"Mr. Li, let me be honest with you. EMI's Zhou Shaoning has been contacting me."

In the conference room of the International Convention and Exhibition Center, Huitong Chairman Xu Jianyao met Li Zehua for the second time. As soon as they met, he couldn't wait to speak directly.

Li Zehua pretended to be confused, "This is a good thing. Congratulations to Mr. Xu for escaping from the sea of ​​suffering and retiring early."

Huitong will be sold sooner or later. This is determined by the market competition. Among the three major express delivery companies, one express delivery company and one express delivery company, SF Express are the main players in the market, and no one wants to have one more person to share the cake.

EMI is Taotao's biological son, not to mention JD Logistics. These two companies are direct descendants supported by online shopping platforms.

What about Huitong?

First, it has no funds, and second, it has no backing. The key is that it is Yunda’s mortal enemy. It has been targeted and attacked since the day it was founded.

After finally surviving the battle on Maple Forest Road, I was accepted by Hummingbird as a bargaining chip in exchange for the commercial district, and I had a good life for half a month.

However, the higher the performance, the more uncertain Xu Jianyao felt, because Yuantong and Yunda had both become shareholders of Hummingbird, especially the grudge between Yunda and Huitong, well, it's better not to mention it.

Recently, news has been coming in from both the franchisees below and the large regional contractors of the operation center.

Someone is contacting us and offering an attractive price, trying to attract a takeover.

Xu Jianyao was anxious because he had no money. Even if he had money, he would not dare to continue investing before the situation became clear.

Unless Li Zehua is willing to give him this opportunity.

He came today to get a clear answer. If it is okay, he will continue to invest money to make Huitong a success and strive to make it famous as one of the "four links and one delivery".

If that doesn't work, he will find a way to withdraw quickly and sell Huitong while it is still worth some money.

Thinking of this, he asked directly, "Boss Li, I have experienced your business methods. Now that I am sitting in the Mercedes-Benz, you can't kill us all!

As for retirement, I feel that I can probably work for a few more years with my old bones, at least to witness Hummingbird dominate the express delivery industry."

The Mercedes s600 was mentioned explicitly and implicitly. It's impossible for him to pay half of the money and get nothing in the end, right?

Li Zehua didn't take a word of it to heart, "Boss Xu, why don't you explain it clearly? I didn't do anything to Hui Tong.

In the past half month, not to mention other things, we have won hundreds of thousands of orders for Huitong just by accepting parcels. Is this true?"

Xu Jianyao had no way to deal with his tough personality. Under normal circumstances, he could only laugh it off and look for another chance to talk. But today, he saw who was standing behind him.

If it dragged on any longer, he would not even have the ability to resist, so he said, "Mr. Li, please stop playing tricks on me. Please give me a way out. I was wrong in the beginning.

But I have beaten him, I have admitted my fault, and I have paid all the compensation I deserve. Please be merciful and give me some food to eat."

When he said this, he was so sincere and heartfelt that he just shed sad tears.

He really regretted it. When he was cooperating with Hummingbird, if he had been more humble and bleed a little, and completely joined the Hummingbird team, he would not have ended up like this.

However, in just half a month, the other party successfully completed the leap, not only introducing venture capital, but also bringing in the Shanghai local area, and it seemed that it was about to soar to success.

And what about Ahri?

There was only thunder but no rain. He was in Qiantang yesterday and wanted to take the opportunity of the establishment of Cainiao Network to talk to Mr. Ma in person.

But the latter had no time to meet him, so he only arranged for Zhou Shaoning of EMI and a vice president of Taotao in charge of express logistics to receive him.

No matter how bad Xu Jianyao is, he is still a member of the Tonglu Gang, and Huitong is ranked sixth in the country. How could he not even get to meet President Ma?
EMI's Zhou Shaoning was even more frantic in his words and deeds, with no intention of leaving him any chance of survival, as he was sure that he would not be able to fit into the Hummingbird circle.

You have to choose between the two, or just follow the rookies.

This is fine, even if the conditions are worse, I have to accept it. But the vice president who stayed there today called and told me the situation.

He understood that Ali was in a difficult situation and had even got the most basic business direction wrong.

For a city like Fengniao with thousands or even tens of thousands of people, Cainiao is still playing the franchise game. What's the difference between it and Huitong?
With the energy and funds, he might as well expand the scale of his franchisees and make more money.

Li Zehua was in no mood to chat with him any longer, so he made a phone call and sent someone to invite Nie Tengyun over.

