Chapter 330

It was cold, so the two found a hot pot restaurant, had it to themselves, and opened two bottles of baijiu to eat hot pot and drink.

They didn't rush into talking about financing; instead, they mostly complained about the financial crisis.

When the financial crisis hit, the internet bubble burst, many companies were stripped bare, and life became hard.

Take Weibo: before the financial crisis, its valuation and financing once reached $500 million, and many even said that was conservative.

Now Weibo's valuation—Seeing Yan Li had never bothered to look closely, lest it upset him.

Weibo was like that; JD was even worse.

Weibo at least counted as a small trend and was the industry leader; JD's e-commerce hadn't yet made a name for itself, and its scale and tolerance for error were far behind Taobao.

When Seeing Yan Li first invested in JD, its valuation was about $150 million.

Now, after a period of development, JD had shown outstanding performance in reputation, scale, and profitability, but after the financial crisis, its valuation was under $100 million.

According to Boss Liu, someone had offered to invest at a $30 million valuation—its value had shrunk drastically.

But more often, many didn't even want to invest that much; before coming to Hengdian, Boss Liu had met plenty of investors, and the more he talked, the colder his heart grew.

"If it weren't for General Xu helping me out, JD's cash flow would've already snapped."

Boss Liu took a heavy gulp of liquor, his face reddening; Seeing Yan Li picked up a slice of beef tripe for him.

"Old Liu, be honest—how long can JD last?"

"Two months, maybe even less than that."

Boss Liu smiled bitterly: "We've already started robbing Peter to pay Paul. If no more money comes in, the best outcome is finding a buyer to take us over; the worst is the company dissolves."

JD had considered selling, but there were no buyers; the only major electronics giant that showed interest offered an extremely low price.

Selling at that price would mean Boss Liu and the founding team had worked for nothing these past years, and Seeing Yan Li and Jinri Capital would exit at a loss.

Jinri Capital's General Xu strongly supported Boss Liu and JD's model, and didn't want all the previous investment and effort to go to waste.

But one tree can't make a forest; Jinri Capital wasn't just her decision alone. In this situation, someone else had to join in to ensure JD's survival before Jinri Capital would continue investing.

"Old Liu, you should've come to me sooner."

Seeing Yan Li scolded Boss Liu—he'd been guarding against him until the company nearly collapsed; this guy was incredibly patient.

Boss Liu couldn't say he feared Seeing Yan Li would swallow him whole, so he put on an expression of sincere concern for his brother.

"I know you're in a tough spot too; I didn't want to put you in a difficult position."

The theory that Seeing Yan Li was bankrupt wasn't believed by anyone with eyes, but many did believe his life was hard, because everyone's life was hard.

Seeing Yan Li's rise from the stock market wasn't a secret, and he held a pile of money-guzzling beasts, so outsiders speculated he must've been hit hard by the financial crisis—otherwise, given his personality, he wouldn't have tolerated negative rumors for so long.

"What kind of talk is that?!"

Boss Liu valued loyalty; Seeing Yan Li played the emotional card: "Publicly, if JD collapses, my earlier investment vanishes; privately, we've always gotten along—I treat you as a good friend, a brother—could I just watch you suffer without lifting a hand?"

"I truly didn't realize you were this desperate; otherwise I'd have come to you long ago. Even if my own funds were tight, I'd have squeezed out money to save JD."

Boss Liu was deeply moved; he stood up and raised his cup: "General Yan… no, brother… no more words—I'll drink it all."

Seeing Yan Li stood up too, drained his cup, and the two played at being close brothers for a while.

Honestly, Boss Liu wasn't bad at acting—maybe someday I'll get him to play a role.

After playing the good brothers, it was time to talk business: simply put, how much money Seeing Yan Li put in, how much equity Boss Liu gave.

JD needed money, and it needed a lot—$100 million would be swallowed easily.

But it could swallow it, and yet couldn't give the equity.

So Boss Liu could only estimate a figure sufficient to plug the funding gap and guarantee short-term development.

The financial crisis was still severe, so this wasn't a good time for fundraising; Boss Liu's main goal was simply to survive and ensure JD didn't die in the short term, waiting until after the crisis to consider large-scale financing.

Before this, JD had already discussed needing between $15 million and $20 million, offering about 20% equity.

Notably, the 20% equity JD offered also diluted Seeing Yan Li's shares.

That meant, if Seeing Yan Li didn't invest, his 8% became 6.4%; if he invested, the total share capital became new shares plus 6.4%, not 8%.

Seeing Yan Li tapped his fingers lightly on the table; the money he pulled out of the stock market had been partly used to profit from the financial crisis, partly held as reserve.

He'd used some reserve funds to acquire shares in Yi'an Cinema, but not much—he still had enough cash on hand to buy all the equity JD was offering.

But Boss Liu probably wouldn't agree, and Jinri Capital, which had put in so much, certainly wouldn't agree either.

