Chapter 219: Transaction Price: 45.8 Billion Yuan! Gao De CEO Candidate? (Double

Yanjing, Changsheng Road No. 18, Sanwang Coffee House.

Hou Jun and Xiao Jun sat on outdoor chairs, gazing at the opposite Gao De Maps headquarters building, their eyes flickering with memories.

In the beginning, Gao De was merely a division of Datong Industries.

The three of them purchased GPS navigation devices from Nihon, then localized the software embedded in the hardware, and finally paired it with China's maps.

This was the original prototype of Gao De!

"Back then, I rented fifteen cars and drove them all over Yanjing with surveying equipment; only after finishing the map survey did I realize we didn't even have the legal qualifications to do it."

Xiao Jun lifted his coffee and took a small sip.

"I owe you an apology," Hou Jun sighed, his tone sincere.

Xiao Jun was the true founder among the three; he and his team spent over half a year scanning the entire territory of China to complete Gao De's first nationwide electronic map.

In terms of business capability, he was the standout among the three.

But when it came to internal power struggles, Xiao Jun was no match for Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu, both of whom came from finance and investment backgrounds.

He chose the industry, and even the name "Gao De" was bought by him from a friend.

Yet until Gao De was about to be sold, Xiao Jun never became CEO, and he held the smallest equity stake among the three.

"Let bygones be bygones. To be honest, I once thought you weren't fit to be CEO, but Cheng Congwu is even worse—he didn't focus on business after taking over, instead targeting Gao De's veteran employees. But I know deep down, the person he wanted to target was me."

Xiao Jun waved his hand, speaking casually, yet a bitter smile crept across his face.

"So selling it is better! Look—how long has it been since we three had a meal and a chat together?"

Two years ago, Hou Jun voluntarily stepped down from the CEO position—partly due to other considerations, partly to end the conflict among the three.

After all, he, Xiao Jun, and Cheng Congwu had worked together for years at Datong Industries; he truly didn't want to end up losing even their friendship.

"It seems Cheng Congwu talked to you," Xiao Jun said with certainty.

Otherwise, knowing Hou Jun as he did, he would never have so easily given up his Gao De Maps equity.

"Yes, Congwu did approach me. Compared to Baidu Maps, Gao De has never had an advantage in data collection and integration, and with our funding shortfall, our map updates lag far behind Baidu's. If things continue like this, Gao De's market share will inevitably be overtaken by Baidu Maps."

"Better to sell now while the price is high!"

Hou Jun's expression remained calm, revealing no hidden agenda.

"If you only think about making money and never improve the core functionality of the product, isn't it natural that the market keeps slipping away?"

Xiao Jun snorted, as if recalling unpleasant memories, and fired back without restraint.

Hou Jun knew he was in the wrong; after a long silence, he spoke softly: "I've already reached an agreement with Cheng Congwu on the sale. Whether you agree or not won't change the final outcome."

"Mr. Hou, if your purpose in meeting me today is to get my support for Gao De's privatization, no problem—I'll agree."

Xiao Jun didn't get angry; he agreed readily.

Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu had ultimately been his mentors. Though their management conflicts had driven them apart, he knew Hou Jun was right: better to sell at a price everyone could accept than wait for Baidu Maps to overtake Gao De.

Hou Jun looked at Xiao Jun, a wave of guilt rising in his chest—he couldn't help thinking that if he had supported Xiao Jun's rise to CEO, Gao De might not have ended this way.

But this negative emotion passed in an instant, quickly drowned out by the impending $114 million payout, replaced by deep joy.

Hou Jun held a 17% equity stake in Gao De Maps; once the deal closed, he could use this money to launch a new project or comfortably enjoy the rest of his life.

He was already forty-eight, halfway through life—if he didn't enjoy it now, he might never get the chance again.

"Waiter, check, please!"

Xiao Jun understood Hou Jun's intent and stood up to leave.

All those earlier words were just meant to get him to agree to sell his shares—he'd actually thought Hou Jun had invited him here to reminisce.

At this moment, the Gao De Maps headquarters building still glowed brightly with lights.

These people didn't know that the company's three major shareholders had already decided to sell the entire company—including them—to Senlian Capital.

The next morning.

