Ji Zhe and Chu Hai looked absolutely miserable, like they were both constipated.
Damn it, not again!
Could they please stop doing this?
Every time they were about to discuss the IPO, Liu Yutong would reach into their wallets… No, that wasn’t quite right. She would make them hand their wallets over to her themselves.
She acted as if their money belonged to her anyway, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
They complained inwardly, of course, but they would never dare say any of it to her face.
“Chairwoman Liu, are you saying you have some promising project in mind?”
“You’re both veterans of the investment world. You must have noticed the wave of mobile internet development lately, haven’t you?” Liu Yutong asked.
Ji Zhe nodded. “Absolutely. This year alone, I’ve received more than a hundred business plans from mobile-internet startups. Smartphone shipments are setting new records every month, and the number of 3G users is on the verge of surpassing one hundred million. The entire sector is heating up. The outlook is indeed very promising.”
He wasn’t making that up.
The year 2010 was widely regarded by the industry as the dawn of the mobile internet era. The release of the iPhone 4 had ignited the global smartphone market, while the Android camp had begun accelerating its efforts. Meanwhile, the country’s three major telecom operators were forging ahead with their 3G network construction. A brand-new mobile internet age was rapidly approaching.
Everyone knew the windfall was coming. But exactly where the pigs riding that wind would fly was something very few people could predict yet.
“The new project I want to launch will be a next-generation content distribution platform based on the mobile internet.”
“Put simply, it will use algorithms to deliver personalized news and information based on each user’s interests and behavior. Instead of relying on traditional editorial recommendations, we’ll have machines learn every user’s preferences. Different people will see different content—each person will have a completely personalized feed.”
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai exchanged bewildered looks.
Algorithmic recommendations? Personalized content delivery?
What on earth was that?
In both the domestic and international markets of 2010, these two concepts were practically unexplored territory.
China’s major portal websites were still relying on editors to manually arrange their headlines. Search engines were still using keyword matching to handle paid rankings. No one had seriously considered using machine-learning algorithms to rebuild the fundamental logic of content distribution.
Even in Silicon Valley, the idea was still largely confined to academic papers and experimental projects run by a handful of small teams.
Seeing their blank expressions, Liu Yutong wasn’t in a hurry.
The original inspiration for this idea had naturally come from the company known in her previous life as Zijie—a giant that had begun its meteoric rise in 2012 and eventually reached a valuation of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Zijie’s Toutiao had completely overturned the traditional news-app landscape, while Yinfu’s meteoric rise had pushed algorithmic recommendations to the extreme, showing the entire world what it meant to become a black hole for user attention.
It was only natural that people couldn’t understand these concepts at this point. It would have been strange if they had.
“This sounds a bit like Weibo, doesn’t it?” Ji Zhe asked.
Liu Yutong nodded. “They’re completely different.”
“Weibo is a social network driven by follower relationships and key opinion leaders. This product, however, will rely on an algorithmic engine. It will be data-driven. Every click, every second a user spends on a post, every swipe—they’ll all be recorded by the system and turned into fuel for training the model. The longer someone uses it, the better the system will understand them, and the more accurately it will recommend content.”
The two men still looked as though they understood only half of what she was saying, so she switched to a more direct explanation.
“In other words, it’ll know what you like to watch better than your own mothers do.”
Ji Zhe: “…”
Chu Hai: “…”
The analogy was crude, but the two of them instantly understood.
“Besides news and information, the platform will also incubate a new short-video product.”
“For example, users will be able to casually shoot a video on their phones, add music, filters, and special effects, and finish creating it within fifteen seconds. These short videos will likewise be recommended to users who might be interested in them, creating an entirely new way to consume content.”
Fifteen-second short videos?
Ji Zhe instinctively wanted to ask, Who would watch something like that?
But the words reached his lips and he forcibly swallowed them.
His past experience had taught him that whenever this woman in front of him believed in a project, no matter how outrageous it sounded at first, the market would ultimately prove her absolutely right.
From the early days of internet cafés, to Weibo, to today’s phone launch event, every single time had been the same. There had never been an exception.
He could either believe her or believe her. He had no choice.
“Chairwoman Liu, how much do you plan to have us invest in this project?” Chu Hai couldn’t help asking the most important question.
Liu Yutong casually raised one finger. “The two of you need to invest ten billion yuan in total.”
“Ten billion!”
Chu Hai nearly jumped out of his chair.
A brand-new software company, with its business model not even fully developed and its team not yet assembled—and all they had was a concept. Yet she was opening her mouth and demanding ten billion yuan?
Was she kidding?
