Ordinary Road 2010

"Although $20 billion is not a lot, it is enough for you to play for another year, but no one will want you to play for another year."

"In the current situation, the story of the ride-hailing industry is almost too much to tell. How do you plan to explain it to all shareholders of Wanli Travel?"

Lin Yi didn't seem nervous: "Every group is enjoying a lot of glory now, do you have anything to teach me?"

The scenery of each group is not only a combination of the comments of the old enemy.

Just before the Spring Festival in January, each group announced the completion of the latest round of financing, with an amount of US$1 billion and a post-investment valuation of US$33 billion.

How did the $33 billion come about?

This amount is equivalent to more than 200 billion yuan. It is a direct response to Li Robin’s previous rhetoric of “investing 2 billion in the O200O field”. It probably means:

200 billion is 200 billion, who is afraid of whom!

As for the $12.5 billion that Zhang Xuhao, who was hungry a month ago, received from Factory A before Lin Yi, it is of course even more so.

That is to say, by the time of the beginning of 2016, Wang Xing, who started his business in 2003 and has been defeated repeatedly, finally began to "punch Robin Li and Jack Jack Ma", and he was able to fight against the two giants without falling behind. .

The $33 billion is just a symbol, behind which everyone is witnessing, a new giant is rising like a newborn sun.

The high-spirited Wang Xing shook his head and said, "I have nothing to teach you. The taxi-hailing industry is very different from the group-buying industry."

"To be honest, I'm not too worried about you."

"Although I don't know what you rely on, but I think you can get the 20 billion US dollars from Factory A, and you should still have some confidence to convince them."

"In any case, Lin Yi, I look forward to your being able to prove with me that BAT is not an insurmountable mountain."

Lin Yi smiled and said, "I'm also looking forward to it."

Chapter 529 Kalanick's Condition

Although Lin Yi swore to Wang Xing, the fact proved that this road was not easy.

Years later, Dudu Kuaidu, which had just started construction, announced the completion of a new round of financing worth US$10 billion.

$10 billion is an astronomical figure for other companies, but it can only be said to be mediocre for Dudu Kuaidu. After all, they have already received 24 billion U.S. dollars in the last round.

Although the valuation has not been announced, it goes without saying that it must have risen.

The market generally predicted that the next round of financing should be higher than the previous round. Since this time only $10 billion was raised, it means that there will be more actions within this year.

All the media did not pay too much attention to the financing of Dudu Kuaidou, but they still had a grand celebration internally.

After all, two years ago, the two major competitors, Wanli Chuxing and Uber, successively received 20 billion US dollars, which had a certain impact on the morale of Dudu Kuaidu. This is the best response.

"Thank you everyone!"

Dudu's entire financing team was managed by her after Liu Qing joined, and a considerable number of professionals Liu Qing poached from the financial industry have been added to the staff.

Moreover, such talent enriches many other departments of the company.

Even though Cai Chongxin from Factory A and Liu Chiping from Goose Factory have similar backgrounds, Dudu's unreserved embrace and eclectic appointment of the "investment banking department" is at least rare in domestic IT companies of.

This is directly related to Liu Qing himself.

So Cheng Wei didn't go out of his way to get involved in their work. In fact, he didn't even worry about the details, but spoke highly of their achievements and their significant contributions to the entire company.

At this time, Cheng Wei was still in a very happy mood. After sweeping away the haze of years ago, the boss was happy, and naturally everyone in the company breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jean, you did a good job this time. With the 10 billion dollars in the account, I have a lot of confidence in Wanli and Uber."

"However, the next round of financing cannot be taken lightly. I don't know what else they can do. We must completely break their confidence."

Cheng Wei praised Liu Qing generously both in private and in public, and the second half of the sentence represented Liu Qing's most important value to him.

"Based on the current progress, at least the middle of the year. Will, although investors are willing to support us, they don't want us to take this strategy of burning money as the norm."

Cheng Wei gave her a strange look, not because there was anything wrong with what Liu Qing said, but because it was a correct nonsense.

Sure enough, she still has more to say.

"Will, I actually have another piece of good news to tell you today, which may be another chance to change our destiny for Dudu."

Cheng Wei was very interested: "Oh?"

Liu Qing considered it for a while, and said very cautiously: "I have chatted with Uber twice during this period, and their attitude has already loosened a lot."

