Chapter 310: 2.2 Billion Dollars! The Three Hypocritical Giants! Chen Yansen: What is Credit?

September 11, Yanjing International Convention Center, Hall 1.

The nearly two-thousand-square-meter indoor space was now packed to capacity; under the ten-meter-high dome, lights shimmered, while a massive circular LED screen dominated the front, and every seat was equipped with a touchscreen display and simultaneous interpretation headphones.

At ten o'clock, the chairmen of the Association of Industry and Information Technology, the China Engineering Association, and the Internet Association took the stage one after another to deliver speeches.

They presented awards such as the Outstanding Contribution Award and the Leading Technology Award to industry-leading enterprises in specialized fields including PC internet, mobile internet, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, online marketing, and e-commerce.

In plain terms, it was all empty honors with not a single cent of benefit.

Companies like Penguin, Mama Ali, and Qian Du all received awards, while Yunsu Express won the Innovation Breakthrough Award for its electronic waybill technology.

Chen Yansen felt drowsy listening to it; in his view, it was a pile of empty phrases and clichés with not the slightest bit of value.

The chairmen of the three major operators—Telecom, Mobile, and Unicom—successively shared their views on the mobile internet era.

Yet, come what may, they never once mentioned any policy of yielding profits.

Had the restrictions on Wi-Fi usage not been lifted two years ago, with mobile data priced at 30 to 50 yuan per 1GB, users would never have dared to turn on mobile data, let alone talk about development.

"Take your time, anyway, I don't want to wait any longer."

Chen Yansen lifted his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over the three giants; if some products that crossed eras couldn't work domestically, then they would go overseas.

For instance, the Alexa smart speaker saw sales in overseas markets three or four times higher than domestically.

It was only when the host announced that Penguin CEO Ma Wenteng would speak that Chen Yansen stirred a bit of interest.

At that moment, Ma Wenteng looked radiant, clearly well-rested; wearing a light blue suit, he stood before the microphone and spoke confidently: "Penguin places great importance on mobile phone security and has made huge investments. In 2013, Penguin will invest no less than 1 billion in a security fund to safeguard users' mobile phone security."

"Personally, I strongly oppose certain companies that, under the guise of user interests and using security as an excuse, recommend search results that are difficult for users to distinguish..."

Certain companies?

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hongyi's face immediately darkened.

Although the 3Q War had come to an end, the conflict between Penguin and 360 had never truly subsided.

A month ago, 360 had actively provoked the "3B Search Engine War"; Penguin, Qian Du, Jin Shan, and other security software companies formed a Security Alliance, ostensibly to combat phishing websites, but secretly targeting 360's software for suppression.

Ma Wenteng's butt was clearly crooked!

Zhou Hongyi stared straight at the little Ma brother on stage, his eyes filled with anger, his mouth turned downward, his face written all over with displeasure.

Although Ma Wenteng did not name names, anyone with eyes knew who he was scolding.

Li Yanhong smiled faintly; during the 3B War, Qian Du and Penguin had stood on the same front line, so while Little Ma brother was mocking 360, he had lightly praised Qian Du a few times, which made Li Yanhong secretly delighted.

Ten-odd minutes later, Ma Wenteng concluded his speech leisurely and returned to his seat.

Immediately after, Zhou Hongyi took the stage to speak.

Seeing this, many entrepreneurs who had been dozing off straightened their backs, wearing expressions of eager spectators.

They knew in their hearts that with Zhou Dapao's personality, he would absolutely not back down; he would most likely spray Penguin and Qian Du until they were covered in blood.

As expected, the moment Zhou Hongyi opened his mouth, his tone was full of sarcasm: "I know everyone wants to hear me spit venom, but the big shots above have criticized me by name several times, so I've been more careful with my words recently; today, I won't spit venom."

The implication was clear: if not for someone restraining him, he would have dragged both Ma Wenteng and Li Yanhong out to scold them.

