Chapter 121 A Luxury Car Worth Hundreds of Millions
In the early morning, the sun is about to rise and dye the sky red.

The gorgeous morning glow is like a golden cover, the light white haze gradually dissipates to reveal the full picture of the steel forest, and the whole city wakes up in a new day.

"Next time I have a chance, I'll treat you to authentic BJ's fried liver buns for breakfast."

Zhu Xiaohu picked up the cup of water to rinse his mouth, then politely said goodbye and left the hotel's buffet breakfast room.

Cheng Wei stared out through the floor-to-ceiling window. Located 30 stories high, he had an unobstructed view of the distant scenery, including the Forbidden City and the Imperial Ancestral Temple. This was the central axis of the capital, and ordinary people could only experience it with the help of a map.

Just like Liu Chuanzhi's layout in the field of transportation, Lenovo began investing in electric vehicle companies as early as 2003, and has invested in dozens of related companies to date.

The scope covers new energy batteries, autonomous driving, automotive services and even the production and supply of electric vehicle parts. China Auto Rental is just one of the most eye-catching ones.

He knew very little about this before last night, and just relied on his foolhardy courage to bring Mr. Liu's daughter onto Didi's shabby little ship.

Now, standing at a high place and having a glimpse of the whole picture, he can intuitively experience the main axis that has been connected by Lenovo for ten years. Suddenly, he realizes whether he succeeded in pulling Liu Qing on board, or he got on Mr. Liu's boat?
Cheng Wei couldn't help but look away, and cast his gaze towards the young man who was eating leisurely in front of him: "Did you know Lenovo's layout?"

"I rarely discuss business topics with my father, and we usually end up parting on bad terms without either of us being able to convince the other."

Xie Jing Xing swallowed the last bite of fried eggs, paused and continued: "Although we are father and son, it does not mean that our positions and interests are completely consistent. I think the same is true for Liu Qing and his father."

"So that's why you didn't stop me from bringing Liu Qing into the company before?" Cheng Wei confirmed.

Xie Jingxing explained frankly: "Liu Qing can help Didi to run more smoothly. It is common sense that the most taboo for a startup company in its early stage is internal conflicts. As an investor, I have no reason to stop her from joining."

"I plan to have a frank talk with her. We can't do our business well if we are suspicious of each other." Cheng Wei shook his head helplessly and stopped worrying about it.

If Xie Jingxing had stopped Liu Qing from joining, even if he had explained the complicated threads behind the scenes, he would have only become more rebellious and thought that the former wanted to seize actual control of the company.

It's hard to say who is right or wrong in this matter. Since we have come to this situation, we should deal with it positively. Through the in-depth discussion among the three of us last night, it is inevitable that China Auto Rental will enter the online car-hailing industry sooner or later. Don't hold a grudge against Liu Qing because of this.

Just as Xie Jingxing said, Liu Qing might not agree with his father's position completely. In ancient times, the noble families placed bets separately and they still valued fairness and justice.

Cheng Wei pulled himself together and said, "If CAR Inc. enters the online car-hailing market from the private car sector, the competitive pressure it will face will not be small. It will not pose a threat to us in at least half a year."

"It's good that you have confidence. Xiyou and Taihe will also layout the upstream industry of transportation in the future. This will be a long-term market competition. I am worried that you can't hold on." Xie Jingxing encouraged from the bottom of his heart.

Cheng Wei smiled and said, "I will try my best to live up to your careful guidance and help Didi with its long-term strategic planning in the past two days."

"Then notify Tencent, hold a board meeting on time to launch the '10 billion subsidy', and start the D round of financing simultaneously. The original expected target remains unchanged, and the service will be fast by the end of this year." Xie Jingxing silently said thank you to Liu Qing in his heart.

CAR was caught up in the butterfly effect he created and entered the online car-hailing market ahead of schedule, causing Cheng Wei and Zhu Xiaohu to become suspicious of Liu Qing, who was the leader of the negotiations, and they quickly changed their attitude and turned to him.