As the latter entered the room, he was smiling and greeting everyone, ready to congratulate them, but suddenly saw Xu Jianyao here and was stunned.

He wanted to leave, but was afraid of embarrassing the host, so he simply came in and sat on the other side without saying a word, pretending to be invisible.

Li Zehua tried to smooth things over, "Boss Nie, Boss Xu is here today, and he also wants to make peace.

Plus, Mr. Xu plans to retire while he’s still young and we won’t be eating from the same pot anymore, so no matter how big the problem is, we’ll just treat it as chalk writing and write it off.”

Nie Tengyun asked curiously, "Really?"

Just speaking up is a good start.

Xu Jianyao smiled bitterly, "How can I lie in front of you two?
I have finally figured it out. If you rashly expand across industries, it may be OK to do small things, but if you expand too big and have no one to support you, you will be like a rat in a bellows - you will be bullied from both sides."

That’s right. Ever since taking control of Huitong, almost all of its businesses have not been going well. Either the vehicles being recruited to join the franchise were snatched away, or the franchisees were robbed.

As the saying goes, one step slow, all steps slow!

The business volume cannot be increased, and they are bullied because they have few people to negotiate orders. They cannot compete with the three major express delivery companies and can only get some marginal profits and barely survive. It is impossible for them to get rich.

He now understands that this industry is a winner-takes-all one. The larger the scale and the more people there are, the more advantages there are in terms of costs and services, and the stronger the competitiveness.

He invested a lot of real money, but the gap is getting bigger and bigger. If he doesn't invest, he will die immediately. If he continues to invest, it will be a bottomless pit!
After much difficulty, they were able to take advantage of Taobao's e-commerce online shopping. However, due to the lack of scale, service and price, they were not able to sign many Taotao merchants, but were left behind even more.

Thinking of this, Xu Jianyao said from the bottom of his heart, "Boss Nie, I, Old Xu, do not believe that I was the initiator of the past grudges. I have been targeted by Yunda for so many years, and it is time to put an end to it today.

As for me, I will not hide anything. I will be frank. I want to package Huitong as a whole. Whoever can afford it can take it."

Nie Tengyun finally became interested, "How much do you want?"

"One price, two hundred million!"

Xu Jianyao was not speaking nonsense, as he explained, "It was HNA that approached us first, and offered 1.7 million yuan. At that time, I admitted that I still wanted to make a difference, so I held on tight.

Now it's EMI that wants to buy it, the price is about the same, but you know Zhou Shaoning, he is a ruthless person!

If he pays quickly, I will pack up and leave without hesitation. Anyone who hesitates is a bastard!"

"Don't EMI have Tao Tao and Foxconn behind them? Just a few hundred million yuan, can't we just scrape together and get it?"

Li Zehua interrupted, "Besides, they have always wanted to infiltrate and control the logistics industry. Even if Huitong is not doing well, it still has a transportation network that spans the whole country. This is not a loss!"

Xu Jianyao sighed, "Who says I'm not? No matter how bad I am, I'm still the sixth."

"Not any time soon."

Nie Tengyun sneered, "I dare to act and take responsibility. The people sent by Yunda have been contacting Huitong's franchisees. Guess what I found out?"

What do you fear most in negotiations?
Afraid that all his secrets would be exposed and his lifeline would be controlled by someone, he wouldn't even have the ability to resist.

Xu Jianyao stopped pretending, "That's why I came to see Mr. Li. I admit defeat while I still have some bargaining chips.

It's just that Zhongtong, Shentong and EMI are trying to recruit franchisees together. I'm done with it. You can do whatever you want."

He originally thought that by relying on the hummingbird, he would receive a wave of wealth, but in the end he found out that even if the hummingbird was willing to let him go.

Other competing companies were unwilling to do so either. They were planning to take advantage of Huitong's weaknesses and gradually squeeze themselves out.

Even EMI, which was bent on acquisition, was secretly contacting franchise stores in private.

Fortunately, he holds shares in more than a dozen operation centers, distribution centers and the most critical logistics vehicles across the country, so it is not easy to escape from Huitong's control.

With the support of self-purchased vehicles, freight stations, and direct employees, Huitong will not collapse for the time being, and will at least have no problem surviving this year.

Nie Tengyun had no idea what to do about his poor performance. "Two hundred million is not realistic. Show some sincerity."

Yunda is at the bottom of the three express companies and is salivating over the resources held by Huitong, but Yunda cannot come up with the amount.

