Chapter 134: Draw the Sword to My Father

"Go back and think about it carefully. Time waits for no one. Make a decision as soon as possible while you have the first-mover advantage."

Zhang Xuhao left the golf course under heavy pressure. Meituan is the offensive party in the food delivery market, while Ele.me is the defensive party.

Therefore, what he had to consider was not to start a money-burning competition with Meituan, but how to fight specifically. Xie Jingxing proposed a set of seemingly effective plans with a gentleness that did not match the rumored image.

However, this is a strategic concept that is completely opposite to Ele.me's current one, and it will have to stand with Tencent and completely become the enemy of another giant, Alibaba, leaving no room for maneuver.

Any startup that has the ideal and hope to establish itself will not willingly join forces with a tiger and completely hand over its life and property to its partners.

Jan Kum would rather take huge risks and commit himself to Tencent, dealing with many giants in order to gain actual control of WhatsApp; Cheng Wei's literal life-threatening self-driving on 318 made Liu Qing focus on helping to balance Didi's internal discourse power.

The same was true for Zhang Xuhao, but he also envied Tencent's huge user base, so he started by connecting Ele.me to the WeChat payment port.

"Ele.me must take action by January at the latest. They have a big advantage over Dianping and are on the defensive."

After he walked away, Xie Jingxing changed his expression and tone and gave a firm countdown.

He Chuan's face straightened unconsciously: "I'll try to ask the other co-founders to persuade him."

"Be careful with your approach and don't let conflicts arise within the founding team." Xie Jingxing reminded him worriedly.

Dianping has suffered great losses because of poor people who suddenly became rich. It is impossible for the young founders of Ele.me, who are only in their twenties and twenties, not to be carried away when they received a single round of financing of 3000 million US dollars.

He didn't know specifically what problems existed in Ele.me's current management model, but based on what Zhang Xuhao had just said, he guessed from experience that the tone of the entire founding team was most likely very rough and wild, the kind of people who the conservatives thought the radicals were too conservative.

At this point in time when they have just completed financing, the founding team is extremely sensitive and can easily lose their temper over trivial matters.

Xie Jingxing thought for a moment and added: "In fact, Zhang Xuhao has no choice. He can't go to the far end and offend us and turn to Alibaba. Let him think about it carefully."

Facts have proved that in the era of mobile Internet, only ByteDance has achieved complete non-partisanship. Didi and Meituan together account for half of it, and other Internet companies are more or less trapped in the dilemma of choosing one of the two.

He Chuan thought that Zhang Xuhao could still join Baidu, but then he thought again, BTA had been supporting the online car-hailing agents' melee for several months, and B was just a background board from beginning to end, and now "Baidu Wallet" still only exists in the PPT.

Tencent has the largest user pool of traffic, and Ali's online payment controls lightning. Why did Zhang Xuhao turn to Baidu? Because Li Yanhong is handsome and likes to use hair wax...

"Mr. Xie, 'Yinshan Chayu' and 'Budu' milk tea brands have been selected as high-quality brands to enter Ele.me. The two parties will cooperate in marketing promotion in the future."

After sorting out his thoughts, He Chuan turned to ask for other things: "I think this cooperation method is good. Can we seize the opportunity to sign an exclusive contract with fast food chain brands and Ele.me in advance?"

"WeChat Pay is already working on this. I heard they are negotiating an exclusive deal with Starbucks. Ele.me and WeChat can also cooperate." Xie Jingxing nodded in agreement.

He Chuan suppressed his joy, and said hesitantly with a clever look in his eyes: "Well, I heard that Yunshan Group has cooperated with many fast food chain brands... Can you help us connect with some resources..."

"Go back and find Liu Qiming and ask him to introduce you." Xie Jingxing disagreed.

The so-called docking resources actually means omitting the low-end promotion costs and directly helping to introduce some leaders of fast food brands who have the final say, giving Ele.me an opportunity to personally recommend itself and invite it to join the platform.

Most commercial cooperations follow the principle of whoever is weaker pays the bill. Since the 'Yinshanbudu' milk tea brand is inferior to Ele.me in all aspects, it must take the initiative to join the platform and strive for traffic support as much as possible.

On the other hand, since Ele.me is not as good as big brands like Starbucks, it has to take the initiative to offer benefits to others to join, which is a disguised way to improve the competitiveness of the platform.

At this stage, Yunshan Group has supply cooperation with some Chinese fast food chain brands, and can barely help to make connections and say a few words, but this will not be possible in two years.

The rise of the takeout industry has largely driven the development of many industries, such as freshly brewed milk tea and pre-prepared meals, both of which have entered a period of rapid growth since 14.

This time point is exactly the starting point when the outsourcing business is booming and gradually covers the national market and enters thousands of households.

A few years ago, large chain restaurant brands with a keen sense of smell developed their own "prepared food" brands to open up the supply chain. Now, a large number of "prepared food" suppliers have entered the market, specifically providing preparatory meal packages for takeaway businesses without dine-in services.

