Chapter 278: Jingdong Mall, Top Box Office, Will You Have a Little One When Old?

After Yan Li and Boss Xiong reached an agreement, many matters at Tudou. om became much easier to handle.

As previously mentioned, Yan Li and Boss Xiong together held the largest stake in Tudou. om, owning more shares than Wang Wei and his team combined.

Even though Wang Wei and the management team controlled the company and held significant initiative, at critical moments, they could never bypass the two major shareholders.

Of course, he could still make other small moves, but none escaped Yan Li's notice.

Besides the intelligence system, Tudou. om did have one core executive who was close to Yan Li.

Yan Li's original intent in cultivating this closeness was to provide cover for his system and create confusion.

But he overdid it—the other party was genuinely won over by Yan Li.

After all, Boss Yan's personal charisma and networking skills were quite strong.

Moreover, executives at internet companies often maintained ambiguous attitudes toward their bosses.

No one knew when they might switch jobs or start their own venture, and they all needed support from boss-investors.

Currently, the executive hadn't fully betrayed Wang Wei; he merely sought closeness with Yan Li, and the information he leaked mostly concerned Tudou's internal affairs and Yan Li himself.

Thus, many of Wang Wei's maneuvers were half-transparent to Yan Li, who could preemptively position himself or set traps in response.

For instance, his long-desired contact, Xu Zong of Jintai Capital, thought he'd hidden his intentions well—but on the third day Yan Li arrived in Shanghai, they met privately for dinner.

As for which side Xu Zong would choose to cooperate with, it was obvious.

Wang Wei held so few cards; Yan Li held far more, not to mention that Yan Li knew Wang Wei's entire hand and its true value.

Yan Li wasn't in a hurry to discuss Tudou. om with Xu Zong—he first laid groundwork, then waited for Wang Wei to make his move.

Over that dinner, the two talked most about Jingdong Mall.

That was another high-quality internet project by Yan Ye Capital, aside from Tudou. om; it was developing well, and Jintai Capital seemed interested.

Yan Li had invested relatively little in this project before, holding limited shares; after the A-round, his stake was now around 10%.

Compared to Tudou. om's meteoric rise, Jingdong Mall was still in expansion, and due to its mediocre type, scale, influence, and revenue model, its valuation hovered around $20–30 million, with some inflation.

This level of internet company wasn't bad, but it wasn't outstanding either.

The industry bubble was enormous, especially with the financial market booming and capital extremely active, causing these internet companies to boast more wildly than ever.

With twenty or thirty employees, a few million users and traffic, plus some buzzwords and packaging, they dared to claim valuations of hundreds of millions or even billions of RMB.

So at this stage, scanning the entire internet industry, there weren't many companies valued at tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, but there were certainly plenty.

Xu Xin was interested in Jingdong Mall, and Yan Li was willing to make an introduction.

Yan Li had no other demands for this project—it was purely financial investment; with a big player joining, they could grow the pie together, go public, and cash out, which suited him fine.

Besides Jingdong Mall, they discussed a few other projects; all were in investment circles, and though mutually wary, they still exchanged information occasionally.

In fact, over the past few years, Yan Li had made few notable investments beyond Tudou. om and Jingdong Mall, mainly due to lack of funds.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't that he lacked money, but that Yan Li was now cautious about how he used his cash.

Because the stock market was hot, much of his cash was tied up in stocks, and he also planned to burn money on cinema chains while keeping an eye on Tudou. om and Weibo.

These funds were all accounted for; Yan Li needed to maintain sufficient ammunition—he couldn't spend recklessly.

Investment was a game of casting wide nets—you had to be willing to spend money and prepare mentally for losses.

In short, Yan Li now leaned more toward being a founder than an investor.

Of course, with current financial constraints, Yan Li was cautious; when funds became plentiful, he would still invest.

Even now, if a promising project offered a seed or A-round with acceptable investment amount and equity, he'd be willing to support the entrepreneurial dream.

For example, in the first half of this year, Yan Ye Capital selected three projects—a mattress manufacturer, a travel agency, and a game company—with a planned investment of 11 million RMB.

Gaming and tourism were hot sectors, no need to elaborate; the mattress manufacturer had patented technology advantages.

A few million RMB wasn't much or little to Yan Li—it had limited utility sitting idle, so better to pick a few quality projects and invest; who knew what surprises might come?

Due to his business layout, Yan Li had few quality projects on hand; Xu Xin, as a professional investor, suggested several to him.

Whether they were truly high-quality was uncertain, but they all sounded promising.