Chen Yansen smiled, thinking: Zhou Hongyi isn't stupid after all.

This internet conference had invited not only domestic internet companies but also overseas giants like Microsoft, Shan Xing, AMD, Apple, Gao Tong, and Cisco; while cursing might feel satisfying, it would embarrass the big shots above.

"Additionally, I want to take this opportunity to clarify one matter: 360 has not poached Feixin's R&D engineers, nor does it plan to launch instant messaging software; on this point, please rest assured, Little Ma."

"The mobile internet is the inevitable trend; regarding instant messaging software, I have higher hopes for Lei Yijun's Xiaomi; it is said that General Lei has invested heavily in Mi Talk."

Zhou Hongyi said with a smile; in just a few words, he steered the topic toward the competition between Mi Talk and WeChat.

Upon hearing this, the audience below couldn't help but smile knowingly, cursing Zhou Hongyi's wickedness for so blatantly sowing discord.

Lei Yijun's gaze toward Zhou Hongyi grew even more unfriendly.

"Actually, whether it is Mi Talk or WeChat, both possess a spirit of disruptive innovation; upon gaining entry to the mobile internet, they also caused a huge impact on the operators' SMS business."

Zhou Hongyi continued to fan the flames with a needle hidden in cotton, energetically helping Lei Yijun and Ma Wenteng gather hatred.

In fact, his words were not wrong; the existence of WeChat and Mi Talk had indeed taken away a significant portion of the operators' SMS business.

Having "scolded" for a full ten minutes, Zhou Hongyi finally walked off stage, satisfied.

Ma Wenteng and Zhou Hongyi's speeches were highly consistent: elevating the industry influence of their own products, while incidentally attacking competitors and causing trouble for peers.

In terms of results, Zhou Hongyi was slightly superior.

Next, Li Yanhong took the stage; having been scolded by Zhou Hongyi for half an hour just now, he naturally wanted revenge; when discussing the development of the search engine industry, he subtly mocked 360 Search for having no technology and relying entirely on rogue tactics.

Chen Yansen looked around and saw that the big shots from Yanjing all wore cold faces.

Qian Du, Penguin, and 360 were the iconic enterprises of China's internet, yet the speeches of Li Yanhong, Ma Wenteng, and Zhou Hongyi were utterly devoid of dignity.

After Li Yanhong came down, Ma Liyun followed closely behind, and Chen Yansen was fifth in line.

In terms of age, he was the youngest.

In terms of business achievements, Senlian Capital's strength was in no way inferior to BAT; some media outlets even changed "BAT" to "BATS".

After Chen Yansen took the stage, he did not wildly attack competitors; instead, he calmly introduced the research, development, and manufacturing process of Sister Chengzi phones, as well as the original intention behind Yunsu Express establishing service points in rural markets.

First, to extend the reach of e-commerce business into eighteen-line towns and villages.

Second, to provide channels for "agricultural and sideline products going online," increasing the income of township residents.

In addition, he focused on introducing products like Kuaide, Kuai Pao, and Gao De Maps, and the changes they brought to ordinary people's lives.

It took only seven or eight minutes in total, yet the information density was two or three times that of Li Yanhong and the others.

After Chen Yansen, Dangdang's Li Guoqing, Jike's Deng Yaping, Jingdong's Liu Qiangdong, Kuai Pao's Pei Yi, Google's Liu Yun, Youku's Gu Yongqiang, Microsoft's Lu Qi, and others successively took the stage to share.

Approaching noon, the morning conference proceedings barely concluded.

During the two-and-a-half-hour lunch break, Chen Yansen had intended to return to the hotel first, but as soon as he stepped out of the conference hall, he was called over by Ma Wenteng, Lei Yijun, Yu Chendong, and others, who invited him to lunch at Yue Long Ju next to the convention center.

