Reborn: Billionaire in College

AutoNavi's shareholders were scratching their heads as they saw the price war starting again.

This means that if things continue like this, AutoNavi will definitely still need to raise funds.

But now the person in charge is Chen Pingjiang, and everyone still has sufficient confidence.

In other words, if Amap cannot stop Uber’s expansion, is there any other domestic company that can?

Relying on Yidao or Shenzhou? Neither is realistic.

Then Uber will definitely break into the market.

However, even Chen Pingjiang had some headaches when he really dealt with Uber's price war.

Uber is a latecomer and a challenger. Its market is not big, so it can act without any scruples.

But Chen Pingjiang has a lot to consider.

"The corresponding product of Express is well prepared, but we dare not launch it now. No one dares to be the bad guy. Because the price is almost half of that of taxis, it will definitely have a huge impact on the taxi industry, not to mention affecting its reputation, and may even cause boycotts. Uber can not care about anything, but we can't."

This time, Cheng Wei flew directly to Dongjiang to report on his work.

This is a serious matter. Although he is not the original CEO of Didi, he still needs to report to the big boss. It is not something he can decide.

Things are different now, and Cheng Wei still understands this clearly.

And... Cheng Wei doesn't want to be the bad guy.

So it’s a good idea to leave the tough issues to the big boss.

Chen Pingjiang frowned.

In 2013, whether it was Kuaidi or Didi, the main transport capacity was concentrated on taxis, and there were not many private car owners. It was far from being a sharing economy.

It is a good idea to launch the express model to revitalize the sharing economy.

However, subsidizing express drivers and allowing them to accept orders at low prices will create tremendous pressure on their taxi drivers and even the entire taxi industry.

If things go wrong, God will be angry and people will resent you.

This is like the radish in later generations. Once the driverless taxis were launched, some people cheered for them, some people criticized them, but more people were worried.

I am worried about how many people will lose their jobs.

"Wherever Uber launches its express service in a city, we will follow suit and engage in a price war with it in that city. We try to narrow the battlefield as much as possible to avoid hurting innocent people."

This is all Chen Pingjiang can do.

In cities where Uber has not yet entered, the express service remains priced at the original price.

Avoid causing damage to the local taxi industry.

Once your opponent plays a card, you have no choice but to follow suit.

Theoretically, as long as a small company has countless money to invest in the market and subsidize users and drivers, it can also become the next travel giant.

In the Internet market, this is the most powerful and irrefutable means.

To give another example, in the current food delivery market, Renrengou takes 80% of the market share, while Meituan and Ele.me share 20%.

If Meituan suddenly gets 2.0 billion US dollars and uses it to burn money to grab territory, maybe the food delivery war will emerge.

The difference is that small companies do not have endless money, while Uber has a lot of funds and can subsidize the domestic market with profits from other global markets.

However, Chen Pingjiang also knew that Uber would not be able to win in the end. It was merged with Didi in the previous life and would be driven out in this life as well.

"Mr. Chen, Uber's expansion is very fast. Usually three people can form a group, rush over directly, contact local partners, and then expand. According to this model, their speed of entering cities will become faster and faster, and they can expand in multiple directions. I think it won't be long before more than a dozen or even dozens of cities emerge."

Chen Pingjiang nodded: "I know, as long as we hold on and delay their progress, they won't be able to hold on."

"?" Cheng Wei was stunned for a moment: "Are you saying that their funds can't sustain it? That's unlikely."

"No, I mean that other factors will make this subsidy unsustainable." After thinking everything through, Chen Pingjiang said confidently: "Policy-wise, the compliance of private car orders has not yet been implemented, and there is also the risk of being fleeced. Uber thinks that burning money can solve everything, and it underestimates the domestic market."

As long as a driver with one year of driving experience has a not-too-old private car, he or she can start earning money after a few hours of training with Uber. For each order, he or she will receive a subsidy of 1.5 to 3 times the order price.

Expansion is scary, but blind expansion brings endless risks.

Otherwise, how could Uber fail in the end?

Even Uber’s CEO himself admitted that it made money in other markets, but lost $10 billion a year in China.

How many billions does he have to lose?

Even Chen Pingjiang couldn't bear this kind of loss.

Chen Pingjiang laughed and said: "We still need to let Uber have a taste of Chinese local characteristics."