Chen Yansen, Gao Weilin, and Song Yuncheng drove to No. 18 Changsheng Road; as soon as their car stopped, Cheng Congwu and a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses came forward to greet them.

"Mr. Chen, this is Mr. Hou Jun, chairman of Gao De."

Cheng Congwu gave a brief introduction.

"Mr. Hou, nice to meet you! I'd like to take a look around first—I hope you don't mind?"

Chen Yansen asked with a smile, secretly sizing up Hou Jun.

According to Gao Weilin's investigation, this man was a graduate of Yanjing University's Ancient Texts program, yet became chairman of an automobile sales company (Datong Industries)—his capabilities were clearly exceptional.

He then leveraged Datong Industries' resources and network to incubate Gao De Maps and wrested a major order from Toyota away from Four Dimensions Maps.

One must admit: historians are all masters of manipulating human nature.

With just one glance, Chen Yansen could tell: Hou Jun's withdrawal from Gao De's daily management had nothing to do with losing to Cheng Congwu.

This man was far smarter than Cheng Congwu!

"Of course not, Mr. Chen, this way!" Hou Jun smiled warmly.

The group entered the lobby, took the elevator, and arrived on the second floor.

As they walked, Cheng Congwu explained to Chen Yansen: "Mr. Chen, this is Gao De's most core department, responsible for map data collection and surveying."

Chen Yansen nodded slightly, glancing across the floor—there were roughly four hundred people here.

"The third floor is the Mobile Products Division, mainly responsible for developing and optimizing the Gao De app; the fourth floor is the B2B team, whose core business is collaborating with car manufacturers to pre-install navigation systems. The headquarters has about two thousand employees."

"Additionally, the CP zone houses a data production base, with market sales centers in Shanghai and Xiamen, and a navigation engine R&D base."

Cheng Congwu detailed every fixed asset and technical patent of Gao De.

"Mr. Cheng, I heard Gao De had another founder—why haven't I seen him?"

Chen Yansen asked.

Cheng Congwu paused slightly, his expression turning awkward, but he quickly recovered and replied calmly: "Xiao Jun was Gao De Maps' former COO, but he resigned last year. He now serves as a director and advisor to Gao De and rarely comes to the office."

Advisor?

Chen Yansen found it amusing inside—he knew this position had been thoroughly corrupted by China's internet industry; anyone serving as a consultant at some company without real power was usually a high-level executive who had lost an internal struggle and been pushed out.

The titles of director and consultant were merely the last shred of dignity Cheng Congwu had left for Xiao Jun.

Chen Yansen smiled and did not press further.

After touring Gao De's headquarters, he gestured for Cheng Congwu to lead him to the conference room.

Hou Jun said almost nothing throughout, as if unwilling to steal Cheng Congwu's spotlight.

They entered a spacious, well-lit conference room, and everyone took their seats in turn.

The topic returned to last night, and both sides resumed discussing the acquisition price.

This time, Chen Yansen did not intervene—he handed full authority to Gao Weilin, while he sipped tea and chatted casually with Hou Jun.

Hou Jun, who had originally shown little interest in talking, didn't realize that after Chen Yansen spoke, he unconsciously felt an odd sense of familiarity, his gaze toward Chen Yansen growing softer, finding the young man increasingly agreeable.

As they chatted, Hou Jun even revealed his latest project.

The truth is, he hadn't even mentioned this project to Xiao Jun.

"What's wrong with me today?" Hou Jun vaguely felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint exactly what the problem was.

"Fenghuang Ancient City?"

Chen Yansen was slightly surprised; he hadn't expected that Hou Jun, being a man of culture, had already targeted a cultural tourism project back in 2012 and successfully secured 50-year operating rights for eight major scenic spots in Fenghuang County with 900 million yuan in funding.

"Does President Chen think such projects have market potential?" Hou Jun asked with a smile.

"President Hou has a unique vision; generally, outsiders can't pull off this kind of cultural tourism project."

Chen Yansen praised him.

This wasn't just empty flattery; imagine an outsider trying to develop tourism in an unfamiliar place. Even if they could smoothly handle the initial procedures and paperwork, it would still be an exhausting ordeal.

Chen Yansen knew Chunshen wanted to get into the tourism industry but stayed silent because he deeply understood the saying, "Shallow waters breed many turtles; small temples harbor powerful demons."

