Chapter 363 People’s Mind Changes
The two women that Xie Jingxing brought out from Juntai Capital, one came from private equity financing business, and the other came from the Internet industry's mergers and acquisitions business.

Tang Man helped Didi complete the most difficult stage of introducing state-owned capital financing during the period when it was banned by Alibaba, multiple rounds of huge financing for New DAE, and the establishment of Luzhou Xinhai 100 billion industrial fund.

Su He participated in the largest cross-border M&A case in China for three consecutive times: Tencent-WhatsApp, the fastest M&A case among domestic unicorns: Didi-Kuaidi, and the largest M&A case among domestic unicorns: Ele.me-Dianping.

The first time Xie Jingxing had private contact with the former, she mocked the latter for being short-sighted and only caring about the trivial matters in front of her, which had been verified many times.

However, what Tang Man didn't say out loud was that Su He had indeed figured out the close combat between human nature to the extreme.

This woman can really see clearly the trivial things in front of her.

As soon as Xie Jingxing opened his mouth for the second time today, she realized that Zhang Tao was out of control. Business integration and independence were just being discussed, and the situation at Meituan was still unknown.

To some extent, the loss of control of the chairman of the New Danghee Group stems from instinct. He is only one step away from monopolizing the entire industry, and he sincerely believes that he can swallow up Meituan in one fell swoop.

Weakness is not the original sin; greed breeds arrogance.

So Su He did not change her position on the spot and follow her boss's steps. She wanted to use this opportunity to see the attitudes of all parties.

A monkey in a cage is performing a clumsy show without realizing it. The audience outside the cage seems to be participating in an animal behavior observation event and will react to it to some extent.

“Mr. Zhang, you are the one who knows Xinda E the best, and Wang Xing is the one who knows Meituan the best.”

After a brief conversation, Liu Chih-ping returned to the office and was the first to lose his patience. He smiled warmly and said earnestly, "You two should talk alone once."

"No problem. To be fair, the scale of our two businesses is comparable. His attitude deserves respect." Zhang Tao sat on the sofa with his legs apart and his hands folded, leaning forward.

Liu Chih-ping nodded and said, "The sooner the better. How about we meet in Hong Kong Island tomorrow? If you and Wang Xing can communicate smoothly, the M&A team will come in the day after tomorrow to start formal negotiations."

"There are many people in China, so be low-key and keep it secret when you go to Hong Kong Island." Shen Nanpeng pushed up the legs of his glasses and added softly.

Zhang Tao sat up straight with his legs supported, full of confidence: "I have thought about this day many times in the past six months, but I never thought it would come so soon."

"Boss Xie, I'll go talk first. You have to hold the line in the back and finish your work as soon as possible to come and settle the situation!"

He sighed with emotion and spoke to Xie Jingxing alone, rubbing his face with both hands, his voice was dry and erratic, all the years of bitterness and pain were poured out in one day, and only he knew all his emotions and feelings.

"See you in Hong Kong Island. I'll toast you a celebratory drink then."

Xie Jingxing raised the corner of his mouth and patted Zhang Tao on the shoulder, then left alone without any politeness.

Su He watched his figure disappear in the office, blinking with interest and doubt, chuckling silently.

Shen Nanpeng's reaction was very calm. As a financial investor, he did not need to care about the struggle for control of the company. After objectively analyzing the independent operation and M&A plan, he found that the risk was small, so he reached a tacit understanding with Liu Chih-Ping.

By the way, it can also prevent Xie Jingxing from being too dictatorial and emptying out New DAE in the future and moving all of it back to Yunshan Group.

On the other hand, if Zhang Tao really has the ability to take over all of Meituan's businesses in one go, Shen Nanpeng can do a Thomas spin split kneeling without anyone else doing anything, and shout "Long live the chairman!"

——We will support whoever can help everyone make money. It can be said that he represents the attitude of all financial investors.

Behind Liu Chih-ping stand strategic investors such as Wanda and JD.com. Compared with direct financial returns, they care more about the benefits of cooperation at the business level.

Based on this, he reacted strongly, thinking that Zhang Tao was unreliable and also being bothered by Xie Jingxing's excessive dominance.

So what is the boss thinking? He seems to be at a loss...

This reaction was very strange, considering that he was always determined in his goal. Su He suppressed his curiosity and finally finalized the negotiation with Liu Chih-Ping and Shen Nanpeng, and finalized the general direction of the negotiations with Zhang Tao.

When I returned to Taihe in the evening and walked into the lighted office of the chairman, I saw Xie Jingxing sitting solemnly at his desk, propping up his high nose with both hands, pretending to be a thinker.

There was also a man and a woman sitting on the edge of the sofa with their buttocks slightly bent, seemingly having been waiting for a long time.

"Boss Su, thank you for your hard work."

Liu Qiming, senior vice president of government public relations business of Xinda'e, and Xu Ning, senior vice president of platform business, both stood up and greeted him as if they were relieved.