Chen Yansen made a slight show of declining, but seeing Ma Wenteng's insistent attitude, he invited Zhou Shouzhi, Pei Yi, Cheng Weixing, Huang Zheng, and others to join him for the appointment.

Since the distance was only two hundred meters, the group chose to walk there.

The attendees from Senlian Capital followed behind Chen Yansen in a grand procession, full of momentum.

The reporters saw this scene and hurriedly raised their cameras, pressing the shutters.

"What are your thoughts on the ride-hailing market?" Ma Wengteng asked casually on the way to the restaurant.

Although the Penguin had participated in the Series A and Series B financing of Kuaidi Taxi, he still couldn't fathom Chen Yansen's true intentions. Didi Taxi had a net loss of three hundred million per month, and with Kuaidi Taxi having a larger user base, it would only lose even more.

Although Kuaidi Taxi had raised five hundred million US dollars in its Series B financing, at the current burn rate of the subsidy war, this capital would be spent in less than a year.

When the time comes, will the Penguin continue to invest in Kuaidi Taxi?

If they invest, it feels like throwing money into the water; if they don't, it will undoubtedly affect the cooperative relationship with Senlian Capital.

"Li Yanhong wants to admit defeat?" Chen Yansen retorted.

"He wants to pause the subsidy war and limit the means of competition to product and service."

Ma Wengteng nodded and admitted frankly.

Li Yanhong didn't want to use a cash-burning approach to seize market share, and neither did he.

"President Ma, it's not that I refuse to agree, but this kind of verbal agreement has no binding force. I trust you, but I don't trust Li Yanhong."

Chen Yansen smiled, shook his head, and refused decisively.

The business world is like a battlefield; it's already at the stage of pulling out knives, and suddenly calling for a halt—who can guarantee Li Yanhong won't engage in underhanded tactics?

"We can pause for one week first, and both sides can see the effect. Otherwise, if the subsidy war continues, how are we supposed to follow up with investment in Kuaidi Taxi's Series C financing?"

Ma Wengteng said, looking at Chen Yansen with a Solemn expression.

"Fine, you tell Li Yanhong: the new customer instant discount returns to ten yuan, the daily subsidy cap for existing customers is five yuan, and the per-ride subsidy for drivers drops to two yuan. Implement it tomorrow."

Chen Yansen said after thinking for a moment.

Since he could lose a little less, of course he wouldn't refuse either.

"No problem." Ma Wengteng agreed readily.

In fact, this proposal was not Li Yanhong's own idea; the real driving force behind the scenes was all the investment institutions behind Kuaidi Taxi and Didi Taxi.

Chen Yansen smiled lightly. Whether Li Yanhong would keep his promise, he didn't know, but he would absolutely not obediently halt the subsidy campaign.

If the Kuaidi Taxi app couldn't offer subsidies, then they'd use Kuaipao, Pinbei, and Gao De Maps to offer them.

For example, ordering twelve yuan of food delivery comes with a twelve yuan Kuaidi Taxi coupon; after placing an order in the Pinbei Mall, a link to claim a taxi coupon pops up on the payment page.

There are plenty of shady tricks!

Where in the business world are there honest people?

Five minutes later, the group walked into Yue Long Ju and arrived at a resplendent private room on the top floor.

Chen Yansen had just sat down when he saw Liu Qiangdong and a middle-aged woman passing by the door of the private room.

"That's Xu Xin from Today Capital." Ma Wengteng followed his gaze and explained softly.

"If Xu Xin hadn't stirred things up, President Ma's QQ TuanGou, Yixun Wang, and Paipai Wang would probably have been sold off smoothly already."

Chen Yansen remarked with emotion.

As soon as the August 15th price war between Jingdong, Suning, Dangdang, and Gome ended, Li Guoqing immediately exposed Liu Qiangdong's dirty laundry on Weibo, bluntly stating that Jingdong's capital chain was about to break and wouldn't survive past September.

This caused chaos in Jingdong's supplier system; merchants were all afraid that Liu Qiangdong would take their payments to fund advertising, leaving them unable to settle their accounts later.