Lowering his voice, Hou Jun said, "President Chen, you flatter me. Actually, I only managed to land the project safely by relying on local agents."

Chen Yansen understood immediately; in his view, Hou Jun was a smart man who would never make elementary mistakes, especially in handling interpersonal relationships, so it turned out he had found a proxy.

After their conversation, he also figured out the main reason Hou Jun resigned as CEO of Amap: he had simply shifted his focus to developing cultural tourism projects.

Furthermore, Cheng Congwu was also a core investor in this cultural tourism project.

Chen Yansen secretly sneered, feeling it was a pity for the last founder of Amap; apparently, the internal struggle he saw was just a play staged by others.

Two financial experts had managed to kick out the business backbone of Amap!

Similar situations were not uncommon in the industry, such as Wang Zhidong of Sina, Sun Tongyu of Taobao, and Ni Guangnan of Lenovo.

Xiao Jun was not the first, nor would he be the last.

By noon, Gao Weilin and Cheng Congwu still hadn't reached an agreement, so everyone had to head to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

Gao Weilin held the asset valuation report for Amap issued jointly by finance, legal, marketing, and third-party research agencies, while Cheng Congwu held detailed asset and patent analysis materials for Amap, along with complete qualifications for a top-tier surveying firm, arguing his case with Gao Weilin.

After a short rest in the afternoon and some calm reflection, both sides began striving to move closer to their respective target prices.

Cheng Congwu no longer stuck to the price of 14 USD, and Gao Weilin, following Chen Yansen's instructions, also presented a new offer of 12.6 USD.

However, Cheng Congwu was still unsatisfied and was only willing to lower his price to 13.6 USD per share.

Seeing that the negotiations were on the verge of collapsing, Hou Jun spoke up at the right moment: "Why not meet in the middle? How about 13.1 USD?"

"12.8 USD; if it's higher than that, there's no point in talking, otherwise I'd rather choose NavInfo."

Chen Yansen said this casually.

With this statement, a countdown was effectively set for the negotiations; Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu had to either agree or refuse.

The two exchanged glances, a hint of difficulty flashing in their eyes.

Although the difference seemed to be only 0.3 USD, for Hou Jun, this meant a loss of 2.8 million USD in revenue, an amount that could buy a 700-square-meter villa in Beijing's Second Ring Road.

Yet, under Chen Yansen's psychological pressure, Hou Jun vaguely felt that if he rejected this offer, the other party might really turn around and contact NavInfo.

Although there weren't many companies in China with Class A surveying qualifications, Chen Yansen had the money, and if he really wanted to acquire one, it wouldn't be difficult.

Three minutes later, Hou Jun nodded slightly and gave Cheng Congwu a subtle look.

"President Chen, let's tentatively set the price at 12.8 USD per share. I will initiate the privatization delisting process as soon as possible. A premium of 1.4 USD per share should be acceptable to investors, so I don't foresee any major issues."

Cheng Congwu stood up, shook hands with Chen Yansen, and signaled his agreement.

With a total share capital of 54.3 million for Amap, calculating at 12.8 USD per share, Senlian Capital would need to pay 695 million USD, which converts to approximately 4.58 billion yuan.

After completing this transaction, the funds remaining in Senlian Capital's account would be very limited.

However, Chen Yansen was not worried, as the monthly gross profits from Pinba and Chengzi Technology would still bring in at least 3 billion yuan.

After preliminarily confirming the acquisition intent and price, the subsequent process would be handled by Gao Weilin, requiring the formation of a professional team of lawyers, accountants, financial analysts, and due diligence investigators to further verify the authenticity of Amap's cash flow and liability information.

At 4 PM, Chen Yansen declined Cheng Congwu's dinner invitation and had the driver take him to Xiaomi's headquarters.

Gao Weilin let out a long sigh; he was exhausted!

He had been arguing with Cheng Congwu all day long!

"No one who can be a boss lacks energy!" Gao Weilin muttered bitterly to himself.

Sitting in the back seat of the car, Chen Yansen held his phone and sent a message to an unfamiliar number on the text editing screen.

Meanwhile.

The food delivery battle between Kuipao and Ele. me in Shanghai was still raging fiercely.

(End of Chapter)