Chapter 120 Please Respect History

"What form do you think the next revolution in mobile smart terminals will take?"

Xie Jing Xing did not answer but asked instead, thinking for a moment and adding a condition: "Or to be more specific, what do you think will replace the mobile phone?"

"...Smart car?" Cheng Wei was extremely helpless.

This was a beautiful story that he himself did not believe in and only described to investors as a science fiction story. However, the investors in front of him not only believed it, but also lobbied him instead.

Xie Jingxing pulled out a piece of white paper and a pen from the corner of his desk: "Let's make an assumption. A loyal Didi user in Beijing has a living radius of ten kilometers. He places orders twice a day in the morning and evening, traveling back and forth between Alibaba's Beijing branch and a residential area with relatively high housing prices."

"Obviously, we can infer that he is a mid- to high-level executive working at Alibaba."

He wrote down the key words on a piece of white paper and continued, "One weekend, he suddenly left his daily life radius abnormally. He took a taxi to Wangfujing Commercial Street at 3 pm, and took a taxi home from the Waldorf Hotel at 10 pm."

"In the next two months, he would take a taxi to the Waldorf Astoria every weekend, usually leaving in the afternoon and returning at 2 a.m. at the latest."

Xie Jingxing paused for a moment and asked, "Can we assume that he is dating someone?"

Cheng Wei nodded slowly: "I understand what you mean. We can capture a lot of traffic road data and user behavior habits. Some people suggest that we can sell this data to other companies. It would be best to make a complete business model based on the data and then sell it, so that we can make more money."

"It's too basic. As Didi's market coverage increases, we can get more relevant data to get his job position and family information. Then we can analyze his life, such as when he will get promoted, when he will get married, and when he will have children."

Xie Jingxing raised the white paper in his hand and shook it: "Big data + probability theory can create a materialistic fortune teller who is much more accurate than the old blind man reading the Book of Changes under the overpass."

“The top quantitative trading teams on Wall Street are trying to grab keywords like mine from the entire Internet to calculate market sentiment, or even manipulate market sentiment.”

Xie Jing Xing restrained his expression and said seriously: "Even emotions can be controlled. This is very scary in my opinion. You have to know that Wall Street is a financial industry. Mobile phone industry giants like Apple will only be more terrifying than this."

Cheng Wei did not comment. It is a view shared by countless experts and scholars that technology is constantly updating and developing, and the general public no longer has privacy and is entering an era of naked running.

As a terminal device connecting the entire Internet, smartphones are like a necessary route for billions of people around the world to eat, wear, live and travel, leaving countless traces.

These traces are minerals that are more valuable than gold. Apple's hardware revenue only accounts for about 30%, and the remaining 70% of the revenue comes from software services based on data minerals, so it always ranks at the top of the global corporate market value rankings.

If smart cars can replace smartphones and become the only way for the real world to connect to the Internet, will Didi follow the trend and become the next Apple?
Well, this is indeed a tempting story. Cheng Wei swallowed his saliva greedily with his Adam's apple moving.

"In a 24-hour day, after deducting working time, it seems that only food, clothing, housing and transportation are the basic needs that must occupy part of the time."

Xie Jingxing laughed: "The application scenarios of smart cars happen to be within this period of rigid demand. Even if it cannot become the most mainstream mobile smart terminal device in the future, it is an indispensable method, at least before a revolutionary mode of transportation appears to replace cars."

"A car is an intelligent integrated platform and a smart living space scenario." Cheng Wei added in a quiet voice his vision for the future of smart cars.

Xie Jingxing nodded slightly: "Yes, I firmly believe that the future will develop in this direction. At the same time, I think Didi, which has a large amount of traffic data, is more suitable for smart cars than any other company."

"You are looking too far ahead." Cheng Wei commented after a long silence.

Enterprise development must respect industry rules and do the right thing at the right time. Regardless of whether the current level of development of basic technology supports external factors to realize the vision of smart cars, Didi's own conditions alone are unable to support its entry into the field of smart cars in a short period of time.

In short, the timing was wrong, but it still couldn't explain why Xie Jingxing was so determined to go all out and fight Kuaidi.

He looked at the complex changes in Cheng Wei's expression and couldn't help but raise his hands to rub the back of his head.

People say that Lu Qi's advocacy of Baidu's all-in artificial intelligence + smart driving operation gave Baidu a new lease of life. In fact, just a few months ago, Baidu had already stumbled into the field of smart travel.

This is a field full of barriers. If you slow down now, you will have to spend ten times more to catch up in the future.

Didi must first kill Kuaidi and unify the market as soon as possible, then drive Uber out and secure its position, before it has a chance to free up its hands to catch up with Baidu and plan for the future.

From the beginning of his investment in Didi, Xie Jingxing did not simply regard it as a money-making project that had been losing money for ten years and was far from making a profit. He looked for various business models like a headless fly and could only wait for Alibaba and Tencent to take over.