At the critical moment, Xu Xin pulled out a sum of money to help Liu Qiangdong pull through.

Now that OTPP has invested four hundred million US dollars in Jingdong, its capital is even more abundant, and it has even temporarily shelved the traffic portal cooperation with the Penguin.

Ma Wengteng gave a dry laugh and didn't respond.

He wouldn't interfere with Senlian Capital's cooperation with 360, and conversely, Chen Yansen couldn't shake the Penguin's strategic layout in the e-commerce industry either.

After lunch, Chen Yansen took a car back to the hotel to rest.

At two-thirty in the afternoon, the sub-forum exchange meeting officially began, and the project leaders of Senlian's various subsidiaries immediately dispersed to look for business opportunities.

Chen Yansen, on the other hand, took Gao Weilin and Song Yuncheng, invited the heads of the Penguin, Gao Sheng, Huake, and Huaxin, found a small conference room, and signed the investment intention agreement for Pinbei's Series B financing.

The financing amount was 2.2 billion US dollars, led by the Penguin, with Gao Sheng, Huake, and Huaxin following; the post-investment valuation reached as high as 22 billion US dollars.

Whether in daily active users, platform GMV, or project valuation, Pinbei E-commerce's second-place ranking was indisputable.

After all, after Liu Qiangdong received OTPP's four hundred million financing, Jingdong's valuation was only eight billion US dollars, less than half of Pinbei's.

The next morning.

When Chen Yansen and Pei Yi and others were eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant, after receiving a phone call, Pei Yi's face instantly darkened. He subconsciously glanced up at Chen Yansen, then methodically arranged: "Have the colleagues from the Administration and Legal departments step in to minimize the impact of this matter…"

After he hung up, Chen Yansen finally asked: "Something happened?"

"The ground-promotion staff in the Northeast market had a minor friction with the business personnel from Meituan, Dianping, and Lashou Wang while communicating with merchants."

Pei Yi frowned, deliberated for over ten seconds, and then said in carefully chosen words.

"Did we take a loss?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"No." Pei Yi hurriedly replied.

"Mm." Chen Yansen responded and didn't ask further.

With his hearing ability far beyond that of ordinary people, he naturally heard everything clearly. In the 2012 group-buying and food delivery market, it had become commonplace for ground-promotion staff to fight each other over merchant resources.

Similar incidents were a first for Hucheng, but they wouldn't be the last.

Generally speaking, colleagues from the Administration department were responsible for visiting injured employees at the hospital, while colleagues from the Legal department went to the patrol station to bail people out. Pei Yi's experience in handling such matters was also growing increasingly mature.

Over the next few days, attending the Internet Conference during the day and handling dinner parties from all walks of life at night.

After four consecutive days, even the usually energetic Zhou Shouzhi, Gao Weilin, Pei Yi, and others couldn't help but show signs of fatigue.

Fortunately, the harvest was quite rich; in advertising, commercial monetization, co-branded cooperation, and information copyright, a stack of letters of intent for cooperation were signed.

For example, Gao De and Ctrip reached a cooperation on advertising resource placement and product guidance; when users use the navigation service, Gao De would recommend corresponding travel packages and scenic spot tickets on the destination interface.

Jingdong and Suning's self-built logistics, in order to improve work efficiency, also purchased the electronic waybill technology patent from Yun Su Express.

On the evening of September 14th, Chen Yansen took a plane and returned to Xucheng.

On the other side, Li Yanhong had just returned to his office when Xiang Hailong knocked and walked in: "Boss, Kuaidi Taxi is not keeping its word. Their app subsidies have indeed been canceled, but they've added a bunch of subsidy activities on Kuaipao, Pinbei, and Gao De Maps."

"Have Lareshu and Qiandu Maps follow up immediately," Li Yanhong decided without the slightest hesitation.

(End of chapter)