Chapter 330: 4 Billion Spent

October 31, the autumn chill deepened.

The sky was gloomy; outside the window, a light autumn rain drizzled down in the No. 3 office building of Hangcheng’s Shuyuan Software Park.

Hu Weiyi had just finished a product development meeting and immediately pulled Wang Zihao aside to discuss the pre-launch promotion of ofo bikes, resource allocation for the first day of launch, and advertising placements on the App Store, Android markets, Wandoujia, and Orange App Mall.

Wang Zihao sat in his chair, glanced out the window, and silently sighed—he couldn’t understand Chen Yansen’s thinking. He had been doing fine as Director of Advertising at Pinbei, only to be abruptly kicked out to Hangcheng to serve as COO for Hu Weiyi.

Did he understand shared bikes?

No.

Did he understand the overall operations of the project?

No.

Yet when he asked Chen Yansen about it, the man replied: “If you don’t know, learn. Someone from our side has to keep an eye on ofo.”

Those words made Brother Hao happy for a long time; by the time he realized it, he was already in Hangcheng.

“Wang Zong, you’re most familiar with the leads of Today Headlines, Lingxi Browser, AutoNavi, and KuaiPao. All cross-platform cooperation going forward rests entirely on you.”

Hu Weiyi spoke softly with a smile.

She dared not oppose Chen Yansen’s arrangements—after all, ofo was wholly owned by Senlian Capital; she and Wang Zihao were both employees.

In reality, Wang Zihao’s unofficial status was far higher than hers.

Though he was not yet qualified to serve as Chief Operating Officer (COO), Wang Zihao had previously served as Director of Advertising for FoxTao and Pinbei Mall; his network in the industry was terrifyingly strong, easily securing prime ad slots on major portals and social apps.

With Wang Zihao on board, ofo would never lack traffic resources.

Moreover, compared to professional managers, Hu Weiyi dared not claim her own capabilities were particularly strong.

She needed time to adapt in the CEO role; so did Wang Zihao.

To ensure full control over the ofo project, Chen Yansen had temporarily pulled staff from AutoNavi and KuaiDi Taxi to support development, and placed his own people in HR, finance, and legal departments.

Hu Weiyi had only operational authority and partial decision-making power!

Her authority was on par with Liao Wei of Yunsu Express and Zhang Yiming of ByteDance.

Chen Yansen had no patience for testing human nature—he directly took control of HR and finance, bringing them under headquarters’ unified management, only then could he feel at ease.

Human hearts change easily!

“No problem, Hu Zong. Brother Sen gave advance instructions: for the first week after ofo launches, daily exposure won’t drop below thirty million.”

Wang Zihao replied with a smile.

Others lacked such confidence—he had it.

Just Orange App Mall, Today Headlines, Lingxi Browser, and AutoNavi could each provide around twenty million exposures for ofo.

Tencent had originally planned to invest in DiDi Bikes, but after learning Chen Yansen had launched ofo, Liu Zhiping ordered Lin Chenfeng to immediately cancel the plan and prepare to join ofo’s Series A funding round.

Thirty million?

Hu Weiyi smiled faintly, silently marveling: having a powerful backer truly was wonderful—money when needed, people when needed, resources when needed.

So this was what entrepreneurship could be like!

Her magazine, Geek Auto, had been running for three years with little success, barely surviving on advertising revenue from car manufacturers.

She didn’t make much money, but neither did she live comfortably.

After deciding to take over the ofo project, she sold Geek Auto to Li Bin of Yiche.com; it was now in the process of being absorbed.

“I heard from my investment banker friends in Beijing that Cheng Wei has been meeting investors frequently—he’s probably trying to expand advertising scale again.”

After finishing work talk, Hu Weiyi casually chatted with Wang Zihao.

“The shared bike market is large, but profit margins are low. With DiDi Bikes helping us cultivate the market upfront, we can save massive manpower and resources. Being first doesn’t guarantee victory, Hu Zong—have confidence in our product.”

Wang Zihao dismissed it casually.

He had followed Chen Yansen for over two years and weathered many business battles; he didn’t take Cheng Wei seriously at all.

He knew clearly that besides DiDi Bikes, a flood of competing apps would soon emerge.

Unless, like KuaiDi and DiDi, they poured money recklessly to dominate the market—offering daily automatic discounts of up to 14 yuan for all users, new or old, forcing competitors to stay out.

The rate at which KuaiDi and DiDi burned cash was something no entrepreneur or venture capital firm dared match.

As the two talked, hundreds of kilometers away in Beijing.

Li Yan looked at DiDi Taxi’s financial statements in silence, his eyebrows knotted tightly like twisted ropes.

The 1.2 billion yuan raised in DiDi’s Series E round had been consumed by over 90% in just one month; only 50 million yuan remained on the books.

Xiang Hailong had canceled subsidies for existing customers in North and East China three days ago, and reduced driver subsidies per ride from 5 yuan to 2 yuan; only the first-ride discount for new users remained.