Forget saying "no"—just threaten to let JD collapse and force them to agree.

From future knowledge, Boss Liu still had a way out; if they split up, Seeing Yan Li would be the one who lost; besides, you don't do business this way.

Moderate pressure and negotiation are business tactics; extreme pressure isn't cooperation—it's making an enemy, and it would damage Seeing Yan Li's business reputation.

Seeing Yan Li had no intention of swallowing JD; this time, he meant to step in at a critical moment to help Boss Liu, intending to earn his gratitude.

To gain a few more shares by using extreme pressure and threats would stray from his original intent and easily backfire.

So swallowing everything outright was impossible, but at this price, it was truly rare—take as much as you can.

Later, when JD raises massive funding, Seeing Yan Li might not follow with heavy investment; the more shares he holds now, the more he'll retain after future dilution.

"How much can General Xu contribute?"

"If fundraising goes smoothly, Jinri Capital can put in $8 million."

Seeing Yan Li nodded; he didn't ask how much equity JD offered Jinri—each party's terms and contracts differed.

Jinri Capital was holding on desperately to JD and had even taken on debt; its control threat over Liu was limited, so it was unclear whether it had received any favors.

Then again, Jinri Capital feared JD's collapse and losing its earlier investment—perhaps it had accepted favorable financing terms.

So Seeing Yan Li didn't need to obsess over Jinri Capital's terms with JD; they were only a reference.

JD needed $15 million to $20 million; even if Jinri put in $8 million, the gap remained substantial—JD's bottom line would likely be lower.

"Old Liu, I'm willing to consider $10 million for 12% equity."

Boss Liu's eyes lit up instantly—he never expected Seeing Yan Li could offer $10 million.

The market was uncertain, and Seeing Yan Li couldn't possibly hold no reserve funds; under these conditions, scraping together $10 million—tens of millions of RMB to help him—meant Seeing Yan Li's financial depth was thicker than he'd imagined.

However, 12% of the shares is still too much; together, Seeing Yan Li's shares are nearly 20%, and Jinri Capital's stake is also substantial—what if these two join forces…

Seeing Yan Li looked at Old Liu's expression and knew what he was thinking; he took a sip of wine.

"Old Liu, I barely negotiated this price down—if I really pushed harder, you'd probably agree too, but that would hurt our brotherhood."

"I truly want to help you out; I can't claim to be magnanimous, but I've at least done my duty by my brother."

"Of course, I admit there's also my confidence in JD's model, so the share percentage can't be lowered—if not, I can give you more cash, pour some resources into Weibo, or even sign a concerted action agreement."

In business, talking only about feelings is fake; feelings plus a bit of self-interest make it far more genuine.

Then, offer the other side the resources they want and weaken your own threat—they can't help but be tempted.

Sure enough, Boss Liu hesitated for a moment: "I'll need to discuss it with the company and Xu Zong, but there shouldn't be any problem."

"Great, looking forward to working together."

Seeing Yan Li clinked glasses with Old Liu and reiterated his lack of interest in JD.

"If anything comes up, let's talk more—I'm counting on you to take me to Nasdaq to ring the bell for JD."

"… "

JD's situation was indeed serious; after finishing the wine, Old Liu left Hengdian that same day and returned to Jingcheng.

Later, after two more multi-party phone calls, they finally reached an agreement.

Seeing Yan Li, or rather his Yanye Capital, invested $11 million plus related resources, acquiring 12% of JD's shares.

After Yanye joined the investment, Jinri Capital immediately followed suit; their moves prompted two previously hesitant investors to prepare to join in.

JD's Series B funding is expected to raise $23 to $25 million.

With more capital and Seeing Yan Li insisting on priority shares, JD released more shares than the originally planned 20%.

As a result, Seeing Yan Li's existing shares were diluted even further; adding the new 12%, his total stake exceeded 18%.

Seeing Yan Li was reasonably satisfied—nearly one-fifth of the shares, plus some related terms, would see him through to JD's IPO; even if his stake dropped below 10%, it would still be worth a fortune.

So if you want to make money, investing is the way—back the right horse, and you'll make a killing.

…

Although JD's financing still required time to finalize contracts, to calm internal staff and restore its public image, news of the deal was quickly leaked.

Seeing Yan Li's exact investment and share percentage were not publicly disclosed, but according to "insiders," they exceeded ten million U. S. dollars.

As soon as this news broke, before the outside world had even reacted, Pang Yidian—who had been hyping Seeing Yan Li's bankruptcy—exploded in outrage.

Fake, absolutely fake—if Seeing Yan Li can come up with tens of millions, I'll eat shit.

Less than ten minutes after this Weibo post went out, Yanye Capital and JD's official accounts publicly confirmed the financing.

Seeing Yan Li personally retweeted @Pang Yidian—【Helping you promote this—remember to keep your promise.】

His move triggered Weibo's algorithm; Pang Yidian's Weibo pet was officially born.