Reborn: Billionaire in College

Dongjiang International Airport.

Lu Chuanwei and his secretary Wei Hanyang were waiting at the T2 airport pick-up gate for passengers flying from Beijing to Donghai to land.

About twenty minutes later, a group of people walked out of the passage.

Lu Chuanwei's eyes lit up and he waved at the group of people.

After everyone gathered, Lu Chuanwei went up and shook hands with Cheng Congwu, Cheng Wei and others.

"Old Lu, I haven't seen you for half a year. You've become darker." Cheng Congwu teased with a smile.

Lu Chuanwei waved his hand: "The ultraviolet rays in Southeast Asia are much stronger. If you run outside every day, you will inevitably get tanned. By the way, when will the others arrive?"

Cheng Wei looked at his old rival and now colleague Lu Chuanwei, who was in good spirits, and nodded and introduced: "We will arrive before tonight. This meeting is very important. If you are late, you will be fined."

"Of course. After more than half a year of exploration overseas, it is finally time for us to counterattack the international market." Lu Chuanwei seemed very excited when saying this.

As the CEO of the Overseas Strategic Business Group and concurrently the head of the International Business Department, he was the first person to officially sound the clarion call for AutoNavi's overseas expansion. When the group's general direction changes, it also means that his voice is increasing.

The convoy that came to pick them up drove everyone all the way into Wujiang District, and they saw tall buildings standing on the roadside.

"The development here is really fast. There have been a lot of changes in just half a year."

"Of course, with a few multinational corporations as the mainstay, it's hard not to expect the development speed to be fast."

"In the past six months, Orange Technology's new mobile phones have sold well, Renren's new game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has also been popular both at home and abroad, and even Renrengou has been successfully listed. The next step will be up to us, AutoNavi." Cheng Congwu frowned slightly. He was under a lot of pressure. Fortunately, Uber had also made some achievements in the past six months.

After Chen Pingjiang came out to receive everyone from AutoNavi that day, he immediately convened AutoNavi's second half of the year strategic meeting at 10 a.m. the next day.

The current business structure of the new AutoNavi Group is divided into car navigation, Internet and mobile Internet location services, and travel business.

The travel business is divided into domestic travel business and overseas travel business.

Domestic travel businesses include Gaode taxi platform, Didi online car-hailing, Didi taxi, Didi chauffeur and Didi Hitch.

After the integration of resources in the domestic market, travel business accounts for 80% of the orders in the entire market. In comparison, Uber only accounts for 8%, and the rest are small companies such as China Travel.

In terms of overseas travel, it has invested in overseas travel companies since 2013 and has successively invested in the world's seven major mobile travel platforms, including 99 in Brazil, Ola in India, Taxify in South Africa and Europe, Careem in the Middle East, Grab in Southeast Asia, and Lyft in the United States.

However, only Southeast Asia has truly begun international operations, while the others are mostly strategic investments used to divert Uber's attention.

In the huge conference room, Chen Pingjiang sat at the top, with Cheng Congwu, Cheng Wei and others sitting on both sides.

There were more than ten people attending the meeting, all of whom were key figures of the group located in various places, in addition to representatives of shareholders.

"As for the domestic business, Cheng Wei, can you first tell me about the progress?" After the meeting started, Chen Pingjiang looked around before speaking.

Cheng Wei was well prepared and quickly took out the manuscript to introduce: "Mr. Chen and colleagues, Uber has been here since 2012, and it has been almost 30 months. It is no exaggeration to say that Uber is the overseas Internet startup that has invested the most in the Chinese market. Before this, no overseas Internet startup has ever taken such radical actions in the Chinese market. During this period, Uber also caused us a lot of trouble, but there is no doubt that our group is the ultimate winner."

"In the past six months, Uber's subsidies have been much lower than before, and many cities have even cancelled subsidies. Combined with the fact that their new round of financing has not been finalized, I think they are running short of internal funds. In addition, there are also rumors that Liu Qing is under great pressure because the domestic business has not grown significantly."

"Uber has been adopting a money-burning strategy since its launch, providing high subsidies to users and drivers to seize the market. However, after generous investment, huge security loopholes were exposed. Fake orders and credit card fraud have caused huge waste of funds. Ignoring security and tolerating fraud directly endanger the cash flow on which the company depends for survival. Uber has become the first choice for fake orders because of the highest subsidies, while Didi will only be patronized during high subsidies and rush hours in the morning and evening. At worst, Uber's virtual orders once reached 40%. According to investigations, Taobao, a channel dominated by small and scattered users, involves about 20 Uber passenger accounts, and more large-scale wholesale users are completed through private contacts such as phone and QQ."