This is a pleasant surprise, and given China Auto Rental's own advantages, the most reasonable business strategy is definitely to first use its own high-end car rental business to enter the private car service market, and then launch a large-scale attack on the mid- and low-end online car-hailing market.

This means that Yidao Travel, which has regained Baidu's attention, will play the role of a roadblock, shielding Didi and Kuaidi, and fighting with Shenzhou Rent-A-Car for a few rounds.

In the short term, Mr. Liu and his daughter helped him. I will invite Mr. Liu for tea when I have the chance...

However, looking at the overall situation, Mr. Liu is not someone who can be easily dealt with. The president of Didi is his own daughter, and the CEO of Uber China, which is about to enter the domestic market soon, is his niece. Together with China Auto Rental, the online car-hailing industry is poised to change its name to Liu in a blink of an eye.

This does not include Lenovo's subsequent investments in a large number of automotive battery parts and new energy vehicle manufacturers such as CATL and NIO, making it a major player in the transportation sector.

It must be said that this move has some of the charm of Li Ka-shing's pursuit of full-industry investment in Israel. Xie Jingxing is a little itchy, but unfortunately it is difficult for him to have the opportunity to acquire shares in CATL through the primary market.

With hundreds of times of profits and the most core technologies of new energy vehicles, if you can hold shares in CATL, it will be easy to build a complete transportation investment map.

Having achieved the purpose of coming to Beijing, Xie Jingxing did not stay for a while. After breakfast, he went back to the hotel room to pack his luggage and return to the Magic City.

Cheng Wei insisted on sending him to the airport, and carefully held the elevator door with his hand as he went downstairs: "Actually, Mr. Zhu is a nice guy. Next time you come to Beijing, I'll organize a get-together for us all."

"Everyone has different investment philosophies. We are all about the matter, not the person. We should just seek common ground while reserving differences." Xie Jingxing didn't care.

Cheng Wei, wearing a gray suit, stood sideways in front of the elevator door like a bodyguard: "To be honest, I still don't fully understand your investment philosophy."

"Always stand on the side of the winner?" Xie Jingxing tentatively concluded.

After going downstairs and out of the hotel lobby, Cheng Wei opened the door himself before the doorman and took the initiative to sit in the passenger seat of the hotel's courtesy car.

He twisted his waist, half turned his body, and looked back in an awkward posture, chatting with Xie Jingxing, who was sitting alone in the back seat, about everything from personal interests and hobbies to the international situation. His words and actions seemed very strange.

Cheng Wei himself enjoyed it very much. If Xiao Ma Ge was a benefactor to him, then at this moment Xie Jingxing was his teacher who taught him and answered his questions.

Recently, the news that Prince Wang spent tens of millions of RMB to reserve a global limited edition Porsche 918 sports car went viral, and Xie Jingxing was dragged out by the gossipy media for comparison, including a comprehensive comparison of the assets and personal abilities of both parties' fathers.

One father is the richest man in the country, while the other's father is at the bottom of the rich list and is a small boss with only a few billion in wealth; one started his own business with 500 million yuan, while the other needs to participate in a show to hype himself.

They are all in the financial industry. Pusi Capital, owned by Prince Wang, became famous last year with its IPO round of financing and made several times the profit. Xie Jingxing led the WhatsApp acquisition case and knelt down to the Americans, which ruined his reputation... In short, Xie Jingxing was a complete failure.

In Cheng Wei's view, such a comparison was too absurd. Xie Jingxing took him to the height of a 30-story building to appreciate the view that ordinary people could not reach, and helped Didi to formulate its development strategy for the next 20 years.

He didn't know whether Master Wang could do this, but at least Xiao Ma Ge, Teacher Ma and other people who were at the top of their industries couldn't do it.