Cheng Weixing responded by reinstating KuaiDi’s existing-user discount as a random red envelope system, ranging from 5 to 12 yuan—existing users received 5 to 8 yuan, new users 9 to 12 yuan.

Driver subsidies were lowered to 3 yuan to prevent DiDi from counterattacking!

Both sides had quietly paused the subsidy war.

From October 1 to October 27, KuaiDi and DiDi had collectively burned 2.2 billion yuan, forcibly cultivating users’ ride-hailing habits.

In Beijing, Jinmen, Shanghai, Jinling, and Lucheng, taxi drivers who didn’t download ride-hailing apps couldn’t get any orders.

Who would still stand shivering on the roadside, waving their hands to hail a cab, now that ride-hailing apps existed?

Now, passengers often ordered a taxi before even leaving their building, and by the time they reached the gate, the driver arrived precisely.

“October 28: DiDi Taxi averaged 1.34 million daily orders!”

“October 29: DiDi Taxi averaged 1.07 million daily orders!”

“October 30: DiDi Taxi averaged 856,000 daily orders!”

When subsidies stopped, loyalty vanished.

Li Yan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his frustration. At the current rate, within half a month, DiDi’s daily fulfilled orders would plummet to 600,000—or even below 500,000.

Baidu Maps had seen some growth in ride-hailing orders, but only a few hundred thousand daily.

If DiDi’s orders truly fell below 500,000 within half a month, its daily gross profit would likely fail to cover labor costs.

Moreover, KuaiDi was watching closely—DiDi had virtually no chance of turning a profit.

“It’s time to talk.”

Li Yan rubbed his dry eyes, tilted his head, and muttered to himself.

In his view, Chen Yansen probably couldn’t hold out much longer either.

Thinking of this, he picked up his phone and dialed Liu Zhiping, Tencent’s vice president.

At the Internet Conference, he had asked Ma Wenteng to mediate; later, he himself broke the verbal agreement against subsidy wars. So Li Yan couldn’t bring himself to ask directly—he wanted Liu Zhiping to convey his “peace overture” to Ma Wenteng and Chen Yansen.

Though Chen Yansen’s use of third-party apps for subsidies was unethical, Li Yan had been the first to restart the subsidy war in ride-hailing apps.

In a sense, Li Yan had broken the rules first.

But in Ma Wenteng’s eyes, neither of them was decent—they’d given him zero respect.

They talked sweetly about accepting mediation, then immediately pulled all kinds of tricks, treating his words like garbage.

Yet he felt no resentment toward Chen Yansen—on the contrary, he admired him more. After all, businessmen didn’t care about honor.

Especially now, after KuaiDi and DiDi had each burned over a billion yuan, another billion wouldn’t matter. Winner takes all!

Who wouldn’t want to monopolize a daily 10 million orders nationwide?

On the other side.

Liu Zhiping sat in Ma Wenteng’s office, discussing the latest shared bike project.

“Cheng Wei is a talent—sharp business instincts. One moment he’s in ride-hailing, the next he’s launching shared bikes.” Liu Zhiping sipped his tea.

“Too bad he didn’t land DiDi Bikes’ angel round—Li Fu of Innovation Works got the scoop.”

Ma Wenteng chuckled.

WeChat’s cumulative registered users had surpassed 280 million, with over 100 million daily active users—clearly, Tencent had bet right and secured the mobile internet gateway.

Combined with investments in Pinbei, KuaiPao, and KuaiDi Taxi, he had reaped huge profits; his mood was naturally excellent.

“Missed DiDi Bikes? There’s still ofo. Better to bet on Chen Yansen than Cheng Wei.”

Liu Zhiping put down his teacup, speaking firmly.

“This kid’s like he’s got a cheat code—who else in their twenties has amassed a 50-billion-dollar fortune? I heard Western media are praising him to the skies, calling him the American version of Zuckerberg.”

Ma Wenteng poured more tea into Liu Zhiping’s cup and smiled.

Zuckerberg? The American version of Chen Yansen!

Liu Zhiping choked on his tea, covering his mouth and nose as he coughed violently, his face turning red; after a moment he gasped: “Isn’t Zuckerberg eight years older than Chen Yansen?”

“Who cares? Chen Yansen’s net worth is higher.”

Ma Wenteng shrugged, recalling Song Yuncheng beside Chen Yansen, and sighed inwardly: This kid would make a perfect son-in-law—but he seems to have a girlfriend.

“Vibrating—!”

As Liu Zhiping opened his mouth to speak, his phone buzzed—he pulled it out and was surprised.

Not because Li Yan was calling—he expected that—but because the call came so late.

He and Ma Wenteng had predicted Li Yan would crack after mid-October.

Others might fight a few more rounds, burn tens of billions more—but Li Yan was different; he had extremely low tolerance for new projects. If it didn’t turn a profit in six months, the project and its lead were axed.

That was precisely why Liu Zhiping was certain Li Yan would surrender.

