Chapter 230: The Abandoned Eleme! The CEO Candidate for Toutiao

On February 18, Kuaipao launched time-limited flash sales and free-order promotions.

At the same time.

Kou Zhen led his ground promotion team to expand operations into the HK region; Eleme charged merchants a 10% commission, while Kuaipao required only 8%.

Coupled with Kuaipao riders' clean uniforms, timely deliveries, and consistently warm, polite communication, merchants previously on Eleme almost without hesitation immediately switched to Kuaipao.

Eleme had spent three grueling years cultivating its merchant base, yet Kou Zhen effortlessly seized it all.

Sometimes, the pioneer of a business model cannot be the one to see it through to the end.

The plan itself may be sound, but execution fails.

At this point, Zhang Xuhao also panicked, seeing Kuaipao closing in on Yangpu headquarters and Eleme's market share continuously shrinking.

He immediately gathered his senior team, locked themselves in the tech department, and overnight developed a store discount feature: Eleme would offer merchants 50% subsidies—"Spend 20, get 10 off; spend 30, get 15 off; spend 50, get 25 off."

The cost was entirely borne by the platform, instantly winning back user trust.

But soon, due to poor risk control, some Eleme merchants began mass-registering user accounts and exploiting delivery loopholes to fraudulently inflate orders.

By the time Zhang Xuhao noticed, some merchants had fraudulently boosted monthly orders from 300 to 5, 00, siphoning off 100, 00 yuan in marketing subsidies.

It drove him frantic!

After frantically gulping down several cups of coffee, he immediately raised risk-control levels and launched account suspensions against merchants and users suspected of exploiting platform subsidies.

Some innocent users were inevitably misjudged!

These people didn't even get their food, yet their accounts were banned—imagine how furious they were.

With no outlet in real life, they gathered on Weibo and viciously attacked Eleme's official account.

Thus, Eleme's subsidy campaign launched at 8 a. ., and by 8 p. ., it was trending nationwide on social media under criticism.

"If you can't afford promotions, don't run them! I didn't even get a meal, and my account got banned!"

"Eleme? I'm so angry I'm full."

"I ordered lunch at noon, waited until two, and instead of food, I got a ban notice!"

"Suggest renaming it: 'Starved to Death?' First time using this app—I got banned and nearly starved to death!"

The comment section was flooded with rage.

Shanghai's Market Supervision Association received calls all day long—eight or nine out of ten were complaints about Eleme.

Zhang Xuhao was now terrified; he knew Eleme's current tech couldn't handle order fraud effectively.

He hastily terminated the subsidy campaign and reached out to Ali to request technical support.

Ji Gang, upon hearing this, frowned deeply: Zhang Xuhao's management style was chaotic—this 50-million-yuan investment from the group was likely wasted.

After careful thought, he reported the matter to Cai Xin, General Manager of Strategic Investment.

After listening to Ji Gang's report, Cai Xin also grew dissatisfied with Zhang Xuhao—less than a month had passed, and Eleme was already on the verge of losing Shanghai's market.

He took Ji Gang's compiled materials and knocked on Ma Liyun's office door.

"Come in!"

Ma Liyun had been in excellent spirits lately.

First, he had reached agreements with Temasek, DST, and Silver Lake Capital to inject 700 million U. . dollars into Ali via equity increases; combined with Ali's own cash reserves, he could now mobilize at least 3 billion U. . dollars.

Second, China Investment planned to inject 2 billion U. . dollars into Ali Baba as strategic investment.

Next, Huaxin Capital, the Development Bank, and other private institutions would fully purchase Ali's 2-billion-U. . dollar common shares.

At that point, Ma Liyun would have raised a total of 7 billion U. . dollars—enough to smoothly complete Ali's equity buyback plan and clear the final obstacle to its IPO.

Cai Xin stepped in, walked to Ma Liyun's opposite seat, and said: "Kuaipao's rise in Shanghai has been rapid; Zhang Xuhao is on the verge of collapse. He's requested a second round of financing and asked Ali for technical support in algorithms, data, and security."

"If I recall correctly, Kuaipao's CEO is also a graduate student, and he's only been in the Shanghai market for less than a month, right?"

Ma Liyun did not answer directly but posed his own question.

"Mr. Ma, you're correct. I believe Zhang Xuhao, as project lead, may be unable to fulfill his responsibilities adequately."

Cai Xin spoke delicately.

In truth, he mostly worked in Hong Kong; this trip to Hangzhou was solely to advance Ali's equity buyback plan.

Though he knew little about Eleme, from Ji Gang's collected data, Zhang Xuhao clearly lacked the qualities and capability of a competent CEO.

"I met Zhang Xuhao at Jiaotong University and heard him explain Eleme's business model—I thought he was a promising young man. Clearly, I misjudged him."

Ma Liyun shook his head and sneered his assessment.

Facing his own misstep, Ma Liyun accepted it calmly—this remark was an outright admission of decision failure.

"Should I reject him?" Cai Xin probed.

"The model is good, but the executor is flawed. Have Ji Gang talk to him. If he's willing to sell the project to Ali, we can negotiate. Otherwise, leave him be."

Ma Liyun mused.

