Chapter 131: Harvesting Capitalists as Leeks
The lunch ended unpleasantly. Lao Liu did not get the so-called face he wanted, and the only way for "UCAR" to enter the game was to fight against each other.

In the afternoon, Mr. Ma, Lao Wang and others went to the "Global Political and Business Leaders Roundtable" to sit in a row and eat fruit. The theme of the meeting was global trade liberalization and the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

Xie Jingxing gave a speech at the "Guest Theme Interactive Session" on the theme of cross-border cooperation between Chinese and foreign companies, and also brought up the WhatsApp acquisition case.

This is also the main reason why he won the "Economic Person of the Year". Globalized trade and BRICS are the current national economic strategies, and these things have been discussed in recent large and small summits.

No matter how difficult it is to build the domestic capital market into a "safe haven" for the international financial community, at least someone is trying to promote it. The other two hot topics of the summit, environmental protection and smart cities, have achieved some results ten years later.

The summit ended in the evening, and Xie Jingxing organized a dinner party, which was attended by a large number of founders of projects invested by Taihe Capital, including Zhang Tao, the founder of Dianping, Zhou Yuan, the founder of Zhihu, Wang Gang, the founder of Mafengwo, and others.

In addition, there are many venture capitalists including Zhang Fei of 5Y Capital and Sun Tao of Juntai Securities.

They are all in the venture capital circle, and everyone shares their experiences with each other. Friends bring their friends to join in the fun, and they temporarily add two tables for the banquet before they can sit down.

Xie Jingxing, who originally wanted to have a simple gathering, turned into a social butterfly, holding a small wine cup and shuttling between several private rooms for socializing. He was busy for half an hour just to greet people and chat with them. He didn't eat a single bite of food and drank half a bellyful of wine.

"At first glance, Taihe Capital has taken root in the Internet industry," Zhang Yiming joked with a smile.

Xie Jingxing exhaled the alcohol and turned his head to look at Zhou Tao, the founder of Dianping.com. Then he scanned the faces around the round table one by one: "This proves that the Internet industry has a promising future. Come on, new forces in the industry, let's have a drink."

"Mr. Xie, let's take a photo together."

Zhihu founder Zhou Yuan took out his phone and suggested, and Xie Jingxing smiled and looked at the camera.

Click, the picture with unclear pixels froze. He was in the main seat, Zhou Tao and Zhang Yiming were on his left and right, and the others were in the second place.

Compared with the drinking party led by Teacher Ma upstairs in the hotel, the party in front of him seemed a little cramped in every aspect.

There are not too many people who are qualified to organize a party near the convention and exhibition center tonight, but not too few either. After taking a group photo, some of them left one after another and went to other drinking parties to make themselves known.

"They all look very busy." Zhang Yiming complained with a bit of disdain.

The domestic venture capital circles are greatly influenced by regional culture. The Shanghai circle is more sophisticated and aloof, while the Beijing venture capital circle will definitely not just pat its butt and leave immediately after taking a group photo. They will at least sit for a while to build up their popularity.

The scene in front of me was like a buffet, with all kinds of unfamiliar rotten fish and shrimp coming and going.

Xie Jingxing felt a little annoyed. After more than a month of entanglement, Cui Yunxiu from Wells Fargo finally resigned and joined Grapefruit America. Two days ago, Song Anli went on a business trip to Silicon Valley to follow up on the fundraising supervision and approval process, and interviewed her by the way.

Today's dinner was arranged by Liu Qiming. The two did not communicate well beforehand. The female assistant, who often slept in the same bed with him, gradually began to show her own core competitiveness.

Xie Jing Xing had no intention of explaining trivial details, so he changed the subject and asked, "How about you visit Kuaishou?"

“It was very rewarding. They also put a lot of effort into the algorithm. The personalized recommendation mechanism is quite interesting.”

Zhang Yiming perked up and pushed up his glasses: "But I think the current smartphone hardware is not enough to support 'short video' products. There are problems that are difficult to solve on both the technical side and the client side."

Take Apple’s latest product, the Apple 5S, for example. It has a maximum memory of 32G, 800 megapixels and a battery capacity of 1570AH. This has an impact on the production of short video products and content creation output that cannot be ignored.

Secondly, supporting products such as video editing are not mature. It is not unreasonable that Kuaishou, which is taking the route of sinking into the market, can be the first to emerge in the short video field.

Nowadays, the main user group of Kuaishou is ghost-fire yellow-haired little girls like Yu Ying’s nephew who are interested in new things and have no quality requirements for the original content output of the platform.

On the contrary, Weishi, a fashionable and trendy app backed by Tencent, has spent a lot of money to invite celebrities to join since its launch. Pony Ma even registered an account himself to share videos from inside the Tencent building.

It can be said that it was taken very seriously, but it happened silently.

Top professional creators alone cannot fully support a user group that has quality demands for original content. It is difficult for ByteDance to compete with Weibo, which has rich original graphic content and video functions, by launching short videos now.

Furthermore, the most important thing is that the current monthly data package charge for mobile phone cards is about 30 yuan for 500MB. Watching videos on a mobile phone is an absolute luxury. In this regard, the user group that pursues fashion trends is far less powerful than the yellow-haired girls.

