This is the best team: from Ctrip to Home Inns, Hanting I

Chapter 12 Transformation Acquisition (3)
In fact, when he met Ji Qi, Wang Shengli knew nothing about Ctrip and its four founders.When we first chatted, Wang Shengli felt that the young man opposite him was very courageous, even though he had not founded the company for a long time and was not well-known.But later, when Ji Qi asked directly, "Does your company sell?", Wang Shengli always felt that it was too sudden and that this young man was too arrogant.The first meeting was about to acquire his own company. Does he understand the position of Modern Express in the hotel reservation industry?Does this company, which has been established for less than a year, have the money to buy my company?
The second person Ji Qi met was Wu Hai from Shang Zhixing.

Maybe they all came from business backgrounds, Wu Hai and Ji Qi chatted very speculatively.

Wu Hai talked frankly with Ji Qi about his situation and his views on the hotel reservation industry.

Wu Hai said: "When a company's business volume is established, it is difficult to grow the company only by its own capital accumulation. Financing is an inevitable choice."

Wu Hai continued: "I have already talked with Salomon Brothers, and I am going to sell most of the company's shares to them, and I will keep a small part of the shares myself. The project manager of Salomon Company also agreed to some conditions for me, including no more shares after one year. Purchase the shares in my hand at a price lower than the current price, buy insurance for the employees of Shangzhixing, etc. "

When Ji Qi heard this, he was stunned and quickly asked, "Are you going to sell the company to that Wall Street investment bank?"

"Yes. If it weren't for the fact that the project managers and lawyers of Salomon Brothers are a bit busy these days, I would have transferred the company to them a long time ago." Wu Hai said.

"Then let's cooperate!" Ji Qi seemed to realize that there was still a glimmer of hope.

"I'll wait until they give me an answer!"

Wu Hai didn't answer the question of whether he was willing to sell his company to Ctrip, so Ji Qi had no choice but to personally send Wu Hai to the elevator door and watch him leave.

Ji Qi then met with the heads of the three companies: Bai Deqin, Guoxin Business Alliance and Golden Century.

Chen Yalin, the chairman of Patel Touche, said that Tang Yue, the boss of eLong, had already negotiated with them.Otherwise, all I can say is sorry.

Li Zizheng, the boss of Golden Century, said, "It's better to sit down and talk about cooperation than to meet in the market." Mr. Ji, what you said makes sense.However, my belief is that warriors die on the battlefield and cannot fail at the negotiating table.We can talk about other cooperation projects, and there is no need to talk about acquisitions.

The person in charge of the Guoxin Business League also told Ji Qi firmly that they would not sell the company they founded to others.

Among these five companies, the ones that impressed Ji Qi the most were Modern Express and Shangzhixing.He felt that Wu Hai's understanding was very comprehensive and systematic, while Wang Shengli's thinking was very clear and unique.As for the other three companies, Ji Qi’s evaluation of them is average, especially the last two companies, they are impossible to sell, and Ji Qi will not buy.However, Ji Qi is not sure whether he can acquire the two companies in front of him.

02 Finally touched Wu Hai

Ji Qi decided to focus on Wu Hai.Because Wu Hai already has the idea of ​​reseller’s business trip, and at the same time, there is another important reason: Shi Mingchun, a partner of venture capital Softbank, told the Ctrip team that their investment is based on whether to acquire the business as a prerequisite. If Ctrip goes well After acquiring Shangzhihang, Softbank's funds were immediately transferred to Ctrip's account.

Ji Qi called Wu Hai several times, saying that he wanted to continue discussing cooperation with Wu Hai.But Wu Haidu tactfully refused on the phone.

Although Wu Hai repeatedly refused, this did not weaken Ji Qi's persistence.Ji Qi is a person who "doesn't die until he reaches the Yellow River". He keeps in constant communication with his target object.

Sure enough, at the last time, Wu Hai said to Ji Qi: "Mr. Ji, I have to admire your sincerity and persistence. Well, I'll go to your company to have a look first."

Hearing that Wu Hai was coming to learn about the operation of Ctrip, Ji Qi immediately borrowed a Nissan from his friend to pick up Wu Hai.In the car, Ji Qi introduced to Wu Hai the development of Ctrip's hotel reservation business. 900 room nights have been booked every month. With the opening of the market, the number of reservations will double in the future.

