Chapter 99: An Investment Worth 30 Billion, Are You a Decent Person?

These 20 million in stock options serve two purposes: first, to attract engineers with solid technical skills, and second, to ensure team stability.

In another two or three years, startups using stock options to paint pie-in-the-sky promises for employees will no longer be a novelty.

After Mogujie and Meilishuo are established, they will likely poach people for category and merchant recruitment roles; Chen Yansen's move not only retains core members but also raises the cost for competitors to poach talent.

For people like Yuan Wei, Zhang Yifeng, Chen Xu, and Hu Li, he plans to grant stock options worth 500,000.

If other companies want to poach someone, they must incur an extra 500,000 in costs out of thin air, otherwise no one will be willing to jump ship.

From customer service representatives to team leaders, everyone receives stock options, unlocking in four tranches over two years, with 25% released every six months.

In other words, to receive all the stock options, one must stay at Fox Tao for at least two more years.

After the meeting, Chen Yansen kept Yuan Wei and Zhang Yifeng alone, sized both of them up with his gaze, then announced: "Starting in February, your base salaries will be raised to 4,500, and you will serve as team leaders for the merchant recruitment group. In the future, new hires will be randomly assigned to your teams."

Yuan Wei and Zhang Yifeng exchanged a smile and said excitedly, "Thank you, Brother Sen."

Yuan Wei, with several years of work experience, immediately understood Chen Yansen's intention; his heart tightened, and he warned himself to be careful in his future actions, for Chen Yansen was not an easy boss to fool.

"Go ahead."

Chen Yansen waved his hand.

The merchant recruitment group currently has 26 people and has had no person in charge; this was intentional on his part, designed to make the merchant recruiters compete, for only with competition comes drive.

Promoting and raising the salaries of Yuan Wei and Zhang Yifeng was also to show other merchant recruiters that if they perform well, they have a chance to become team leaders.

After finishing the work, Chen Yansen took the previously drafted stock option agreement and went to find Teacher Wang Jing for review, mainly to check whether the content was legal and compliant and if anything was missing.

Not until 4:30 in the afternoon did Chen Yansen emerge from Wang Jing's office; he sent the revised documents to Xu Dan, instructing her to continue the follow-up: print the stock option agreements, distribute them to Fox Tao members for signatures, and finally hand them over to finance.

Walking along Xuelin Road, Chen Yansen sent a message to Meng Jie, mentally calculating Fox Tao's final event before the New Year—the January 18th Home Furnishing Festival.

The event categories involved kitchen and bathroom supplies, major appliances, sanitary ware, lighting, and furniture, among others; on that day, 70 merchants participated in the brand group, with over 500 flash-sale items.

Although the commission rates for such products are lower than those for cosmetics and food, the event introduced major brands such as Red Star Home Goods Association, Fotile, Schneider, Toto, and Submarine.

As soon as the warm-up page launched, the click-through rate instantly surpassed 100,000, earning 800,000 in advertising fees alone.

"I need to have Xu Dan recruit two more event operations staff; although Fox Tao focuses primarily on productized channels, seasonal and category-specific events cannot be lacking," Chen Yansen thought silently as he stopped at the intersection.

"What are you thinking about?"

At that moment, Meng Jie approached, stood on tiptoe, and patted Chen Yansen on the shoulder.

"Thinking of you," Chen Yansen came to his senses, smiled, and put his arm around Meng Jie; the 'two brothers' walked together toward the school gate.

The next morning, Xu Dan carried a thick stack of documents into the conference room.

Starting with Song Yuncheng, the agreement was made in triplicate: one copy for the employee, one for the company, and one for the venture capital firm to archive.

"100,000 shares?"

Song Yuncheng opened the stock option agreement, saw the column for the number of options, and her face was filled with surprise.

"You are Fox Tao's number one employee, you designed the brand image, you served as team leader for design, customer service, and operations, and you introduced 13 B2C platforms to the project team..." Xu Dan began, listing Song Yuncheng's contributions and achievements one by one.

Based on the valuation of the Series A financing, the total number of Fox Tao shares is 500 million, with each share priced at 5.6 yuan; if cashed out at a high position in the future, these 100,000 shares would be worth at least 560,000.