Among them, the one that caught Yan Li's attention most was Jingdong Mall—he'd seen the name in future intelligence, and though details were scarce, he sensed it wasn't a small company.

But future intelligence contained too many fragmented pieces of information; aside from what seemed useful, Yan Li had neither time nor capacity to verify each one.

Even for Jingdong Mall, though he knew the name, Yan Li hadn't researched it much—he only gained a clearer understanding after Xu Xin's introduction.

"Self-built warehousing and logistics? This Boss Liu has real guts!"

Yan Li was surprised; he wasn't especially familiar with e-commerce, but he had some exposure and understanding.

The brilliance of Jingdong's move wasn't hard to grasp—even early on, similar models had been proposed.

But as always, knowing doesn't mean you can do it!

Everyone knew e-commerce had many advantages with its own logistics, but the key was spending money.

Where would the funds come from? How would this expense be offset? Would the market accept such a model?

Building a nationwide e-commerce warehousing and logistics network required enormous investment; if anything went wrong, the company might be dragged down to collapse.

That Boss Liu had guts, and Boss Xu had guts too—it was almost a gamble.

But according to future intelligence, both men had won.

Yan Li couldn't help asking Xu Xin how much she planned to invest; she didn't give a direct answer, only said that with tens of millions of dollars in early-stage investment, they could secure decent equity returns.

"..."

Yan Li hesitated—this investment wasn't small, but if Jingdong succeeded, it would be extremely worthwhile.

Of course, this was only one round; Jingdong's model would inevitably burn cash relentlessly.

Even if they secured a certain equity share in early financing, to avoid being pushed out or suffering severe dilution, they'd have to follow on in later rounds.

By then, the investment wouldn't just be tens of millions of dollars.

Considering Yan Li's current financial situation, Jingdong wasn't a great investment target—but his silence and hesitation stemmed from another thought.

Whether it was Tudou. om or Weibo, to grow these companies, one unavoidable issue was profitability.

Without profitability, going public was just talk; even if they floated on a dream, the stock wouldn't perform well.

Tudou. om was fine—its profit points were obvious, only the scale remained uncertain.

The challenge was how Weibo, a social platform, could become profitable.

Well, it wasn't that hard—it was just two words: advertising.

Weibo's high user base, high traffic, and high daily active users made it a perfect advertising ground.

In future intelligence, Sina Weibo partnered with Alibaba, integrated Alibaba's e-commerce ads, and ultimately achieved profitability, revitalizing the entire project.

Beyond Weibo, many aspects of Tudou. om could also connect with e-commerce.

Put simply, Weibo and Tudou. om were both traffic pools; traffic pools and e-commerce ads complemented each other—one drove traffic and promoted ads, the other monetized its advantages.

But Alibaba's business style, its reputation as an industry killer, and the nature of their cooperation gave Yan Li some reservations.

Jingdong's emergence, however, offered Yan Li a new possibility.

If Yan Li were a shareholder of Jingdong, he could push Jingdong to cooperate with Tudou. om and Weibo, achieving mutual benefit.

Alibaba could still be partnered with, but with Jingdong as a counterbalance, Yan Li could gain more initiative.

This logic mirrored Wang Wei's own strategy—when a partner grew too powerful, bring in a new one to shift the balance.

Of course, the premise is not getting swallowed by their alliance.

With his intelligence system, Yan Li felt confident in this regard—among other things, his information was always top-notch.

Yan Li's mind turned over possibilities, but he didn't immediately decide—too many factors were involved, not something easily settled.

Besides, it was unclear what Jingdong's own intentions were; perhaps they were the only ones excited.

So in the end, Yan Li merely said he was quite interested in this Jingdong Boss Liu—if Xu Xin was convenient, she should help arrange an introduction, just to meet and talk first.

Xu Xin was very agreeable—why had she brought up Jingdong with Yan Li if not because Jintai Capital couldn't handle it alone?

Yan Li had money, reputation, and connections; in her view, he was an excellent partner, and his joining Jingdong would greatly benefit its development and fundraising.

…

After finishing his business in Shanghai, Yan Li stayed two more days before Yang Rong chased him away.

She had to—otherwise, Wang Ou would arrive in Shanghai as soon as he finished his work.

If those two got together, they'd never let her off the hook!

Right now, Yang Rong didn't even know what to do—she just kept avoiding being in the same place as both Wang Ou and Yan Li.

Yan Li was busy and noticed her resistance, so he didn't pressure her.

Wang Ou, however, was full of schemes, but he was also short on free time; Yang Rong was filming and often in Shanghai, so their schedules barely avoided overlap.