After arriving at the company, what Wu Hai saw about Ctrip was even worse than he had imagined.Whatever price the hotel gives to Ctrip, Ctrip will sell the price to travelers.Due to the small number of reservations, you can't get a good discount.No call center has been established yet, reservations are made entirely through the Internet.As for 900 room nights, it is not worth mentioning to Wu Hai who has already achieved 3 room nights.

Wu Hai said: "Mr. Ji, it will definitely be useless if you continue to do this. This is not how hotel reservations are played."

Ji Qi was taken aback, and said, "Mr. Wu, what do you think?"

"I can come to Ctrip, but the current practice must be changed." Wu Hai looked at Ji Qi with a smile.

"No problem, you can do whatever you want!" What Ctrip needs is Wu Hai's rich experience in booking rooms, so Ji Qi readily agreed to Wu Hai's condition - shares plus cash (the specific number has not been disclosed).

In March 2000, Wu Hai led all the management of Shangzhixing to join Ctrip.Ctrip provided Wu Hai with the position of senior vice president, in charge of sales, marketing and online promotion.

After joining Ctrip, Wu Hai immediately copied all the practices of Shang Zhixing.Prepare to build a call center, set up a sales force, and set up a hotel negotiation team.It didn't take long for Ctrip to quickly occupy the market, and the number of monthly room reservations rose rapidly from a few hundred to tens of thousands.

03 Wang Shengli is very hesitant

After the acquisition of Shangzhixing, the second tranche of financing has also arrived. Ji Qi decided to strike while the iron is hot, and then discuss the merger with Wang Shengli of Modern Express.

However, this negotiation was too difficult.It’s been like this for several months: Ji Qi and Liang Jianzhang flew from Shanghai to 88 This is the best team in Beijing. After getting off the plane, they went straight to the restaurant or bar where they had agreed to meet Wang Shengli. Tired of eating Hunan food and eating Cantonese food.Although the recipes are different, the topic is the same.Ji Qi talked about dreams and the future with Wang Shengli over and over again, and Wang Shengli also studied Ctrip over and over again, and both parties were looking for consensus through running-in.

Why is Ji Qi so persistent?Resilience comes from the experience he summed up when doing business: Negotiating with others is like falling in love. After a long time, there will definitely be an ambiguous relationship.In addition, there is another most important reason. If Ji Qi can get it done this time, the third round of financing that Shen Nanpeng and the venture capital Carlyle discussed will be settled immediately.

Time flies, and before you know it, 9 months have passed, and unfortunately, the negotiations have not yet come to fruition.

A friend persuaded Ji Qi: Mr. Ji, let’s forget if we can’t talk about it!What's more, after negotiating, it may not be affordable!

The words of a friend make sense.At that time, Ctrip didn’t have a lot of money. The first financing had been spent, and the second financing was also spent. The entire company was still in a state of loss.

However, Ji Qi thinks this way: the value of Internet companies is overestimated. Although they do not make money, they are valuable in the capital market.Although traditional companies like Hyundai Express make money, they are worthless in the capital market.In fact, it does not need to spend too much cash to use the valuable Ctrip shares in the capital market to acquire the capital-invaluable Modern Express.

Therefore, in front of Wang Shengli, Ji Qi never said that Ctrip is rich, but repeatedly emphasized that after coming to Ctrip, everyone can do things together.Constantly hinting to Wang Shengli that the hopes and ideals that Hyundai Express failed to achieve can be achieved by Ctrip.

Faced with Ji Qi's heartfelt "marriage proposal", what is Wang Shengli's intention?

In fact, Wang Shengli also realized the power of the Internet. He once created a website for his company:
E-hotel, but due to the company's lack of money and talents, it has never done online promotion, and the website just plays the role of a poster.

At this time, Wang Shengli also encountered a troublesome problem: the country issued a new policy that no longer allowed troops to engage in business operations.Wang Shengli can only sell Hyundai Express as soon as possible.

Who will you sell it to?Buyers more powerful than Ctrip include China Travel Network and Shanghai Brilliance.China Travel Network is backed by Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong; and Shanghai Brilliance’s Chairman Yang Rong is even richer. He once said to Wang Shengli that you are not short of money or people, but you need someone with an innovative spirit. A leader and a company that has already formed a business scale; some companies even propose that they will pay as much cash as Ctrip’s worth of stocks, and are even willing to pay a higher price than Ctrip.