If the Series B financing valuation rises, the value of the options will rise accordingly.

"25% unlocks every six months; if you resign in the middle, the company might buy back the unlocked options at a cost, or you might have to wait until the Series B financing or after the IPO for the buyback window to open."

Xu Dan continued to explain.

"I understand," Song Yuncheng said without hesitation and signed her name.

Next came Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, Meng Xibo, and others.

Everyone had different numbers of options, basically all above 30,000 shares, with some reaching 100,000 shares.

The general principle was that category positions received more than merchant recruitment positions, merchant recruitment team leaders received more than ordinary merchant recruiters, and customer service received the least, though everyone still had 5,000 shares, worth 20,000 to 30,000.

At 10 o'clock the next day, Fox Tao's first Home Furnishing Festival went on sale.

On the first day, sales reached 6.7 million, the average order value was 890 yuan, the order volume was 7,520 orders, and the proportion of orders from returning customers exceeded 70%.

These veteran users were already accustomed to the Super Rebate model and maintained full trust in Fox Tao's product selection and price comparison capabilities; from kettles to color TVs and refrigerators, there was nothing they dared not buy.

On the second day of the event, sales were 4.1 million.

On the third day, sales were 2.3 million.

After the three-day event, the total sales reached 15.3 million, with a gross profit of 1.84 million, making Zhang Yifeng and Yuan Wei so happy that they told everyone they would treat them to a meal after the New Year.

They divided the gross profit output by store, and each had nearly a million in performance.

Calculated at the highest commission rate of 5%, just this one event could yield commissions close to 50,000 for each person; adding the performance from daily brand groups, with some effort, earning 100,000 a month was not difficult.

This greatly stimulated the other merchant recruiters; their eyes shone one by one, like wolf cubs, working busily from morning to night.

Some merchants were factory-direct; even though the workers were on holiday, the merchant recruiters still urged the bosses to sign up for the Spring Festival pre-sale events, utilizing the schedule to the extreme.

One week later, on the Little New Year's Eve, Fox Tao officially went on holiday.

Just as Chen Yansen was about to return to room 0418 to pack his luggage, he saw Song Yuncheng across from him push over a small box.

"What is it?" Chen Yansen asked.

"A birthday gift," Song Yuncheng whispered, afraid of being overheard.

Chen Yansen's birthday is February 4th, which happens to coincide with the Spring Festival, so Song Yuncheng gave the gift early.

She dared not fail to give it; back then, when she interviewed using Chen Yansen's computer, he had specifically reminded her.

Chen Yansen smiled, picked up the gift box and opened it; it was a black MCM wallet, estimated to be just over 1,000 yuan.

"So extravagant, do you not plan to live your life?" Chen Yansen teased.

"If you don't want it, give it back; it can still be returned and refunded within seven days without reason," Song Yuncheng said, extending her hand.

"I just like robbing the poor," Chen Yansen said, taking his old wallet out of his pocket and transferring cards, identification documents, and cash all at once into the new wallet.

"This is for you," Chen Yansen casually tossed the old wallet to Song Yuncheng.

"Then I wish you a Happy New Year in advance," Song Yuncheng said, sitting in her seat, hesitating for a moment, and pressing her lips together.

"If you miss me, just send me a message," Chen Yansen instructed.

Song Yuncheng stared at him for a moment but said nothing.

Chen Yansen picked up the computer, turned, went downstairs, and drove the car to the foot of the faculty apartment building.

Two hours later.

Chen Yansen sat in the back seat of the BMW 750, chatting and laughing with Meng Jie, while Wang Zihao drove from the driver's seat.

The three sped toward Chunshen.

"Holy crap! You're acting like I don't exist. Just eating your PDA has filled me up; I won't even need lunch."

Wang Zihao looked at the two of them and complained loudly.

"Zihao, I heard you're pursuing a teacher. That's bold," Meng Jie said, leaning against Chen Yansen's chest and teasing with a smile.

"I didn't, I'm not, don't listen to Brother Sen's nonsense. Teacher Liu and I just have a simple teacher-student relationship," Wang Zihao hurriedly argued.

