Chapter 331: New Big Hungry Terminates Financing Plan

"Meituan is my tenth startup."

This was the first time Wang Xing took a vacation since founding Meituan. He and his wife drove to the Shidu Scenic Area in the suburbs of Beijing to enjoy the mountains and rivers.

Looking into the distance, there are tourists who dare to jump down from a high altitude by tying a rope, then swinging in the air screaming, as if they want to throw their souls out of their bodies.

Wang Xing’s thoughts wandered, and he thought, Tang Seng reincarnated nine times to obtain the true scriptures. If he had to start a business for the eleventh time to succeed, wouldn’t that mean he had surpassed Tang Seng?

"Let me make it clear in advance. If you want to go, go by yourself. I don't dare." His wife patted him on the shoulder and reminded him in a scolding manner.

Wang Xing came back to his senses and forced a smile: "I don't dare either. Drifting is the limit."

"Forget about rafting, the duck boat is pretty good. Let's just enjoy the scenery. The ticket is 50 yuan per person, it would be a waste if we don't enjoy it."

The wife recited the lyrics in a serious tone: "The river is wide and the water is clear. It is better than the Li River. People say this is the Little Guilin of the North."

The more Wang Xing listened, the more familiar the words seemed to him. They should have been written on the roadside sign just before entering the scenic area. However, he just smiled and listened carefully, nodding his head from time to time.

Then the wife will be more motivated to play the role of tour guide.

His wife is his fellow villager and Tsinghua University alumnus. She was also a technical engineer when he founded Fanfou.com; the fifth employee when he founded the campus network; and one of the founding members of Meituan.

If Wang Huiwen is the dead body who has crawled through the trenches of every bloody battle, his reputation is well-known both inside and outside the industry.

Then the wife is the unknown person who stays by his side and is busy every day and night.

People say that Internet entrepreneurs have enviable wives. Jack Ma has Zhang Ying, Robin Li has Ma Dongmin, and Wang Xing has Guo Wanhuai.

Many years ago, I said that I would go out for a vacation when I have some free time. Guilin, with its world-famous scenery, is a good choice. But in the end, I ended up visiting a bankrupt copycat version of "Little Guilin".

Wang Xing didn't see any of the natural scenery that the scenic spot boasts of being secluded, beautiful, strange and dangerous. He was squeezed the entire time by tourists who were taking a break during the May Day holiday.

We played aimlessly until late at night, rented a tent at the scenic camping site, set up a barbecue grill, and the charcoal fire wafted the aroma of oil smoke.

"You can see what you think in your heart. You will see what you think in your heart. You are thinking about the platform's local surrounding tour business."

After pouring two bottles of cold beer, Guo Wanhuai, who has a background in science and engineering, found a rare way to say: "Mr. Wang, I assure you that our local tourism business is growing very well, so you can relax and take a vacation!"

"Thank you Mr. Guo for your strong support. You have performed well and keep up the good work. You will be promoted and get a raise at the end of the year. Mr. Wang, please toast to you." Wang Xing cooperated and raised his beer glass.

The sound of wine glasses clinking together was crisp. Guo Wanhuai took a big gulp of wine and his face turned visibly red.

She is now responsible for the traditional financial management and financial strategic planning of Meituan's food delivery business. The new Big Elephant that was publicized by the general public and the media burned through 50 billion in two months was in fact just direct market subsidy funds.

According to the financial tables she has, Meituan burned a total of 127 billion in two months, and Xindashi burned much more.

Over the past two months, both parties have been openly counting on their fingers how much money the other side is burning every day and how many days the funds on the books can last. Before Xindashi officially announced its financing plan yesterday, the estimation error would not exceed five days.

Only when the situation gets to this point will top investor Shen Nanpeng become so anxious.

But now Guo Wanhuai couldn't calculate anymore. She wanted to continue saying some words of comfort, but the burp couldn't help but escape from her mouth first. All the words disappeared along with the burp. She picked up the wine glass and brought it to her mouth again.