"Oh?"

It was still the same modal particle, but Cheng Wei's mood was quite different, because if what Liu Qing said was true, it would indeed be a pleasant surprise.

Dudu Kuaidu has had contact with Uber.

However, Kalanick's attitude was very arrogant before. Both Lin Yi and Cheng Wei had experienced this, so there was no consensus at all in the negotiations between them.

This is also an important reason why Cheng Wei always felt that Wanli Travel must be won before he can covet Uber.

Could it be that Lin Yicai is the only one who is hard-working and hard-working, and Kalanick, that shriveled brat, is actually strong on the outside but does nothing on the inside?

"Uber's subsidiaries in the region have been spun off separately, and the proportion of shares has been greatly diluted after two large financings."

"Kalanick announced in March last year that he would spend $10 billion on this market, and it has been nearly a year now."

"Uber definitely spent more than $10 billion, but it didn't hit the market. In terms of market share, it's still after thousands of miles."

"Although Kalanick's financing is easier than ours, Uber was established earlier than us and has been losing money for so long. In fact, the pressure on investors is very great."

"That's why he agreed to discuss with us the business merger of the two companies, but he also has prerequisites."

Cheng Wei was not surprised, he never believed that pies would fall from the sky.

"What conditions?"

"Kalanick hopes that after the merger, Uber will become the largest shareholder of Dudu Kuaidu and sit on our board of directors. Of course, this company is mainly managed by our team."

Liu Qing added: "At the same time, for Lyft in the US, Grab Taxi in Southeast Asia and Ola in India, which we have previously invested in, Kalanick hopes that we can cut off from them and use Uber's services overseas."

"He also hopes that we can draw a line with Uber, make it clear that we will not conduct business outside the mainland, and continue to compete with them."

The companies she mentioned are all competitors of Uber around the world. In order to make Uber suffer badly, Dudu Kuaidu cooperated with them to create an "anti-Uber alliance".

Now Uber’s meaning is equivalent to: Don’t fight against me with them, you go to them with me, the advantage is that the big brother of this site is in charge and will belong to you in the future.

"It's not wrong to join if you can't beat it."

Cheng Wei smiled unkindly, "But Kalanick didn't figure it out. Now it's not that we can't beat him with Uber. At least in this market, he has nothing to do with us."

"Uber's business in the region, if it spends US$10 billion, its valuation is at most one-fourth to one-fifth of ours in terms of scale."

"Who gave him the confidence to make him feel that he can impose so many rules on us after the merger, so that we don't allow this or that?"

"If that's the case, his current plan is basically the same as when he said he would acquire at least 40% of us."

"Almost two years later, Kalanick still doesn't recognize the reality, and doesn't even respect the basic facts of this moment and that moment."

"I can't see his sincerity!"

Liu Qing said blankly: "Kalanick believes that his greatest sincerity is that he is willing to discuss the merger with me."

"what!"

Cheng Wei thought it was ridiculous, but now he was facing Liu Qing and not Kalanick himself, so he didn't throw any harsh ridicule.

"Well, he can let go of this and explain that after burning money for the whole year last year, even Uber has already felt the pain enough."

"These conditions are definitely unacceptable, but I am willing to give him this face. Please help me make an appointment, and we can discuss it face to face."

Of course, such a big matter had to be discussed by the company's first person in charge, and Liu Qing silently agreed.

After she left, Cheng Wei suddenly had a strange thought:

The hard bone of traveling thousands of miles is unexpectedly difficult to chew, and almost broke your teeth. It is normal to change your thinking under such circumstances.

But when did Liu Qing get in touch with Uber, why didn't he tell me in advance?

Chapter 530 Where Are You From?

It is not necessary to go all the way to the United States to meet with Uber people. Due to the high emphasis on the mainland market, in the past not long ago in 2015, Kalanick spent almost half of his time working here.

Because of the five cities with the highest order volume for Uber in the world, four of them appear here.

Although it has been split and raised twice separately, he has not appointed a president in this area. The highest level of management is Liu Zhen, the so-called strategic director, so many things must be done by himself.

"Oh!"

After Cheng Wei entered the office, he slammed the door angrily. It seemed that he had experienced some unpleasantness just now, and almost hit Liu Qing who was following him.

