Chapter 150: That Year, I Was 19, With Only a Cold 10 Billion in My Account

September 19, Hangcheng, Ali Baba HQ.

Last time, Chen Yansen visited Ali Baba as a partner; this time, he was the seller.

But he wasn't selling products—he was selling the company.

After the acquisition, Fox Tao 's shareholders would shift from the original four (Senlian, S Siwei, IDG, Tencent) to multiple parties.

Le Tian and Augusta decided to exchange Ali shares while retaining partial new Fox Tao equity.

After Yi Tao merged into Fox Tao, a new Fox Tao would be formed and operated as an independent division.

"Boss, we're here." Gao Weilin parked the car and whispered a reminder.

Chen Yansen nodded, unbuckled his seatbelt, and stepped out.

From a business vehicle behind, six well-dressed men and women got out—financial analysts, legal advisors, plus Gao Weilin and Ye Qiuping; they were Fox Tao 's core negotiation team.

Beside him, Song Yuncheng looked at Chen Yansen with a complex expression.

This man never spoke a single truth.

In early September, he had held an all-hands meeting to declare that rumors of selling Fox Tao were completely false.

Now she understood: Chen Yansen had hired financial analysts and legal advisors solely to prepare for selling Fox Tao.

Yet, the fact that Chen Yansen brought her—not Meng Jie—to such a crucial meeting secretly delighted her.

At that moment, Zhang Yong hurried forward with his assistant, shaking Chen Yansen's hand warmly: "Chief Chen, welcome! Chief Ma, Le Tian, and Augusta are all here."

"Then let's get down to business," Chen Yansen said with a faint smile, his tone calm.

In 2011, Ali Baba's HQ hadn't moved to Xixi Park yet; it shared space with other Hangcheng internet firms in Tian Tang Software Park.

The group took the elevator straight to the 10th floor, Block G.

"Ding—!" The elevator doors slowly opened.

Zhang Yong led Chen Yansen and the others straight ahead, stopping at the door of a spacious conference room.

"Chief Chen!" Several familiar voices called out from inside.

Ma Liyun sat with a middle-aged man wearing glasses; Augusta sat with a petite woman; several seats were left empty—clearly for Chen Yansen's team.

"Chief Chen, let me introduce you: this is Wu Cunhe, SoftBank's China Regional President."

Cunhe?

Obviously a Japanese name—just slapped on a Chinese surname.

Chen Yansen gave a slight nod, saying nothing; everyone knew SoftBank was a major investor in Ali Baba, and Ma Liyun had repurchased the 40% stake from Yahoo only thanks to SoftBank's backing.

Even now, SoftBank had sent a representative to this Fox Tao acquisition.

"Chief Chen, this is Miss Su Jingzi, Le Tian's representative," said Jodi, Augusta's investment manager, introducing her.

Chen Yansen extended his hand and smiled politely at this "big sucker."

These Japanese came to China to do business, afraid of being hated, so they changed their names, half-hidden, half-concealed.

They didn't realize: Chinese people never named themselves this way.

"Chief Chen, I've long admired your reputation," said Su Jingzi—born Sankitani Keiko—studying Chen Yansen with sharp eyes.

This boy, barely twenty, was today's main player—surprising indeed.

Tall, handsome, like a character stepped out of a manga; even seasoned Su Jingzi couldn't help silently marveling: Chinese men's genes were truly excellent.

"Miss Su, pleasure to meet you," Chen Yansen replied, glancing at her briefly.

Everyone sat down; negotiations officially began.

The pricing had already been discussed online; now they only needed to confirm key points: Yi Tao's valuation, and Le Tian and Augusta's equity stakes after Fox Tao 's merger.

Among Fox Tao 's original shareholders, IDG planned to swap its shares for Ali equity; S Siwei and Penguin Investment chose to exit and cash out early.

The 20-billion-yuan valuation was undisputed; based on Chen Yansen's 74. 8% stake, it amounted to nearly 14. billion yuan.

With this money, Orange Factory's expansion could accelerate dramatically—solving the Orange Phone's production bottleneck while entering the ODM market to compete with Foxconn, Yinghua Da, and BYD.

