Chapter 360: Destiny is not complete
[August 8th, SF Express and Baidu Waimai reached a strategic cooperation agreement to provide lunch and dinner delivery services for Baidu Waimai in Beijing.]

[Sources said that SF Express has teamed up with Koubei.com to invest in Baidu Waimai, and currently holds a 30% stake. It may acquire the entire company in the future. ]

[Baidu's public relations director responded: This is groundless, I don't know anything about this matter. 】

Zhang Lei read out three news reports in a row, and then emphasized for the nth time: "There is no smoke without fire. We must all stand in unison at this time."

In the living room of the hotel suite, a dozen or so representatives of Meituan's shareholders were sitting or standing, and no one spoke. After multiple rounds of communication over the past two days, a conclusion had been reached.

Information leaked through various channels can confirm that Baidu Takeout is adjusting its personnel structure, and signs of stop-loss exit are obvious. Even if it does not sell today, it will sell tomorrow.

Alibaba has entered the market with great force and action.

Then it makes no sense for Meituan to continue to hold a stalemate with New DAE. It should quickly merge and acquire Alibaba and use its market share monopoly to crush Alibaba. If you have to choose between the two, if you can't handle Xie Jingxing, then handle Wang Xing!
"Has Mr. Zhang arrived yet? What is he looking for me for?"

The door was half open and Wang Xing walked in quickly to break the oppressive atmosphere. Then he stopped talking and fell into deeper silence.

The thick smoke was floating and changing in the sunlight outside the window. He was standing at a distance from the door and could not make out the faces of people in the smoke clearly. The low-pressure texture seemed real.

"Wang Xing, come in and sit down."

Leather shoes made a dull sound as they stepped on the floor tiles. Zhang Lei walked through the light and shadows and green smoke to the door to greet them. He put his arm around Wang Xing's shoulders and walked back to the living room, where he sat in the middle of the sofa.

Many investors gathered around and watched silently. Someone put out his cigarette and stood up: "Mr. Wang, please sign it."

"When did you come? I had to go to the company for a meeting. I was just about to talk to you about the semi-annual financial report." Wang Xing lowered his head, stroked the frame of his glasses, and smiled faintly.

Any founder would be caught off guard when investors whose combined shareholdings exceed 57% secretly colluded and suddenly forced the abdication. Reason would tell him that he should avoid direct confrontation.

Moreover, there is still 8.5% of the shares in Alibaba's hands. Of course, they are the "royalists" at this time and do not want Meituan and New DAE to successfully merge and acquire each other.

Ironically, Wang Xing's cheeks turned light red, and he clenched his hands tightly, trying his best to control his tone and calm his voice: "In the past six months, our hotel business revenue has been very good, accounting for more than 90% of the company. This is our biggest blood transfusion..."

"Your contribution to the company is obvious to all. Let's talk about this later. Let's first talk about the merger with New DAE." Zhang Lei interrupted in a gentle voice without leaving any room for doubt.

Wang Xing looked up and looked around: "We have talked about this many times during this period. My idea is that it would be best to solve the problem through mergers and acquisitions. Meituan has always been positive."

"Then sign it, formally pass the shareholders' meeting resolution, and issue a letter of intent to acquire New DAE."

Northern Light Venture Capital left no room for maneuver. As a follow-up investor in Meituan's Series B financing, it has accompanied Meituan through ups and downs for as long as 4 years.

Wang Xing vaguely remembered that after the Thousand Groups War ended, the other party’s manager said to him with expectation, “If we are destined to be together, we will definitely go hand in hand until the IPO and ring the bell!”
"How much has the loss been in the past two months? About 70 billion, right? Can the hotel business revenue fill the bottomless pit?"

Another follow-up investor in the B round, Walden International Investment’s representative said righteously: “I believe that Walden has absolute trust in the founders whenever we invest. This kind of professional ethics is not what any venture capital investor does.”

"So if you say to fight, then we will fight. From last year to this year, the takeaway business has lost 20 billion. We have no objection and firmly support it!"

He became more and more excited as he spoke. His figure was reflected by the halo and became taller, as if he was standing on a high place. "In June, everyone urged you to merge and acquire the company. You agreed to do it well. You said you would kick Ali out first, sort out the equity relationship, and make the marriage clean."

"As a result, we have lost another 70 billion in two months and have done nothing about the promised merger and acquisition plan. Our patience has reached its limit, and the patience of our investors has long been exhausted."

"We absolutely cannot tolerate the Meituan management team's unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain that undermines the interests of investors. I propose to hold a shareholders' meeting immediately to initiate the resolution process to remove Chairman Wang Xing!"

Accusations filled the air like boiling steam, and everyone spoke eagerly. Wang Xing stood up and pressed his hands down, and there was a moment of silence in the room.

He looked at the representative of Walden International Investment for a long time, then slowly bent down and bowed deeply. Then came the representatives of Northern Light Venture Capital, General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital China, Source Code Capital...