While speaking, he couldn't help but look at Li Zehua's reaction, thinking that if he was willing to support him, it might not be impossible.

Li Zehua smiled bitterly, "Boss Nie, two hundred million is too much for the entire Hummingbird, not to mention that there are other shareholders. It won't be approved by Guangyuantong." He advised, "In fact, this price is not expensive. Huitong's hundreds of vehicles, plus the freight station distribution center and other fixed assets, are worth one hundred million.

There are still so many long-term cooperation contracts. Mr. Nie, please think of a way to win them without any loss."

For Hummingbird, Yunda is currently the one that comes from behind and is the one with the best cooperation.

Nie Tengyun attached great importance to the controlling rights, so Hummingbird simply agreed to acquire the shares, sign a joint action agreement, and give the voting rights of the shares to Nie Tengyun.

The same goes for other companies. As long as it does not harm the interests of Hummingbird, Li Zehua is too lazy to interfere in the internal operations of the express delivery company.

It is meaningless to do a good job or a bad job. It is a waste of time and thankless. Why bother to worry about giving up the voting rights of equity?

Xu Jianyao struck while the iron was hot and said, "Boss Nie, you understand Yunda's situation. To be honest, after all these years, I know you have a thorn in your heart, but who can blame us for not being as skilled as you?

Now there is such a good opportunity, and you have the support of Hummingbird. Taotao is now too busy to focus on capital operations, and sooner or later he will be unable to defeat you by using the franchisee method.

To me, the express delivery industry has a bleak future, but to you it has a bright future. It's only 2 million yuan, you can get it by finding someone to pool your money together."

“You think I’m printing money?”

Nie Tengyun said unhappily, "Let alone 200 million, I can't even come up with 20 million now."

In order to overtake others in direct sales, Nie Tengyun tried his best this time. He was busy around the clock in the company and held meetings to study how to quickly take back control of the operation center.

In the final analysis, it’s just one word: money!

He also meets frequently with the investors behind him. With the performance guarantee of Hummingbird and the benefits of SF Express's direct operation, shareholders and investors who were originally unwilling to invest are also changing their attitudes.

However, under the financial crisis, the industries they run were also hit and they were unable to come up with much money.

After much persuasion, they agreed that one would put in 300 yuan, the other would put in 500 yuan, and together with his own money, they could raise more than 40 million yuan to increase the capital.

Even with this, including the original funds in the company's account, it can only buy out the shares of several large franchisees. As for the remaining warehousing and logistics centers scattered across the country, don't even think about it without 100 or 200 million yuan.

Just take JD.com as an example to know how much it costs to build a fully directly-operated logistics system. Zhang Lei asked for 25 billion yuan, and this was based on the foundation in 2009.

In reality, it is impossible for JD.com to complete the construction of a warehousing center within a year, let alone achieve full coverage of prefecture-level cities and above across the country.

"Is that so?"

Li Zehua thought for a moment, "Mr. Nie, tell me the truth, Hui Tong, do you want it?"

Nie Tengyun said straightforwardly, "Yes."

"That's fine. If we don't have money, we have our own way of playing."

Li Zehua no longer hesitated, took out his phone and called Liu Qiangdong and Yu Weilong respectively.

Brother Dong arrived very quickly, and Yu Weilong also said he would come as soon as possible.

He refused to attend the press conference, but this one still dared to come.

"… This is the situation. It's 11:20 now, and there's still an hour and ten minutes until lunch. We must come to a conclusion in this time."

Li Zehua briefly introduced it to Dong Ge, "Instead of letting EMI take it, why don't we do it ourselves? I tried to contact the venture capital side, but they are not very interested."

Venture capitalists really have no interest in Huitong, mainly because shareholders such as Hummingbird do not get along with Huitong.

Especially Li Zehua himself. Although he said he didn't mind, he was actually making a note of it in his little notebook, ready to settle the score later.

Liu Qiangdong carefully asked about some details, "I can pay to acquire some storage and logistics centers in key areas, as well as some vehicles, but I am not interested in franchise assets."

Direct operation is the bottom line of JD Logistics. JD does not want those vehicle contracting contracts and the burden of franchisee assets on JD.

But this part is exactly Huitong’s core asset, and Nie Tengyun also wants it.

Xu Jianyao was even more anxious. "This is packaging, not splitting. If you do this, who will I sell the rest to?"

"Sell it to Taotao. Their Cainiao Network is recruiting franchisees. The resources you have are also a piece of fat meat for Taotao."