Thus, Chen Yansen and Gao Weilin remained relaxed, watching as Ma Liyun negotiated with Su Jingzi and Jodi.

The three sides fiercely debated Ali and Yi Tao's valuations.

"Ali's valuation isn't up for debate—this month, Silver Lake Capital and Digital Sky invested 1. billion U. . dollars, valuing Ali at 32 billion U. . dollars. If you don't accept it, we can keep talking."

Ma Liyun looked confident—he had time.

Both Fox Tao and Ali were in a growth phase, but Ali, as the e-commerce giant, was rising faster.

The longer Le Tian and Augusta dragged things out, the better it was for him.

Besides, in Ma Liyun's view, Ali needed to reach at least 100 billion U. . dollars to be considered successful; he'd only sell Ali shares now to plug external traffic channels.

"Chief Ma, I accept Ali's 32-billion-U. . dollar valuation, but is 18 billion U. . dollars for ZhiFuBao unreasonable?"

Su Jingzi frowned, voicing her objection directly.

Ali's equity swap proposal combined Ali, ZhiFuBao, and the new Fox Tao (restructured with Yi Tao).

In truth, they had no dispute over Ali or the new Fox Tao 's valuations—only ZhiFuBao's 18-billion-U. . dollar valuation made Su Jingzi and Jodi suspect this Chinese man, who looked like ET, had ulterior motives.

Both sides argued fiercely, presenting valuation models and algorithms with solid reasoning.

Chen Yansen listened for a while, then grew impatient; he pulled out his phone, opened a scanned copy of "Speed Sound Physics," and used it to kill time.

The argument yielded no result by noon.

Ma Liyun's eloquence and negotiation skills were formidable—he seemed determined to force Su Jingzi and Jodi to accept the valuation method proposed by Ali's CFO.

As lunchtime approached, Cai Xin stepped in to mediate, smiling and suggesting they eat first and resume talks in the afternoon.

After all, every point meant hundreds of millions; no one would budge—that was only natural.

The group headed to the cafeteria floor; the food was surprisingly varied.

They'd originally planned to eat at a nearby restaurant, but Su Jingzi and Jodi refused—they insisted the cafeteria was fine and wanted to tour Ali Baba's cafeteria.

After all, if the deal went through, Le Tian and Augusta Capital would become major Ali shareholders.

Cai Xin and Zhang Yong didn't let these CEOs and executives serve themselves; they simply called over a few cafeteria staff, gave brief instructions, then led everyone to a private room.

Chen Yansen looked around, thinking that although Ali hadn't moved to Xixi Park yet, its office environment was still decent.

In the cafeteria, there were chefs cooking dumplings and wontons, and others making hand-pulled noodles on-site.

In front of the two noodle masters, long queues stretched out; their arms moved so fast they seemed to smoke, muscles bulging, blood pumping.

Zhu Xianzhen Tech Park had a cafeteria too, but it served all Ruzhu companies and couldn't match the quality of Xu Yuan's cafeteria.

Normally, Orange Tech employees took the shuttle to Xu Yuan's east gate for lunch.

"Chief Chen, how about opening an Orange Phone exclusive store on Taobao?"

During lunch, Zhang Yong ventured cautiously.

Taobao, founded just three years ago, still had strong demand for digital and home appliance categories as it transitioned to B2C.

With Orange Phone's pre-orders at 3 million units, if all sales went through Taobao, it would add 6 billion yuan in revenue to the group.

Zhang Yong was naturally tempted!

"Orange Tech's e-commerce division is still new, but since Chief Zhang asked, I'll cooperate. Yuncheng, handle this."

Chen Yansen smiled, giving Zhang Yong full face.

Fox Tao 's current success owed much to Zhang Yong's support.

Chen Yansen had heard that inside Ali, opinions on Fox Tao were divided; Hu Zhilong of the Ali Alliance and Wu Ming of Yi Tao had long wanted to crush Fox Tao using group power—but Zhang Yong blocked them.

