Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Yanjing, Marco Polo Hotel, inside the magnificent top-floor banquet hall.

A dozen or so well-dressed men and women clinked glasses, their faces flushed from the alcohol.

After finalizing the partnership, the smile on Little Ma’s face grew even wider. In just one year, Pinbei’s valuation had soared elevenfold.

In other words, his initial investment of three hundred million had now turned into 3.3 billion US dollars.

Chen Yansen set down his wine glass, leaned close to Little Ma’s ear, and asked, ”How are the financing talks between Penguin and Jingdong coming along?”

How were they coming along?

Ma Wenteng’s expression froze. He sighed softly and cursed under his breath, ”Liu Qiangdong just raised 400 million US dollars and immediately started playing for time. He hasn’t accepted, but he hasn’t rejected either.”

’You’re trying to force Handsome Dong to pick up your trash. Of course he’s not happy about it!’

A month ago, if he hadn’t been completely out of options, Liu Qiangdong probably wouldn’t have agreed to Liu Zhiping’s demands.

After all, QQ Group Buy, Paipai Network, and Yixun Network were all money pits. If Jingdong bit the bullet and bought them, they’d be looking at a loss of at least one billion US dollars.

Ma Wenteng wanted to offload Penguin’s toxic assets, while Liu Qiangdong coveted the primary traffic portals from QQ and WeChat. Initially, they hit it off immediately, but Liu Qiangdong’s attitude changed once he secured his funding.

Hearing this, Chen Yansen chuckled softly, raised his glass, and clinked it against Ma Wenteng’s. ”Liu Qiangdong thinks Jingdong’s valuation is severely underestimated. He probably won’t even start negotiations without dragging this out for a year or so. Mr. Ma, he’s playing you!”

”Underestimated? The brokers in Hong Kong Island and the Lighthouse Country gave him a valuation of six billion US dollars. I offered 6.5 billion, and he’s still not satisfied?”

Ma Wenteng’s face flushed red, tipsy from the alcohol. He reached out, lit a cigarette for himself, and began puffing away.

”The offer itself isn’t the problem. But Mr. Ma, you want to pay with equity from QQ Group Buy, Paipai Network, and Yixun Network, offering only 10% in cash. Jingdong is already short on cash. Now that OTPP has shown up, Liu Qiangdong has another option, so of course he doesn’t want to deal with Penguin anymore,” Chen Yansen said with a smile.

”President Chen, last time you mentioned that Pinbei would also be willing to take over QQ Group Buy, Paipai Network, and Yixun Network. Does that offer still stand?”

Ma Wenteng turned his head, staring intently at Chen Yansen as he asked.

”Last time? I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously, Mr. Ma,” Chen Yansen said coolly, taking a sip of his drink.

’Ma Wenteng wanted to play a balancing act, pitting Pinbei and Jingdong against each other like fighting crickets. How could Chen Yansen not be furious?’

After speaking, he glanced at the awkward expression on Little Ma’s face out of the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but feel a secret thrill of satisfaction.

Ma Wenteng opened his mouth, wanting to curse, but forced himself to hold back. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, ”At the signing tomorrow, let’s change the contract term for the QQ and WeChat portal access to five years.”

They had originally agreed on three years.

But Ma Wenteng was afraid that once Pinbei grew strong enough, it would kick Penguin to the curb, so he took the initiative with this proposal.

”Done,” Chen Yansen agreed readily.

Whether it was three years or five, it didn’t matter. Pinbei wouldn’t have to spend a single cent anyway.

Logically, occupying resource slots on QQ and WeChat should have required paying an advertising fee.

But Chen Yansen didn’t usually play by the rules!

Penguin had to provide Pinbei with free access to its primary traffic portals on QQ and WeChat just to get the rights to participate in Pinbei’s Series B funding round. This requirement had been clearly stipulated in the contract back during the Series A round.

After a few more rounds of drinks, it was suddenly ten o’clock.

Cai Yongjin glanced at his watch, then stood up to take his leave. He was a speaker at the finance forum of this year’s internet conference and had to get to the International Conference Center early tomorrow. Plus, being older, he couldn’t keep up with the stamina of the younger crowd.

Yu Heng and Gao Huiyi left right after him.