This wasn’t fundraising. This was daylight robbery!
“Chairwoman Liu, are you serious?”
Liu Yutong glanced at him. Her expression clearly said: Do I look like I’m joking?
“Completely serious.”
“However, Mr. Chu will need to provide the larger share—no less than eight billion yuan.”
Chu Hai completely lost his composure. “Wait, why? Why do I have to put up the larger share? Old Ji is wealthy too!”
He couldn’t understand it. They were both investors, so why were they being treated so differently?
Or did he really look like an easy mark?
Ji Zhe: “???”
Shut up already!
“Mr. Chu, don’t talk nonsense. I’m not as rich as you. Chairwoman Liu’s decision is perfectly sound. I’ll put up the two billion yuan.”
He agreed so readily that it was as if he were afraid Liu Yutong would change her mind if he waited even a second.
Chu Hai nearly passed out.
Damn you. Why did you agree so quickly?
Now that you’ve agreed, I don’t even have room to negotiate.
Ji Zhe had his own calculations to make.
He had no choice but to agree. If Chu Hai couldn’t withstand the pressure and backed out, there was a good chance the larger share of eight billion yuan would fall on him instead. That would put him under even greater pressure.
Rather than let that happen, he might as well sell out his good friend first.
Better his friend die than him.
Besides, even Ji Zhe felt that launching a new project with ten billion yuan was simply too outrageous, even if the idea had come from Liu Yutong. They weren’t acquiring an established physical industry. How could a new venture possibly need that much money at the very beginning?
But he didn’t dare ask.
“Chairwoman Liu, may I ask why?” Chu Hai said.
“Because AEG Capital has foreign investment behind it.”
With that single sentence, Chu Hai fell silent.
He seemed to understand what Liu Yutong meant.
In the field of online content, investment institutions with foreign backing were naturally subject to greater policy restrictions and regulatory scrutiny.
This was especially true for powerful new-media formats such as personalized content recommendations and short videos. Foreign shareholders often created additional obstacles for companies when it came to obtaining licenses and operating in compliance with regulations.
Liu Yutong’s higher demand was, to a certain extent, asking them to pay an additional risk premium.
Beyond that, she might also be planning to expand into overseas markets at the same time.
Otherwise, there would have been no reason for her to make him put up so much money.
Chu Hai had only guessed half the truth. Short-video platforms were certainly going to expand into overseas markets in the future.
But that wasn’t Liu Yutong’s real objective. She had actually set her sights on AEG Capital’s overseas operations—in other words, AEG headquarters. Her plan was to squeeze AEG’s Longguo branch so aggressively that it would be unable to keep sending money to headquarters. Then she would have a chance to acquire AEG Capital outright.
AEG might not be as famous as Gao Sheng and the other major investment firms, but it was still a huge organization. More importantly, it had an extensive network of contacts overseas, and every one of its LPs was a major player in their own right.
However, AEG seemed to have run into difficulties in recent years and might even be on the verge of a major crisis. In her previous life, it had managed to pull through thanks to financial support from its Longguo branch. This time, she intended to drain the branch’s cash flow in advance, preventing it from sending money overseas. Then she would see whether she could find an opportunity to acquire AEG.
If she could successfully take over AEG, her influence overseas would increase dramatically.
That was also one of the reasons she wanted to delay the IPO.
As long as the company didn’t go public, there would be no way for them to raise money and replenish their cash reserves.
Of course, she wasn’t about to tell Chu Hai any of this.
Judging from the look in Liu Yutong’s eyes, Chu Hai understood that he had no choice. He would have to come up with the money whether he wanted to or not.
But honestly, he still felt that eight billion yuan was far too much.
Normally, even the best projects would need several rounds of financing to reach that kind of scale. Yet Chairwoman Liu had merely presented them with a concept. They hadn’t even seen a product prototype, and she was already asking them to put up that much money.
What if it failed? What if they had misjudged the project this time?
What Chu Hai didn’t know was that failure was impossible.
The ten billion yuan they were investing was already a bargain. Once the project took off and its valuation began to skyrocket, even if they begged to get in with ten billion U.S. dollars, she might not be interested.
“President Ji, President Chu, that’s the first matter. There’s a second one,” Liu Yutong said.
The two men stared at her.
There was more?!
Liu Yutong continued, “For Wanhui Youxuan’s next round of financing, President Ji, your side will put up five billion yuan, while President Chu, your side will put up twenty billion.”
Ji Zhe fell silent.
Chu Hai fell silent as well.
Chu Hai quietly pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his blood pressure shoot upward at an uncontrollable rate.
Eight billion plus twenty billion—twenty-eight billion yuan in total.