"In the face of increasingly rampant fake order behavior, although Uber has increased its ban by formulating new rules and updating versions, in order to use the glamorous data in exchange for venture capital financing, Uber has actually adopted a laissez-faire behavior behind the scenes. To be honest, Uber is now at the end of its rope, because even with the data, it has not received new financing. In my opinion, Uber may not have enough funds this year."

After Cheng Wei finished his introduction, Chen Pingjiang nodded and concluded: "Uber once relied on a flat corporate structure and used a three-person elite team to expand rapidly in the domestic market in the early days. In the past two years, Uber China has grown rapidly. But as the company expanded, the disadvantages of the flat structure began to emerge. First of all, city managers are at the same level, and they often consider the interests of their own city first, which makes it difficult for cities to work together. The Uber model has indeed reached its end."

At this point, Chen Pingjiang smiled and asked everyone: "I'll ask you a question. Please speak freely and let me know your thoughts."

When everyone heard that the boss wanted to test them, they all became excited.

“If — Uber proposed a merger, would you agree or reject it?”

After hearing the question, everyone frowned and thought.

Chen Pingjiang raised the cup and drank the tea slowly, then his eyes swept across the faces.

The movement is not big, but the pressure given is particularly sufficient.

After a while, a former Didi executive raised his hand, and after receiving encouragement from Chen Pingjiang, he said, "It is undeniable that there is a possibility of a merger between the two parties, but it depends on how much sincerity the other party can show. After all, we have the upper hand. In promoting the merger, Uber's global investors will be more proactive. They certainly don't want China's money-burning war to drag down the world, and hope that Uber will give up the "China battlefield" and divide the global sphere of influence with us, AutoNavi. My opinion is that a merger is an option, but it depends on how much benefit the other party gives up."

After someone started talking, everyone spoke freely.

Chen Pingjiang listened carefully.

Basically, the majority of people think that there should be no merger, but there are also some people who do not reject the merger.

After everyone had discussed it, Chen Pingjiang said, "Think about this question more carefully when you go back. There is no need to rush for an answer." He did not express his opinion on the spot because it had not come to that stage yet, and he did not want to put a psychological burden on his colleagues who supported the merger.

It is better to chase the poor bandits with courage, not to be a famous scholar!
This is Chen Pingjiang’s attitude.

But business wars are different from wars in that they involve a life-and-death struggle.

The proposal to merge Uber China is indeed an important test of the strategic decision-making ability of many core management of the group.

The temptation of the merger is to end the money-burning war with Uber ahead of schedule, reduce costs, see the dawn of profitability, and satisfy shareholders; invest more funds in technology, big data and other directions that represent the future, consolidate the moat; concentrate on global expansion and realize greater ambitions.

However, based on the overall strategic situation, Chen Pingjiang decided to reject possible merger proposals in the future, or consider it again after obtaining better restrictive conditions.

This is a preventive measure for everyone.

Currently, AutoNavi’s travel business accounts for more than 80% of the market share. Although the money-burning war with Uber is still going on, it has come to an end. Almost no one thinks that Uber will have a chance to defeat and surpass AutoNavi.

All four 4s of the two big and small kings are in AutoNavi's hands. With AutoNavi's current financing situation, price increases, business model expansion and other explorations, it has enough funds to support its competition with Uber and even achieve an overwhelming victory in the end. In this case, merging with Uber is not very meaningful. On the contrary, in the development stage, having an enemy is the most valuable. It is a guarantee of goals, cohesion and combat effectiveness.

Without the external competitor Uber, the team would lose its goal and all the problems caused by rapid expansion would erupt, which would be a bad thing.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Finally, assuming a merger with Uber, it could lead to further dissatisfaction among users and exacerbate concerns about monopoly.

In particular, the attitude of the government and regulatory authorities is difficult to grasp. Mobile travel is a basic transportation service, and whether to hand over the majority of the market share to a monopoly company with foreign background is something that needs to be considered. Chen Pingjiang is not sure whether Didi's failure in the previous life was due to Uber.

Finally, Chen Pingjiang believes that the failed Uber is not qualified to bargain with him. Compared with simply winning in the domestic market, Chen Pingjiang wants AutoNavi and Didi to go abroad and reap the fruits in overseas markets. As the founder of the company, Chen Pingjiang has a strong ambition to dominate the world, and has therefore made a lot of arrangements. If the negotiation is carried out according to the absurd strategy of "Give China to AutoNavi and the world to Uber", AutoNavi will lose more.

At the same time, dragging Uber in China and forcing it to invest money will make it easier for AutoNavi to keep pace with other global battlefields. If Uber's people join the board of directors after the merger, it will directly affect and constrain AutoNavi's globalization strategy and business strategy.

