Chapter 349 High Barrier Industry
Song Ci stretched out his hand and pressed: "Haozi, sit down, don't be so excited. Have you and Li Ying done the things I asked you to do?"
"It's done, it's all done!" Lin Hao sat down again, his face serious, "Boss Song, are you really going to enter the car manufacturing industry?"
In the past two months, he and Li Ying followed Song Ci's instructions and acted in the name of Shanhai Capital and Sino-Singapore Investment.
It has successively invested in more than ten companies including Huichuan Technology, Jingjin Power, Fute Technology, and Lizhong Group.
All of them are top domestic motor, electronic control equipment manufacturers and automotive parts suppliers.
Song Ci nodded in response: "I have been planning to build a car for a long time. Building a car is not a joke, I must plan ahead.
We will only start after we have opened up the supply chains in multiple core areas such as the three-electric system and body manufacturing.
Also, next year the country will introduce a new energy subsidy plan, and the valuations of these companies will at least double, so now is the right time to invest.”
Seeing that the richest man was determined to build a car, Lin Hao rolled his eyes and took the opportunity to test: "Fourth Brother, what about what I told you before, about investing in a factory in Jinling..."
"Let me think about it." Song Ci didn't really want to go to Jinling to invest and set up a factory, but he didn't refuse in person because of Lin Hao's face.
Before that, after he and Zeng Yuqun planned to establish CATL, they traveled all the way north from Mindong City and conducted detailed inspections of several important cities in East China, including Ningbo, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Jinling.
Among these cities, Jinling does not have any advantages and its business environment is not good.
What's more, car manufacturing is a heavy industry. A successful car company can drive the development of dozens of upstream and downstream companies in the industry and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
For an important project with such a strong economic driving force, the Beiping government would not easily allow him to invest and set up factories elsewhere.
Thinking of this, Song Ci couldn't help but have a headache. The leaders in Donghai had repeatedly asked him to invest. If the news of him building a car got out, there would inevitably be another round of negotiation.
Seeing this situation, Lin Hao understood why Song Ci was unwilling to set up a factory in Jinling. He sighed in his heart. As a Jinling native, he knew the behavior of the officials in his hometown. No wonder the investment attraction was getting worse and worse.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit dull, Lu Yugang changed the subject: "Old Four, Chen Li has always wanted to see you, but he didn't have the chance. So he asked me to ask, how are you going to deal with the South Beauty incident?"
"What's going on with South Beauty?"
Lu Yugang looked at Song Ci, who had no expression on his face, and his heart tightened. He couldn't tell whether the richest man was really unaware of the South Beauty's IPO being blocked or pretending to be unaware, but he didn't dare and didn't need to ask clearly.
So he quickly explained: "It's nothing serious, it's just that UBS Securities, where Chen Li works, is the underwriter for South Beauty's IPO."
"UBS Securities is not so picky now that it will even accept work from such a low-end company."
Song Ci's undisguised disgust made Lu Yuguang understand instantly that once the richest man made his attitude towards South Beauty known, someone would try to please him by using South Beauty.
Lu Yugang observed the expressions on his face and wanted to take the opportunity to get some information: "UBS's performance has declined in the past two years, and it needs a big business with a strong reputation overseas to boost morale. Now the global financial circle is watching the listing of Tengda Group!"
Song Ci did not respond, but took a sip from the cup in front of him. He had already reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs as the underwriter for Tengda Group's listing.
This is one of the conditions for asking Goldman Sachs to mediate for WeChat in the United States. Although Goldman Sachs is greedy and insatiable, its power and influence in the United States are indeed not weak.
Over the years, every Treasury Secretary has come from Goldman Sachs, and asking Goldman Sachs for public relations has indeed been effective in some issues.
"It's rare for us to get together, let's have lunch together at noon."
Seeing that Song Ci was unwilling to mention Tengda's listing, Lu Yugang gave up the idea of trying to find out more information. He had already gained a lot today: "Haozi said that I would get a promotion and a raise. I'll treat you today."
Time flies. On the last day of June, the sun shines brightly in Hangzhou. In the chairman's office at the Alibaba Group headquarters, the atmosphere is warm and relaxed.
Ma Jieke was in high spirits today, and smiled excitedly at the several trusted executives in front of him:
"Although the process was tortuous and costly, we have finally separated Alipay from the Alibaba Group. From now on, we can move forward with ease."
"It's really easy!" Cai Zhongxin also sighed.
In order to achieve the independence of Alipay, Alibaba Group had to act first and ask for permission later, force the transaction forward, and ultimately forced Yahoo and Softbank to accept the fait accompli.