[Someone told me that only those who can afford a Porsche 918 can be called a super rich second generation, so what should those who can afford Didi's car worth hundreds of millions of dollars be called? ]

There was a roar in the sky, Cheng Wei looked up to see a plane flying across the blue sky, took out his phone and edited a message to send on Weibo.

[Last month, we asked people all over the country to take taxis and burned 918 million yuan. This month, we will continue to work hard and give out at least Porsche s to everyone.] He commented on his own below the Weibo post.

At the same time, the news that Kuaidi raised US$300 million topped the Weibo hot search list.

…………

Compared to the cold Northeast, the Shanghai area is still in the thick of autumn in early October. A typhoon is passing through, the sky is as dark as lead, big raindrops are drifting in the strong wind, and the air is full of damp and dull texture.

【Just call me an investor. 】

On the way back to Taihe’s office, Xie Jingxing commented and forwarded Cheng Wei’s Weibo.

The core killer of the "10 billion subsidies" is to imitate Pinduoduo's new user reward strategy where 60,000 people could not buy a mobile phone.

The subsidy for regular orders will be reduced to half of the current level, that is, 5 yuan for both users and passengers. Since the actual subsidy has been reduced, it is necessary to brag to maintain momentum, after all, bragging does not require tax.

This was his first public statement on Didi's money-burning subsidies. Kuaidi's Chief Operating Officer Zhao Dong was like a police dog patrolling the Internet 24 hours a day. He instantly became excited and sent three Weibo posts in response.

Xie Jingxing didn't have time to argue with this guy. As soon as he returned to the office, he walked into the conference room and played on the balance beam.

"Can either of you tell me what's going on?" He threw the folder on the table and asked expressionlessly.

Shen Xin, who has a majestic appearance that symbolizes peace and prosperity for the country, now has a look of frustration on his face. He put his hands on the desk, lowered his head and remained silent.

He Chuan sat opposite her with a proper smile on his face, and explained in a kind and unhurried tone: "Now the venture capital circle is rumored that Dianping is going to enter the food delivery market. Zhang Xuhao, the founder of Ele.me, thinks that Dianping is a very potential competitor."

"What do you think?" Xie Jingxing turned his head to look at Shen Xin and knocked on the table without comment.

Taihe holds shares in Dianping, and her team is responsible for post-investment management. It is reasonable for Zhang Xuhao to choose between the two and take the investment from Grapefruit Capital.

This kind of thing is common practice in the venture capital circle. For example, during the fierce competition between Tik Tok and Kuaishou, Zhang Yiming publicly stated that investors must choose between ByteDance and Kuaishou.

Shen Xin lifted her hair and raised her chin: "This round of financing for Ele.me is a real strategic financing. Mr. Zhang not only wants to expand the national market, but also cares about the long-term layout in the next three to five years."

"Food delivery services are far from the upper limit of Ele.me. In the future, Ele.me wants to enter the business of urban logistics and distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables, daily necessities and medicines. This requires investors with basic logistics resources to come in."

She paused and said with a slightly embarrassed tone: "Mr. Zhang strongly hopes to meet with you. He promised that he would accept Taihe Investment as long as he has the opportunity to talk to you."

"..."

Xie Jingxing didn't know what to say for a moment. At first, he thought that Taihe and Xiyou had the same project and whoever won it would win it based on their own abilities. Anyway, he would make a lot of money.

As a result, his subordinates were full of talented people and very capable. Shen Xin was about to reach an agreement with Zhang Xuhao, but He Chuan took action late at night and dragged Zhang Xuhao to a bar to play out the "Jiang Gan stealing the book" drama.

He pretended to be crazy and stupid under the influence of alcohol and said that our boss's family office would invest heavily in Dianping in the next round to burn money to expand new businesses, and it is expected that the money burned would be more than that of Didi.

Zhang Xuhao was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. The next day, he immediately turned around and asked Shen Xin to promise that if Ele.me took Taihe’s investment and Dianping subsequently invaded the food delivery market, Taihe would not sell Ele.me as its godson.

