Chapter 278: A Step Too Early, A Step Too Late, and You're Not One of Us

8:30 PM, Muse Bar, Hangcheng.

Inside a lavishly decorated private room on the second floor, Chen Yansen leaned against the center of the sofa; on his left sat NetEase's Ding Lei, and on his right, DST's China Region President, Zhou Shouzhi.

Cheng Weixing, Gao Weilin, and Song Yuncheng sat on the left and right sides alongside the assistants of Ding Lei and Zhou Shouzhi.

"President Chen, I heard the subsidy war between DiDi and Kuaidi Dache is fierce; even Li Yanhong has lost his temper?"

Ding Lei swirled his wine glass, the ice cubes clinking softly against the glass walls; behind his lenses, his gaze carried a hint of mockery, a smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth, and he asked Chen Yansen.

"Competing for market share, burning cash is just the first step; mastering the fundamentals is key." Chen Yansen gently set his wine glass down on the coffee table and replied with a smile.

He had studied the passenger and driver apps of DiDi Dache; they had too many fatal flaws, making it extremely easy for gray-market studios to find system vulnerabilities.

Cheng Weixing had mentioned to him that Kuaidi Dache detected a large number of accounts using virtual location software and multiple accounts logged in from the same device every day; it was a case of finding every possible way to fleece the system.

Although Kuaidi Dache's risk control and anti-cheating mechanisms were strong enough, a portion of the fleece-ers kept trying, and the number of devices, accounts, and IPs banned daily was countless.

From this, it was evident that the subsidy fees stolen daily by the flawed DiDi Dache were absolutely an astronomical figure.

At that moment, Cheng Weixing finally realized the reason why Chen Yansen had been so strict on risk control issues when Kuaidi Dache launched.

Before the Kuaidi Dache installation package was uploaded to the App Shangcheng, the internal team had already updated the virtual location software over a dozen times and developed seven or eight versions of order-running programs for simulated environments.

One could even say that the virtual location software in the hands of gray-market studios was not as stable, hidden, or secure as the software in Kuaidi Dache's hands.

"DiDi Dache's technology in intelligent dispatching, geolocation, and route planning lags far behind Kuaidi Dache; this is also the reason DST did not invest in Cheng Wei."

Zhou Shouzhi smiled faintly and added for Chen Yansen.

"Fortunately, President Chen hasn't entered the gaming industry; otherwise, NetEase would be in trouble." Ding Lei raised his wine glass, clinked it with the two of them, and joked.

"That's not certain." Chen Yansen deliberately kept a stern face.

"OK, the day President Chen makes a game, DST will definitely give full support." Zhou Shouzhi said seriously.

Ding Lei's expression froze; he helplessly shook his head, picked up a bottle of red wine worth tens of thousands on the table, and poured full glasses for Chen Yansen and Zhou Shouzhi respectively.

As for the two men's jokes, he naturally did not take them to heart.

"Yaoyao Zhaoche has gone bankrupt, and Yidao Zhuanche has also collapsed." Ding Lei leaned back, narrowed his eyes slightly, and spoke with a sigh of regret.

Yaoyao Zhaoche?

Yidao Zhuanche?

Chen Yansen had no impression of them; Cheng Weixing had not mentioned these two companies in his work emails.

"Boss, these are two very small ride-hailing companies; their daily order volume is less than 1,000. As soon as we entered the Yanjing market, their business volume dropped to nothing, so I didn't pay much attention."

Cheng Weixing, standing nearby, heard this and hurriedly explained.

"Oh." Chen Yansen nodded, not paying much attention.

Little did he know, Yaoyao Zhaoche was one thing, but Yidao Zhuanche, at its Peak period three years later, had a valuation that once reached 1 billion US dollars.

Yet now, before it could even make a name for itself, it was crushed by Kuaidi and DiDi.

The mastermind behind the scenes, upon hearing this, merely replied casually with an "Oh."

Chen Yansen knew clearly in his heart that the subsidy war in the ride-hailing market was no different from the price war in the express delivery industry; without money or resources, one could only be eliminated.