Of course, the price is not cheap.
Ma Jieke promised that when Alipay goes public in the future, it will have to pay Alibaba Group a cash compensation of 37.5% of its total market value, with the compensation not less than US$2 billion and not more than US$6 billion.
Having resolved a problem, Ma Jieke lazily leaned back in his boss chair, saying in a relaxed tone, "I spoke to my boss on the phone yesterday. He made it clear that after the Alipay issue is resolved, there will be no more obstacles to the payment license."
Peng Lei was delighted when she heard this: "That's great. With the payment license, Alipay will no longer have to worry about anything and can compete with WeChat Pay in a big way."
Before, Alipay did not have a business license, so she was always timid and frustrated in everything she did. Now she can finally let go.
"We can't be careless, Song Ci is a bit weird! And in terms of mobile payment, WeChat Pay has a half-year head start over Alipay, we must not take it lightly."
Ma Jieke's expression became serious, and he cast his gaze on Lu Zhaoxi, "What big moves has Tengda made recently?"
He has been dealing with the independence of Alipay recently and has been so busy that he has no time to pay attention to Tenda Group.
Executive President Lu Zhaoxi hurriedly reported: "After Tengda Group acquired the group-buying website Nuomi.com, it established a new subsidiary, Today's Best Selection, based on it and began to enter the food delivery business."
"Takeout? The kind that delivers food to businesses?" Majek frowned.
"Yes!" Lu Zhaoxi said solemnly, "Boss Ma, after our research, we found that the barriers to entry in the food delivery business are extremely high. Once Tengda takes the lead and successfully seizes the market, it will be basically impossible for latecomers to catch up."
Majek leaned forward and said, "Tell me the details!"
Cai Zhongxin and Peng Lei also looked at Lu Zhaoxi nervously. Tengda Group was already strong enough. If it continued to develop smoothly, how would other Internet companies survive?
Lu Zhaoxi was well prepared and began to explain: "The food delivery platform needs to attract a large number of consumers and merchants at the same time to form a bilateral network effect in order to achieve a positive cycle.
In addition, the construction of a delivery rider team requires huge investment and long-term accumulation. At the same time, food delivery has extremely high technical and operational barriers, and its core competitiveness lies in the real-time dispatching system.
Among the major Internet companies in China, only Tenda’s unique big data technology can meet the needs of complex food delivery algorithms.
Another point is that once the food delivery market matures, it will become a high-frequency life ecosystem entrance. In terms of traffic ports, WeChat has the greatest advantage.”
Cai Zhongxin is extremely sensitive to digital costs and keenly grasps the key point: "The core of food delivery is the rider. What is the approximate cost of a rider?"
Lu Zhaoxi sighed: "Transportation is the most basic cost. If a rider wants to deliver goods every day, he must at least have an electric vehicle with a long range.
The price of such a vehicle is generally over 3,000 yuan, plus some other miscellaneous costs, and when spread out, the cost of each takeout order is frighteningly high.”
"Fixed costs such as transportation cannot be reduced!" Cai Zhongxin pondered, "So efficiency is the key. We must rely on algorithm optimization to reduce costs."
"That's right." Lu Zhaoxi nodded. "The barriers in the food delivery industry are much higher than the traffic and subsidy wars that appear on the surface. It is a great test of the platform's comprehensive scheduling capabilities and requires strong algorithm support."
"It's costly, time-consuming, requires traffic diversion, and involves complex algorithms! So the barriers to entry in the food delivery industry are really high!" Ma Jieke closed his eyes in thought, tapping the table lightly with his fingertips.
Peng Lei smiled confidently: "Being the first to move doesn't necessarily mean you win. What Tengda did before was just to develop the market, and the real competition has just begun.
These so-called barriers are difficult for small and medium-sized companies, but they are not insurmountable for Alibaba.
Lu Zhaoxi shook his head: "We can't do takeout right now."
Peng Lei was stunned by the cold water poured on her head. She opened her eyes slightly and asked, "Why can't Alibaba do it?"
"Is it because of the map?" Cai Zhongxin suddenly recalled an acquisition by Tengda Group last year, and at that moment he suddenly realized something.
"That's right!" Lu Zhaoxi laughed bitterly, "Looking back now, the long-term planning of Song Ci is indeed beyond our imagination.
Perhaps he had been preparing to enter the food delivery industry since Tengda Group acquired AutoNavi. He was very cautious and farsighted.
The office fell into a brief silence, and Majek slowly opened his eyes with a look of determination to move forward.
“We must do food delivery! We must not hand over the entire market to Tengda Group just because of the high barriers and difficulties.
