Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3165: Integration Industry
Zhou Buqi was actually still on vacation.

This time I came back, there are mainly two things.

First, to participate in the Internet conference; second, to promote Shi Jinglin’s acquisition of Xiyin.

Now it's all settled.

Zhou Buqi wanted to leave and go to Wellington, New Zealand to see his wife and children, where there was a bikini party that was even more imaginative than the Hai Tian Sheng Yan waiting for him, the male protagonist, to participate.

But unexpectedly, Boss Ma came running over.

"Aren't you in a meeting?"

Zhou Buqi was very surprised. As far as he could remember, this seemed to be the first time that Boss Ma came to the headquarters campus of Ziweixing.

"Didn't you watch the news? It's over." Boss Ma was wearing a green down jacket, which made him look particularly conspicuous. "I haven't been here yet. Let's go around together."

Zhou Buqi was annoyed, "You're running here in the middle of winter."

Boss Ma said, "Don't go out. Just walk around this office building and get a feel for your corporate culture. I heard you're doing something big. You're going to cancel the model of outsourcing employees and instead sign contracts directly with the company."

Zhou Buqi nodded and said, "Yes, caring for employees is a basic quality of a company."

"Good intentions may not always be rewarded."

Boss Ma shook his head and actually did not quite approve of this model.

Zhou Buqi didn't care. "No matter if there is any reward or not, or what others think of me, I just feel good doing this."

Boss Ma smiled and said, "We set up a human resources subsidiary, and then signed different employees in the name of the headquarters and the subsidiary. Is that what you mean?"

“That’s quite a thorough study!”

Zhou Buqi glanced at him and thought that Boss Ma wanted to follow in his footsteps. If Boss Ma learned to do the same, it would be quite a sense of accomplishment.

Boss Ma hesitated for a moment and said, "The director of the Oriental TV Station changed a few years ago. Before the old director left office, he seemed to have promoted a series of reforms, which seemed to be similar to yours... I can't say for sure about this matter. You can go and find out. The mainstream opinion in China regards "reform" as a positive word, but it is not necessarily true. Throughout history, good intentions leading to bad results is the main theme of reform. Wang Anshi is the number one treacherous minister in the history of the Song Dynasty."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "Here we go to class again."

After Alibaba went public, Mr. Ma became the most popular and sought-after entrepreneur in China, far more popular than Zhou Buqi. Firstly, Zhou Buqi was low-key and rarely appeared in public, and secondly, Mr. Ma was a university teacher, with excellent eloquence and good at public speaking.

Now that Mr. Ma has resigned as the CEO of Alibaba, he is running around every day and giving speeches everywhere. From high-ranking officials to ordinary people, you can hear him lecturing everywhere.

Even after arriving at Ziwei Star, Boss Ma was treated like a big star and received great welcome and attention.

It’s as if Boss Zhou has become a supporting role.

Boss Ma smiled and waved to everyone, praising them: "They are all good guys."

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "Don't be so conspicuous. What are you doing here? If you want to learn about the reform plan for outsourced employees, let's go to the Human Resources Department."

"Let's go to the Finance Department."

"Ok?"

"I want to talk to you about online ride-hailing."

Only then did Boss Ma reveal the purpose of his trip.

Zhou Buqi led him directly to the office of Chief Financial Officer Nie Caijun, and asked him to call He Yang. "What's wrong with online ride-hailing?" Boss Ma said, "I remember you mentioned that excessive competition in the online ride-hailing market is not conducive to the healthy development of the industry. At the appropriate time, it is necessary to carry out certain industrial integration to cool down the market and plan the operation."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "Are you scared by LeTV and Baidu?"

At the beginning of the year, there were three giants in the online car-hailing war, Didi, Kuaidi and Sudi, supported by Ziweixing, Alibaba and Penguin respectively.

It’s different now, two new strong rivals have appeared.

Baidu invested $6 million in Uber, and LeTV invested $7 million in Yidao Car Rental.

It's already November.

The weather is getting colder.

Winter is the peak season for taxi hailing, which inevitably means that the online ride-hailing industry will usher in a new round of big money spending.

Boss Ma crossed his legs and snorted, "What are those two companies? For online ride-hailing, the most important thing is the payment portal. What payment tools does LeEco have? The LePay they launched looks no different from a scam company. And Baidu, how many people are using the Baidu Wallet they launched?"

Zhou Buqi nodded and said, "This is indeed a competition of ecosystems. I am a little surprised by the entry of LeTV and Baidu."

Boss Ma said: "Ali's investment strategy is to invest in the ecosystem. Ali is not interested in capital investment, and only makes investments related to its own business and ecosystem. Online ride-hailing can exist as a traffic entrance for Alipay, and can also be a part of local life. I don't know what LeEco and Baidu are doing."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "That's right. Whether it's $6 million or $7 million, it will all be wasted in the end."

Boss Ma said confidently: "Of course, there are only two payment tools in China in the mobile field, one is Alipay and the other is WeChat Pay. Penguin's QQ Pay doesn't work. I think the time is right now, and we can close the net."

"A bit early, right?"

Zhou Buqi feels that the online ride-hailing market has not yet been fully developed.

It's just like casting a net to catch fish.

Pull in the net early because there are too few fish.

Now, Baidu and LeTV have just invested huge amounts of money to enter the market.

This is actually good news for the industry.

The more hot money there is in the online car-hailing industry, the more prosperous this industry will be, and the more serious the plunder of the traditional taxi industry will be. The smaller the territory of the taxi industry is, the larger the territory of the online car-hailing industry will be. When the territory of the online car-hailing industry is large enough, it will be the greatest benefit to the ultimate winner to close the net in time.

Boss Ma frowned slightly, "It's getting late. The money has been almost spent. Baidu and LeEco have poured in more than a billion dollars. This is their first and will definitely be their last. There's no need to expect them to invest more money to expand the market."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "You have a winner's mentality! You sentenced them to death as soon as they entered the field?"

"Aren't you?"

Boss Ma looked at him strangely.

Zhou Buqi laughed haha.

Boss Ma said unhappily, "This was obviously your idea, but you make me feel like I was behind this."

Zhou Buqi said, "What's wrong? Isn't this industry consolidation? I see you've been quite interested in the limelight recently. I heard that you want to replace CEO Liu and become the chairman of the Entrepreneurs Club?"

"Well, Lao Liu has cancer, and he's not in good health after the surgery. I'm here to take over this business..." Boss Ma tilted his head and looked at him, "What for? Are you interested? If you are willing to step forward, you can be the chairman and I'll be the deputy. I'm sure no one will object."

Zhou Buqi waved his hands repeatedly, "Forget it, you should come. What I am worst at is dealing with those complicated interpersonal relationships. If I had this level, you wouldn't have to come forward to integrate the online car-hailing industry, don't you think?"