Chapter 209 Horror Story

"A valuation of $15 billion is the lowest price we can accept."

The door of the conference room was wide open, and the messy documents on the desk and the chairs that had not been put in place in time proved that the meeting was not yet ready to officially begin.

In the silent atmosphere, the air conditioner hummed and blew cold air. Xie Jingxing glanced at the faces of the people present one by one, then pulled over a chair and sat down leisurely.

With a valuation of US$12 billion, the company raised US$20 million by transferring 3% ​​of its equity, which is three times the valuation of its Series D financing at the beginning of the year.

Calculated based on the operating growth data, this valuation is not high. After all, Zhang Xuhao concealed the fact that the premium space for early investors was limited, and CITIC Industrial Fund's lead investment would inevitably lower the price.

All parties present knew this very well, and Xie Jingxing suddenly brought up the topic, which put the situation in a difficult situation.

"The valuation is $15 billion, and Grapefruit Capital will lead the investment or provide bond financing."

He glanced at the greasy-haired man Lu Quan and said, "To put it bluntly, if Ele.me is only worth $12 billion, Xiyou is willing to acquire it in full."

“From our perspective as an early investor, we took on a lot of risk, and it’s only natural for us to strive for a high valuation in subsequent rounds of financing.”

Zhu Xiaohu tried to smooth things over with an ambiguous attitude: "We can discuss other conditions later."

"I understand. We invited Mr. Xie and Mr. Zhu here today for communication. We are not saying that the valuation of 12 billion cannot be changed." Chang Bin from JD.com responded politely.

During the financing process of a start-up, as the valuation increases with each round of financing, early investors and the founding team reap the greatest benefits while also bearing the highest risks.

For example, providing a bottom line for investors who invested in the middle and late stages, and letting those who came in later to exit first. This is what Zhu Xiaohu meant by "other conditions can be negotiated".

Before Chang Bin came, he was mentally prepared that it would not be so easy to pick up a bargain at a low valuation of US$12 billion. He looked at the greasy-haired man Lu Quan, and everyone understood what was going on.

Next, let’s watch Zhang Xuhao’s performance. It’s impossible for the game that he put so much effort into setting up to fall apart at the slightest touch.

"Compared with valuation, we have more important issues to consider: Is this round of financing strategic financing or financial financing? I firmly believe it is the former. Introducing high-quality investors such as CITIC Asset Management and JD.com will enrich our government resources and logistics business accumulation."

A fat-faced, tough young man wearing round glasses took the initiative to take over the conversation and stated his attitude, saying that even if the valuation was increased, he would not give Xiyou and Tencent a share of the financing.

The surprise attack failed, leading to a head-on showdown. Now that things have come to this, no one should act stupid, he is going to do this no matter what!

"Of course, valuation is not the most important thing. We need to integrate more resources."

Xie Jing Xing said calmly, "I've been thinking a lot recently. There are some issues that we should discuss before raising funds."

"…What kind of problem is it? We have completed the due diligence here. It would be great if Mr. Xie has any new ideas. It will help us assess the value more accurately." The greasy-haired man Lu Quan insisted on playing dumb.

Xie Jingxing lowered his head and chuckled with undisguised contempt, and Zhang Xuhao looked a little embarrassed.

Zhu Xiaohu jumped out again and pretended to be a good guy: "How about this, the people from Tencent and Sequoia will be here tomorrow, so the financing meeting will be postponed to tomorrow."

Chang Bin looked calmly at Su He, Song Anli and other idlers standing in the conference room, and sighed secretly. Zhang Xuhao's personal prestige was a little worse than he had imagined.

At least when facing Xie Jingxing head-on, he couldn't even force the 'meeting agenda' to move forward. He was led off track in just a few words. Several executives stood there but no one stood up to speak.

He put away the investment agreement on the table that was just short of being signed and stamped, and left in disappointment. After all, the executives have to make money and obviously care more about the valuation price.

All that was left was a signature. If Xie Jingxing wasn't here today, Zhu Xiaohu wouldn't be able to convince the executives of the 15 billion valuation.

Get the internal executives on board first. The directors of Tencent and Sequoia will not arrive until tomorrow, so it will be difficult to stop Zhang Xuhao.

Lu Quan reviewed the deeper meaning of the incident in a sullen manner, and reluctantly followed Chang Bin out of the conference room, followed by many senior executives.

"Pour me a whiskey on the rocks."

Xie Jingxing nodded his chin towards Song Anli, and she went out and closed the door. Zhang Xuhao, Kang Jia, Zhu Xiaohu, and Su He were the only four people left in the meeting room.

"Zhang Xuhao, why did you cut the scale of the crowdsourcing delivery cooperation?" he asked by name.

Zhang Xuhao took off his glasses and turned his head away, with disdain written all over his face. "In the past few months, the overall market share of takeout has entered a plateau period, and the effect of burning money to subsidize the expansion of market share is getting worse and worse, so we need to build a distribution network to reduce operating costs."