Even though Kuaidi and DiDi had not specifically targeted Yaoyao Zhaoche and Yidao Zhuanche.

"The upfront investment cost in the ride-hailing sector is too high; combined with Kuaidi and DiDi raising the industry entry threshold, there won't be too many competitors in the market. I estimate it won't take two or three years for this industry to quickly enter the final rounds of 'three into two, two into one'."

Zhou Shouzhi took a sip of wine and voiced his opinion.

"I hope Kuaidi Dache will be that 'one'." Chen Yansen laughed loudly.

The domestic business environment was too involutionary; although ride-hailing wasn't exactly a get-rich-quick industry, after 2015, competitor apps like Cao Cao, T3, and Shenzhou still emerged.

Chen Yansen never intended to swallow all the market share; Kuaidi Dache only needed to achieve the number one spot in the industry.

"I believe in President Chen's strategic planning ability." Ding Lei nodded affirmatively and continued: "This glass, I must toast you separately; without President Chen's support, NetEase's Ruiying G1 would never have had the chance to sell 280,000 units in pre-orders during the first week."

"The production line in Luzhou has been adjusted; President Ding, wait another two weeks, and the sales link on NetEase Shangcheng can be switched to the ready-stock model." Chen Yansen raised his glass and replied.

Zhou Shouzhi held his wine glass, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the stem, and fell into thought.

He couldn't quite figure out Chen Yansen's thoughts!

If it were anyone else, they would most likely not authorize their self-developed mobile operating system to third-party phone manufacturers for use.

Although it could generate a considerable amount of patent revenue, it would also subtly increase the competitive pressure on Chengzi Phones.

In his view, the gains did not outweigh the losses.

But Chen Yansen was clearly not a foolish person; his move must have deeper considerations.

The three of them drank wine and chatted until past 10 PM at night.

Chen Yansen raised his hand to check the time; Ding Lei immediately understood and voluntarily ended the drinking session.

"President Zhou, shall we talk?" Just as they stepped out of the bar, Chen Yansen extended an invitation to Zhou Shouzhi.

"Sure." Zhou Shouzhi smiled and readily agreed; he knew what Chen Yansen wanted to say.

The two men got into a Rolls-Royce Ghost; the driver, Gao Weilin, Cheng Weixing, and others stood outside the car door waiting.

"As of July, Chengzi Phones' annual shipment volume was 26 million units, only 1.4 million units less than Shanxing, with revenue nearing 40 billion, but Chengzi Technology's user base in the European and American markets is still zero; I need an explorer familiar with overseas markets." After speaking, Chen Yansen stared straight at Zhou Shouzhi.

For smart people, some things didn't need to be said too clearly.

"Thank you for your appreciation, President Chen. I want to know why President Chen authorized AuroraOS to 360 and NetEase; as far as I know, Chengzi Technology doesn't lack this authorization fee."

Zhou Shouzhi avoided answering, changed the subject, and asked curiously.

"My positioning for Chengzi Technology is a research and development laboratory, not a smartphone assembly brand; making deep customizations on top of the Android system is not the ultimate goal.

AuroraOS, photography algorithms, battery management systems, and Mo Si's intelligent voice interaction engine are the beginning of Chengzi Technology, not the end."

Chen Yansen said in a low voice.

Zhou Shouzhi frowned, repeatedly pondering the meaning behind Chen Yansen's words; a flash of inspiration struck his mind, and he immediately understood: he intended to charge from the downstream of the industrial chain to the upstream, becoming the rule-maker.

The ambition was far beyond his imagination.

Giving up his position and resources at DST to join Chengzi Technology?

For a moment, Zhou Shouzhi hesitated.

"The timing of an investment is crucial. One step too early or one step too late, and you're no longer one of us. My patience is limited, and sometimes once you miss it, wanting to get in later means you no longer qualify."

Chen Yansen shrugged his shoulders and said unhurriedly.