Su He immediately understood that at this moment, Liu Lin, the former senior human resources expert of Tencent and current senior vice president of human resources of New Dalian, should be with Liu Chih-Ping.

It turned out that Mr. Xie and Mr. Liu had worked together to send Zhang Tao to Hong Kong to meet Wang Xing.

Make some time to carefully examine the new Da'e with your own eyes and see how likely it is to swallow up Meituan.

Shen Nanpeng was not aware of this, but he chose to sit back and watch, and even gave the dog a sneaky push.

"After the acquisition is completed, we will hold a total of more than 30% of New DAE's equity, reaching a relative controlling stake."

Xie Jingxing spoke in a calm tone. Su He and Liu Qiming sat down again, put aside all their speculations and listened attentively.

People outside like to spread the word "Xie capital", but Taihe Pomelo never says that inside, and at most uses "we" instead.

The more they try to cover up, the more obvious it becomes, and everyone inside and outside the company knows the weight of the so-called Xie capital. Controlling Xinda E means indirectly monopolizing an industry.

At least this can be considered as the current situation where Koubei.com is still imitating others and Nuomi.com is half-buried in the ground.

"This is the exchange between us and Tencent. After the acquisition, Meituan will operate independently and we will have a relatively controlling stake."

Xie Jingxing changed the subject: "But, we cooked a table of delicious food, and the people who really ate it were Zhang Tao and Wang Xing."

"I can see what dishes they like to eat, how much they eat before they are full and how much they eat before they starve. But I can't see whether a specific business department of Xinda E is suitable for merging with the corresponding business department of Meituan. I don't know what the working teams of these departments are thinking or what their current work direction is."

He turned his gaze to Su He: "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I understand. People's minds change. The entire M&A process is dynamically advanced, and the positions of relevant stakeholders are constantly changing." Su He summarized simply.

The positions of Xie Jingxing and Liu Chih-ping have changed several times today, not to mention what the people below will think after the M&A negotiations are actually launched. This is the most complicated part of the M&A business.

"So whether our exchange with Tencent can be achieved, I have set the tone at the macro level, and the execution level depends on you." Xie Jingxing rubbed his temple.

Ultimately, he couldn't negotiate on behalf of Zhang Tao, otherwise he would have just taken over as the chairman of the new DAE last year. Why make things so complicated?

Moreover, Taihe is the main participant in the merger and acquisition this time and cannot jump out of the game and stand from the perspective of a third-party M&A advisory team like the WhatsApp acquisition.

The job was taken by Huaxing Fund. Bao Fan finally succeeded in begging for the job. He will evaluate how much New DAE and Meituan are worth from a third-party perspective.

There were legal and financial issues in the merger and acquisition, such as who would Alibaba sell its shares to, whether the new DAE company would repurchase and cancel the shares, with all shareholders sharing the cost, or whether Xiyou would repurchase the shares. As for money, Xie Jingxing was not only unable to help Zhang Tao negotiate, but he himself was also overwhelmed.

It has been nearly half a month since Grapefruit Capital started fundraising for its two funds of US$50 billion and RMB 150 billion. According to the established fundraising plan, he should personally go on the roadshow.

He flew all over the world to meet investors, put on a smiling face, and tried to get the 450 billion yuan of funds back as soon as possible to fill the funding gap needed to increase the shareholding of New DAE-Meituan after the merger.

"Any thing else?"

The latest decision was communicated behind closed doors. Time passed quickly and it was late at night. Seeing Liu Qiming and Xu Ning saying goodbye and leaving, Su He hesitated and stayed until the end. Xie Jingxing was confused.

"It's nothing... I just feel like you seem to have doubts and your goals are not very clear." She couldn't help but ask the question that she had been speculating about since the afternoon and still didn't understand.

"..."

Xie Jingxing was speechless, and then he explained seriously: "I was wondering what Wang Xing would choose if Meituan acquired New DAE."

"?"

Su He raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if asking what was there to consider.

If Wang Xing can end the competition through a comprehensive business integration and M&A plan, then New Big E can also do so. Vice versa, New Big E has to use the expedient of independent operation and M&A plan, and Meituan will not be able to do better.

"You don't understand. Go home and get off work early and have a rest." Xie Jingxing just smiled.

He personally gave birth to the entire local life service sector. The merger and acquisition of the current leader and second-largest player must be benchmarked against Meituan in 16 in the original timeline, which acquired Ele.me and Dianping at the same time.

Can Wang Xing still directly and comprehensively integrate the business? Xie Jingxing unconsciously compared it in his mind.

…………

【Since Mr. Xie took a screenshot and posted it on WeChat Moments the day before yesterday, I will post it again for everyone to see. I didn’t expect Pony (Xiao Ma Ge) to pay attention to an investment project of the company. His work attitude is admirable. But just like Mr. Xie, we at Jinshajiang will spare no effort to support the founder (snickering expression).