Therefore, Wang Shengli is also very headache.

In the first half of 2000, since Ctrip acquired Shangzhixing and eLong acquired Paideqin, as the leader of the reservation network, Modern Express has naturally become the key target of acquisitions by many travel websites.

Among the people negotiating with Wang Shengli, the person in charge of China Travel Network was the one with the most purpose.The person in charge knows best that with the acquisition of Modern Express, the dominance of China Travel Network will be consolidated.Otherwise, the future of China Travel Network must be in danger.

Next is Yang Rong from Shanghai Brilliance, a capital operation expert who owns the bosses of several listed companies.Always so confident and domineering when he opened his mouth, he immediately asked Wang Shengli, how much would it cost to resell Modern Express?He has repeatedly emphasized that money is not a problem for him at all.

Wang Shengli, who has served in the army for more than 20 years, and later honed in the business world for many years, can be said to have seen countless people.In the face of many acquirers, after weighing it over and over again, he decided to give the olive branch to Ctrip.

Why does Wang Shengli prefer Ctrip?On the one hand, Wang Shengli was impressed by Ji Qi's sincerity, and on the other hand, Wang Shengli was impressed by Ji Qi's entrepreneurial team.Of course, the development of Modern Express needs funds, but at this time, there are many companies that are interested in Modern Express. Funding is no longer a problem, and the important thing is the problem of talent structure.After contacting the founder of Ctrip, Wang Shengli believes that the founder of Ctrip is knowledgeable, cultured, visionary, and courageous, which is different from other companies that Wang Shengli has contacted.Especially Ji Qi, a southerner who graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University, is aggressive, capable and loyal.There is also Liang Jianzhang, who doesn't talk much, but has careful thinking and is definitely an expert in technology.Wang Shengli thought to himself: If Modern Express and Ctrip are combined, they can make things bigger. Even though they can't be listed on the market, it should be no problem to make tens of millions of profits a year.

After agreeing to sell the company to Ctrip, the next step is to discuss the acquisition plan.Liang Jianzhang valued Modern Express at US$6000 million.The acquisition method is stock and cash.

Wang Shengli also agreed to this plan.Therefore, on October 2000, 10, Ctrip acquired Modern Express as a whole with several million yuan in cash and some Ctrip shares.

04 Ctrip is the real boss
After Ctrip successfully acquired Modern Express, the industry experienced an "earthquake". The CEOs of many travel websites were dumbfounded. They couldn't figure out why Modern Express was also acquired by Ctrip?

This incident also gave those financial reporters room to play and guess.

"Information Industry Daily" reported: After Ctrip cooperated with Modern Express, it must have widened the distance from its competitors. People from other travel websites can only watch the Ctrip team count their money helplessly.

"China Business News" commented: Ctrip's recent acquisition of American Express has consolidated Ctrip's position as the leader in travel e-commerce websites.The acquisition has brought more resources and customers to Ctrip. Modern Express is an established company in the industry with rich resources in the industry. It has 40 members. Now, if you add more than 60 of Ctrip, it will be more than 100 million.In today's relationship marketing era, whoever owns the customers wins.

There are also many other media comments, although the length of the article varies, but the views are basically the same.

But in fact, before Ctrip acquired AmEx, it was already the largest hotel distributor in China.The purpose of Ctrip's acquisition of American Express is not to increase 40 members.Most importantly, Wang Shengli opened up the northern market for Ctrip; at the same time, he also brought the third round of financing to Ctrip.

In June 2000, Ctrip was discussing the third round of financing, and the main investor was the Carlyle Group, the world's largest private equity investment company.But the financing negotiation this time was much more difficult than the previous two times, because several project managers of Carlyle were very familiar with traditional industries, and they were very concerned about Ctrip's financial data and profit plan.During the interview, they asked broad questions, such as:
"If China's economy is not good, what will Ctrip do?"

"If China's hotel industry grows too fast, what will Ctrip do?"

"What will Ctrip do if China joins the WTO?"

After asking questions and getting satisfactory answers, they feel unsafe.Carlyle put forward an additional condition to Ctrip: the entry into force of the investment agreement is based on the acquisition of Modern Express by Ctrip.

Now that Hyundai Express has been successfully acquired, Carlyle must be very happy to fulfill its promise.