He wants to be his own son!

In this way, the final choice actually returned to Xie Jingxing. He had to either represent Taihe and personally acknowledge Ele.me as his own son, and devote resources to help build a basic logistics system, before Zhang Xuhao would dare to take the investment with confidence.

Either he didn't show up or Zhang Xuhao turned around and took money from Grapefruit Capital. As one of the first star projects to be invested in, he was given absolute attention.

"Besides Sequoia China and Jinshajiang, have you confirmed other investors?" Xie Jingxing asked thoughtfully.

He Chuan quickly replied, "Mr. Zhang wants to balance the equity distribution, and he has made it clear that he will not take money from both of our companies at the same time."

"No matter who follows up on this project, there is one thing you both need to remember. O2O companies such as food delivery and online car-hailing will have a dead end if they operate their own businesses. Their core competitiveness lies in the matchmaking transaction platform." Xie Jingxing reminded seriously.

To put it bluntly, Ele.me's so-called logistics and distribution is just high-end self-operated business. Facts have proved that it has lost so much money that even its own mother cannot recognize it. Didi also lost all its money by operating high-end self-operated cars. A large number of O2O companies such as Meituan and Ctrip also have self-operated businesses.

Even Alibaba and Tmall suffered heavy losses in the early stages without exception. They subsequently completed industry integration and survived by occupying an absolute dominant position in the market.

The factors involved are very complex. The most basic one is that a company that started out as an intermediary platform will find it difficult to develop the genes to run its own business, and the business logic is completely different.

Shen Xin was very discouraged after hearing what Xie Jingxing said. It was obviously her who got the project first, but was robbed by someone who came later. The only word to describe it was shameful.

He Chuan was very proud and smiled happily. He resolutely followed Tang Man to switch jobs and join Xiyou even though all his colleagues were not optimistic about him. Today, he finally made a comeback.

Competing with top venture capital firms like GSR Ventures and Sequoia China for the right to lead an investment is probably the dream of a tired hero that flashes through the mind of every investment bank worker as they look at the starry sky on their way home from work late at night.

"Also, I've seen you guys submit a lot of BPs (business plans) for the Internet finance industry recently. Have you done due diligence on these projects?" Xie Jingxing continued with a colder tone.

He Chuan felt something was wrong, calmed down and sat up straight.

Shen Xin disagreed. Taihe's project review process was complete. Two weeks ago, regular meetings were held and experts from the University of Transportation were invited to give lectures on the potential risks of the hottest Internet financial investments.

The process was not very harmonious. When the expert got excited, he pointed to several office buildings nearby the window and said bluntly that 90% of the companies disguised as Internet finance were actually loan sharks. Their employees either did sales to cheat investors out of their money or did debt collection to squeeze out the debtors.

After that regular meeting, all the Internet finance BPs that Taihe received were shot down by several old and responsible MDs at the daily project discussion meetings, and they had almost no chance to be presented to Xie Jingxing.

Xiyou has not yet established a complete review mechanism, so Tang Man and He Chuan have great freedom and dare to try any outrageous projects.

Although the essence of venture capital is to pan for gold in shit, one can't always smell all the shit, right? Xie Jingxing took the opportunity to give He Chuan a good beating, and by the way, reluctantly took care of Shen Xin's emotions.

After finishing the management work, he went straight into the meeting room of Grapefruit Capital opposite, waiting for the visit of the Spring City Urban Investment Team.

The capital operation of Yunhe Chuncheng Distribution Center is proceeding in an orderly manner. The Chuncheng City Investment Team came to Shanghai to conduct on-site due diligence on Grapefruit Capital and Yunhe Shanghai Branch. In fact, tourism and shopping have come.

After a few days of eating, drinking and having fun, we finally came to the meeting so that we could take the meeting minutes back and get more travel reimbursements.

The beautiful lady who slept with Xie Jingxing last time was also there, so he might have to work hard tonight.

(End of this chapter)