Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Yanjing, Marco Polo Hotel, inside the magnificent top-floor banquet hall.

A dozen or so well-dressed men and women clinked glasses, their faces flushed from the alcohol.

After finalizing the partnership, the smile on Little Ma’s face grew even wider. In just one year, Pinbei’s valuation had soared elevenfold.

In other words, his initial investment of three hundred million had now turned into 3.3 billion US dollars.

Chen Yansen set down his wine glass, leaned close to Little Ma’s ear, and asked, ”How are the financing talks between Penguin and Jingdong coming along?”

How were they coming along?

Ma Wenteng’s expression froze. He sighed softly and cursed under his breath, ”Liu Qiangdong just raised 400 million US dollars and immediately started playing for time. He hasn’t accepted, but he hasn’t rejected either.”

’You’re trying to force Handsome Dong to pick up your trash. Of course he’s not happy about it!’

A month ago, if he hadn’t been completely out of options, Liu Qiangdong probably wouldn’t have agreed to Liu Zhiping’s demands.

After all, QQ Group Buy, Paipai Network, and Yixun Network were all money pits. If Jingdong bit the bullet and bought them, they’d be looking at a loss of at least one billion US dollars.

Ma Wenteng wanted to offload Penguin’s toxic assets, while Liu Qiangdong coveted the primary traffic portals from QQ and WeChat. Initially, they hit it off immediately, but Liu Qiangdong’s attitude changed once he secured his funding.

Hearing this, Chen Yansen chuckled softly, raised his glass, and clinked it against Ma Wenteng’s. ”Liu Qiangdong thinks Jingdong’s valuation is severely underestimated. He probably won’t even start negotiations without dragging this out for a year or so. Mr. Ma, he’s playing you!”

”Underestimated? The brokers in Hong Kong Island and the Lighthouse Country gave him a valuation of six billion US dollars. I offered 6.5 billion, and he’s still not satisfied?”

Ma Wenteng’s face flushed red, tipsy from the alcohol. He reached out, lit a cigarette for himself, and began puffing away.

”The offer itself isn’t the problem. But Mr. Ma, you want to pay with equity from QQ Group Buy, Paipai Network, and Yixun Network, offering only 10% in cash. Jingdong is already short on cash. Now that OTPP has shown up, Liu Qiangdong has another option, so of course he doesn’t want to deal with Penguin anymore,” Chen Yansen said with a smile.

”President Chen, last time you mentioned that Pinbei would also be willing to take over QQ Group Buy, Paipai Network, and Yixun Network. Does that offer still stand?”

Ma Wenteng turned his head, staring intently at Chen Yansen as he asked.

”Last time? I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously, Mr. Ma,” Chen Yansen said coolly, taking a sip of his drink.

’Ma Wenteng wanted to play a balancing act, pitting Pinbei and Jingdong against each other like fighting crickets. How could Chen Yansen not be furious?’

After speaking, he glanced at the awkward expression on Little Ma’s face out of the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but feel a secret thrill of satisfaction.

Ma Wenteng opened his mouth, wanting to curse, but forced himself to hold back. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, ”At the signing tomorrow, let’s change the contract term for the QQ and WeChat portal access to five years.”

They had originally agreed on three years.

But Ma Wenteng was afraid that once Pinbei grew strong enough, it would kick Penguin to the curb, so he took the initiative with this proposal.

”Done,” Chen Yansen agreed readily.

Whether it was three years or five, it didn’t matter. Pinbei wouldn’t have to spend a single cent anyway.

Logically, occupying resource slots on QQ and WeChat should have required paying an advertising fee.

But Chen Yansen didn’t usually play by the rules!

Penguin had to provide Pinbei with free access to its primary traffic portals on QQ and WeChat just to get the rights to participate in Pinbei’s Series B funding round. This requirement had been clearly stipulated in the contract back during the Series A round.

After a few more rounds of drinks, it was suddenly ten o’clock.

Cai Yongjin glanced at his watch, then stood up to take his leave. He was a speaker at the finance forum of this year’s internet conference and had to get to the International Conference Center early tomorrow. Plus, being older, he couldn’t keep up with the stamina of the younger crowd.

Yu Heng and Gao Huiyi left right after him.

Just three minutes later, only the people from Senlian Capital and Penguin remained in the room.

”Mr. Ma, shall we call it a night?” Chen Yansen said.

”Alright, we’ll talk more tomorrow.” Ma Wenteng had drunk three or four glasses of baijiu that evening. Even with his high tolerance, he was feeling drowsy now.

”Boss, the car is ready,” Gao Weilin came over and reminded him just then.

”You have another engagement?” Ma Wenteng pressed.

”Zhang Chaoyang invited me to a bar,” Chen Yansen explained simply.

”I’ll go with you. I’ve been wanting to see Charles, too,” Ma Wenteng said, taking the jacket Liu Zhiping handed him and draping it over his arm.

In terms of net worth, Zhang Chaoyang couldn’t compare to him.