In addition to the above points, Chen Pingjiang is also afraid of trouble. AutoNavi's merger with Didi alone is troublesome enough, let alone merging with Uber?

Any major transaction must test the reactions and attitudes of various stakeholders, including shareholders, users, and the government. It is also necessary to reach consensus on valuation, transaction details, global strategy, advance communication with the government, and management arrangements.

It’s troublesome enough just thinking about it.

Fortunately, everyone in the senior management team is relatively optimistic and determined.

After discussing the domestic market situation, the meeting started the second item, which is the global strategy!
Chen Pingjiang cleared his throat and said, "The domestic market has gradually hit its ceiling. The travel business urgently needs to seek new growth points overseas. At the same time, we must also create pressure on Uber overseas and not let them take the lead."

"First, objectively speaking, our internal shareholder relationships are complicated and we don't have much room for financing in the primary market. Moreover, we don't have enough imagination to rely on the domestic market alone, and it's still a long way to go public. Second, I looked at last year's financial report, and the order growth rate was relatively slow. The pre-tax profit margin was only 7%, and after paying taxes, it was a loss. It has to be said that this is a business with a large scale, low profits, and limited room for growth. The domestic market has entered a high-platform period."

"At the same time, challengers such as Didi Dache, Shenzhou Zhuanche and even Uber are still trying to take a piece of the travel market from us. Although the overall situation has been determined, challengers will never disappear. When Uber came to China two years ago, I realized that we were one dimension lower than Uber. It was like an octopus, with its head in the United States and a tentacle extending to China, so it was useless to attack only one tentacle."

"It is precisely because of this that we started investing in local travel players such as Lyft and Grab early on, and even tried overseas travel with Singapore as a fulcrum. But this alone is not enough. International strategic business is still one of the keys to help AutoNavi support its valuation and move towards listing."

"But 'overseas market' itself is a very broad concept. Behind it are actually hundreds of markets with different systems, cultures, and different levels of market development, as well as complex competition led by international giants and local players. In the Internet age, there is nothing new under the sun. If you find an emerging market, there is a high probability that there are similar competitors in the local area; if this emerging market happens to have no similar competitors, it is very likely that the market itself has many restrictions and challenges."

"This time, everyone must be fully alert."

"Let's talk, how do we start!?"

The meeting has come to this point, and the real work has officially begun!

Lv Chuanwei has worked overseas for so long and has done a lot of research on this. He quickly followed up on Chen Pingjiang's words and said, "I think Australia and New Zealand are good places to go next. The Australian and New Zealand markets are stable and have friendly regulations, so they are a base that needs to be built steadily. After Uber entered Australia and New Zealand in 12, it has made great efforts to legalize online ride-hailing services in Australia and New Zealand, and we have seen initial results."

"In addition to the friendly regulatory environment, Uber's profitability in the Australian and New Zealand markets also makes this market quite attractive. Uber has cultivated the market and even achieved break-even in the first half of the year, which is very attractive to various travel companies around the world that are still in a loss-making state."

Chen Pingjiang nodded and looked at Lu Chuanwei with appreciation. "Old Lu's suggestion is good. It seems that he has done his homework."

This light compliment actually made this old man in his forties a little excited.

This is purely because Lu Chuanwei still wants to compete with Cheng Wei in his heart.

One executive suggested: “How about Japan?”

Others immediately objected: "It's not that good. Xiaorizi is like a lonely mountain. You can see this from the mobile phone market. Many products can be sold all over the world, and many business models can work in other places, but they all fail in Japan. This damn place always has an independent market. Moreover, Japan's urban rail transit is quite developed, but the local market has not been cultivated. Secondly, Xiaorizi's private car operation is not legal at present. Uber is still suing there, and the taxi companies on the other side are particularly strong."

At this point, Chen Pingjiang commented: "We have different strategies in different battlefields. Some markets are relatively open, so we go it ourselves; some markets are very closed, and local partners are creating value, so we form joint ventures and export technology to them through investment."

"Then there is only India left in Asia, and the Middle East is naturally not considered," Cheng Congwu reminded. "But I don't recommend entering India, it's a big mess, and Uber is still struggling in it. India's own Ola was established earlier than us, and the absolute advantage of the local market is obvious."

“We have Taxify in Europe and Lyft in North America. It seems that we can only focus on South America after deepening our presence in Southeast Asia?”

Chen Pingjiang nodded: "European and American policies are strict. Let Uber go through the muddy waters first and support our partners. Eastern Europe is an option. My idea is to raise the importance of Latin America." (End of this chapter)