Chapter 139: Chapter 129: Lao Ma, If You Don’t Have Money, Then We Have Nothing to Talk About

The next morning, the three of them rushed to the airport and flew directly to Yanjing.

Gao Weilin clutched an iPad 2, studying FoxTao’s business operations and financial data the entire way.

Before they left, Chen Yansen had told him the purpose of the trip: to establish contact with Redwood Capital, Capital Today, DST, and Tiger Capital, and to find a potential buyer for FoxTao.

After landing, the three went straight to the Wanda Sofitel Hotel.

They arrived at exactly 10:30 AM, making them among the last to show up.

Chen Yansen led the other two into the conference hall and sat down. He glanced around but didn’t see many familiar faces.

He was seated in the third row.

The first row was occupied by the co-founders of several venture capital firms, as well as people like Liu Zhiping, Ma Liyun, Lei Yijun, Li Yanhong, and Liu Qiangdong. There were a few others beside them, but Chen Yansen didn’t recognize them.

Zhou Hongyi, beaming with success, stood on stage speaking eloquently.

Evidently, the psychological scars left by the 3Q War had long since faded.

The fact that Ma Wenteng had sent Liu Zhiping to attend this conference showed that in the Business Community, there are no permanent enemies.

After Zhou Hongyi finished his speech, the host invited Ma Liyun, Liu Qiangdong, and Lei Yijun on stage to share their respective business models.

At this point, Lei Yijun hadn’t even released the Xiaomi Mobile Phone yet. Although his achievements with Jinshan earned him a seat next to Hang City’s E-commerce Ma and Yanjing’s Handsome Dong, he appeared exceptionally humble.

He first praised the e-commerce models of the other two, saying each had its own merits, then briefly introduced the features of the MIUI system before passing the microphone to Liu Qiangdong.

Liu Qiangdong had fought his way up from offline retail. With a heavy hometown accent, he smiled at the reporters’ cameras and shared Jingdong’s asset-heavy, direct-sales model, stating bluntly that this was the right way to do e-commerce.

The implication was that intermediary platforms like Taobao Network were no different from shopping guide e-commerce sites. They didn’t create more jobs or sales but were merely traffic hubs.

This remark made Ma Liyun quite unhappy, though he didn’t show it.

When it was his turn to speak, Ma Liyun said lightly, "Just now, Liu Qiangdong mentioned the fierce competition between Jingdong and Ali. I don’t quite agree."

Ma Liyun paused, glanced at Liu Qiangdong, and continued, "Ali Baba’s mission is to cultivate more Jingdongs. In terms of business models, Taobao has always been on the most correct path..."

Liu Qiangdong’s brow furrowed upon hearing this. Ever since he learned that Taobao Network was also planning a major promotion for 618, competition between the two had become inevitable.

But Lao Ma’s words were clearly looking down on him, reeking of arrogance.

’What does he mean, Ali’s mission is to cultivate more Jingdongs?’

’So you’re saying Jingdong isn’t even worthy of competing with you?’

’We’re not on the same level?’

Liu Qiangdong’s face darkened. He decided he would call a big meeting with the procurement managers from every department as soon as he got back and strike back during the Double Eleven festival.

After securing funding, he wasn’t short on cash and was naturally confident he could wage a price war against Taobao.

Chen Yansen, sitting in the audience, gave a faint smile. It seemed the e-commerce war, which would last for over a decade, was about to begin.

’Too bad that before these two could determine a winner, Huang Zheng would appear with his Pinduoduo and beat them both into retreat.’

This Internet Openness Conference had two purposes. First, Lao Zhou wanted to use the opportunity to promote 360’s openness plan and launch products like 360 Secure Desktop, Software Manager, and Secure Browser. Second, it was to foster business cooperation across various industries.

To put it bluntly, Lao Zhou first wanted to show off, and second, he wanted to find opportunities for collaboration to enhance 360’s profitability.

Many founders from fields like Group Buy, e-commerce, gaming, software, and mobile applications were also present, most of them conversing in low voices.

The gunpowder between Lao Ma and Liu Qiangdong wasn’t even that thick yet. Over in the row of group-buy sites, everyone was eyeing each other sideways; it was a sign of good upbringing that no one had started a fight.

After all, over the past month, these companies had been paying for press releases to smear each other, poaching employees, and their ground promotion teams had even engaged in real-life brawls. Naturally, the relationships were tense to the breaking point.