"Tsk—"

Chen Yansen felt disdainful and had no patience to expose Wang Zihao. Ever since Liu Muyan lost her fiancé, Wang Zihao had been asking after her well-being under the guise of studying all day; his hidden intentions were obvious.

"Vrrrr—"

A phone suddenly rang in his pocket. Chen Yansen took it out to check; it wasn't Song Yuncheng. He pressed the answer key and said, "What is it?"

"Mr. Chen, Cai Yuhao and the three of us have set up a game studio and want to ask you for some investment, hehe," Liu Wei said with a smile, explaining his purpose.

The four of them had met briefly in Hu City last time; only later did they learn that Fox Tao had secured nearly 600 million in Series A financing, with a valuation nearing 3 billion.

They had originally thought Chen Yansen was a scammer, but it turned out he was truly a big boss.

The four of them had some savings, but game development burned through money too fast. Even if the group took no salaries, they still needed to purchase development computers, drawing tablets, monitors, and external hard drives. After discussing it, they came to Chen Yansen.

After all, Chen Yansen had previously promised he was willing to invest in them.

"How much do you need?" Chen Yansen didn't ask further and agreed directly.

Miha You had few financing rounds; investing now meant huge profits with little risk. There was no reason to miss this money-making opportunity.

"Mr. Chen, you agreed?" Liu Wei was stunned. They had spent a week preparing a business plan and game development proposal, yet the other party hadn't even listened before deciding to invest. This was too smooth.

"Or should I refuse first, and only agree once you present a mature business proposal?" Chen Yansen said jokingly.

"Absolutely not!" Liu Wei hurriedly refused. He caught the subtext in Chen Yansen's words and said with a chuckle.

"Fine, name a number, and draft the equity transfer agreement. Later, I'll have my lawyer contact you."

Chen Yansen said in a flat tone.

Miha You's future peak market value could reach 200 billion, but at this moment, it was merely a tiny workshop with a few cats and dogs. Based on his understanding of Liu Wei and Cai Yuhao, they would ask for at most a few million; that was the limit of what they could imagine.

"Is 2 million okay? We'll give up 10% equity," Liu Wei tentatively asked cautiously.

Cai Yuhao, Luo Chenghao, and Jin Zhicheng gathered around Liu Wei, not daring to breathe, waiting for Chen Yansen's reply.

"20%," Chen Yansen replied.

He had money, but he wasn't stupid; the newly established Miha You was not worth 20 million.

Liu Wei held the phone, exchanging glances with his companions.

Cai Yuhao shook his head, Luo Chenghao signaled him to agree, and Jin Zhicheng mouthed, "15%."

"Mr. Chen, we can give you at most 15%; otherwise, we'd rather find other investors," Liu Wei said seriously after a moment of deliberation.

"Fine, then 15%," Chen Yansen didn't bargain further.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chen Yansen hung up and immediately called Sun Tongbo.

Sun Tongbo was a classmate of Wang Jing and one of the lawyers who had helped bail people out last time.

"Mr. Chen, for a commercial contract case, my fee is 5,000 yuan per session," Sun Tongbo said after hearing Chen Yansen out, quoting his price first out of professional habit.

"No problem. I'll trouble Lawyer Sun to make the trip," Chen Yansen said. He knew you got what you paid for; Sun Tongbo worked at Tiancheng Law Firm, one of Hu City's top ten gold-standard law firms, and the other party was worth that price.

"Understood. I'll keep you updated on subsequent developments," Sun Tongbo replied.

Chen Yansen gave a few more reminders about contract details, then put down the phone.

"Brother Sen, you're investing in a game studio?" Wang Zihao, having heard the gist, asked curiously.

"A few graduate students from Hu City Jiaotong University. I think their game design concepts are quite good," Chen Yansen lied.

In his heart, however, he was calculating that he needed to set up another investment company to hold the shares of Yunsu and Miha You under its name; using his personal name was inappropriate, and listing them under Senhai was even worse.

Wang Zihao didn't mind this matter and instead started talking about who in the class was organizing a gathering for the Spring Festival.

"Brother Sen, are you going?"

"What decent person goes to a class reunion? Are you going?" Chen Yansen countered.

"I am a decent person," Wang Zihao grinned, clearly not wanting to go either.

(End of this chapter)