We can avoid their attack and first develop some cities that Tengda has not yet touched.”
The three executives exchanged glances and all felt that the chairman’s idea was feasible.
The investment in the food delivery industry is so heavy that even a company of Tengda Group’s size cannot achieve success overnight and take over the entire market in a short period of time. Misaligned competition may be a solution.
After setting the tone, Ma Jieke continued to ask: "Apart from Tengda, are there other companies engaged in food delivery in the market?"
“Yes. When we were doing market research, we found that Meituan.com, the final winner of the “Thousand Group Wars”, had also begun to enter the food delivery industry.
In addition, there is a company called “Are You Hungry?” in Donghai, which started very early and has been engaged in food delivery since 2009. It is quite large in the Donghai area.”
Ma Jieke stroked his chin and pondered for a moment: "Immediately send someone to contact Meituan and Ele.me.
Alibaba can provide funds and technology, and they have a ready-made operation team and a certain market share. We can cooperate and fight against Tenda together!"
Cai Zhongxin agreed to the task: "Okay, Mr. Ma, I'll take care of it."
At this time, Peng Lei suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Mr. Ma, I received a message that Song Ci will come to Hangzhou tomorrow.
I have some connections in the Aviation Administration, and I learned that his private plane has been registered and will land at Xiaoshan Airport tomorrow morning."
Ma Jieke was stunned: "Why did he come to Hangzhou?"
"Maybe he went to Hengdian." Peng Lei speculated, "Isn't his famous celebrity wife filming in Hengdian? She has been to Hangzhou several times before, and all of them were to Hengdian."
Majek looked at the gloomy sky outside the window and murmured, "I hope so." But deep in his heart, a vague uneasiness always lingered.
Alibaba’s top priority right now is to obtain a payment license, but when Song Ci came to Hangzhou this time, he always felt that it was not that simple.
At 6pm, in the underground parking lot of Tengda Technology Building in Beiping, Song Ci finished his day's work and walked briskly towards his Maybach.
I will be leaving for Hengdian tomorrow to take a vacation and see my wife. It's a rare moment of relaxation.
The bodyguard and the driver had been waiting next to the Maybach for a long time. When they saw the boss approaching, they immediately opened the car door respectfully.
Song Ci had just sat down and the driver Wang Shan was about to start the car when suddenly a figure rushed out from the shadows and blocked the car!
"Squeak!" Wang Shan braked hard, causing the car to come to a sudden stop. Tang Yue, who was sitting in the passenger seat, and the bodyguard in the car behind him were instantly alert and quickly got out to check the situation.
I saw a man wearing glasses standing in front of the car, holding a stack of documents tightly in his hand. He looked anxious and kept muttering: "I want to see the chairman!"
"Control him!" Tang Yue shouted, and several bodyguards immediately stepped forward and pinned the man to the ground in a few moves.
"Let me go! I'm a Tenda employee! I have important matters to report to the chairman!" The man struggled desperately, with a hint of panic and unwillingness in his voice.
The bodyguard turned a deaf ear to his shouting. Tang Yue squatted down, grabbed the work badge hanging on his chest and glanced at it: "TT Video Network, Dong Dapeng."
Tang Yue narrowed his eyes and winked at his younger brothers. They understood what he meant and quickly searched Dong Dapeng.
"Boss, I don't have any dangerous items on me."
"Let me go! I want to see the chairman!" Dong Dapeng was still struggling, with a bit of stubbornness in his voice.
After Tang Yue confirmed that it was safe, he turned and walked to the back seat of the Maybach, bowed and reported: "Boss, it's an employee of our company who insisted on seeing you."
The car window slowly lowered, and Song Ci looked ahead calmly, "What's the matter?"
"They said the project was cancelled and they wanted to appeal to you."
Song Ci hesitated for a moment and said, "Bring him here."
Tang Yue nodded, returned to the front of the car, and signaled the bodyguard to let go.
Dong Dapeng was able to stand up, rubbing his painful shoulder with a grimace. The bodyguards were so strong that he almost thought his arm was going to be cut off.
"The chairman is willing to see you." Tang Yue said in a stern tone, his eyes always fixed on his every move.
Dong Dapeng took a deep breath and walked quickly to the rear window. Through the half-open window, he finally saw Song Ci's handsome face.
The face that was so influential in the business world was right in front of him, but it made him inexplicably nervous, with beads of sweat oozing out of his forehead.
Song Ci raised his eyes and glanced at him, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Isn't this Zhao Benshan's apprentice Dong Dapeng?
"Tell me, what's the matter?" The richest man spoke slowly but with an intimidating force that could not be ignored.
(End of this chapter)
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