Chapter 151: The End of an Era, The God of Wealth in the Eyes of Venture Capitalists (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Five days later, September 23.

Mama Ali's Brand Department officially announced that Mama Ali, through an equity swap, would jointly acquire Fox Tao, the domestic market leader in shopping-guide e-commerce, together with Lotte and August Capital.

The 74.48% equity held by Senlian Capital (Chen Yansen) was purchased jointly by Mama Ali, Lotte, and August Capital.

In this equity transaction, Chen Yansen successfully cashed out 12 billion in cash.

Although he still had to pay over a billion in taxes, Chen Yansen's hundred-billion fortune was now solid, no longer just a valuation or market cap.

As for the equity held by Penguin and Siwei Capital, the transaction was exceptionally low-key, yet within two days, it was exposed by industry insiders.

Penguin made a staggering 2 billion in profit!

Siwei Capital booked 1 billion!

Instantly, domestic investment firms turned their attention, in unison, to Chen Yansen and his Sister Chengzi Technology.

How could this be a 19-year-old male university student? He was clearly the God of Wealth!

The co-founders of DST, IDG, and Sequoia Capital all called to exchange pleasantries, their words implying: as long as Sister Chengzi Technology opens its financing window, all terms are negotiable.

Let Chen Yansen name his price; they would go raise the money immediately.

Zhou Shouzhi could not sit still; that very night, he sent Chen Yansen an electronic component procurement price list.

If Sister Chengzi Technology agreed to DST's investment request, DST's top boss promised to personally visit companies like Gao Tong and Sony to negotiate a bulk purchase price 10% to 20% lower than the quoted rates.

At the same time, the settlement period could be extended from three months to six months.

IDG Venture Capital also possessed rich resources in the smartphone supply chain and could help Sister Chengzi Technology integrate its supply chain and strengthen cost control.

After a moment of thought, Chen Yansen instructed Zhou Shouzhi and IDG's investment head, Dong Shun, to prepare valuation quotes.

Others might have rejected the financing requests from IDG and DST, but Chen Yansen was not that foolish.

He knew well the benefits of making the cake bigger; these venture capital firms, besides investing in phone manufacturers, were also involved in numerous suppliers of chips, batteries, screens, and cameras.

By introducing their capital and resources, Sister Chengzi Technology could not only optimize its supply chain but also lower material costs and improve gross margins.

After finishing work in Hangcheng, Chen Yansen led his team back to Xucheng.

The front pages of the three major portals and Penguin News were flooded with reports on Chen Yansen and Fox Tao.

Originally, Chen Yansen was only famous in the e-commerce and internet circles; this time, he broke through completely, with his national popularity soaring.

A 19-year-old male university student, 1.86 meters tall, tall and handsome, with a hundred-billion fortune.

These key phrases combined instantly ignited Chen Yansen's online heat.

Affected by this, the pre-order volume for Chengzi Phones hit a new high, breaking 3.3 million, with estimated delivery dates scheduled five months out.

At that time, Xiaomi Phones had been on the market for nearly a month, yet sales had barely reached 500,000.

When Chen Yansen and the others returned to Xuyu, it was already 6:30 PM.

The sky was growing dark, and the evening breeze carried a hint of coolness.

"Boss, I'll head back first; I'll handle the tax issues regarding the equity transaction properly."

Gao Weilin said this after getting out of the car.

"Hard work. I plan to open the Series A financing window for Sister Chengzi Technology; there will be plenty to do next."

Chen Yansen rolled down the car window and instructed Old Gao.

"No problem." Gao Weilin smiled and turned to leave.

"Shall we go to the Entrepreneurship Park?" Song Yuncheng asked softly from the driver's seat.

"Let's go." Chen Yansen replied briefly.

As the boss, Chen Yansen did not need to explain anything to subordinates, but having worked together for a year, some follow-up tasks still required his presence.

At this moment, the Entrepreneurship Park was brightly lit; aside from the noise of investment promotion and merchants making phone calls, the other workstations were silent.

"Tap, tap, tap—"

Footsteps came from downstairs.

Xiang Pengfei instinctively stood up and looked toward the sound.

"Brother Sen!"

Seeing who it was, Xiang Pengfei hurried forward, then stopped abruptly.

He wanted to ask Chen Yansen why he had changed his mind about not selling the project, as promised.

But before the words left his mouth, he felt his thoughts were too childish, so he just stared at Chen Yansen, momentarily speechless.

"What's wrong? Seeing the boss make money, aren't you happy?"

Chen Yansen patted Xiang Pengfei's shoulder and joked with a smile.