If he really paid out that much, his ammunition stockpile would be completely drained. He might even have to liquidate some of his shares.
Ji Zhe was in a slightly better position. His total contribution would only come to seven billion yuan, more than twenty billion less than Chu Hai’s.
Thinking of that, he actually began to feel a little sorry for his fellow sufferer beside him.
“Chairwoman Liu, may I ask what this money is for?” Chu Hai asked.
“To wage war,” Liu Yutong replied succinctly.
“You’ve probably noticed that more and more group-buying websites have been appearing on the market recently. There are at least a thousand of them, large and small, and more and more investors are pouring in. Don’t I have to keep them under control?”
The year 2010 would later be known as the beginning of the “Thousand Group-Buying War.”
After Wanhui Youxuan’s group-buying model became a runaway success, it quickly set off an explosion throughout the entire internet startup and investment world.
For a time, entrepreneurs from the capital to Shenzhen rushed into the sector. Group-buying websites, large and small, sprang up like weeds.
Capital from every direction also scrambled to pour money into the market. Advertising wars, subsidy wars, and ground-promotion wars raged with such intensity that the entire industry descended into chaos.
Although Wanhui Youxuan currently held the undisputed top position in the group-buying industry, leading by a wide margin in both user numbers and partner merchants, its market share would eventually be eroded if it failed to keep investing in defense against more than a thousand competitors burning money at a frantic pace.
The group-buying sector had never been a place where early-mover advantage guaranteed an easy victory. Its defenses had to be built with truckload after truckload of real cash.
To protect its position in the market, she had to crush all those copycats.
It was impossible to eliminate every last one of them, but she absolutely would not allow Wanhui Youxuan to fall to second place.
She simply didn’t want to burn through all her own money. Her funds could play a much greater role elsewhere.
And since these two men happened to be sitting in front of her, she might as well burn their money first. Their cash was just sitting idle anyway.
Just as Chu Hai was at a loss for what to do, Liu Yutong spoke again.
“Of course, you do have another option: raise the money and pursue an IPO.”
Both men’s eyes lit up at once.
But Liu Yutong’s next sentence immediately shut that door again.
“However, I should warn you that the IPO valuations of Wanhui Youxuan and Weibo may not deliver the returns you’re expecting. Far too many rivals are watching us. Big Goose, Ali, Baidu—none of them are pushovers. They’ll certainly take advantage of the window before and after the IPO to launch a vicious attack.
“When that happens, not only might you be unable to sell your shares at a good price, but they could also join forces to short the stock. In the end, you might lose both your money and your shares.”
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai fell silent.
They knew Liu Yutong was telling the truth.
Going public had never been a cure-all. For a star company at the center of a storm, an IPO often meant exposing all its cards to the outside world. The slightest misstep could give others an opportunity to seize on a weakness and crush it.
And their opponents were all industry giants. None of them could be called charitable.
“So instead of handing your fate over to the stock price on the secondary market, you might as well keep it in your own hands.”
“I guarantee that within three years at most, those miscellaneous armies will disappear completely. At most, two or three players will survive to the end. By then, it shouldn’t be difficult for Wanhui Youxuan’s valuation to increase several dozen times over.”
Three years. Several dozen times the valuation.
That figure was enough to make any investor’s heart race.
Especially when it came from Liu Yutong—a woman who had never suffered a setback since starting her first business.
After a long silence, Ji Zhe was the first to speak.
“I’m in. Let’s do it!”
Chu Hai glanced at him, then at Liu Yutong. Finally, he nodded as well.
“I’m in too.”
Liu Yutong smiled faintly and extended her hand toward them.
“Welcome back as shareholders of the Wanlong Club.”
When the two men left the lounge, their steps felt almost weightless.
Once they got into the car and closed the doors, they simultaneously wiped away their tears.
How had this money disappeared so easily?
A few sentences, and several dozen billion yuan were gone.
Even robbing a bank couldn’t be this fast.
“President Ji, doesn’t something feel wrong to you?”
“Do you think we owed her something in a past life?”
Ji Zhe gave a distant reply. “Maybe. But it feels like we owe her even more in this life.”
The two seasoned veterans had spent more than a decade fighting their way through the investment world. Their combined personal wealth amounted to at least tens of billions of yuan, while the capital they controlled exceeded one hundred billion.
Yet at that moment, both of them had been fleeced by the same young woman to the point of questioning their entire existence.
“President Chu.”
“Hmm?”
“If I ever come to Chairwoman Liu again to discuss going public, I’m a dog.”
Chu Hai nodded heavily.
“So am I.”