After careful consideration, Zhang Yiming felt that it was not the right time to make short videos. He should first use graphic products to hone the intelligent recommendation algorithm and then enter the market after the hardware support was fully developed.

In short, in his business logic, "intelligent recommendation algorithm" is the engine of the mobile Internet era. As long as the engine is strong enough, it doesn't matter if it is covered with the shell of short videos, e-commerce or any other Internet product.

It’s just like the Soviet aircraft. Don’t worry about the fuselage design. As long as the engine thrust is strong enough, more than ten tons of iron can still fly.

Xie Jingxing generally agreed with Zhang Yiming's ideas. He suggested that the other party visit Kuaishou only because he hoped that ByteDance could make some plans in advance and try to develop short video functions in its matrix products such as Pipixia and Neihan Duanzi and accumulate relevant technologies.

…………

There were many people at the table and they talked a lot, so the two of them stopped talking. Zhang Yiming said he was going to find a friend and left for the time being.

Xie Jingxing quickly adjusted his thoughts and looked to the left. Zhang Tao was a middle-aged man with a resolute appearance. He was not talkative and drank until the glass was dry. His temperament was calm and straightforward.

He observed calmly and started the conversation: "Congratulations to Mr. Zhang for leading Dianping to a particularly wonderful year."

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Xie. We can only say that we have just emerged from the pain period of transformation. We will need your support in the future." Zhang Tao was particularly polite.

Xie Jingxing smiled and said, "I can't give Dianping all-round support like BTA does, but I can think of a way to help with the financial aspect. Is the next round of financing going to be on the agenda soon?"

"After the new year, there will be many issues to consider in the next round of financing, mainly considerations at the company's strategic level." Zhang Tao explained, who was already prepared for this.

As an investor, Taihe has the right to audit Dianping's finances twice every fiscal year. At the end of November, Taihe just went through the process to exercise this right.

Dianping certainly lacks a clear strategic layout direction, but its financial situation is also very bleak. Its book funds have been exhausted and it is relying on loans to maintain its cash flow.

Both parties are fully aware of the problem and should remain reserved. The only thing they can do is to ask for a sky-high price and then bargain.

Xie Jingxing didn't comment and went straight to the point: "Last month, I talked to Tencent CEO Liu about your situation. Tencent is interested in you. You can sit down and chat together."

"...In fact, we have talked with Tencent more than once, and we have always had different opinions on strategic positioning." Zhang Tao was stunned, his expression was complicated, and his words were tactful.

Xie Jingxing said calmly, "To put it bluntly, Mr. Zhang has been in business for many years and should know more about Tencent than I do. Now that the industry structure is clear, some previous disagreements are no longer obstacles."

"If that's the case, please help me, Mr. Xie." Zhang Tao made his statement without hesitation. Dianping is the earliest review website in China. When it first started to do group buying in 10, it was reported every other day that it had received investment from one of the BTAs.

Accepting investment means taking sides, and Tencent had not yet been cured by the Cardinal at that time, so the three BTA companies all liked to control the invested companies.

Zhang Tao was wavering because of this. During the struggle, Alibaba quickly turned to strategic investment in Meituan; Tencent invested in "Meilisuo" while cooperating with the foreign group buying giant Gaopeng; Baidu made a big acquisition of Nuomi.com.

Dianping suddenly became an orphan and almost died this year. Fortunately, the two group buying platforms invested by Tencent failed to perform well due to various reasons and were eliminated first, so the remaining ones survived.

As of now, Dianping, Meituan and Nuomi have divided up more than 80% of the group buying market. Baidu is gearing up to support Nuomi in launching a new round of group buying competition. In this situation, it seems that Tencent and Dianping are destined to be together.

However, there are many factions within Tencent. Previously, WeChat even blocked and banned "Meilisuo", which it invested in. Zhang Tao was not willing to let Tencent take advantage of the opportunity to lower the price, so he wanted to negotiate the price with Xie Jingxing.

At the very least, we need to have financial investment as a backstop before we can negotiate with Tencent on strategic investment terms.

The idea was fine, but Xie Jingxing had already hooked up with Tencent. In this case, Zhang Tao, who had suffered a great loss due to hesitation, had nothing to worry about.

Looking at the domestic market, there are not many investors who are capable and willing to confront BTA head-on, and this young figure happens to be one of the few.

"It's better to hurry up than late. We will try to meet in the middle of this month and complete the financing before the Lunar New Year." Xie Jingxing was full of confidence and finalized the process directly.

In recent years, all promising Internet startups have either actively or passively joined BTA. Since the WhatsApp acquisition, it has fallen into this vicious circle. Many money-burning battlefields such as online car-hailing, food delivery, and group buying are unconsciously moving closer to Tencent.

If Wang Xing really refuses to take his money, then he will completely change history and dominate the food delivery battlefield into Tencent + Xiyou + Ele.me vs Meituan + Alibaba, Baidu Takeaway; and the group buying battlefield into Tencent + Taihe + Dianping vs Meituan + Alibaba, Baidu Nuomi.