In addition, many friends have recently asked me whether New Da'e will merge with Meituan. Here is a unified reply: absolutely not! I hope everyone is well and encourages each other to grow. 】

"Boss Su, we should go in."

In the hotel corridor, his subordinates whispered a reminder. Su He put away his phone with an ambiguous smile on his face and walked into the suite that served as the negotiation venue.

Yesterday, Zhang Tao went to meet with Wang Xing alone, and the two talked for a whole day. The specific content of the conversation is unknown. Today, an entire floor of the hotel was booked, and the M&A team moved in immediately.

People's minds have changed. Zhu Xiaohu, who had a quarrel with Mr. Xie over the shared bicycle project in WeChat Moments the day before yesterday, responded two days later with a dull reaction. He posted another WeChat Moments with a smile saying that everyone is a good buddy...

The key is to deny the merger between Xindai and Meituan, which is essentially a pretentious act, but the purpose is to put pressure on Meituan.

——We, the big and small shareholders, have the same attitude. If you don’t obey, we, the small shareholders, will definitely unite around Mr. Xie and continue to spend money to kill you.

"If you want to merge, do it cleanly and neatly. Don't treat them differently. On the surface, they are operating independently, but in reality, all the company resources are in the hands of New Big E. It would be a waste of Meituan's value to create New Big E by restricting Meituan."

Meituan's small shareholders, led by Northern Lights, also have a united and clear attitude. They don't even try to pretend and simply turn their backs on Meituan's management.

The day before yesterday, the circle of friends was bombarded with messages during the New Year celebration. Teacher Ma was scolded a lot. Although he was very angry when he checked WeChat, he certainly could not respond in the circle of friends.

So he chose to post on Weibo, and he posted two Weibo posts in a row. The contents can be summarized in one sentence: Don’t blame the uneven road if you are not a good person, you should be grateful. Complaining about the bad environment every day only shows that you are rubbish.

As soon as Mr. Ma finished his Weibo post, the official Weibo account of Koubei.com responded within seconds, announcing a 5-yuan subsidy for new takeout users without any threshold, and a subsidy activity for group purchases was also launched simultaneously.

Just before Meituan’s failure, Alibaba officially announced that it would take the lead in the second half of the war among local life service providers, and the money-burning began!
Meituan’s small shareholders were frightened by Mr. Ma. No matter how big the risks of fully integrating the business are, let’s make our attitude clear first: we absolutely support the merger.

Don't continue to be in a stalemate, open the door quickly, let's become a family and then lock the door, Ali can't get in!

…………

“Because of pessimistic expectations about liquidity, will it lead New Dang E and Meituan to join the M&A trend? I have to say that this is a good idea, but I prefer to respect the judgment of the founders.”

“I’m sorry, but Silicon Valley is my favorite city, so you know, I can’t make any promises during the fundraising process or reveal any so-called insider information. That would hurt Silicon Valley’s feelings.”

"Dude, stop focusing on the local life sector and look at the latest shared bikes. I welcome all new partners to join the local life sector, including Alibaba, because I never thought of monopolizing."

At the party, Xie Jingxing flitted around like a butterfly. Suddenly, he put down his wine glass and quietly walked into the bathroom sink.

"vomit."

Zhang Zetian leaned against the sink and vomited. She took the tissue and wiped it clean with a sweet smile: "Mr. Xie, I'm fine."

"Joining the company four months pregnant, does this count as concealing your medical examination and defrauding the company?" Xie Jingxing frowned.

Zhang Zetian's face turned pale and she managed to maintain a smile: "Master, I can hold on."

People's minds change. From the moment she became pregnant, some of the sentimentality in the deepest part of her heart had been cut off.

She can switch seamlessly between Mr. Xie and the master, and there should be no other close contact.

…………

"If you want to do this, just tell us directly. What do you mean by the business backend operation relies entirely on programming data processing and lacks human control?"

In Hong Kong, the vice president of Meituan’s platform business slammed the table and said, “We are all in the technical field. Is it necessary to discuss whether programming code is reliable or human labor is prone to corruption?”

"I didn't say you were corrupt." Xu Ning said expressionlessly.

"Then what do you mean? You keep saying half the words in a pretentious tone. We came here through a merger, not to guess the thoughts of a young lady from the Magic City."

"Manzi, please be polite. I'll give you some face. How many people have the highest modification authority in your merchant sales data management system? Who is supervising these people? Merging with a team like yours will bring us unpredictable risks."

Xu Ning was so angry that he blurted out what he was really thinking at the moment.

…………

"I studied at Columbia University, I interned on Wall Street, and I grew up in New York. If I don't love this city, I don't know which other city is worth loving."

At Columbia University's summer alumni donation party, the name of Xie Jingxing's favorite city unconsciously changed from LA to NY.

(End of this chapter)