In November 2000, the third round of investment with Carlyle as the main investor came into the account. Carlyle invested 11 million US dollars in Ctrip and obtained 800% of Ctrip's shares.In addition to the additional investment from investors such as IDG, Softbank, Shanghai Industrial, and Orchid Fund, the total amount is 30 million US dollars.

When the Internet enters the "severe winter" and a large number of companies are struggling, an investment of 1200 million US dollars is simply astronomical.At this time, Nasdaq had already collapsed, and many investors either stopped investing, or withdrew from Asia, or the entire company went bankrupt. Carlyle’s decision seemed quite bold.

Afterwards, Gan Jianping, Carlyle's Chinese representative, explained his reasons: Ctrip's entrepreneurial team is the strongest among the entrepreneurial companies I have seen, and maybe we will never find such a well-matched team in the future.

Although investors are very optimistic about Ctrip, at this time, Ctrip's monthly transaction volume is 1000 million yuan, the company's operating expenses are 200 million yuan, operating income is 100 million yuan, and its net loss is 100 million yuan.

ah?Ctrip is still losing money, so will Ctrip "hang"?

Don't worry everyone, Ctrip will not "hang up", because at this time a very powerful person came out, and Ctrip's performance grew faster than "Shenzhen Seven".Who is this person, please see Chapter 4 "By leaps and bounds".

Summary This chapter involves several knowledge points:

[-]. Formation of team spirit Any team is composed of multiple members, and the whole is equal to the sum of individuals. The purpose of forming a team is to make the whole greater than the sum of individuals.However, in reality, not every team can work together to achieve the original goals and aspirations, and some teams have intrigues and internal resource consumption during the development process.why?There are two points to discuss below.

1. Relationships between team members According to years of research and observation by the author, it is found that in entrepreneurial teams, members have the following five relationships:

（1）1＋1＞2 相互欣赏、相互信任、相互了解、相互配合。（成熟期合作关系）（2）1＋1＝2 相互尊重、相互试探、相互磨合、还未深交。（初识期合作关系）（3）2>；1＋1＞0 相互猜疑、相互制约、相互提防。（开始期竞争关系）（4）1＋1＝0 相互拆台、相互斗气。（成熟期竞争关系）（5）1＋1＜0 相互排斥、相互斗争。（你死我活的关系）信任（信任模型见图3-1）是非常重要的。一般情况下，创业团队内成员之间的关系都是从第二条开始的，接着就要过渡到第三条。在这个时候，如果团队能够健康成长，马上就会转向第一条进展。如果团队的内部矛盾继续加剧，那就出现第四、第五种结果了。

Good or bad results are related to the second point below.

2. Members' self-awareness The teamwork spirit depends on the members' self-awareness. There are four specific manifestations:
(1) Believe and count on other players.

(2) Your own contribution cannot replace others.

(3) Find ways to make others understand and support you.

(4) Review your own shortcomings and mistakes from time to time.

How about the relationship among Ctrip team members, and how do they evaluate their contribution in the team?

Let's talk about their relationship first.

Ji Qi believes that in a team, the personal relationship between members is very important.If there is no personal relationship between members, the team will break up when it encounters difficulties.He and Liang Jianzhang often travel together, and often "eat a small dish and drink a small wine" together. He, Shen Nanpeng, and Fan Min are both alumni of Jiaotong University. This kind of personal friendship can completely resolve the conflicts and contradictions between each other. crisis.In addition, personal self-knowledge is also very important.

Everyone must clearly know the boundaries of their abilities, what they should do and what they should not do.

Then talk about how they evaluate their contribution in the team.

Some people believe that Ji Qi has contributed the most to Ctrip in the process from start-up financing to transformation and mergers and acquisitions.Without Ji Qi, Ctrip would never be able to do it.But, does Ji Qi think so too?

In front of the public, he told reporters: The four of us are like a jigsaw puzzle, if any piece is missing, nothing will work.We agreed very early, don't say that we are someone and his entrepreneurial team.

And Fan Min also said similar things. He told the media more than once: When we build a building, Ji Qi has passion and can clear up the relationship. He is the one who gets approvals and land; Shen Nanpeng is good at financing, he is looking for money Liang Jianzhang understands IT and can discover business models, so he goes to piling to set the overall framework.And I come from the tourism industry, and I am good at mixing cement and yellow sand to make concrete to fill this frame.This is how the building was built.

(End of this chapter)