Kang Jia reluctantly explained in a gentle voice: "Meituan and Baidu are both doing this. Everyone is prepared for long-term competition."

"Yunhe Logistics gives delivery riders a subsidy of 3 yuan per order. The business managers of Meituan and Baidu Waimai stayed in a hotel near the Yunhe Logistics office building for half a month, begging to sign a long-term crowdsourcing delivery cooperation agreement with Yunhe Logistics."

Xie Jingxing paused for a moment: "You have cut off the crowdsourcing delivery, and you plan to pay for this part of the subsidy yourself to achieve the goal of reducing costs and increasing efficiency?"

There is a shortage of food delivery riders nowadays, and many new and old logistics crowdsourcing companies, including Yunhe, STO, and Dada Logistics, are spending huge sums of money to recruit talent.

Both Meituan and Baidu Waimai are unable to operate their own riders, and have turned to crowdsourcing companies to shift delivery costs.

As a result, Zhang Xuhao, this idiot, actually reduced the proportion of crowdsourced delivery after surviving the large-scale job-hopping of employees at the beginning of the year. The crowdsourced riders of Yunhe Logistics could not receive any orders from the platform even at the merchant's door.

Thinking about the fact that thousands of riders were mobilized from all over the country to provide strong support in just three days at the beginning of the year, Guan Linhui, the current president of Yunhe Logistics, was furious. If Xie Jingxing hadn't been running around all over the country during this period and couldn't be found, he would have asked him for an explanation long ago.

"You think it's a good idea to kick me out and get JD.com to invest in building your own delivery system, but I tell you, JD.com is also a shareholder of Yunhe Logistics."

Xie Jing Xing said indifferently: "As the old saying goes, you learn a lot from everything you experience, but that doesn't apply to you. It seems that the loss you suffered last time when you asked Dianping to lead the investment was far from enough."

"Mr. Xie, that's a bit harsh. Xuhao has its own considerations for building its own delivery system. We have a large share of the white-collar market, and this customer group pays special attention to the delivery experience."

Zhu Xiaohu jumped up from his chair as if his butt was on fire to ease the situation, and repeatedly winked at Zhang Xuhao and Kang Jia to signal them not to be impulsive.

A very sad fact is that he was involved in almost all the projects that Xie Jingxing strongly led, and he was present at every critical deadlock.

However, even though Cheng Wei had to go to Tibet temporarily in the middle of the night for some trouble, this kid just cursed at his mother on the surface. This was the first time I had seen a father scolding his son in such a completely hostile situation.

At the moment of stalemate, the door of the conference room opened, and Song Anli walked in quietly and slowly with a glass of wine. Next to her was a middle-aged woman with short hair, a pretty face, fair skin and a pair of dimples.

"Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that maybe you're not wrong, maybe I'm just too gentle."

Xie Jingxing took the wine glass and took a sip: "Since you want to introduce Dianping, then merge it. Dianping will acquire Ele.me."

"Oh!"

Zhang Xuhao slammed the table and shouted excitedly, "Xie Jingxing, don't try this on me. I'm going to sue you for planting a commercial spy in my company!"

"And JD.com, you and JD.com have transferred interests, and Chang Bin leaked important financing secrets of my company."

Xie Jingxing frowned and shook his head. Liu Qiangdong was not a good guy either. He had been coveting the local logistics distribution for a long time, so how could he tip him off?

It should be said that everyone in this conference room is a bad guy. He raised his hand and waved, and Song Anli got the signal and turned on the recorder and camera on the spot.

"Mr. Zhang, Mr. Kang, Mr. Zhu, my name is Liu Lin, and I'm from Tencent's Human Resources Department. I've been assigned to Ele.me for the past three months to support human resources work."

The middle-aged woman with short hair put the folder in her arms on the table: "During this period, we received three internal reports with real names, reporting that eight grassroots employees in the market operation department embezzled subsidy funds and accepted bribes from brand merchants, with a total amount of up to 8 million yuan."

"In addition, there was also the phenomenon of Ele.me's human resources department colluding with some middle and senior management personnel to embezzle by taking advantage of the employee salary incentive system."

Kang Jia, who was originally holding Zhang Xuhao, suddenly changed his expression and became more excited than before: "What do you mean? Who gave you the power to investigate the secrets of my company's personnel management structure!"

"We have reason to suspect that the founder maliciously transferred the company's assets through the management team and infringed the rights and interests of all shareholders." Song Anli ignored it and pushed the recorder in front of Zhu Xiaohu.

"If Meituan acquires Dianping, you and your team will be sent to Meituan to support human resources work, right?"

Xie Jingxing exhaled the alcohol and looked at Liu Lin: "A third-party team that controls the entire personnel management structure of Ele.me, this is simply a horror story."

"Thinking and understanding often will lead to success. Don't waste the opportunity next time, if you can still encounter it."

Zhang Xuhao's face was pale and he opened his mouth but no sound came out.

(End of this chapter)