The morning conference lasted for two hours, followed by a luncheon.

Lao Zhou didn’t seem very generous, but the food at the banquet was quite good.

Chen Yansen pulled Song Yuncheng to a seat, buried his head in his food for a while, and after a short rest, took Gao Weilin to make the rounds and greet people.

Although his net worth wasn’t top-tier here, he knew quite a few bigwigs.

Penguin’s Liu Zhiping and Ali Baba’s Zhang Yong were very respectful to him, even introducing him to the heads of the Asian Region for DST and Tiger Capital.

"President Chen, Mr. Ma is over there. He’d like to talk to you."

After Chen Yansen finished exchanging pleasantries with them, Zhang Yong came forward and said quietly.

"Dylan, do me a favor and have a few more drinks with Brother Martin."

Chen Yansen clapped Gao Weilin on the shoulder and pushed him toward the people from Penguin and a few VC bigwigs.

Gao Weilin appeared as steady as an old dog, but inwardly he was panicking. He had been in the Mainland for less than a week and was already meeting so many titans of the industry.

The men before him were each worth tens of billions, several times richer than the boss of Zhaoye. They were all precious resources and connections.

At that moment, Gao Weilin was certain he had followed the right new boss and decided he would resign as soon as he got back.

"Please, have a seat!"

Ma Liyun smiled and gestured for him to sit when he saw Zhang Yong leading Chen Yansen over.

He still felt a certain sense of gratitude toward Chen Yansen. If Chen Yansen hadn’t set an example for him, he really wouldn’t have known how to handle the ownership issue of Wealth Treasure.

"Mr. Ma, hello," Chen Yansen said with a smile as he sat down, greeting him graciously.

In his past life, he had seen Lao Ma at an Ali Baba live-streaming e-commerce summit. But at that time, Ali Baba’s business had stagnated, caught in a pincer attack from Jingdong and Pinduoduo. Lao Ma’s condition was a far cry from his prime, showing clear signs of decline.

The Ma Liyun before him now, however, had bright, piercing eyes and was full of spirit. He was busy with Ali Baba’s IPO plans and was at the zenith of the e-commerce industry. Otherwise, he never would have said something like ’Ali Baba wants to cultivate more Jingdongs.’

Although Ma Liyun’s words were arrogant, in 2011, he truly had the capital to back them up.

"How were FoxTao’s results for May?" Ma Liyun asked in a placid tone.

’Heh, does he really see himself as the overlord of the industry?’

Chen Yansen scoffed inwardly but said nothing. After all, in his mind, Ali Baba was the most suitable candidate to buy FoxTao.

"As of midnight last night, cumulative sales reached 1.07 billion," Chen Yansen replied, his tone just as level.

"Doesn’t that mean you’re on track for 1.5 billion in sales for June?" Ma Liyun was taken aback.

You had to understand, neither YHD.com nor Vancl had achieved that level of performance.

Chen Nian’s slogans were loud, but he only sold 800 million in Q1, still a million miles away from his 10 billion sales target.

"It’ll be a bit difficult, but there’s a 70 to 80 percent chance of hitting it," Chen Yansen said seriously.

Ma Liyun smiled. He found it interesting and appreciated young, confident people like Chen Yansen.

"What are your thoughts on Yitao?" Ma Liyun asked after a moment of thought, referring to his own shopping guide e-commerce product.

"It has great prospects. Backed by Ali Baba, it doesn’t lack traffic or merchants. All it’s missing is a catalyst for explosive growth."

Chen Yansen was bullshitting, going against his conscience.

But inwardly, he thought: ’What could Yitao do? It’s been around for over a decade and is still half-dead. A huge portion of e-commerce users have never even heard its name.’

’Ali Baba doing shopping guides is like Penguin getting into e-commerce—a history of repeated failures.’

’Doomed to fail!’

’Even after 2016, when Ali Baba, Jingdong, and Sunning joined forces to strangle the shopping guide e-commerce sector by restricting rebate websites through their affiliate policies...’

’For example, sales generated from clicks originating from Meili Shuo and Mogujie didn’t count toward sales weighting, only sales volume, while clicks from Yitao did count.’

’In the end, the shopping guide e-commerce sector was beaten half to death, but Yitao still failed to take off.’