In his view, Eleme's scale was far too small—daily orders hadn't even reached 100, 00. It was better to buy it outright than waste money and effort propping up Zhang Xuhao.

If Zhang Xuhao refused, let him sink on his own; once Ali completed its equity buyback and IPO, they could then either back a new platform or build one themselves.

Cai Xin nodded and quickly set Eleme aside, shifting the conversation to equity issuance details with Ma Liyun.

No one cared whether Eleme lived or died.

When Zhang Xuhao received Ji Gang's reply, he froze, then slumped back into his chair.

Dazed, he recalled his conversation six months ago with Gao Weilin, CFO of Senlian Capital.

"If I'd accepted Senlian Capital's investment, today's situation between Eleme and Kuaipao would be reversed—Pei Yi would be the one being crushed."

Zhang Xuhao drifted into wild thoughts.

He was filled with regret.

Ali was willing to offer only 80 million yuan to buy out the founding team's entire equity.

For a moment, Zhang Xuhao was paralyzed—Eleme was his own creation; how could he just sell it?

Worse, Ali's offer was far too low.

He pondered long but couldn't decide, then summoned Wang Yuan, Kang Jia, and Deng Ye to discuss.

"I believe if we endure this crisis, Eleme still has a chance to win! Our business model is sound—we've just misjudged priorities. I propose strengthening our delivery team and increasing funding to improve delivery speed."

Wang Yuan lit a cigarette and spoke firmly.

While Zhang Xuhao was panicking, he spoke up, urging them to fight Kuaipao.

If Ali abandoned them, Eleme wasn't defeated yet.

"Merchant resources, rider resources, user resources—hold tight to these three, and we won't lose!" Kang Jia stood, fist clenched.

He had survived from nothing; losing a bit of market share wasn't reason enough to sell the company.

"We still have 30 million yuan in the account," Deng Ye said lightly.

Zhang Xuhao took a deep breath, finally calmed down, looked at his three partners who had walked this path with him, and regained his resolve.

But they hadn't anticipated that after absorbing a large number of former employees from SF Express, STO, YTO, and ZTO, Kuaipao quickly expanded its rider team to 2, 00.

The day after ending its free-order promotion, Kuaipao promised users in Shanghai and Lucheng: if delivery exceeds 20 minutes, the order is free—fully covered by the platform.

This move caught Eleme completely off guard!

Zhang Xuhao had planned to proceed cautiously, but his newly devised strategy was instantly shattered by Pei Yi's tactics.

"Running a food delivery service is simple: cheap, fast delivery!"

Pei Yi stood in the Yiyuan conference room on Longcao Road, addressing department heads, ground promotion managers, and rider team leaders.

This phrase was told to him by Chen Yan; now he passed it on to Kuaipao's core Shanghai team.

Cheapness was fatally attractive to both merchants and users.

Fast delivery ensured user satisfaction, which meant repeat orders and retention!

Fast delivery and satisfied users lead to repurchases and retention!

…

On the other side.

Liang Bo got off the high-speed train in Xucheng and took a taxi to Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park.

Even if he were stupid, he now understood.

There was no such thing as a Hong Kong tech company!

The real person trying to recruit him was Chen Yan.

A week ago, he received a call from a Hong Kong tech company offering him a job in Hong Kong with a starting monthly salary of 60, 00 yuan, a guaranteed 20-salary-year bonus, and stock options.

A week ago, he received a call from a Hong Kong Island tech company inviting him to work there, with a starting monthly salary of 60, 00, a guaranteed minimum of 20 salaries per year, plus stock options and bonuses.

Besides his 20, 00-yuan monthly salary, all bonuses, overtime pay, and equity were empty promises.

Zhang Yiming had failed in four startups already!

Liang Bo didn't believe this attempt would succeed.

After much deliberation, Liang Bo still accepted the offer.

But when he told Zhang Yiming he was quitting, the Hong Kong tech company suddenly changed the work location to Xucheng.

When Liang Bo saw the exact address, he instantly understood everything.

The taxi drove forward, flanked by endless fields of rapeseed seedlings, lush and green.

"I can't imagine how Chen Yan built Pinbei and Orange Tech in such an environment."

Liang Bo asked himself—even with Chen Yan's resources, he doubted he could have done it.

Their last brief meeting in Beijing had left Liang Bo with a strong impression: no bossy attitude, technically competent, generous with spending.

Now he had no way back—he could only press forward.

He can't turn back now; he can only see this path through to the end.

Moreover, being noticed by Chen Yansen is not a bad thing.

"We're here. Ahead is Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park. That'll be eighty."

The driver pointed to a row of buildings ahead.

How much?

Eighty?

It's only fifteen kilometers from the high-speed rail station!

Liang Bo frowned and said, "Driver, this distance costs forty in Beijing. Are you sure you want eighty?"

"Oh oh, sorry, I misread it. I'll charge you forty." The driver said this aloud, but his face showed no hint of apology.

Liang Bo suppressed his urge to curse, tossed down forty yuan, and dragged his suitcase toward the technology park.

Just then, Chen Yansen had finished reviewing Pei Yi's work report and walked to the window, spotting Liang Bo heading straight toward him with his head down.

He pulled out his phone, called the front desk, and told them to bring Liang Bo to his office.

(End of Chapter)