Upon returning to Beijing, Yan Li received good news: Tong Dawei and Guan Yue were getting married.

It didn't surprise Yan Li—the reason was Guan Yue was pregnant.

As soon as the prenatal report came out, Tong Dawei's mother started pressuring him to marry, without needing Guan Yue to say a word.

Tong Dawei, who had just won Guan Yue back, dared not delay—he feared losing both wife and child, so he gritted his teeth and began planning the wedding.

This was good for Guan Yue, not bad for Tong Dawei, but Cheng Tian and Wang Jinghua couldn't help cursing.

"Struggle" was wildly popular, with outstanding results everywhere; it was about to air on national TV, and Tong Dawei's career was poised for a new level—then he decided to get married and become a father.

Look at Huang Xiaoming from Huayi—despite endless rumors, he never admits anything, and his female fans go wild.

Deng Chao from Yi'an is dating, but dating and marrying with children are two different things.

Moreover, his girlfriend is the rising star Sun Li; they give each other exposure, and so far, it benefits his career more than harms it.

Even Liu Huohua, who doesn't rely much on fans, is currently dating and even dating a foreign woman, bringing honor to the country.

Tong Dawei's move put Cheng Tian in a bind—they even considered replacing him and giving the top actor title to Xia Yu.

But before they could decide, Xia Yu was exposed for cheating, embroiled in rumors with Gao Yuanyuan.

Wang Jinghua hadn't yet figured out what to do about Tong Dawei when she rushed off to put out the fire with Xia Yu.

"Tsk, another one down—these male artists are all no good."

As soon as Xia Yu crashed, it was time for the usual scene where Yan Li stood on his moral high ground pointing fingers.

As a well-known celebrity couple, Xia Yu and Yuan Quan's relationship had once been used by someone to subtly mock Yan Li—now it was a slap in the face.

At moments like this, Yan Li felt utterly delighted inside.

Dong Xuan couldn't help rolling her eyes; last time with Tong Dawei, at least he'd left some room, but now with someone else, Yan Li made no effort to hide his glee.

She didn't care whether Xia Yu cheated, but she kept Gao Yuanyuan firmly in mind.

Dong Xuan had already been suspicious of Gao Yuanyuan's shaky resume; even when Yang Xue tried to set them up, she ignored it—now her vigilance was even stronger.

It's not the men who sneak around that scare you—it's these professionals, especially beautiful ones. Their risk far outweighs that of fleeting flings.

Dong Xuan even considered warning Qin Lan and Fan Xiaopang; they might fight among themselves, but on this issue, their interests aligned.

As for Fan Xiaopang, Dong Xuan wasn't really worried.

Though she hated to admit it, that sly fox truly had immense charm, was sharp-witted, and set a high social threshold—ordinary people found it nearly impossible to break through her defenses.

The real one to warn about was Qin Lan.

That dumb girl loved forming cliques and didn't care who she befriended—even someone like Hu Siyan could become her confidante; someday she might mindlessly drag Gao into the Teddy Sisters' circle.

Sometimes Dong Xuan couldn't help muttering: occasionally she wanted to team up with them, but one was too clever, too proud, too isolated, and the other too naive, too blunt, too hard to lead.

Of course, it wasn't just Dong Xuan who thought this way—those two had muttered about her plenty too.

Especially Fan Xiaopang—whenever her intel system triggered psychological observations targeting Qin Lan or Dong Xuan, Yan Li dared not mention them, fearing someone might die.

"Did Guan Yue's group say when the wedding is?"

Yan Li asked curiously; his friends had been getting married one after another, and he'd attended several wedding banquets.

But couples like Tong Dawei and Guan Yue, whom he'd watched from courtship to marriage, were rare—his attention on them was naturally higher.

Dong Xuan wasn't sure: "The exact date hasn't been set yet, but it'll definitely be summer, most likely July."

The timeline is tight, but there's no choice—if they wait longer, her belly will show. They don't plan a grand affair anyway, and with their money, one to two months of preparation is enough.

"You're definitely one of the bridesmaids, but has Dawei picked his best man?"

No matter how many bridesmaids Guan Yue has, Dong Xuan will always be one—and she must be the lead bridesmaid.

"He considered asking you, but he's not sure if you're available."

Yan Li and Tong Dawei had deep ties, and Yan Li's status made him a prestigious choice for best man—Dawei naturally wanted him.

But Yan Li's schedule was uncertain, and he also worried about stealing the groom's spotlight.

"I'll definitely make time to attend the wedding, but being best man is uncertain—tell them both I'll try to coordinate, but they should still prepare a backup."

"Understood."