"Young people don’t dare to speak the truth anymore?" Ma Liyun said with a smile. He was perfectly clear about Yitao’s situation.

"It’s mainly that the truth is often something people don’t like to hear," Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

Ma Liyun understood. The other man didn’t think much of Yitao’s prospects either.

He didn’t press the matter. He raised his wine glass, clinked it with Chen Yansen’s, and after a moment of silence, suddenly asked, "Are you interested in joining Ali Baba? I can put you in charge of both Juhuasuan and Yitao."

"You mean merge FoxTao into Ali Baba?" Chen Yansen countered.

"Yes. FoxTao’s employees can have their contracts transferred. I’ll take all of them," Ma Liyun agreed readily.

Chen Yansen was familiar with the rank and compensation for the head of Juhuasuan. It was at least a Vice President, M6 or P11 level, with an annual salary of 3 million, plus 30,000 to 50,000 in stock options.

Calculated out, that was worth roughly 33 to 53 million, vested over four years, averaging 10 million a year.

"What price is Mr. Ma offering?" Chen Yansen mentally compared. ’Little Ma is much more generous. He started with an offer of 200 million worth of shares, for an annual income starting at 50 million.’

’No wonder even Zhang Xiaolong, the father of WeChat, couldn’t resist the temptation and willingly joined Penguin.’

’Little Ma’s offer was just too much!’

At this time, Ali Baba hadn’t gone public yet, its revenue hadn’t peaked, and its funds were not abundant. Naturally, it couldn’t compare to Penguin.

It would be three years before Ali Baba began to show its true might, when it would back Fast Taxi, fight a bloody battle with DiDi, and burn through over a billion in subsidies in one go.

Only after it went public and its market value soared to over 200 billion US Dollars, as it went on a mad spree of acquiring and merging with other domestic companies, would ordinary people be shocked.

’So this e-commerce behemoth, Ali Baba, was actually this powerful!’

"How about I trade you shares in Ali Baba or Wealth Treasure? If you want cash, we can also use a combination of cash and equity."

Ma Liyun had just finished the first half of his sentence when he saw Chen Yansen’s brow tighten, so he quickly added the second half.

’Damn it! After all that talk, you’re just not willing to part with any cash!’

Chen Yansen cursed inwardly.

To be honest, if he weren’t in a hurry to enter the mobile phone industry and lay the groundwork for other ventures, he most likely would have accepted Ma Liyun’s proposal.

After all, when Ali Baba went public in two or three years, he would also become a billionaire worth tens of billions.

But he didn’t want to wait, and he couldn’t be bothered to wait.

Chen Yansen smiled and shook his head without speaking. The gesture was already a clear refusal.

"Is President Chen disagreeing with the equity swap, or with joining Ali Baba?" Ma Liyun pressed.

"Mr. Ma, I’m personally quite interested in joining Ali Baba, but let’s forget about an equity swap. If it’s a cash acquisition, I’d be more than happy."

Chen Yansen said with a smile.

Ma Liyun felt helpless upon hearing this. Proposing an equity swap was already his biggest concession. As for a cash payment, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he didn’t have the money.

Although Ali Baba’s share of the e-commerce market exceeded 50% in 2011, all his capital was earmarked for buying back Yahoo’s shares.

Regarding the transfer of Wealth Treasure’s ownership, although he had placated Yang Zhiyuan, the Yahoo investors from the Lighthouse Country were not happy and directly sued him for improper conduct.

Because of this, he had to promise that after Ali Baba’s IPO, he would give these investors a one-time cash return, which is to say, financial compensation.

Therefore, he simply had no money for a cash acquisition of FoxTao.

After being rejected, the thought of suppressing FoxTao instantly flashed through Ma Liyun’s mind. But then he considered that if Chen Yansen turned around and supported Jingdong, one’s gain would be the other’s loss, and it would affect Ali Baba’s future stock price.

Within a few short breaths, Ma Liyun forced himself to suppress the thought. He put on a smile and started chatting with Chen Yansen about the state of the shopping guide e-commerce market.

Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes and looked at Ma Liyun. Seeing his pensive and thoughtful expression just now, he figured the man was up to no good.

But he wasn’t concerned. Before Ali Baba’s IPO, Ma Liyun would absolutely not make a move against FoxTao. Suppressing shopping guides would be like cutting off his own flesh.

’Lao Ma wouldn’t do something so stupid!’