Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

「Three days later, Building 8 of Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.」

In the office, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

Little Ma had offered 300 million US dollars in exchange for 30% of Pinbei’s equity, a much more sincere offer than Ah Li’s.

But this was only the first round of financing. Giving up such a large percentage of equity could easily cause him to lose control of the company.

Senlian Capital held 3% of Cloud Speed Express and 40% of Clound Speed Freight. Despite these two companies having nearly 5,000 employees, they had never contributed a single wisp of Human Dao Fire to him.

This meant that once Chen Yansen lost controlling interest, the employees under him would no longer be able to generate Fire value.

Therefore, Chen Yansen’s refusal was decisive. He told Liu Zhiping that 300 million US dollars for 15% of Pinbei’s equity was his bottom line.

Of course, his actual bottom line was 20%.

To put it simply, Penguin was using its top-tier traffic portals on QQ and WeChat to exchange for 15% of Pinbei’s initial equity. The 300 million US dollars was just a bonus.

With this move, Chen Yansen had effectively set Pinbei’s valuation at 2 billion US dollars.

For an e-commerce platform still in the development phase, this valuation method was completely baseless.

But this money wasn’t an investment in the Pinbei project; it was an investment in Chen Yansen himself.

Liu Zhiping immediately relayed the results of the negotiation to Ma Wenteng.

”Pony, while I agree with your idea of investing in Pinbei, this kid is too greedy. I think we should wait and see how Pinbei develops,” Liu Zhiping said to Ma Wenteng after some serious thought.

”300 million US dollars, plus a top-tier portal placement... Even our own internal projects wouldn’t dare ask for that at a general meeting. He’s certainly got an appetite,” Ma Wenteng snorted, pushing up his glasses.

”So you mean...?” Liu Zhiping asked tentatively.

”Agree to his terms. But for the top-tier portal contract, I’ll only sign for three years.”

Ma Wenteng squinted, and after a moment of contemplation, gave a surprisingly unexpected answer.

Liu Zhiping’s mouth fell open, his face a mask of astonishment.

”What? Weren’t you the one who always wanted me to give up on our proprietary e-commerce strategy? Now I’m doing what you wanted, and you’re making that face?” Ma Wenteng stood up, clapped Liu Zhiping on the shoulder, and teased with a smile.

”But Chen Yansen said the contract would be signed year by year.”

Liu Zhiping snapped out of it and replied with a wry smile.

”What!? He only wants to sign for one year?” Ma Wenteng’s face was full of confusion.

This was a top-tier traffic portal for QQ and WeChat, with hundreds of millions of daily impressions and over ten million unique clicks.

’He went to all this trouble just to sign for one year?’

In Ma Wenteng’s mind, a kid like Chen Yansen would have started by setting the contract term at five years or more.

”He said that if he can’t get Pinbei off the ground in a year, he might as well go find a block of tofu and bash his head in.”

Liu Zhiping relayed Chen Yansen’s exact words.

”Confidence is a good thing, but overconfidence is just arrogance.” Ma Wenteng shook his head, feeling that Chen Yansen was too presumptuous.

Paipai Network was backed by Penguin and had its traffic, yet it couldn’t even break into the industry’s top ten.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be pinning his hopes for the e-commerce sector on an outside company.

At this point, Ma Wenteng wasn’t yet completely disheartened. It was only later, when Paipai Network’s market share dropped to 1%, that he accepted Liu Zhiping’s advice.

He would forge a strategic partnership with Jingdong, giving them money when they needed money and traffic when they needed traffic.

His only demand was for them to help Penguin land a few hard slaps on Taobao in the e-commerce field.

It was just a shame that Handsome Dong from Zhongguan Village remained the perennial number two for over a decade. It wasn’t until Pinduoduo rose up that Penguin finally managed to even the score in the e-commerce race.

”Since the contract is only for one year, just agree to it,” Ma Wenteng said, returning to his seat and frowning in thought. After a long while, he looked up at Liu Zhiping.

”Alright, I’ll arrange it,” Liu Zhiping nodded.

That afternoon, Chen Yansen received Liu Zhiping’s reply. He was told bluntly that Pony had gone to great lengths to persuade Penguin’s management to approve the investment.