"Everyone, thank you for your continued support for Meituan. My team and I are proud to have you as investors. Now that Meituan needs support the most, I ask everyone to give me, give us a chance to communicate with each other, so that we can jointly decide the future development direction of Meituan."

Wang Xing finally contacted the mastermind behind the palace coup - Zhang Lei - today.

The bandits who eat human flesh on Liangshan Marsh all understand the truth that 'humans are not plants', so as a venture capital boss, it doesn't matter what he thinks in his heart at this moment, he must swallow this toast.

"Let's have a good chat about the M&A issue," Zhang Lei said, slowing down his tone.

"Excuse me, my boss needs to join the meeting online."

A younger investor representative in the corner came forward holding a computer. He was from Tiger Global Management and had co-led the investment with Alibaba in the last round.

He connected the conference video and gestured, "Okay."

"Wait a minute, my son is asleep, I have to go to the study, just one minute."

A deep male voice with a Boston accent came from the video, and the dark screen lit up to reveal the image of an old white man: "Wang, long time no see. I'm sorry I can't talk to you at the meeting."

"The meeting has just started and everyone is here." Wang Xing pushed his computer back to allow more investors to enter the picture.

"OK, we have to admit that we are facing a bad decision dilemma. Pessimistic liquidity expectations have caused many investors to email me to ask whether we need to shrink our business in China and how much money will be burned by projects like Meituan."

The white old man spoke quickly and nonstop: "Our money and patience are both challenged, even though I personally firmly believe that you are an outstanding founder."

“So… you can understand me, right? When the industry cycle reaches a certain point, it is normal for the big two to merge. Investors in Silicon Valley will applaud such mergers and acquisitions.”

"Let's end this, great founder. You still have the final say until I sell my shares to Sequoia. Yes, I'm selling it to Jim Goetz, my old friend at Grapefruit Capital."

The old white man held his forehead with one hand and looked a little tired.

Wang Xing was stunned and speechless for a moment. This was a loophole in the design of the AB equity structure and the introduction of US dollar capital into the VIE framework.

The investors can only force the founder to abdicate and cannot bypass him to make any formal decision. He can also use this to impose limited restrictions on who Alibaba sells its shares to.

All struggles must ultimately return to the basic business legal rules, but Tiger Global Dollar Fund holds shares through the VIE framework under "contractual control". According to the rules, it has no right to interfere with the other party's sale of shares to Xie Jingxing.

In short, since stepping into this suite, the first weapon that can truly force the merger and acquisition to proceed through action has emerged from the verbal pressure of heated debate.

It was as if everyone was madly throwing bricks at a monk in an iron vest, trying to shock him to death bit by bit, and suddenly someone took out a knife, jumped up and stabbed him, drawing blood.

"That's it. I'm tired of meaninglessly burning investors' money just to satisfy the ego and lust for power of any dictator."

The white old man’s concluding remarks revealed the essence of the situation, and then he hung up the meeting video.

At the root of the matter, the two billion-dollar unicorns are now burning through an average of 3 million in cash flow every day. This is entirely the fault of Xie Jingxing and Wang Xing!

The atmosphere that had just been slightly relaxed suddenly became tense again. The emotional card is only effective once, Zhang Lei said to himself.

"Bank personnel should be present at the M&A meeting as Meituan's current financial situation is extremely dangerous."

The Northern Light Venture Capital representative walked out of the suite and pushed open the door of the next suite. Representatives of several bank pledged creditors who had been waiting for a long time came in one after another.

If there is a first, there will be a second. The second knife appears. If the creditors come and refuse to acquire the company, they will have to pay back the money. If they still refuse to pay back the money, their assets will be frozen.

The investment agreement equity liquidation process is then automatically initiated, the super voting rights become waste paper, and life and death are at stake.

The shareholders who can invest in Meituan can more or less represent the upper limit of the industry, and there will not be a drama like the internal fighting among the Pony.com family and locking the official seal, but from bright sunlight to incandescent light.

The door was closed for more than ten hours, and many investors took turns to question and persuade. Wang Xing did not feel that he was Tang Seng who had practiced for ten lifetimes. He was probably a criminal who was guilty of the most heinous crimes and was facing a trial that was condemned by thousands of people.

"Given Meituan's debt ratio, a stock swap is the best option. You can take away a large sum of money without any worries."

After everyone was dismissed in the early hours of the morning, Zhang Lei's voice was hoarse and his breath carried the bitter taste of coffee beans.

Wang Xing took a deep breath and opened his mouth to say something but no sound came out. The anger he had felt in the morning dissipated unconsciously, leaving only numbness in his mind.

In May, he took the initiative to jump into Xie Jingxing's camp and sided with Tencent to seek a glimmer of hope. In addition to the loan funds provided by Tencent, he also helped to raise US$7 million in bond financing from China Asset Management (Hong Kong Island).

These two sums of money are the lifeline that allowed Meituan to survive to this day. Wang Xing thought it was enough to support him until he found a new round of financing, but the stock market crash happened...