The implication was that this was his final invitation to Zhou Shouzhi to join; if Zhou Shouzhi refused, he would switch to another candidate.

"President Chen, I understand. Give me two more days, and I will give you an answer as soon as possible." Zhou Shouzhi replied solemnly.

A mobile phone company with annual revenue approaching a hundred billion, compared to dst, the stage available for him to perform on was not small.

Moreover, Chen Yansen's commercial talent was astonishing, earning his admiration.

Even Zuckerberg, who had just taken faceobook public and had a net worth exceeding 20 billion US dollars, in his eyes still had a certain gap compared to Chen Yansen.

"Alright, it's getting late. We have proper business to discuss tomorrow." Seeing his response, Chen Yansen waved his hand and said.

Zhou Shouzhi nodded slightly, his expression complicated, and got out of the car.

"Take care, President Zhou!" Gao Weilin, Cheng Weixing and others greeted Zhou Shouzhi.

"President Gao, President Cheng, see you tomorrow." Zhou Shouzhi smiled, then got into his own car and had the driver head to the hotel.

In the southeast of the muse bar, Ma Liyun, Zhu Xiaohu, Yu Heng and others sat in the max bar, privately discussing matters related to Kuaidi Dache's Series B financing.

On the other side.

Several hundred kilometers away in Yanjing, No. 82 Fourth Ring Middle Road, Jin Chang'an Building, the Renren headquarters.

Chen Yizhou stared at the financial report Shen Boyang had sent over, his thick eyebrows instantly twisting into a knot. As Lei Yijun's old classmate and a returnee from before the millennium,

compared to business prospects, he valued immediate gains more.

Nuomi Net lost 6.7 million US dollars in Q2, accounting for 15.7% of the group's revenue. Clearly, the group-buying business could not earn him substantial profits.

On the social product side, due to the rise of Weibo and WeChat, Renren's growth had slowed. Cumulative registrations were only 160 million, with 45 million monthly active users—it could only be considered a niche social software, and users were constantly slipping away.

And the 'Renren Baodao' and 'Renren Feizhuan' he had developed for the mobile entry point had not, as he had hoped, precisely caught the craze of wireless internet.

Chen Yizhou vaguely sensed that doing social products had no future.

Relying solely on advertising revenue, it was also very difficult to push up Renren's stock price.

But Renren Games gave him enormous confidence.

In 2011, Renren Games' revenue was 42.3 million dollars, and this year's Q1 and Q2, in only half the time, had already pushed revenue to 44 million US dollars, accounting for 60% of the group's income.

No wonder Ma Wengteng and Ding Lei, even being scolded every day, still insisted on doing games.

This thing makes too much money!

Chen Yizhou looked at Nuomi Net's report, then at Renren Games' report, and immediately made a decision: he had to quickly sell off this money-losing goods. Losing 20 to 30 million US dollars a year, with profits nowhere in sight.

Now even Kuaipao had entered the group-buying industry. Nuomi Net couldn't even beat Meituan, Lashou, or Dianping, let alone the rapidly expanding Kuaipao.

Behind others stood Senlian Capital, which could burn cash for a whole year. What did Renren have to compete with?

Thinking of this, Chen Yizhou immediately made up his mind to optimize the group's negative-asset projects as soon as possible and shift full force toward the mobile gaming industry.

The next morning, he began making inquiries in his circle, seeing who was interested in the group-buying business.

And Chen Yansen was his first target.

At the same time.

Chen Yansen, who had just finished breakfast and was on his way by car to Jin Sha Hall by the West Lake, suddenly received a call from Lei Yijun.

"President Chen, Chen Yizhou of Renren intends to sell Nuomi Net. He contacted me to ask for your contact information." Lei Yijun explained briefly.

"Go ahead and give him my phone number." Chen Yansen did not refuse and agreed directly.

Whether it was Nuomi Net or Lashou Net, as long as the price was reasonable, he did not mind buying in.

For Kuaipao to quickly gain a foothold in the group-buying market, acquiring a product with a mature model was undoubtedly the best choice.

(End of this chapter)