Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Steven Denning was the chairman of Pan-Atlantic Capital and held immense sway within the group. Normally, given Hong Jing’s investment acumen, she would have never given Wang Xin and Meituan a second look. But the big boss had spoken, so she had no choice but to execute his orders.

”Five hundred million US dollars at most. Otherwise, Pan-Atlantic Capital is prepared to walk,” Hong Jing said, her arms crossed. She added the remark before Wang Xin could even react.

”If it’s 500 million, Redwood Capital can accept that as well,” Shen Nanpeng said, slowly straightening up.

Although he was bullish on Wang Xin and Meituan, as a seasoned investor, he knew that securing the most equity for the least amount of capital was the only way to maximize his return on investment.

As for their personal relationship?

Businesspeople don’t have time for sentimentality!

”Eight hundred million US dollars. That’s my bottom line,” Wang Xin replied, his expression tight as he enunciated each word.

He refused to sell Meituan’s equity for cheap!

”Lashou Network sold for 420 million US dollars, and Nuomi Network for 150 million. Although Meituan has a slightly higher market share, that doesn’t justify a 100% premium. Five hundred million is Pan-Atlantic Capital’s final offer. If you don’t agree, President Wang, we can always revisit this next month.”

A disdainful smile touched Hong Jing’s lips.

To protect its market share, Meituan had to pour huge sums into marketing and traffic acquisition daily. Not only was it failing to turn a profit, but it was also burning through tens of millions of US dollars every month.

If Pan-Atlantic and Redwood Capital didn’t invest, Meituan likely wouldn’t even survive until the end of the year.

Hong Jing knew it, Shen Nanpeng knew it, and Wang Xin knew it too.

After a long moment of contemplation, Wang Xin heaved a sigh and nodded heavily.

Even though Pan-Atlantic and Redwood Capital were clearly taking advantage of his predicament, he had no better option.

In any case, Meituan had a dual-class share structure, so Wang Xin wasn’t afraid of losing his controlling stake.

The three parties reached a preliminary cooperation agreement. Pan-Atlantic would lead the round, with Redwood Capital following on, to provide Meituan with a total of 75 million US dollars in development funds.

The financing was a success, but the valuation was far below what Wang Xin had hoped for.

To put it bluntly, Wang Xin’s strategy was to first ensure Meituan could survive, and then worry about future growth.

Sometimes equity is crucial; other times, it’s worthless.

「Elsewhere.」

After speaking with Gao Ling Capital, Today Capital, and Overseas Asia, Li Yanhong’s expression grew increasingly grim. Without exception, every single one of them had refused to make any additional investments.

Only Junlian Capital remained keenly interested in the DiDi Dache project, but Zhu Nanli’s demand put him in a difficult position. The man wanted to install Liu Yiqing as DiDi Dache’s CEO.

Li Yanhong refused without a second thought.

The subsidy war between Fast Taxi and DiDi Dache had burned through nearly a billion in just four months. For ordinary venture capital firms, it was best to steer clear of these two titans.

Even the ”Thousand-Groupon War” at its most brutal didn’t see monthly losses of 200 million!

’They want us to foot the bill? Not a chance!’

Moreover, the battle between DiDi and Fast Taxi only appeared to be a struggle between ride-hailing platforms. In reality, it was a chess match between their financial backers.

DiDi had Qian Du in its corner, while Fast Taxi was backed by Senlian, Penguin, and Ah Li.

None of them were short on user traffic or capital. It was just a matter of seeing who would crack first.

Li Yanhong wanted to copy Chen Yansen’s strategy of roping in multiple VC firms to share the investment risk, but he was too slow to act. Chen Yansen had already recruited all the major players, from internet giants to state-owned capital, into the Fast Taxi camp.

Unless Fast Taxi’s operations suffered a major blunder, no one was going to switch horses midstream.

”Try Ping’an or Temasek.”

After careful consideration, Li Yanhong had his assistant schedule a meeting with the head of investments at either Ping’an or Temasek.

DiDi Dache was losing three to four hundred million a month. The 600 million from its Series D funding was almost gone, so Li Yanhong was anxious to kick off a Series E round as soon as possible.

「At the same time.」