Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The three of them chatted by the sea until dusk fell and the ocean breeze turned cold.

As soon as he got back to the hotel, Lei Yijun called an emergency video conference. He planned to assemble a team from the marketing, operations, and technology departments to send to Tianzhu and break ground in the new overseas market.

「Meanwhile.」

In Oslo, far in the Northern Hemisphere, it was currently twelve noon.

Inside an executive suite on the top floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Chen Yansen sat on a sofa, gazing at the distant Oslo Royal Palace and National Art Gallery as he mentally planned his afternoon.

The journey from Hu City to Copenhagen, followed by a transfer to Oslo, had taken a full day.

He was fine, but Song Yuncheng had crashed the moment her head hit the pillow.

Autumn was in full swing outside the window. The roadside was a tapestry of interwoven maple and ginkgo leaves, painting the view in vibrant shades of gold and crimson.

’The scenery in this damn place is nice,’ he thought, ’but it’s practically deserted.’

Even though the Radisson Blu Hotel was in the heart of Oslo, there were barely any pedestrians on the street.

BZZZT—!

The phone on the coffee table suddenly vibrated.

Chen Yansen picked it up. It was Liu Zhiping from Penguin.

”Martin, what’s up?” Chen Yansen asked directly.

As both of their net worths, statuses, and influence in the industry had grown, his private address for Liu Zhiping had evolved from the original ”President Liu” and ”Brother Martin” to a simple ”Martin.”

”WeChat is about to start developing a payment feature,” Liu Zhiping said, choosing his words carefully. ”We might... draw inspiration from Orange Pay for the feature design and marketing.”

Given the excellent partnership between Penguin and Senlian Capital, Ma Wenteng had decided to give Chen Yansen a heads-up before he started copying them.

For any other company, Ma Wenteng wouldn’t have been so courteous; he would have just copied them outright.

”It’s fine. I was just copying Ma Liyun anyway,” Chen Yansen said lightly.

”I knew President Chen wouldn’t mind,” Liu Zhiping said with a relieved, flattering laugh.

’As if you wouldn’t copy it even if I did mind.’

Chen Yansen scoffed internally. They were all adults here. Penguin didn’t want to burn bridges, so they chose a more ”dignified” method of competing. There was no need for him to call them out on it.

That would just make things awkward for everyone.

After all, both Fast Taxi’s Series C financing and Kuai Pao’s Series B funding plan depended on financial support from Penguin.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries. When Liu Zhiping heard that Chen Yansen planned to visit Spotify’s headquarters, he immediately puffed out his chest and insisted that he had a great relationship with the CEO, Daniel Ek, and would be happy to make an introduction.

Chen Yansen just smiled, not refusing the offer.

In reality, Orange Technology’s partnership with Spotify was just as significant as Penguin Music’s.

The Alexa Smart Speaker had sold nearly three million units across the European and American Markets, which was equivalent to adding three million paying subscribers to Spotify. This had been an enormous help to Spotify’s fundraising efforts.

Upon receiving word of Chen Yansen’s impending visit, Daniel Ek had immediately rushed back to the Stockholm headquarters from the Lighthouse Country.

The Northern European market was too small. To break into the music streaming market in the Lighthouse Country, Daniel Ek had shifted his focus to Europe and America two years prior and was usually based in Manhattan, New York.

This just went to show how important the Alexa Smart Speaker was to Spotify.

It had now been eight months since Spotify’s last round of financing.

Daniel Ek was in desperate need of a capital injection to acquire music rights and fight for market share against iTunes and Pandora.

Therefore, the ecosystem licensing partnership with Orange Technology was crucial. If he could sign a long-term contract, Daniel Ek could leverage it to inflate Spotify’s valuation and secure more funding from investors.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

”Chen Yansen... be a good boy... call me Mommy...”

Song Yuncheng, still lying on the bed, suddenly mumbled in her sleep, her voice barely a whisper.

A normal person wouldn’t have been able to make it out, but Chen Yansen’s hearing was exceptional. He caught every single word.

His face darkened. ’What in the world is she dreaming about?’ he wondered.