Li Zehua has always believed that even a piece of toilet paper has its uses.

Franchising outlets has no effect on the Hummingbird series, but for Taotao, there is great potential.

Because these franchisees have already established local channel connections and have a deep understanding of the industry, they are exactly the resources Taotao needs.

Liu Qiangdong retorted, "Mr. Li, are you mistaken? You are the chairman of Fengniao, not the general manager of Cainiao Network!"

"What are you afraid of?"

Li Zehua lay back and stretched comfortably, "Cainiao Network is developing too slowly, am I not giving it a boost?
Think about it, how many franchise outlets does the express delivery company Cainiao have now, and what will be the coverage rate of Cainiao Network? "

Even Xu Jianyao, who was planning to quit, was confused. "Boss Li, are you kidding me? If you don't want Hummingbird, just say so. It's not like I can't sell it."

If the product can be sold successfully, he won’t come!
Li Zehua had seen through his true colors and said with a smile, "HNA, you are destined to fail to sell. I understand their tricks, but Fengniao and Cainiao are destined to monopolize the express delivery industry.

There is no future premium for Huitong. Even if you spend 100 million to buy it, it will be a huge loss for HNA because you have lost your financial attributes. "

Qingyun Real Estate learned the trick of using future income as collateral in packages from here. Huitong doesn't even have a future, so it would be strange for HNA to buy it.

"As for EMI, Mr. Xu, you haven't told me a single truth!"

Li Zehua nodded at Nie Tengyun and said, "As for several large warehousing and logistics centers in Yanjing and eastern Guangdong, Huitong does not have an absolute controlling stake. I believe it is similar in other places across the country.

EMI will never accept a company that has no autonomy in its core business. It will definitely set harsh conditions. If President Xu wants to have a good talk, he should listen to our approach first."

After Xu Jianyao's past was exposed, he refused to talk about it.

Li Zehua then said, "Why am I not afraid of Cainiao Network?
That's because the express delivery industry is still at the door-to-door delivery stage, and consumers will not easily compromise if they enjoy this kind of service.

Based on Taotao’s usual style, it is certain that they will not do the job after receiving the money.

They take advantage of Taobao merchants at the top, express delivery companies in the middle, and franchise outlets at the bottom. With so many layers of harvesting, do they still have any profit?"

Liu Qiangdong seemed to be thinking, "Cainiao is planning to collect money on the spot and let consumers deposit and pick up their own items.

But they still have to provide services in the early stages, otherwise they will have no competitive advantage in places where hummingbirds are.”

Li Zehua nodded, "Yes, that's the problem. Consumers won't accept it in the early stages, and with Hummingbird doing this, they will be even more resistant.

Even when Mr. Ma tries to tame capital, he has to ask me whether I agree or not.

If a novice fails to make money easily at the beginning, it will be difficult for him to succeed.

Taotao charges franchise fees, technical services, back-end management support and other fees, which will increase the operating costs of franchise outlets. Home delivery and pickup will inevitably require hiring people to provide the services.

I would like to ask, in terms of numbers, who is the hummingbird afraid of?"

Nie Tengyun understood, "If Taotao doesn't charge any fees in the early stage, I will have to spend money myself, but a nationwide franchise network would require at least tens of thousands of people, right?

But these are useless. Franchised outlets cannot expand to a large scale because their profits are not enough to retain people.

As soon as Hummingbird arrives and offers high salaries, the employees of these franchised outlets will run away!
But when you calculate it this way, something seems to be wrong. It sets up franchise outlets in order to expand Taobao sales and reduce logistics costs.

Before Hummingbird collapsed, charging was a dead end.

According to Taotao's usual practice, such a large expenditure must be recouped from somewhere, so doesn't that mean that the courier companies and Taotao merchants have to bear most of the costs?"

"We cannot affect the merchants for now, but the express delivery companies must unite and must not let Taobao act recklessly."

Li Zehua finally spoke out his true feelings, "I became a hummingbird just to say no to this kind of outright exploitation!
You, me, Mr. Liu, Mr. Yu who will be here soon, and Mr. Xu, are half of the express delivery industry!

There is no need to mention Mr. Wang of SF Express, they have the confidence to say no as they are directly operating the business.

As for the remaining two companies, Zhongshentong, we will bring together the local authorities in Shanghai to put pressure on them and make sure to get rid of this unhealthy trend in the industry!
OK, let's drink and eat meat together from now on!"

(End of this chapter)