The entire venture capital market is in a state of panic. Not only is Meituan in a dilemma and unable to invest, even the shareholders who have invested in it have lost the patience they had two months ago.

These two life-saving sums of money have become the most deadly knives at present. If Wang Xing resists to the end, New DAE will acquire Meituan, which is dying due to lack of financing, and he will be out of the game with billions of personal debts.

All the pressure today is based on this point, or in other words, if the founders can use all kinds of means to control the super voting rights, the investors can only use one means to counterattack - money.

"This is the best offer I can get for you."

Under the high-intensity negotiation confrontation, the skier's body couldn't bear it. Zhang Lei smiled helplessly: "Everyone here advises you to accept the stock swap merger because we are optimistic about the future of the combination of New DAE + Meituan."

"Otherwise, Xie Jingxing can just come in with the money to buy it, and you won't have any choice." He said in a cold tone.

Wang Xing shook his head, his eyes regained some spirit: "I want to meet with Xie Jingxing for a talk."

"Okay! I'll arrange it for you right away." Zhang Lei jumped up from the sofa and took out his mobile phone.

"In exchange for shares and mergers, Meituan will operate as an independent brand, and I will work for them."

Wang Xing said firmly and seriously: "Just treat me and Zhang Tao as racehorses. Give me two years, and Meituan will make him earn more."

Zhang Lei stopped moving and stared in astonishment, staring at the guy in front of him who suddenly became passionate, as if he was looking at a fool.

"I'll go talk to Xie Jingxing in person. Give me a chance to see him and I won't make things difficult for you."

Wang Xing stood up and looked Zhang Lei in the eye, “I thought I would lose, but I never thought I would lose… It’s inexplicable, do you understand?”

Try every possible way to create space for maneuvering and seeking financing, and then the stock market crash happens. This force majeure factor that no one can foresee stands on the side of Xie Jingxing.

For a person who regards entrepreneurship as an instinct, he is not afraid of death, but is only afraid of dying without understanding it and dying before his destiny is fulfilled.

This is often the norm for entrepreneurs. Zhang Lei understood what Wang Xing was thinking, and with mixed feelings, he said, "Xie Jingxing will not see you, so continue the meeting."

Wang Xing smiled as if relieved. He finally gave up his dignity and tried hard but still lost to Xie Jingxing. This was enough...

"Neil Shen and Tencent didn't send anyone here today, so I'll be the bad guy. I'll read Steve Jobs when I have time."

Zhang Lei turned around and went outside the suite to call someone. The whispers he heard as they passed by each other lingered in the room and disappeared in an instant.

…………

"Good morning, everyone. The person next to me is our new intern Xiaotian. He Chuan will assign her a workstation."

Early in the morning, Xie Jingxing appeared in the office of Grapefruit Capital with a smile on his face. He pointed at Zhang Zetian who was walking beside him and introduced her, and walked briskly into the independent office.

[Turtle, if I am not mistaken, this is Milk Tea Sister, right? ]

[Dear, there is nothing wrong with your eyesight. I suggest you check your ears. She mentioned her name when she introduced herself just now~]

[Comrades, the latest news, she calls the young commander "Master"! ]

[No wonder he was on the hot search list last Friday after getting his marriage certificate. Our young master came to work today with a happy face. It turns out there is a reason. ]

【oh? 】

In the WeChat gossip group, a huge amount of information was reported as "Oh". Then the tape recorder refreshed the screen. He Chuan glanced at his classmate Xiaotian who was standing next to him and humbly learning how to use office software.

"Haha, the working atmosphere in our office is quite relaxed. You will know it later."

He gritted his teeth with a smile on his face, and his eyes seemed to be emitting laser beams to kill these losers.

Zhang Zetian said jokingly, "We are all young people, it's good, can I join the group?"

"Uh?"

"I have some heavy gossip as a token of my loyalty."

"..."

[Report, latest intelligence, Meituan founder Wang Xing named and criticized in WeChat Moments. ]

A message popped up in the WeChat gossip group, along with a screenshot of a Moments post. It was a forwarded article from a public account titled "Wang Xing, who left Alibaba, is unable to resist the new Great Hunger," with the caption:
Although Alibaba is very powerful, I would respect them more if they had more bottom line.

【WC, big news, it turns out that the young coach is in a good mood because of this. 】

[Moreover, the person who commented below, 'Life is like a chess move, no regrets' is Zhu Xiaohu. ]

【Who was the one who cursed Zhu Xiaohu in the comment above that "Any despicable competition tactics will not win in the end"? 】

【Brother Qiangdong, I have his WeChat. 】

[Oh, no, then who has Wang Xing’s WeChat? ]

[It’s me~]

[Why don’t you send any messages? Report, latest intelligence, Mr. Xie’s comments. ]

【Report.】

[It is said that there is an anti-Ali alliance in the underworld. ]

【Review and report again.】

【Xiao Ma Ge's comment: Everything will turn into its opposite when it reaches its extreme.】

【Explore, report! 】

【Zhang Ying, Jingwei China: Wangbuliuxing. 】

(End of this chapter)