Cheng Wei was puzzled: "What do you mean?"

"You'll know then."

Uber was once so exploited by the freeloaders that it cried, but it was big news.

Uber's fraudulent orders later formed an "industry chain", with each fraud earning $1.6. Drivers could earn three times the fare commission by cheating.

The first is DIY, which means that the driver buys a hacked "engineering phone" that can use multiple mobile phone numbers to create multiple Uber accounts. The driver uses one number to pretend to be a passenger and then places an order, which is then accepted by the driver using another mobile phone number.

The second option is to collaborate with other fraudsters over the Internet.

Either way, Uber would suffer heavy losses.

In the end, we underestimate the wisdom of the Chinese people.

It is precisely because of this that Uber orders have skyrocketed to 20 in such a short period of time.

Who knows how many of these orders are fake?

This time, when Cheng Wei returned, Chen Pingjiang personally sent him to the airport, which touched Cheng Wei deeply.

I never expected that after investing under Chen Pingjiang, I would be treated as the No. 1 person in the Internet industry.

When Wan Yuqian returned to Renren from Qingshan Lake, she brought good news.

"Once 'The Heart-Stirring Offer' was released, it became a huge hit! My guess was correct. Your charm, Mr. Chen, is a guarantee of high ratings. When you appeared in the first episode, there were more than 100,000 comments, which was quite exaggerated."

When Chen Pingjiang saw this expression, he felt that he was being targeted again, and quickly warned: "Don't mess around. I've already promised you to be on camera once. It would be too much to do it again."

This can’t be blamed on Wan Yuqian. She knew this trick would work, but she didn’t expect it to be so effective.

One variety show directly completed the KPI for the first half of the year.

As soon as the first episode was aired, it dominated various hot search lists.

Especially the scene with Chen Pingjiang, which was even more legendary.

Some people are already calling for Chen Pingjiang to come out and star in a domineering idol drama.

Chen Pingjiang was so angry that he vomited blood.

According to the data department of Qvod, the number of viewers for the second episode is expected to be at least five times that of the first episode.

"Obviously, everyone wants to see more shots of you in the variety show." Wan Yuqian said with a smile.

It works, but it's like taking drugs.

Once you're addicted, you can't stop.

If Chen Pingjiang fails to show up for several issues in a row, he will suffer backlash.

Viewers who have paid for Qvod membership will surely cry out “scammer, give me back my money!” and may even face a sharp decline in the number of viewers.

"Let's talk later!" Chen Pingjiang left with a word and ran away. Just kidding, he is not Lao Ma, who ran off to make a movie.

A whole string of action stars were invited, but they were defeated in no time.

…………

Liu Qing is full of pride wherever he goes these days, and has ushered in the third spring of his career.

His first spring was when he worked as a senior executive at Goldman Sachs; his second spring was when he led Didi to acquire Kuaidi, and now is his third spring.

"People's Uber has received a good response since its launch half a month ago. The number of our private car drivers has increased fivefold. The four first-tier cities have already opened up, and it is time to continue to expand into the lower-tier markets." In the conference room, Liu Qing presented data from the recent period on a PPT.

After the meeting, all the middle and senior management in the conference room stood up and applauded.

Li Wenzhuo smiled and said, "Boss Liu, you have a solution. We had some minor fights before."

"Mr. Li, don't underestimate yourself. Uber's previous strategy was good, and its international success is obvious to all. It's just that the situation in the Chinese market is more complicated. Although high-end products can establish a brand image, it is too slow for market expansion."

Uber previously targeted high-end users, with its target being white-collar workers commuting to get off work.

The service of the private car driver is quite good.

But the high price also discouraged many people.

Now that People's Uber is online, it is normal for the situation to change thanks to crazy subsidies.

It's just burning money!
Liu Qing is mature!

She helped Didi burn a lot of money.

What makes Liu Qing feel even better is that she has been receiving a lot of interviews recently, and her name, along with Uber, has frequently appeared in major financial news media.

What’s even more amazing is that it even became a hot topic because of it.

"Online car-hailing subsidy war 2.0, People's Uber takes the lead."

"Uber has made a bold statement: it is determined to break the monopoly of AutoNavi in ​​the domestic market."

"International giants are coming, the wolf is coming, can Amap withstand it?"

"Users should be aware of the Uber scam strategy."