If no changes are made, Yunshan Group's original semi-finished food raw material supply business will return to the stage of supplying primary clean food raw materials, and the degree of industrialization of commodities will be reduced, which means reduced profits.

Yunshan Group urgently needs to keep up with the pace and further develop semi-finished pre-prepared meals.

So after this period of preparation, Yunshan Group's subsidiary "Jianghu Restaurant" was established in Chengdu City with a registered capital of 5000 million yuan, and Xie Jingxing served as the chairman.

The brand name is taken from Chongqing folk "Jianghu cuisine" which is derived from Sichuan cuisine. Jianghu cuisine can be made into anything, spicy, oily, and meaty, and is cheap. It is in line with the trend of Sichuan cuisine being popular in the next decade.

Therefore, the brand is registered in Chengdu to enjoy tax exemption subsidies, and the food research and development department is located in Chongqing, which is close to two well-known universities, which is conducive to scientific research.

Currently, the main signature dish of Jianghu Restaurant is the semi-finished sauerkraut fish for the B2B market. Its sour and spicy taste is addictive and can greatly occupy the minds of consumers.

Secondly, adding more salt will not affect the taste of the spicy and sour dish. With some absolutely legal and compliant technological work, the storage and shelf life issues of pre-prepared dishes can be easily solved. There is no product that is more likely to become a popular pre-prepared dish than pickled fish.

In addition, there are self-heating hot pots, frozen dumplings and other staple foods, as well as steak, chicken wings and fried products for the ToC end. There will be no returns in the short term. It is initially estimated that it will take two to three years of product taste accumulation before they can adapt to the market.

Xie Jingxing only flew to Chongqing to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the brand research and development department was established a few days ago. The specific business affairs were handled by the management team sent by Yunshan.

The same is true for the 'Yinshanbudu' milk tea brand. Ever since he had a reliable full-time assistant, Gu Zhengwen, he could be at ease as a hands-off boss.

The 'Yinshan Tea Language' sub-brand's main product, Jieyou milk tea, has been successfully recruiting investors and franchisees, and the 'Budu' sub-brand's national trend promotion and planning have achieved good results. The average daily sales of the Wujiaochang University Town store has remained above 1000 orders.

The store near Lujiazui is under renovation and you need to wait patiently.

Xie Jingxing shouldn't be distracted by all the trivialities right now. His only two main tasks for now are: first, do it quickly; second, support Meituan!
…………

"So far this month, we have burned through more than 300 million yuan in funds, and launched the 'freight' function. It costs money to train a large number of personnel and expand the market... Yes, 'UCAR''s' entry into the market is not smooth, but it will come in sooner or later... Will the subsidies also be used up until that time..."

November 11, Friday, is the Light Snow in the twenty-four solar terms.

Looking out the window, the Huangpu River beach in front of him was covered with autumn, and Xie Jingxing was in a daze, looking at the city view. In the video conference, Zhu Xiaohu kept nagging about routine matters like Xianglin Sao, expressing dissatisfaction with the money-burning strategy on behalf of all small shareholders.

Xie Jingxing and Liu Chih-ping were really fed up with this guy's nagging, so they both used their subordinates to take the blame.

As a genuine member of Didi's board of directors, Tang Man is currently sitting in front of the computer and enduring the spit. He sits leisurely outside the camera screen, listening and slacking off, holding the [Didi Equity Reform Plan] in his hand.

As of today, Xie Jingxing has finally discovered Liu Qing's strengths. Her twelve-year career at Goldman Sachs has enabled her to gain extremely explosive capital operation skills.

AB shares with equal voting rights are only the simplest part. Cheng Wei, Liu Qing and the entire founding team hold more than 35% of the voting rights with less than 80% of the shares, but the company is not Didi.

——Xiaoju Smart Driving.

A shell entity is registered in the tax haven Cayman Islands. All institutional investment shareholders, including Xie Jingxing, use their own unique skills to set up an offshore financial institution through either the Cayman shell or the BVI shell.

This offshore financial institution invested in Xiaoju Zhixing, and Xiaoju Zhixing, whose main body was in the Cayman Islands, went to Hong Kong Island to set up a company called "Xiaoju Technology". It then used this shell to circumvent regulation and set up a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China, which controlled the lowest level Didi Chuxing by agreement.

This typical gameplay called "VIE" has two advantages. The first is tax avoidance and the second is financing. The country has clear regulations on the shareholding of foreign shareholders in Internet platforms.

Just as Tencent needs to use dazzling equity control to bypass US official supervision and actually control WhatsApp, "VIE" is also the only way to bypass domestic official supervision and actually control domestic Internet companies.

With this equity structure, Didi will be able to jump back and forth between the regulatory vacuums of China and the United States. It can avoid domestic regulation and get foreign money, and it can also avoid US regulation and be listed on the US stock market as a de facto domestic company.

Moreover, the profits of the enterprise produced domestically can be transferred to foreign countries. Of course, most people don't dare to do this. Boss Xu is a hero and not an ordinary person.