Food, clothing, housing and transportation, Lao Xie is rushing on the smooth road of "food". He wants to take a few steps on the road of "transportation".

Didi has the potential to do it, but unfortunately this is just a belief held by him, a hacker from more than ten years later, and he cannot convince anyone else, including Chengwei and Liu Qing.

Everyone wants to take a breather, reduce the intensity of spending, explore feasible profit models, and slowly catch up with the fast ones.

"Let's do freight, intra-city/inter-city van freight on the TOB side, and personal moving and large-scale logistics and transportation business on the TOC side. No one is doing this market yet."

After a moment of stalemate, Xie Jingxing broke the silence and proposed a new plan.

Cheng Wei's eyes lit up and he grasped the key point: "No need to burn money?"

"The current national ownership of vans is as high as 20 million. The supply side can kill Didi and Kuaidi, and the demand side... you can move house to experience for yourself how much you need a freight version of Didi." Xie Jingxing replied briefly with a lack of interest.

Cheng Wei breathed a sigh of relief and gave a thumbs up with a smile: "Boss Xie is really a genius, the profit of this business is much higher than that of transportation!"

Transportation is a basic necessity of people's livelihood. It is indispensable, but excessive profits are not allowed.

After deducting various subsidies, Didi's actual commission on each transaction is about 20%. This is Didi's core revenue source, and the company's operating costs account for about 16% of its revenue. In the end, Didi's net profit accounts for 4% of the transaction amount.

The net return from buying long-term financial products at a bank is more than this, not to mention that Didi is currently continuing to subsidize and burn money.

The freight business is completely different. The user's mentality when consuming is different from that of transportation. After all, it is impossible to use buses and subways to transport goods, so the profit margin can be expected to be considerable.

"Can this be considered a clear profit model to convince other investors?" Xie Jingxing continued to ask.

Cheng Wei was stunned for a moment and then said carefully: "Are you still insisting on the idea of ​​burning money with subsidies?"

"I provide Didi with a profitable direction, solve various problems, and invest money unconditionally. Are you really not going to repay me?"

Xie Jingxing tapped his fingers lightly on the desk: "Let's launch the '10 billion subsidy'. The specific subsidy intensity can be reduced, but we must continue to promote this subsidy as a brand effect."

"I have to meet with other investors one by one, including Liu Qing. In fact, she is the one who wants to slow down the pace of burning money the most, so as to facilitate and negotiate quickly."

Cheng Wei had nothing to say but to agree. Xie Jingxing had done everything an investor should do, and there was no room for him to refuse again and again.

However, Didi has already burned through most of the funds in its account. If it is to confirm the "10 billion subsidy" plan mentioned before the launch, it will have to start preparing for the next round of financing.

So the two talked for a long time about the details of the "10 billion subsidy" plan and the general plan for the next round of financing. Finally, Cheng Wei agreed to hold a board meeting next Monday to finalize the subsidy plan and negotiation plan.

Before that, he tried his best to persuade other investors in private, and strived to make the subsequent board meetings a formality. If it really didn't work, it was very likely that the two major shareholders would join forces to forcibly suppress the minority shareholders, and everyone would be embarrassed if they fell out.

Cheng Wei had a headache and decided to talk to Zhu Xiaohu tonight. This person was the most resolute against continuing to burn money.

"By the way, if we want to do the freight business as quickly as possible."

Xie Jingxing suddenly remembered something and reminded that Huolala seemed to be coming soon, and he could go and invest in it then.

Cheng Wei's head hurt even more: "Brother, I just realized that you seem to be faster than me."

"...My normal performance usually starts from half an hour." Xie Jingxing raised his eyebrows in a coquettish manner.

Cheng Wei clasped his hands together and said: "Flowers may bloom again, but people can never be young again. Brother, you should cherish your early half-hour start-up age and enjoy life more. Don't always think about putting pressure on us miserable founders!"

"..."

Xie Jingxing was speechless. He waved his hand, put on his backpack and left. In the afternoon, he made an appointment with a professor from the Academy of Social Sciences to have tea and consult about the legal definition of the traditional taxi industry.

I made an appointment with Zhang Yiming for dinner. The old guy urged him to ask for programming reference books. The project of promoting pre-installed software with great money has made some progress.

This guy is far less courageous than Cheng Wei in spending money. Meizu did not dare to decisively agree to the price of 80 cents per activated user offered by several mobile phone manufacturers. ByteDance does not seem to have the gene to spend money and urgently needs the confidence of rich investors.

After dinner, Xie Jingxing met up with a few second-generation friends from the Red Walls for a few drinks and inquired about the news that the relevant departments had interviewed the online car-hailing companies.

After being busy until late at night, I returned to the hotel to take a shower, looked at the cool photos sent by Concubine Pei, and then checked the pile of pending emails related to Taihe and Xiyou in my computer mailbox.

