Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The gunpowder between Lao Ma and Liu Qiangdong wasn’t even that thick yet. Over in the row of group-buy sites, everyone was eyeing each other sideways; it was a sign of good upbringing that no one had started a fight.

After all, over the past month, these companies had been paying for press releases to smear each other, poaching employees, and their ground promotion teams had even engaged in real-life brawls. Naturally, the relationships were tense to the breaking point.

The morning conference lasted for two hours, followed by a luncheon.

Lao Zhou didn’t seem very generous, but the food at the banquet was quite good.

Chen Yansen pulled Song Yuncheng to a seat, buried his head in his food for a while, and after a short rest, took Gao Weilin to make the rounds and greet people.

Although his net worth wasn’t top-tier here, he knew quite a few bigwigs.

Penguin’s Liu Zhiping and Ali Baba’s Zhang Yong were very respectful to him, even introducing him to the heads of the Asian Region for DST and Tiger Capital.

”President Chen, Mr. Ma is over there. He’d like to talk to you.”

After Chen Yansen finished exchanging pleasantries with them, Zhang Yong came forward and said quietly.

”Dylan, do me a favor and have a few more drinks with Brother Martin.”

Chen Yansen clapped Gao Weilin on the shoulder and pushed him toward the people from Penguin and a few VC bigwigs.

Gao Weilin appeared as steady as an old dog, but inwardly he was panicking. He had been in the Mainland for less than a week and was already meeting so many titans of the industry.

The men before him were each worth tens of billions, several times richer than the boss of Zhaoye. They were all precious resources and connections.

At that moment, Gao Weilin was certain he had followed the right new boss and decided he would resign as soon as he got back.

”Please, have a seat!”

Ma Liyun smiled and gestured for him to sit when he saw Zhang Yong leading Chen Yansen over.

He still felt a certain sense of gratitude toward Chen Yansen. If Chen Yansen hadn’t set an example for him, he really wouldn’t have known how to handle the ownership issue of Wealth Treasure.

”Mr. Ma, hello,” Chen Yansen said with a smile as he sat down, greeting him graciously.

In his past life, he had seen Lao Ma at an Ali Baba live-streaming e-commerce summit. But at that time, Ali Baba’s business had stagnated, caught in a pincer attack from Jingdong and Pinduoduo. Lao Ma’s condition was a far cry from his prime, showing clear signs of decline.

The Ma Liyun before him now, however, had bright, piercing eyes and was full of spirit. He was busy with Ali Baba’s IPO plans and was at the zenith of the e-commerce industry. Otherwise, he never would have said something like ’Ali Baba wants to cultivate more Jingdongs.’

Although Ma Liyun’s words were arrogant, in 2011, he truly had the capital to back them up.

”How were FoxTao’s results for May?” Ma Liyun asked in a placid tone.

’Heh, does he really see himself as the overlord of the industry?’

Chen Yansen scoffed inwardly but said nothing. After all, in his mind, Ali Baba was the most suitable candidate to buy FoxTao.

”As of midnight last night, cumulative sales reached 1.07 billion,” Chen Yansen replied, his tone just as level.

”Doesn’t that mean you’re on track for 1.5 billion in sales for June?” Ma Liyun was taken aback.

You had to understand, neither YHD.com nor Vancl had achieved that level of performance.

Chen Nian’s slogans were loud, but he only sold 800 million in Q1, still a million miles away from his 10 billion sales target.

”It’ll be a bit difficult, but there’s a 70 to 80 percent chance of hitting it,” Chen Yansen said seriously.

Ma Liyun smiled. He found it interesting and appreciated young, confident people like Chen Yansen.

”What are your thoughts on Yitao?” Ma Liyun asked after a moment of thought, referring to his own shopping guide e-commerce product.

”It has great prospects. Backed by Ali Baba, it doesn’t lack traffic or merchants. All it’s missing is a catalyst for explosive growth.”

Chen Yansen was bullshitting, going against his conscience.

But inwardly, he thought: ’What could Yitao do? It’s been around for over a decade and is still half-dead. A huge portion of e-commerce users have never even heard its name.’

’Ali Baba doing shopping guides is like Penguin getting into e-commerce—a history of repeated failures.’

’Doomed to fail!’