He hastily took a sip of water to moisten his throat, then turned around and continued to scold:

"I knew Kalanick didn't have any sincerity at all. He didn't look like he was here to negotiate. I looked like he gave me an ultimatum!"

It's not a public place now, only Cheng Wei and Liu Qing are in the office, so he has no scruples in swearing.

Cheng Wei scolded for a long time before he felt relieved. It was Kalanick who had a talent that couldn't be ignored in making people hate him.

The arrogance of his attitude is the same as when they first met, making Cheng Wei feel that he is humiliating himself in rushing to meet today.

Who gave him the confidence!

After Cheng Wei finished venting his emotions, he realized that Liu Qing hadn't said a word.

This female CEO of mine has always been very self-restraining, and she has never lost control of her emotions whether in public or in private, and she can keep her face unchanged even in the face of a serious illness like breast cancer, which Cheng Wei really admires.

Cheng Wei reviewed himself and felt that he had to learn from her in terms of calmness.

"Jean, what do you think? I didn't see you talking like that during the negotiation today."

Generally speaking, when dealing with foreign companies or foreigners, Liu Qing has always been the main person, because she has worked at Goldman Sachs for many years and her English is basically a native language, and she has experience and contacts outside.

Of course, Liu Qing's silence doesn't mean that Cheng Wei and Kalanick can't communicate. Dudu Kuaidu has a big business nowadays, and he has brought more than one translator.

Liu Qing replied: "Since it is a direct conversation between you and Kalanick, I think it will be more convenient for you two to fully communicate and exchange opinions if I don't interrupt."

This reason is reasonable, Liu Qing is a watertight person, and when the two of them show up together, they are very careful not to steal the limelight from Cheng Wei, the top leader.

But what she said next was a bit surprising.

"I think Kalanick has shown a little sincerity, at least he has made concessions in the use of Uber's brand."

"Is that called giving in?"

At this time, Cheng Wei has not noticed the strangeness of his partner, and still expresses with righteous indignation:

"Since we, Dudu Kuaidu, merged Uber, there is no doubt that we will continue to use our brand. Do we still need him to confirm!"

"Kalanick is still so arrogant, so arrogant, and everything he gives me seems to be charity."

"But now I am going to annex him, not him annexing me!"

Cheng Wei still couldn't help talking more and more angry, but this time he quickly found that his partner not only didn't agree, but seemed to have different opinions.

"Will, since it is a negotiation between us and Uber, of course it is impossible to decide everything according to our wishes. I think we need to be realistic."

Cheng Wei originally wanted to preemptively say "he needs to be more realistic", but now looking at his female president, the weirdness in his heart became more and more obvious.

"You mean, is Uber's proposal acceptable?"

"I didn't say that."

Liu Qing didn't seem to notice the doubt in his tone, "I mean, if a negotiation is to be concluded, both sides will inevitably need to make concessions. You should remember that we talked with Kuaidu in Pengcheng Three weeks, right?"

"I want to hear your overall view on this matter, or under what circumstances is the merger with Uber acceptable?"

Cheng Wei has completely calmed down. Of course he remembers the difficult negotiation with Kuaidu, but he also remembers that Liu Qing's performance was not like this.

"I respect Uber's global market position very much. To be honest, the cooperation with Lyft, Grab Taxi and Ola is a very marginal interest for Dudu. In order to facilitate the merger with Uber, I can completely accept giving up on them."

"But the premise is that Uber must respect our Dudu's market position in the mainland as I respect it, and complete the merger with us according to the gap between the two parties."

"The rights he can retain, except for how much shares and voting rights should be taken, there is no room for him to dictate other things. Otherwise, what is the significance of this merger to us?"

Cheng Weiyi said his plan in one breath, except that he didn't have no thoughts about internationalization, it was basically from the bottom of his heart.

However, internationalization is an unattainable vision for the current Dudu Kuaidu. Instead of holding on to this, it is better to solve the immediate situation first.

"This condition is impossible for Uber, at least not currently."

"The reason why they put forward harsh conditions is not that Kalanick can't lose face, but because the board of directors cannot accept the outcome of Uber's failure in China."

"Then keep fighting!"

Cheng Wei spoke firmly without fear, "Uber has 20 billion US dollars in hand, let's see who can survive this money-burning war to the end!"