I just couldn't get up, and I had no inner feelings. Investment bankers often say that once you reach the ED (executive director) level, you are really ED (dysfunctional)... You really have to cherish the age when you start half an hour...

At 1:30 in the morning, Xie Jingxing finished dealing with various emails with great emotion, drank half a glass of wine and went to bed.

"Bang bang bang!"

Just as I closed my eyes, there was an impatient knock on the door and the bedside phone rang at the right time.

The hotel front desk called and said that two gentlemen who claimed to be acquaintances of him rushed upstairs, and the hotel housekeeper and security guard accompanied them to monitor them.

"Aren't you two sleepy?"

Xie Jingxing opened the door and looked at Cheng Wei, whose face was red and embarrassed, and Zhu Xiaohu, who was standing next to him with a frown on his face and a short flat head and a gangster look.

He nodded to the hotel manager and said, "Get me a bucket of ice."

"Didi must reduce its money-burning rate. I just called the founder of Kuaidi through a friend. If they continue like this, there will be no chance of negotiation!" Zhu Xiaohu slammed the door and said this in a huff.

Cheng Wei smiled awkwardly and waved his hand, "Let's talk if we want to. We are all here for work."

"Didn't you know that Alibaba acquired AutoNavi?"

Xie Jingxing's tone was hard to hide his stiffness. He was wearing a bathrobe and slippers, and looked a little sloppy and embarrassed.

Zhu Xiaohu exhaled the alcohol and managed to regain his composure: "I'm going to the bathroom first."

Cheng Wei silently patted Xie Jingxing on the back and pushed him back to the room to change clothes.

A few minutes later, the three of them sat down on the sofa in the living room. Zhu Xiaohu prepared ice cubes and poured three glasses of wine as an apology.

"Liu Qing wants to take a breather and acquire Kuaidi or Bumblebee. Kuaidi also thinks so."

Xie Jingxing took out his phone, turned it off and threw it on the coffee table: "Kuaidi is waiting for Alibaba to integrate AutoNavi's traffic entry resources and join other small online car-hailing platforms. What are you waiting for, Didi? Are you waiting to die?"

"The workload of this project is so huge that Alibaba cannot finish it in three to five months. When the policies and regulations are released at the end of the year, how can we feel assured?"

Zhu Xiaohu stared at Cheng Wei, took out his cell phone from his pocket, turned it off and threw it on the coffee table. The latter gave him a subtle look and did the same.

"Kuaidi will announce the completion of its Series C financing tomorrow. It is said that the financing amount is over 100 million US dollars."

Xie Jingxing spoke in a bland tone. A few months ago, Zhang Yiming poached Zhang Lidong, the vice president of Beijing Times, to ByteDance as a partner in charge of Toutiao's commercialization business. Zhang Lidong has deep connections in the media industry.

I revealed the news to him at the dinner table.

Zhu Xiaohu and Cheng Wei both fell silent. Kuaidi raised hundreds of millions of dollars in financing, and it was completely impossible to acquire them. The best they could do was negotiate to reduce subsidies.

The problem is that Kuaidi may not be sincere. It has been making big moves such as financing and acquiring AutoNavi. If Kuaidi is allowed to catch its breath and complete the integration, it would be like you are waiting for the opportunity while I am waiting for death.

"I wanted to ask my friends about the policy direction tonight, and I heard some discordant news... CAR Inc. is going to enter the online car-hailing market." Xie Jingxing once again dropped some bombshell news.

Cheng Wei's hand shook and the ice in the wine glass made a sound of breaking.

Zhu Xiaohu subconsciously sat up straight, narrowed his eyes and looked at Xie Jingxing with unclear meaning.

As a giant in the domestic car rental industry, China Auto Rental’s competitiveness is self-evident if it enters the online car-hailing field. The most important thing is that China Auto Rental is named Liu, and it is an important enterprise in the Lenovo capital built by Liu Chuanzhi.

At present, the industry policy is still unclear. Didi and Kuaidi burned nearly 1 billion in a month, turning the entire market into the hottest capital outlet.

As the president of Didi, Liu Qing single-handedly led the negotiations with Kuaidi, and then her father came to join in. This is so interesting...

"Is the news reliable?" Cheng Wei lowered his head to confirm that the three mobile phones on the coffee table were turned off.

Xie Jing Xing took a sip of wine: "Don't you have brains?"

"Since you want to continue to subsidize and burn money, why do you agree to Liu Qing's handling of the negotiations?" Zhu Xiaohu asked indifferently.

Xie Jingxing gnashed his teeth and said, "In the two years of the Korean Armistice Negotiations, we have held more than 700 talks, both large and small. Gentlemen, I am not a real psychopathic war criminal. History tells us that peace talks have a price, and the price we paid is far from enough."

"Before we bleed dry, please don't question me like you did tonight. Please respect history."

(End of this chapter)