The spacious and bright conference room at Vipshop was solemn at this moment, as all the people invited today had arrived.
As a leading player in the e-commerce sector, Vipshop's equity structure has attracted much attention.
Founder and CEO Shen Ya firmly holds 55% of the shares, which undoubtedly demonstrates his absolute control over the company; while the other founder and COO, Hong Xiaobo, holds 15% of the shares.
In addition, Grey Wolf Investment, the second largest shareholder, has become a powerful force in the company's development with its 30% stake.
Shen Ya, seated at the head of the table, cleared his throat and spoke calmly: "Gentlemen, the main reason I've gathered you all here today is to discuss this financing matter. Our primary goal is to pave the way for Vipshop's IPO, and secondly, we also want to use this funding to further expand into the vast market of third- and fourth-tier cities in China."
"To date, among our many peers, only Vipshop has achieved the ultimate in brand agency and made remarkable progress."
After Shen Ya finished speaking, the conference room fell into a brief silence as everyone seemed to be digesting the amount of information and strategic significance contained in his words.
Just then, Neil Shen, the bigwig of Sequoia Capital, broke the silence. He looked sharply at Shen Ya and asked bluntly, "Mr. Shen, how many shares does your company plan to give up to cooperate with us this time?"
Before he finished speaking, Little Ma leaned forward slightly, staring intently at Shen Ya with anticipation, clearly full of curiosity and concern for the answer to the question.
The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became tense, and everyone's attention was focused on Shen Ya, waiting for him to give that crucial answer.
Shen Ya smiled slightly: "This time, we are giving up a total of 20% of Vipshop's shares to cooperate with everyone here."
As soon as Shen Ya said this, the Sequoia Capital team and the Tencent team in the conference room started to discuss it.
Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital frowned as he pondered, knowing full well that the allocation of this 20% share would affect the interests of all parties.
Pony Ma's eyes lit up, and he spoke first: "President Shen, Tencent hopes to get 10% of the shares."
Before Shen Ya could respond, representatives of Sequoia Capital's investors expressed their dissatisfaction.
“Mr. Ma has quite an appetite. Sequoia Capital should take 15% for a reasonable share. After all, if Vipshop wants to successfully list in New York, it will need Sequoia Capital's connections and efforts,” Shen Nanpeng said, resting his hands on the table.
The meeting room erupted into chaos, filled with the sounds of bargaining and haggling.
Shen Ya raised his hand to signal for quiet and said slowly, "Please don't be impatient. We still need to take into account the resource advantages that each company can bring to Vipshop in terms of the specific share allocation. For example, logistics and delivery capabilities, online traffic entry points, etc."
Pony Ma raised his hand and said, "Mr. Shen, Tencent Investment can open up traffic entrances for Vipshop online. Our company's WeChat currently has a huge user base, so it is very reasonable for Tencent Investment to acquire 10% of the shares."
Upon hearing this, everyone gradually calmed down.
Shen Nanpeng spoke confidently: "Mr. Shen, Sequoia Capital can introduce more internationally renowned brand agency channels to Vipshop, which will greatly benefit your expansion into overseas markets."
Shen Ya nodded, already having a preliminary plan in mind.
What followed was a fierce battle of explaining resource advantages, with each investor pulling out all the stops to get a share of the 20% stake.
Shen Ya glanced expressionlessly at the people sitting around the conference table, then straightened up and said solemnly:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the e-commerce industry is currently extremely competitive, especially when facing powerful competitors like Tmall and JD.com. We must take decisive measures so that Vipshop can quickly seize more market share."
"Based on this consideration, I have decided to grant Sequoia Capital and Tencent Investment, both present here today, 10 percent of their shares."
Upon hearing this news, the previously quiet conference room instantly became noisy.
However, Chen Ze remained silent, simply gazing at everything unfolding before him, as if he were detached from the situation.
He was well aware of Shen Ya's outstanding business acumen and keen insight, and firmly believed that she was capable of properly handling the various issues arising from this share allocation.
Meanwhile, members of the Sequoia Capital team began whispering among themselves, discussing the potential gains and losses from this share allocation.
Everyone's face showed varying degrees of doubt and worry, yet they dared not easily express their true thoughts.
Time ticked by, and after about ten minutes, Sequoia Capital finally ended its internal discussion. After careful consideration and detailed analysis, they ultimately chose to accept the share distribution plan proposed by Shen Ya.
Seeing Sequoia Capital nod in agreement, Shen Ya breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Then, she turned her gaze to the Tencent investment representative on the other side, waiting for their response.
Meanwhile, Tencent's investment representatives appeared relatively calm, as if they had already anticipated this outcome.
After both parties expressed their agreement, Shen Ya continued, "Now that everyone has reached a consensus on the share distribution, please have the two investment companies evaluate Vipshop's current market value. This will help us to more accurately understand the company's value and formulate a more reasonable development strategy."
After he finished speaking, he waved his hand gently, signaling the relevant staff to distribute the prepared materials to everyone present.
However, both companies were well-prepared for Vipshop's market value.
Pony Ma's beautiful assistant stood up and handed Vipshop's evaluation report to Shen Ya.
Soon, two market assessment reports for Vipshop were placed in front of Shen Ya, one from Tencent and the other from Sequoia Capital.
He picked up Tencent's assessment report first and looked at it carefully, and found that Tencent's investment gave a market valuation of 1.85 billion RMB.
Sequoia Capital gave a valuation of 2 billion RMB, which is 150 million RMB less than Tencent's investment.
After reading it, Shen Ya looked at Xiao Ma's team and said, "Chairman Ma, Sequoia Capital's valuation is 2 billion RMB. I wonder if your company has any other opinions?"
Little Ma smiled, his expression calm:
"Mr. Shen, Tencent respects Sequoia Capital's assessment. However, we believe that Vipshop's potential is not limited to this, and the extra 150 million may be easily surpassed soon. But for now, it is not inappropriate to proceed with the cooperation based on a valuation of 2 billion RMB."
Shen Ya nodded in satisfaction at Xiao Ma's answer.
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