“It’s Li Yan.” Liu Zhiping placed his phone flat on the desk and explained to Ma Wenteng.

“Robin’s cracked. Answer it—see what he wants.” Ma Wenteng adjusted his glasses and replied without hesitation.

Liu Zhiping hummed in agreement, tapped answer, then switched to speakerphone.

“Martin, I need a favor.” Li Yan got straight to the point.

In his logic, Tencent, as the third-largest shareholder of KuaiDi, naturally wanted the subsidy war to end quickly—it was good for everyone.

“Robin, go ahead,” Liu Zhiping asked, feigning ignorance.

"I want Ma Zong to act as intermediary and sign a formal agreement with Chen Yansen to terminate the subsidy war." Li Yan replied.

"Robin, first, the legal validity of such an agreement is questionable; second, what if a new ride-hailing app emerges after Kuai Di and DiDi end their subsidy war?"

Liu Zhiping countered.

The best way to resolve the conflict between the two companies is a merger—he knew it, and Li Yan knew it too.

Everyone was pretending ignorance, waiting for the other to speak first.

"Are you suggesting we keep burning money at this rate—1.2 billion Huayuan per month?" Li Yan asked.

"Li Zong, you must understand one thing: the major shareholder of Kuai Di is Chen Yansen." Liu Zhiping ignored the question and kicked the ball back.

Seeing the other side wouldn’t engage, Li Yan paused for over ten seconds, then let out a bitter laugh: "Are you, Liu Zong, trying to broker a merger between Kuai Di and DiDi? Is this Ma Zong’s idea—or Chen Yansen’s?"

If this was Chen Yansen’s idea, then as long as he agreed, the subsidy war in the ride-hailing industry could end.

"My opinion and Ma Zong’s is this: whether Chen Zong will agree, I can’t guarantee. But if DiDi’s valuation is reasonable enough, I believe Chen Yansen won’t refuse the merger proposal."

Liu Zhiping spoke calmly.

The implication: if Li Yan was willing to bleed money, he’d go talk to Chen Yansen.

"DiDi raised 1.2 billion Huayuan in its E-round, valued at 8 billion." Li Yan understood Liu Zhiping’s meaning, his face darkening as he narrowed his eyes.

He had no objection to the merger!

But Chen Yansen shouldn’t try to bully them—DiDi’s 8-billion-Huayuan valuation wouldn’t budge by a single cent.

"Li Zong, DiDi’s valuation is inflated; half its value comes from subsidy spending."

Liu Zhiping frowned, visibly annoyed, silently cursing Li Yan for failing to see the bigger picture.

Half?

Slash 4 billion Huayuan in one go?

Li Yan sucked in a sharp breath, fury surging through him.

DiDi’s E-round funding of 1.2 billion Huayuan came entirely from Baidu’s exclusive investment; adding the 80 million from the D-round, 100 million from the C-round, and 30 million from the B-round, the total capital injected—excluding manpower and traffic resources—reached 1.41 billion Huayuan.

Baidu held a 44.4% stake; at a 4-billion-Huayuan valuation, they could only cash out 1.76 billion—after half a year of effort, only 300 million profit?

Li Yan was furious.

"Liu Zong, this offer lacks sincerity. If Penguin and Senlian Capital want to keep fighting, Baidu will match them step by step." Li Yan’s face was cold, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

Fine—he’d just pour in more money and keep playing with Kuai Di!

Liu Zhiping snorted and bluntly relayed: "This is Chen Yansen’s offer, Robin. Losers must accept the fate of losers."

"Has DiDi lost? I don’t think so!"

With that, Li Yan slammed the phone down.

"Clueless, blind to reality—Robin’s technical skills are good, but his management is a mess. Baidu hasn’t produced a single decent product these past years beyond search and Tieba."

Ma Wenteng’s lips curled downward in disdain. He lifted his teacup, sipped slowly, then delivered his verdict in a calm tone.

"I’ll call Chen Zong back."

Liu Zhiping said.

Ma Wenteng nodded without objection.

Liu Zhiping picked up his phone and dialed Chen Yansen: "Li Yan refused."

"He wants to quit, but still save face—and make a profit without lowering his price. How convenient for him! I understand, Liu Zong. Thank you." Chen Yansen looked utterly exasperated.

If Baidu didn’t inject more capital, in another half month DiDi’s market share would drop below 10%. Maybe then Li Yan would finally see reality.

If Li Yan poured in more money, fine—they’d fight another month!

He’d already coordinated with Penguin, Ali, Goldman Sachs, DST, and Huake—all ready to launch the C-round financing at a moment’s notice.

How could Baidu, fighting alone, stand against this alliance of internet capital, state capital, and foreign capital?

At the same moment.

Cheng Wei, who had been kicked out by Li Yan, was now at the peak of his life: IDG Capital led, Sequoia Capital and Thinking Capital followed, securing a 300-million-Huayuan A-round investment for DiDi Bike.

He instantly became the leader of the shared-bike industry!

(End of Chapter)