleted this comment in a flash.

”Sect Leader Zhou” wasn’t exactly a compliment. It was a reference to something Lei Yijun had said, calling him Dongfang Bubai.