Xie Jingxing and Zhang Tao were talking quietly, Zhang Yiming came back, and Wang Xing and Teacher Ma followed behind.

"Speak of the devil," he said, baring his white teeth and standing up to welcome the guests warmly.

Wang Xing nodded to Zhang Tao and half-jokingly said, "I came at the right time. It's just right for me to hear about your new developments."

"I'm trying to persuade Mr. Zhang to merge with you." Xie Jingxing replied seriously.

"Well, let's not talk about work today."

Teacher Ma interrupted, "Your words are too offensive. If you start fighting, it will be on the news tomorrow."

"Then listen to Mr. Ma. How about we just make friends today and not talk about investment?" Xie Jingxing looked at Wang Xing with a smile.

Teacher Ma smiled with satisfaction: "I think it's okay. You have to eat one bite at a time and do things one step at a time. If you take too big a step, you may end up hurting yourself."

With Shenzhou about to enter the market, everyone is deeply stuck in the quagmire of online car-hailing, and it is really tiring to open up the Dianping group buying battlefield without any agreement.

Xie Jingxing thought the same way. It was still unknown whether Wang Xing was willing to accept the investment. Even if he refused, it would take until next year for him to be able to start the war. There was no need to make things too awkward for the time being.

The dinner ended amicably after Mr. Ma persuaded them, and then he invited Xie Jingxing to have a drink at a jazz bar with a live band.

After a few drinks, he suddenly went on stage and sang "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" which shocked the whole audience. Xie Jingxing was very considerate and helped to play the guitar accompaniment.

…………

As expected, the video of the two singing with their arms around each other became a hot topic on Weibo the next morning, along with the news that China Auto Rental announced that it would invest 1 billion yuan to establish the "China Auto Rental" online car-hailing platform.

Lu Zhengyao, who was raised by a young man, is coming with great momentum. He has decided to enter the field of high-end private car services with his own vehicles, and cover the mid- and low-end online car-hailing business in 30 cities across the country.

Compared with Xie Jingxing and Cheng Wei's initial expectations, the deviation was quite large. They actually entered the two fields of private cars and online car-hailing at the same time.

That’s not all. UCAR, with the momentum of a giant sweeping across the world, took the initiative to declare war and raise the nationwide basic subsidy price war to eight yuan.

At the project launch ceremony, Lu Zhengyao openly said a classic saying that has been passed down through the ages - start quickly at all costs and actively embrace the capital market.

To put it in human terms, Luckin Coffee is his creation, and he treats capitalists like leeks to be harvested.

Suddenly, Xie Jingxing felt that the most correct way for UCAR to unfold the story was to start a war on two fronts and confront Didi, Kuaidi, and Yidao head-on.

After all, CAR Inc. is seeking to accelerate its listing on the Hong Kong stock market, so it makes sense for it to first practice with version 1.0 of Luckin Coffee.

There was no time for Xie Jingxing to regret his previous prediction, because the battle had to continue.

Didi is facing the challenge with a combination subsidy plan. The basic 5 yuan subsidy of the "10 billion subsidy" remains unchanged, and an additional 7 yuan subsidy is added for both drivers and passengers for each order. The two can be used in combination.

This is equivalent to bringing the subsidy war back to the ten yuan area, reaching a maximum price of 12 yuan per order.

Kuaidi is not outdone, with a subsidy of 13 yuan per order, which is 1 yuan higher than Didi. At the same time, passengers who place five orders in total can receive a Taobao Tmall return card.

On the same day, Yidao Travel, the leader in the private car-hailing market, announced that it had completed a new round of financing led by Baidu, but the specific financing details were unknown.

Zhou Hang, CEO of Yidao Travel, said that we don’t have money to give out red envelopes and engage in price wars. We only know how to provide the best travel experience for our users. Therefore, we decided to place orders with BMW and Mercedes-Benz and proposed a two-city 100-car plan.

We provide hundreds of luxury self-owned cars for Beijing and Shanghai respectively.

For a while, the entire northwest of Shanxi was in chaos. Facing the counterattack of the three companies, Lu Zhengyao was determined not to let me drink the porridge. So I will pee in the porridge pot and no one else can drink it!
The subsidy of 'Shenzhou Youche' has been raised to the ten-yuan area, and it is promised that if a passenger uses 'Shenzhou Youche' to hail a car but fails to complete the order payment successfully, a subsidy of 6 yuan will be given for each order.

This means that with the market burning again, insufficient capacity on the driver side and platform server crashes, Shenzhou, which has a large number of self-owned vehicles, has found the best position to enter the market.

The first to respond this time was Kuaidi, which directly connected to the Alibaba Cloud computing platform and connected to the AutoNavi traffic entrance.

Instigated by Xie Jingxing, Cheng Wei smashed his glasses and doubled the subsidy for those who took a car from UCAR but failed to complete the payment for the order, to 12 yuan per order.

The intensity of competition escalated again. Several companies were recruiting people to seek support from their biggest financial backers, but Yidao Travel was slow to react, and Baidu once again fell into hesitation.

(End of this chapter)