Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2909 Want both and want

From the perspective of the company's interests, Meng Houkun's strategy is definitely better.

Boss Zhou really cares too much about his personal halo.

And ignored the interests of shareholders.

Among domestic IT companies, there is no civilized company. They all rely on brutal and savage tactics to break into the market. Without brutal and savage tactics, it is impossible to have the successful business status today.

Even the Ziwei Star, in the process of growing from small to big, has been constantly using shady and harmful tactics.

Especially when Helo was competing with QQ on the PC side, it used a lot of tricks. It also mobilized online water armies to try to deal with them in a black public relations mode, and even tried to use the "security intimidation" of Weidian Security Guard and Weidian Antivirus to clean up the battlefield.

Even though Zhou Buqi has friends all over the world now, that is all due to his success as Ziweixing.

During Ziweixing's start-up phase, it would often fight with others to the death.

There are no less than a dozen companies that were killed by Zhou Buqi himself, including 360, a security giant that once held an important position in the domestic Internet industry but has now become a thing of the past.

But later on, Ziweixing became popular.

The basic foundation has been laid, the core products dominate the market, the moat has been dug, the city wall has been built... Boss Zhou's style of doing things has undergone a fundamental change. He no longer looks for opponents. Even if he meets an opponent, he will find a way to turn hostility into friendship. He will avoid fighting if possible, and at least maintain the dignity of each other in private.

This kind of behavior is particularly prominent in the domestic business environment.

Boss Zhou's image is exceptionally tall and majestic.

Moreover, he has the capital to do so.

Now, Ziweixing has successfully listed on the Nasdaq, and has raised more than 100 billion US dollars in financing from a single IPO.

  Things that can be solved with money are not problems at all!

The current liquid funds on Ziweixing’s account are the largest in the country.

There are 322 billion Chinese yuan and 152 billion US dollars in foreign exchange.

Isn't it just that we need to make a big bet on both the food delivery and online car-hailing industries and provide a lot of subsidies? Isn't it possible to invest tens of billions for this? Ziweixing doesn't even need to use its reserve funds. Ziweixing's annual net profit can easily exceed 200 billion yuan of Chinese currency.

  (In 2013, Baidu's net profit was 107 billion, Alibaba's net profit was 220 billion, and Penguin's net profit was 170 billion)

Baidu has entered the food delivery industry but has not participated in the online car-hailing business; Alibaba and Tencent have both entered the online car-hailing industry but have not entered the food delivery industry.

Ziwei Star has the strongest strength.

It won’t be a problem to take over these two industries at the same time!

Moreover, compared with the other three giants, Ziweixing has a biggest competitive advantage, because Fantuan and Didi were both incubated from Ziweixing.

Fantuan.com is one of Zhou Buqi's earliest entrepreneurial projects. It was a campus meal delivery project for college students that was first launched by the "Ten Schools Entrepreneurship Alliance". After years of precipitation and accumulation, it has now become a domestic group buying giant. Not only did it survive the "Thousands of Group Buying Wars", it also acquired and integrated Dianping.com, and further developed in the food delivery industry.

Didi is similar.

Didi's founder is Cheng Wei, who joined Ziweixing seven or eight years ago with Chen Guohuan, then director of Alibaba's marketing department, and worked in Ziweixing's marketing department. Later, he saw an opportunity and jumped out to start his own business, starting an online car-hailing service.

Things were not going well at the beginning and I was on the verge of death.

At the critical moment, he found his old employer and obtained a 300 million yuan angel investment from Ziweixing through the relationship with his master Chen Guohuan. Later, under the leadership of Ziweixing Investment Department, he obtained a 1.2 million yuan A round and a 2.6 million yuan B round, which finally allowed Didi to gain a foothold in this industry.

Whether it is Fantuan or Didi, they have a genetic relationship with Ziweixing.

Especially Fantuan.com, which was Zhou Buqi’s early entrepreneurial project.

  Even if it's just to save Boss Zhou's personal reputation, we have to spend money to make this project successful!

Only success is allowed, no failure is allowed!

This topic is the most important one among the decision-making committees proposed by Zhang Yiming.

The three giants, Baidu, Alibaba and Penguin, are currently choosing between the food delivery and online ride-hailing industries and only doing one of them.

After all, the signs are already visible.

And there is historical experience.

If you want to make this kind of O2O business a success, you have to spend money!

  You have to spend money like crazy, spend unlimited money, and rely on a large amount of industrial subsidies to accomplish this kind of thing!