But in terms of industry status, Zhang Chaoyang was his equal in every way. After all, the man still held the title of ”Godfather of the first generation of the internet.”

Zhang Chaoyang had been a sort of mentor to Ma Wenteng. Although times had changed and the former ”big brother” was now the ”little brother” in terms of influence, they were still on good terms privately.

Chen Yansen nodded, sent a text to Old Zhang, and gave him a heads-up.

”OK,” Zhang Chaoyang replied quickly.

Afterward, the group went down to the first floor, split up into four luxury cars, and sped off toward VICS Club.

Meanwhile, inside a private room on the second floor of VICS Club, Zhang Chaoyang, Lei Yijun, Ding Lei, and He Xiaopeng had just sat down.

”Bring a few bottles of the good stuff I have stored here. The labels on the bottles have Chen Yansen’s name on them.”

Zhang Chaoyang said to the bar manager.

Chen Yansen had sent him several cases of whiskey and red wine over time. Since Zhang Chaoyang couldn’t drink it all himself, he simply stored it at the bar to treat his friends.

”Of course, President Zhang. Right away,” the bar manager replied respectfully, a smile on his face.

Although Zhang Chaoyang wasn’t in the absolute top tier of Yanjing’s billionaire circle, he was still worth several billion at least, so the bar manager was naturally extra attentive to him.

”Ma Wenteng is coming too?” Lei Yijun asked.

”Mhm, and Liu Zhiping,” Zhang Chaoyang replied casually, not thinking much of it.

”Those three together... they’re probably discussing a financing deal for Kuai Pao or Fast Taxi. The recent ride-hailing war between Qian Du and Senlian Capital has been intense enough to make my scalp tingle!”

Ding Lei leaned back on the sofa, pushed up his glasses, and remarked with a chuckle.

”It can’t be helped. Both Qian Du and Senlian Capital want to integrate ride-hailing, group buying, food delivery, and electronic navigation maps. The market is huge, but both Chen Yansen and Li Yanhong want to be number one, which makes things difficult.”

He Xiaopeng said after taking a sip from a glass of iced tea.

He had eaten dinner with Zhang Chaoyang, Lei Yijun, and Ding Lei, and then they had chatted at the hotel for over an hour before coming to the bar. Judging by his flushed cheeks, it was clear they had all had a fair bit to drink that evening.

”I just don’t get Chen Yansen’s strategy. The gaming industry is clearly more profitable, yet he specifically chose the group-buy and ride-hailing markets,” Ding Lei said, shaking his head in confusion.

”If Chen Yansen really did get into gaming, Ding Lei would be the one who’s unhappy,” Lei Yijun teased.

”Haha, that’s true. Chen Yansen’s project management skills are definitely top-notch among the younger generation. If Senlian Capital were to enter the gaming industry, it would be a formidable rival for NetEase, Penguin, and Perfect World.”

Ding Lei laughed and admitted it openly.

”How many units has NetEase’s Sharp Shadow G1 sold?” Lei Yijun suddenly asked.

”2.1 million units,” Ding Lei answered honestly, a flicker of pride in his eyes.

In less than fifty days since its launch, that was an average of over 40,000 units per day. It was an impressive sales performance, even surpassing most of the new models launched by domestic mobile phone manufacturers.

”The Aurora OS is indeed more powerful than the MIUI system. The Xiaomi 1S now has two versions with similar specs and prices, but the one equipped with Aurora OS sells over 3,000 more units per day on average.”

Lei Yijun threw up his hands and spoke with a look of resignation.

”I heard the sales numbers for the Orange Mobile Phone in the African Market have exploded. Total sales are over five million units,” He Xiaopeng interjected.

”That many?” Ding Lei was stunned. Suddenly, the two million units his NetEase phone had sold didn’t seem so impressive anymore.

”Chen Yansen started laying the groundwork for the African Market last year. Nigeria and Abyssinia might be a bit poor, but their combined population of two to three hundred million is the real deal. Even the poorest places have rich people. Five million units is nothing. If he can fully tap into the market’s potential, selling thirty million units a year wouldn’t be difficult.”

Zhang Chaoyang said nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, Lei Yijun was immediately tempted. If Xiaomi Mobile Phones could successfully break into overseas markets, it would be a huge opportunity to grow their revenue and valuation.

But the barriers to entry in the European and American mobile phone markets were high, and the African Market was already being targeted by Orange Technology. So where could Xiaomi go?

There weren’t many regions with that kind of market potential and large population.

Lei Yijun mulled it over. He soon set his sights on Tianzhu—with a population of over a billion, its potential was staggering.

With this in mind, he decided to send a team of market researchers to Tianzhu to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the local market conditions and development data.

”President Zhang, I heard the Orange Mobile Phone is about to launch in the Eastern Europe Region?” Ding Lei asked, following up on Zhang Chaoyang’s topic.

Just as Zhang Chaoyang was about to answer, he saw the frosted glass door being pushed open from the outside.