A year ago, everyone had gathered day and night to work overtime for the zero-yuan price cut and the launch of Fox Tao 2.0.

As Chen Yansen's net worth soared, Xiang Pengfei and others found it harder and harder to say "Brother Sen"; like Zhang Wenbo, they had started following Sister Chengzi Technology's employees and calling him "Boss."

"No, we are all happy for you." Xiang Pengfei forced a smile and said insincerely.

Fox Tao was built from scratch, step by step, by these hundred-plus people.

Now that it was sold, how could he not feel bad?

"Xu Dan! Tell everyone to come; we're having a short meeting!"

Chen Yansen instructed Xu Dan, who was not far away.

After multi-party discussions, Fox Tao employees would be merged in parallel into Mama Ali.

Except for the Customer Service team, Mama Ali was willing to accept other teams; the Investment Promotion, Category, and Key Account teams, these core assets of Fox Tao, were the primary targets for absorption.

Fox Tao members scattered across more than a dozen startup offices gradually walked out of their offices, stood in the open space on the second floor, and all turned their gaze toward Chen Yansen.

Some wanted to ask Chen Yansen why he had deceived everyone at the beginning of the month, but until these 160-plus people were all present, no one spoke up to ask.

"Everyone should have seen the news; the online reports are pretty much the same as the actual situation."

Chen Yansen spoke up first, bluntly admitting the fact of selling Fox Tao.

He paused, then continued: "Mama Ali will send people to take over Fox Tao next Monday. Each team lead, get ready for the handover. I know everyone is wondering how your salary and benefits will be calculated after the acquisition by Mama Ali."

At this point, Chen Yansen slowed his pace and went on: "First, in October, Mama Ali will move Fox Tao to the Hangcheng headquarters. Any student who doesn't want to or can't go to Hangcheng can receive an n+2 severance package."

"For those willing to join Mama Ali, after October, apart from the business development and editor positions, team leads will be paid at Mama Ali's P7 level. The former Yitao head, Dongxie Wu Ming, will serve as the general manager of the new Fox Tao business division."

Chen Yansen didn't hold anything back; he laid out the negotiated plan in full detail.

Among Fox Tao's members, fresh graduates and those recruited through social hiring made up 40%, and they were quite happy.

After all, with their academic backgrounds, getting into Mama Ali through an interview would be fiercely competitive — only one in a hundred would have even a slim chance.

Now they could join the e-commerce giant Ali Baba through a roundabout route, so naturally they raised both hands in approval.

Senior-year students made up 20%. When they heard Chen Yansen add that ordinary members joining Mama Ali would start at a monthly salary of 16,000 yuan,

although the monthly housing subsidy of 20% of salary was gone, and the quarterly bonus four times a year had been changed to a single year-end bonus,

faced with the higher pay package, most still wanted to join Mama Ali.

The remaining 40% were mainly customer service and editors — easily replaceable — and Mama Ali was only willing to take on the editor group.

But most of these people were sophomores and juniors; they couldn't possibly give up their studies for a job.

"Brother Sen, can I transfer to Sister Chengzi's tech company? I just want to follow you."

At this moment, Xiang Pengfei stepped forward, his face earnest, his tone sincere as he spoke.

"Do you know what Mama Ali's P7 means? A starting monthly salary of thirty thousand, and with the equity portion, an annual salary close to a million."

Chen Yansen said with a smile, speaking slowly.

"Thirty thousand a month?"

"An annual salary of a million!"

"Mama Ali really is generous, giving team leads this kind of treatment!"

The moment these words were out, the crowd below immediately erupted into a buzz, involuntarily breaking into hushed discussion.

When Xiang Pengfei joined, his monthly salary was 4,000 yuan. After three raises, it had risen to 9,600 yuan. Even with the monthly housing subsidy of 20% of salary, his pre-tax income was still less than twelve thousand.

Now it had jumped to thirty thousand in one go!

At this moment, Xiang Pengfei hesitated.

In 2011, a monthly salary of thirty thousand was a very respectable income — the kind that would make parents proud.

Chen Yansen remembered that in the salt company compound there was an auntie whose son, after graduating, had gotten into Mama Ali, and she would brag to anyone she met about her son working at a major internet company.

"Brother Sen, how will our business development commissions be calculated?" Zhang Yifeng asked.

"The commission system stays the same. The base salaries for business development reps and the business development team lead will both be adjusted, with raises between 2,000 and 5,000 yuan, depending on Q2 and Q3 performance results."

Chen Yansen replied directly.