More than a decade ago, during the Internet bubble crisis in the United States, there were many similar O2O businesses, all of which relied on the model of industrial subsidies to develop. Only consumer discounts formed by large amounts of subsidies could make consumers change their living habits and abandon offline services in favor of Internet services.

If there is no huge discount on the price, why would people take the risk of ordering an online ride-hailing car without a business license? Why would they place an order without even seeing the store?

Subsidy is the only way to survive.

Does Ziweixing really have the ability to do both of these things at the same time?

Is it too dangerous? Baidu, Alibaba, and Penguin are all choosing between the two. Shouldn’t Ziweixing also “keep” one, rather than being so reckless as to want both?

After all, it is still unknown how much subsidies the food delivery and ride-hailing industries need to thrive. If each industry needs subsidies of $100 billion or $200 billion, it will be a bit too much for Ziweixing. Its own Ziwei Cloud and artificial intelligence are also bottomless pits.

Meng Houkun’s black public relations suggestions were also put forward under this premise.

This allows Ziweixing to participate in both food delivery and online ride-hailing at the lowest cost.

For other executives present, this decision was a bit difficult.

After all, most of the time when you say “I want both…and…”, the end result is often nothing.

Giving up fish for bear's paw often helps achieve your goal.

But for Zhou Buqi, there was no difficulty at all.

There's nothing to hesitate about!

  Both hands must be grasped, both hands must be hard!

"Has a subsidy war started in the online ride-hailing industry?" Zhou Buqi first learned about the situation.

Zhang Yiming said: "There are signs, but the war has not yet begun."

Liu Qing, president of the investment department, spoke at this time and said, "Although the war has not yet begun, the signs of imminent outbreak are already obvious. Kuaidi and Sudi are actively launching the latest round of financing, and it is said that the scale of financing will be at least 20 billion. Didi is also actively looking for investment. Cheng Wei hopes to obtain financing of less than 15 billion to cope with the next major industry challenge."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "Are you all preparing for war?"

Liu Qing said: "Yes, they are all expanding their forces, and the situation is quite aggressive. The food delivery industry is similar, and the situation is very urgent. Fantuan.com also needs money to cope with the next wave of competition. The O2O industry will definitely be the most important investment outlet in China in the future."

"How long do you expect the war to break out?"

"almost!"

"what?"

"Well... after this round of financing, the subsidy war in the domestic online car-hailing industry will definitely begin." Liu Qing stood up and took the PPT control pen from Zhang Yiming. The third topic of this meeting was originally proposed by her to the decision-makers. She skipped a few pages and came to a PPT page. "The first to kick off will be the eight first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. It is expected... expected to be after the arrival of winter. The environment in winter is relatively harsh. The income of the traditional taxi industry in winter is at least 25% higher than in autumn."

The PPT behind me is a set of tables.

It is a comparison between the online car-hailing and taxi industries, as well as the current status of the taxi industry in several major cities.

A lot of data is listed.

The skill Zhou Buqi lacked the most was data analysis. Fortunately, he didn't need to analyze data at all. He smiled and said, "That could be a new year with a new look."

Liu Qing nodded, "Yes, it's very likely. Maybe after New Year's Day, at the beginning of 2014, the subsidy war for online ride-hailing will be on the verge of breaking out. By then, on the surface, it will be a head-on confrontation between the three major online ride-hailing platforms, Didi, Kuaidi, and Speed, and there will be more than a dozen small online ride-hailing companies trying to survive in the cracks. In fact, it will be a behind-the-scenes showdown between Ziweixing, Alibaba, and Penguin."

"If you want to fight, then fight!" Zhou Buqi would not back down at this time. "Many times, negotiations during war can achieve unity more quickly."

"Then do both at the same time?"

Liu Qing took a deep breath and looked at Zhang Yiming.

They were the two that were most worried.

The other executives were not responsible for this matter, and Boss Zhou just walked away after making the decision. The real execution stage was still the responsibility of Zhang Yiming and Liu Qing. If they didn't do it well, it would be troublesome.

Zhang Yiming nodded, "Then let's do it together, or... everyone raise your hands?"

  Why vote for this?

Boss Zhou has expressed his firm stance.

Which of Ziweixing's employees, from top to bottom, doesn't blindly worship him? Once a conflict of ideas occurs, the boss Zhou's ideas will definitely prevail!

Sure enough, the next step was a show of hands to vote.

All passed.

Even Meng Houkun raised his hand to show his support.

"That's what we'll do! Let's do it together!"

Zhou Buqi made the final decision.

(End of this chapter)