"In fact, to be fair, Xie Jingxing's judgment is correct, and it coincides with mine."

Wang Xing poked the charcoal fire and said calmly: "If we continue to burn money for another three to five months at the current rate, the demographic dividend will be fully exploited and the market growth rate will peak. It will be even more difficult for Meituan to raise funds."

"But he deliberately didn't make some things clear. Entering the stock market to compete for value-added businesses, such as food supply chain, fresh food retail, etc., the advantage of burning money in these areas will be weakened to the minimum, and the effect is far less direct than playing in the ToC market."

He analyzed slowly, "So I divide this competition into two halves. In the first half, he won by taking advantage of the demographic dividend. In two months, he swept through dozens of food delivery platforms in the market."

"The second half will be a test of technology, execution, and strategic vision. For Meituan, this is the beginning of a new round."

Wang Xing grabbed a few skewers of meat and knocked them hard on the iron rack at the edge of the barbecue grill. The burnt black oil residue fell off, and he sprinkled some chili powder and cumin on them, which made him appetite again.

Guo Wanhuai put down his beer cup unconsciously. These words could comfort her more than all the sweet words in the world.

"I had two dreams last night."

Wang Xing handed the skewer to his wife and continued to stir the charcoal fire: "I dreamed that there was no such person as Xie Jingxing in the world, and the competition was still fierce. Meituan defeated Baidu, Ele.me and all other competitors to the end."

"I was determined to run the food supply chain and suffered losses year after year. I also suffered losses in fresh food retail and even more losses in local life and entertainment services. There was constant competition in each new value-added business area, but as the losses continued, Meituan became the largest local life service provider in China."

Guo Wanhuai sniffed hard and looked at her husband's profile, which was a mixture of light and dark, in the light of the charcoal fire.

"My second dream is that Meituan goes bankrupt and is acquired by New Dangdai at a low price to dominate the local life service field. I retire and go home to rest and accompany you. Then one morning I wake up and open my eyes and suddenly find a great business idea. I start my 11th business as if I were possessed."

The moon is bright and high in the sky, cicadas are chirping, and the cool evening breeze of late spring and early summer splashes sparks that disappear in the air in an instant.

"These two dreams were very real, as if they really happened and I experienced them personally."

Wang Xing raised his head and looked at his wife: "So, honey, no matter what, my tenth entrepreneurial venture will not involve surrender. This doesn't seem to be part of my destiny."

"..."

In silence, Guo Wanhuai chewed the skewers in big mouthfuls, mixed them with cold beer and sent them into his stomach. He wiped his mouth boldly and said, "What are you standing there for? Eat quickly, and send me back to the company to work overtime after eating!"

"How many days can we fight?" Wang Xing asked vaguely while eating.

"Six days. I'll meet someone from the bank tomorrow." "That's enough. I'm going on a business trip tomorrow. It might take three days or six days. Bring the money back!"

Wang Xing was as resolute and confident as ever. Guo Wanhuai pursed his lips and chuckled silently in the night.

As she said, Meituan's local travel ticket booking and hotel business grew very well and is the company's largest revenue generator. It should have helped the company's book funds last for about half a month longer.

However, the battle for the group buying business has been indiscriminate in all segments. Last month, for unknown reasons, Ctrip and Qunar.com followed suit and joined the battle, launching a new round of spending to defend the online travel market.

Xin Da Hung doesn't need this little bit of revenue, because Xie Jingxing was born with it.

Meituan’s financial difficulties extended from half a month to six days, but it didn’t matter, because the motivation for entrepreneurship is also an instinct that my husband is born with - Guo Wanhuai said to himself in his heart.

On May 5, the sixth day before Meituan’s cash flow dried up, Wang Xing was on a business trip alone to New York, where Alibaba Group co-founder and head of strategic investment Joseph Tsai watched the NBA playoffs.

On May 5, the third day of the countdown, Wang Xing went from New York to Hong Kong Island, where Tencent Group President Martin Lau held a meeting.