Though Zhang Yong's motive was merely to protect the group's market share and total sales, for Fox Tao, it meant the freest possible growth space.

"Manager Song, leave your contact info—I'll create a group and assign Taobao's onboarding staff to coordinate."

Zhang Yong said to Song Yuncheng.

He'd seen her beside Chen Yansen three times now; he'd formed some suspicions, so his tone was unusually gentle.

"Thank you, Chief Zhang," Song Yuncheng replied politely.

Across the table, Ma Liyun and the others, no longer tense from the morning, were now smiling and introducing Hangcheng cuisine to Su Jingzi and Jodi.

Su Jingzi clearly lived in China long enough to know the dishes well; she deliberately skipped local specialties.

Jodi, however, was fascinated by the hand-pulled noodles—though his chopsticks couldn't grip them, so he switched to a fork and twirled the noodles up.

After lunch, Zhang Yong signaled the admin staff to escort the delegates to the lounge, resuming negotiations in two hours.

It wasn't really for rest—it was to let everyone cool down, report the morning's details to their headquarters, and find a mutually acceptable offer.

In the lounge.

Song Yuncheng spoke little today; learning Chen Yansen truly intended to sell Fox Tao, she felt a pang of reluctance.

"Boss, if we keep arguing like this, it'll take two or three more days—neither Ali, Le Tian, nor Augusta will budge."

Gao Linwei opened a bottle of mineral water, took a sip, and spoke seriously.

"It'll be settled eventually. They're not in a rush—we have even less reason to be."

Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

Because Fox Tao 's Q4 valuation would only rise, not fall—the longer they delayed, the worse it was for Le Tian and Augusta Capital.

As expected, the afternoon negotiations unfolded exactly as Chen Yansen predicted.

Soon, Le Tian and Augusta lowered ZhiFuBao's valuation from 18 billion U. . dollars to 16 billion U. . dollars; once Ali refused to budge further, all three sides reached agreement.

Le Tian invested 8 billion, Augusta invested 4 billion, jointly acquiring 60% of Chen Yansen's Fox Tao shares.

Ali Baba exchanged 0. % of Ali equity and 1. 3% of ZhiFuBao equity for Chen Yansen's remaining 14. 8% Fox Tao shares.

Thus, Senhai Technology was officially spun off from Senlian Capital; Fox Tao and Chen Yansen were now completely unrelated.

Penguin and S Siwei 's Fox Tao shares, valued at 20 billion yuan, were fully transferred to Le Tian.

Penguin had invested 150 million yuan in the angel and Series A rounds; in just six months, it became nearly 2 billion yuan.

Lin Chenfeng from the venture capital team, who came to Hangcheng to sign the contract, pulled Chen Yansen aside to thank him personally—his year-end bonus was guaranteed.

A return of more than ten times the investment would allow all members responsible for this investment to receive year-end bonuses ranging from five to twelve months.

Zhang Jiancheng of Thinking Investment expressed similar sentiments, repeatedly congratulating Chen Yansen; they had made a good profit, but Chen Yansen had made even more.

At barely twenty years old, Chen Yansen's account already held over ten billion.

Moreover, he was a shareholder in A Li and Zhi Fu Bao; these seemingly minor equity stakes would be worth at least four billion U. . dollars in the future!

Rebus Cali's four billion was indeed cold cash—nothing compared to Chen Zong's over ten billion, burning hot.

After signing the equity transfer agreement, Chen Yan Sen engaged in final discussions regarding the future of Fox Tao 's staff.

Meanwhile,

Rumors began to spread: A Li, Letian, and Augusta Capital would jointly launch a takeover of Fox Tao, with Yitao. om merging into Fox Tao to form a new Fox Tao division.

In an instant, all of Fox Tao 's staff were plunged into confusion.

Wu Ming of Yitao. om was equally uncertain; in terms of performance, he could not match Fox Tao —after the merger, who would lead?

This was critical to him.

Of course, A Li, Letian, Augusta, and Fox Tao never issued any official response; the outside world could only speculate, never confirm.

(End of Chapter)