“The People’s Uber Redefines the Sharing Economy.”

"..."

Flowers, applause, praise...

Everything is so beautiful.

This was the first time that Liu Qing held such an important position and received so many honors.

When he was at Goldman Sachs, although his position was not low, he was not a media darling and could not get exposure.

When she was at Didi, she was only the second-in-command, and when others mentioned her, they talked more about Cheng Wei.

And now she is finally standing on the stage and in front of the camera.

Don't feel too good about this.

In the past, Liu Qing always envied business stars like Jack Ma and Chen Pingjiang.

Now she felt she could do it, too.

Liu Qing, who had tasted the battle for the first time, acted even more swiftly and quickly dispatched ten teams to open up the battlefield at the same time.

It is advancing at a rapid pace, entering a city every three days.

Wherever they go, they wave checks, invite local partners to join, and recruit drivers.

Subsidies are given to users and also to drivers.

I don’t care how much money I spend, I don’t feel bad about it, as long as I get the results, it’s perfect.

From the outside, the momentum of People’s Uber is really scary.

But Gaode did not take much action. Although he followed the express train, there was always an illusion of being half-hidden.

There is a price war going on, but the subsidies are not as crazy as Uber's.

"Liu Qing, our Tongnan team was beaten up right after they entered. They will have to stay in the hospital for a few days at least. Do you want to dispatch another team there?"

Liu Qing frowned: "Did you call the police?"

"We called the police and took statements, but we haven't heard anything yet. These people refused to stay no matter what. When they first arrived in Tongnan, the driver from AutoNavi took a detour and charged them a lot, which ripped them off. Now they've encountered this kind of thing again."

"Could it be someone from Gaode who did it?"

"This... can't be? After all, the person sent is not a big shot. How could he have planned everything and wait for you to come?" The subordinate hesitated.

"It would be better not to. Immediately dispatch the Changzhou team over there. Their team is almost set up." Liu Qing made the decision immediately.

It’s all about speed!

We need to capture as much market share as possible before AutoNavi integrates its own strength.

Once Amap’s integration is complete, it will be too late.

From the outside, this subsidy war seems to make AutoNavi, which has a dominant position, seem to be running around like a bloated fat man.

And Uber is like an assassin holding a sharp blade!

One is bold and open, the other is cautious and careful.

In just half a month, twenty cities across the country simultaneously launched a subsidy war.

Uber was not unaware of the fake orders.

After all, there is no wall that is impenetrable.

However, after internal data screening and meeting discussions, Uber concluded that everything was generally under control.

Fake accounts account for less than 10% of orders, "much lower" than competitors and similar to the company's start-up period in other markets. The company also expects in an email that the proportion of fake orders will "soon drop to less than 0.5%."

But the actual situation... doesn't seem so optimistic.

On the other hand, there are almost no false orders on Gaode's side. After Chen Pingjiang launched the new version of the platform, through big data and intelligent analysis, it has a "very powerful anti-fraud system" to strictly crack down on fake orders.

Moreover, the rewards that Gaode provides to drivers are much lower than those provided by Uber.

The money earned from swiping orders from Gaode is far less than that from Uber.

In the eyes of the drivers, one is a shrewd domestic enterprise, and the other is a stupid and rich foreigner.

If I don’t grab you, who else should I grab?
Liu Qing made a wrong estimate this time.

This profit chain has been able to help drivers use so-called "engineered phones" and modified software to place fake orders and deceive Uber's system into paying for "ghost orders."

While there is no reliable data to estimate the scale of the fraud, interviews with Uber drivers and equipment suppliers, as well as comments posted on specialized online forums, suggest that at least some of the $10 billion Uber pledged to promote its China business was siphoned off by fake orders, which are likely also being counted as part of Uber’s total orders in China.

“This data is absolutely exaggerated,” said Zhang Xu, an analyst at Analysys International. “Uber’s problem with fake orders is well known.”

Faced with this argument, Liu Qing quickly came out to clarify: "Uber does not have a problem with fake orders. If you insist that we do, then why not ask our competitors?"

It was with great difficulty that some of the arguments about Uber's fake orders were put to rest.

Liu Qing had just taken a day off when his subordinates found him at home.

"Boss Liu, something has happened. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu have simultaneously started cracking down on online ride-hailing services." (End of this chapter)