On May 5, the last two days of the countdown, Wang Xing rushed to Hangzhou to meet with Cai Chongxin again.

On May 5, Wang Xing returned to Meituan’s headquarters in Beijing and organized a meeting of all senior executives, solemnly announcing that the most important value-added business in the second half of the competition in the local life service sector, which Xie Jingxing had never announced, was: mobile payment strategy!
…………

On the night of May 5, in Beijing.

"Jingxing, cooperation is built step by step from scratch. We now have a positive and good start. We should be patient and move forward slowly. I suggest that the high-intensity market subsidies can be stopped."

"Mr. Liu, my suggestion is that Xinda Hung does not accept your suggestion." Xie Jingxing hung up the phone.

Zhou Fenglan half-lying against the bed, looking weak and pale, frowning heroically, yelling: "Wash your hands!"

"Just wash it!"

Xie Jingxing retracted his claws that were about to grab the breast pump, and stood up angrily to wash and disinfect his hands.

A few days ago, he and Wang Xing had a passionate confrontation and won the game. However, he was so relaxed when he received the news that Zhou Fenglan had entered the delivery room. He instantly broke down the meeting and ran to the hospital.

The concubine gave birth to a son, and his father-in-law named him Zhou Yunyuan.

Zhou Fenglan was very dissatisfied with this crappy name which sounded full of the temperament of a simple and honest boy, so he rebelliously gave himself a nickname "Xiang Xiang", which means ideal "Xiang".

But the child wanted to hug his father whenever he saw him. He really had no ambition at all, which made her so angry that her milk was swollen.

"Who called you?"

After the milk was released and the physiological bloating and pain were relieved, Zhou Fenglan felt better and her mood calmed down a little.

Xie Jingxing carefully helped her lie down: "Liu Chi Ping, work matters."

"Aren't you and Tencent good friends? How can you break up with your life-and-death friendship even if you were shot and sent to the ICU?"

Zhou Fenglan made a judgment based on the brief conversation he had just heard on the phone and laughed at him with a sneer that had no offensive power.

Xie Jingxing patiently corrected him, "WhatsApp's 7% stake is now worth nearly $30 billion. They have paid me enough and don't owe me anything. Business is business."

Zhou Fenglan couldn't find any flaws to refute for a moment. While he was speaking, his cell phone rang. It was Teacher Ma calling.

"Xiao Xie, did you receive the message?"

"Liu Chih-ping notified me five minutes ago."

"So you didn't participate, you didn't know about it, and you were ambushed? Xiao Xie, I don't know what happened for now, but Wang Xing has no bottom line!"

"If nothing had happened beforehand."

"Xiao Xie, I won't ask you about the specific situation. I just want to say one thing. Please tell Tencent for me that this situation cannot be resolved with 500 billion yuan." Teacher Ma hung up the phone in a low voice.

Zhou Fenglan's eyes widened: "What happened?"

"It's not a big deal. I might have to make another phone call. It'll take a minute."

Xie Jingxing then dialed Song Anli: "New DAE financing plan has been terminated, excluding Tencent's investment share."

"I said abort, right now."

He put down his phone, smiled at Zhou Fenglan, and returned to the topic of their previous bickering: "Look, I don't owe Tencent anything."

…………

On May 5, Tencent planned to acquire Alibaba's 15% stake in Meituan for US$10 billion. Tencent's Tenpay provided it with a cash loan of US$7 million to alleviate its cash flow difficulties.

On the same day, New Dangdai’s new round of financing plan was terminated, Tencent withdrew from the follow-up investment, and the vacant investment shares were jointly replaced by the online car-hailing unicorn company Didi and Shanghai Fuxing Group.

On the afternoon of May 5, Meituan launched a plan codenamed "Lightning Operation", strictly prohibiting the use of Alipay transactions by millions of merchants on the platform, and hiding the Alipay transaction ports on the group buying and food delivery platforms.

Out of control, Shen Nanpeng's prediction came true, and the situation suddenly tore into chaos and disorder.

(End of this chapter)