Mama Ali also knew which departments were the core of Fox Tao. The business development team had strong performance, so there was no need to make rash changes and risk dampening the business staff's enthusiasm.

The forty-plus business development reps, hearing this, felt their hearts settle at once, the corners of their mouths unconsciously curving into smiles.

"Any other questions?"

Seeing no one speak up, Chen Yansen asked again.

"Brother Sen, will Mama Ali honor the stock option agreements we signed before?"

Xu Dan raised her hand and asked, a little embarrassed.

After all, Chen Yansen had already arranged everyone's fallback, and her bringing up stock options felt too mercenary.

"On this point, I've confirmed with Mama Ali: for students in the customer service and editor groups, the number of options in their hands will be calculated based on the already-vested 25%, with the valuation benchmarked at 20 billion."

"Students willing to join Mama Ali will likewise vest 25% every six months. If you work at Mama Ali for a year and then leave, you can take 75% of your options with you, calculated at the new Fox Tao's real-time valuation at that point, and Mama Ali will also initiate a buyback process."

Chen Yansen finished in one breath, and quite a few people's faces lit up with joy.

Especially the customer service group — they understood: since Mama Ali wasn't taking them on, the 25% of options already vested in their hands was worth at least 1,250 shares, which at the 20-billion valuation came to 50,000 yuan.

That was equivalent to a year's salary for them, and combined with the n+2 severance, it came to over 60,000 yuan.

For sophomores and juniors, this was undoubtedly a windfall.

And the already-vested options in the hands of people like Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, and Zhuang Rui were worth as much as a million.

Even without joining Mama Ali, they could still walk away with options and severance totaling just over a million.

"That's all for today, dismissed."

Chen Yansen waved his hand, saying it casually.

In his view, getting into Mama Ali by a roundabout route was the best option for these people.

It was only 2011. Put in a few years at Mama Ali, ride the tailwind of its IPO, and every one of them could become a millionaire or even a multi-millionaire.

After Chen Yansen finished speaking, the crowd still stood in place, not leaving.

They had originally felt that Chen Yansen had sold both himself and the company out, and were still in a foul mood — but hearing that they'd sold themselves at such a good price, they were overjoyed.

A monthly salary of sixteen thousand, plus a year-end bonus — among graduates of the Xu Yuan, this income was absolutely top-tier.

"Sister Dan, I'll send you my resignation request in a bit. Please approve it as soon as you can."

Wang Zihao grinned and said, unconcerned.

He was Chen Yansen's sworn brother, so naturally he had to follow Chen Yansen — even Mama Ali's million-yuan annual salary hadn't shaken him.

"Okay." Xu Dan was stunned for a moment, and only answered after a while.

"Boss Sen, I'm with you." Song Yuncheng opened her mouth. For some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to say the words "Brother Sen," but her gaze was extremely firm.

Among the team leads, only Wang Zihao and Song Yuncheng stepped forward.

Everyone else was caught in hesitation and inner turmoil.

Chen Yansen smiled and said nothing.

This was why he never appealed to sentiment — better to talk money with everyone, no need to play moral blackmail.

Apart from Sister Chengzi's phone, he did indeed have other projects in mind, but he didn't reveal a single word.

Some people wanted to step forward too, wanting to be as loyal as Wang Zihao, but the moment they thought of giving up a job paying thirty thousand a month and having no way to explain it to their parents, they could only honestly stand where they were.

"Class monitor, does Orange Tech still need admin staff?" Xu Xingxing was silent for a moment, then stepped forward with a grin and asked.

"Report to the tech park tomorrow." Chen Yansen nodded and answered with a smile.

"Sen-ge, I want to go to Orange Tech too." Du Yaoyao, head of the editing group, as if driven by some unseen force, squeezed out of the crowd and said earnestly.

"You're a fresh graduate. The package Mama Ali is offering you is P6+, sixty thousand a year before tax. Go back and think it over before you say anything more."

Chen Yansen shook his head.

Xu Xingxing twisted her two pretty brows together, a little unhappy inside: What does that mean—could it be that the class monitor thinks no one wants me?

Du Yaoyao hadn't expected Chen Yansen to refuse her. Those words actually calmed her down, and she immediately nodded and stepped back.

"It's getting late, everyone go have dinner. Life is just like that—mountains for one stretch, waters for the next. I wish you all a bright future."

Chen Yansen waved his hand, didn't even go into 206, turned around and went downstairs.

The Fox-Tao era under his stewardship thus came to a close. From then on, Fox-Tao would become a branch division of Mama Ali's.

(End of chapter)