This gameplay was first created by Sina Weibo as a template structure, and was subsequently followed by many domestic Internet companies and even BTA.

If you look into it more deeply, you will find that the country does not recognize the legality of this thing. Ultimately, it allows foreign capital to find loopholes and infiltrate important domestic industries. But conversely, it is not prohibited either. Foreign capital comes in with massive amounts of money, which is converted into jobs and huge amounts of tax revenue.

From the perspective of the country, it has been struggling with this issue for many years and has not been able to make up its mind. Now the entire Internet industry is playing this way, and a trend of being unable to get rid of the tail has begun to take shape.

If VIE is completely eliminated with a single stroke of the knife, it will inevitably be suspected of fattening the pig and then killing it. Foreign capital will have to think twice before investing in China in the future, and there will be no way to build a global capital safe haven.

However, Liu Qing's overall structure can only be said to be relatively typical. The most explosive part is that all institutional investors including Xie Jingxing were packaged into the shell of the same offshore financial company to hold shares of Xiaoju Zhixing.

Tencent, Xiyou and Taihe, which together own more than 50% of the shares of this offshore financial company, have effectively gained control of all voting rights. If Zhu Xiaohu and other small shareholders want to challenge Didi's management in the future, they will have to get past Xie Jingxing and Tencent first.

In short, from now on, we will share weal and woe and stand together through thick and thin. A single move will affect the whole body.

Even if the company is eventually successfully listed, as long as the management holds about 10% of the shares, it will be able to firmly control the company.

Liu Qing acted like a gangster and raped many small shareholders, while Xie Jingxing and Xiao Ma Ge helped to press their arms and legs... No wonder Zhu Xiaohu has been roaring every day these days because he is angry. He is just a dog barking for his own interests...

"Boss Tang, please take a look and if there is no problem, you can sign it."

The meeting voted to pass the [Equity Reform Plan] amid Zhu Xiaohu's complaints, and Xie Jingxing folded the file and put it on the desk.

Tang Man commented quietly, "It seems that President Liu and President Cheng have already prepared for the overseas listing in advance."

“If Didi continues to fight at this intensity, it will take eight to ten years for it to make a profit, and a domestic listing will be a long way off.” Xie Jingxing was not surprised.

"After signing this, you really can't dominate Mr. Liu and Mr. Cheng like before."

Tang Man put away the document without signing it, and teased with interest: "I heard that Mr. Liu is preparing for a new round of financing."

"Let her be. When children grow up, they are no longer controlled by their parents. This day will come sooner or later." Xie Jingxing was open-minded.

Didi hastily raised only $1.5 million in its Series D round of financing, which was used to supplement its book funds to fight "China Auto Rental", acquire Bumblebee, and launch a freight version of its product. All of this would cost money in a matter of days.

Liu Qing called him late at night the day before yesterday and told him that it is expected to complete the E round of financing in January next year, with a target of US$10 billion.

Tang Man smiled knowingly: "It's good that you can be open-minded. Review the contract a few more times and don't rush to sign it."

"Sure, you pay more attention to Didi, Dianping and Ele.me, I will help you keep an eye on them." Xie Jingxing said with a big face.

Tang Man shrugged helplessly and glared at him: "I think you still have to drive 318 with Mr. Zhang Tao."

Some time ago, Xie Jingxing was in conflict with Didi’s management. She, as the nominal representative of the capital side and a member of the board of directors, was caught in the middle and was not pleasing either side, playing the role of a bullied wife.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief as her boss had been more restrained recently, but then he started targeting Dianping again.

She heard that Su He had never had such a hard life. He had several big projects in his hands and was also eyeing Meituan. Wherever he went, everyone called him Mr. Su. He lived a very comfortable life.

There are even rumors in the circle that the "He" in Taihe is the same as Suhe's "He", which made Tang Man want to change her name to Tang Youhe. All of Youhe and Taihe are hers, and she must suppress that old woman!
"I just received a new record player, with an idler wheel. I'll send it to you when it's delivered."

The more Tang Man talked, the more outrageous it became. Xie Jingxing felt a headache coming on, so he quickly tried to please her and shut her up, kicking the old woman who liked classical music out of the office.

He suddenly remembered something and asked again, "By the way, is Didi promoting the travel business?"

"We must take down at least one of Tongcheng, eLong, and Ctrip. President Liu has personally issued a military order." Tang Man introduced the situation with a strange expression.

Xie Jingxing was stunned for a moment, then he showed a complicated smile: "She doesn't need to feel pressured. Mafengwo Travel, which Taihe invested in, also has an organic wine business. You can help Didi to connect with them."

He boasted to Old Liu that Didi was attacking UCAR's traditional travel and car rental business, and actually asked Liu Qing to issue a military order to carry it out.

The daughter draws the sword against her father, and this sword is so powerful that it will drive her crazy and desperate.

Xie Jingxing suddenly remembered what Liu Chih-Ping had said to him. Perhaps the value of driving 318 by himself was reflected at this moment...

(End of this chapter)