RBCT Chapter 1398 Attack (4k)
Chapter 1398 Attack (4k)
Chapter 1398 Attack (4k)
Fang Zhuo got the news in advance and felt warned, but still spent New Year's Eve with his family as usual.
There have been quite a few warnings, both overt and covert, in recent times. Although I heard them with certainty from a friend during such a traditional festival, it is not worth being too surprised.
It was already one in the morning before going to bed. Su Wei tucked in the quilt for Fang Xiaoman who had already fallen asleep, and asked with a smile, "Is there any bad news?"
Fang Zhuo was surprised: "Is there something written on my face?"
"Your President Fang is naturally calm even when faced with a catastrophe, but I can feel something is wrong." Su Wei said calmly.
Fang Zhuo hummed, and said, "Bingxin will probably be on Amei's selection list, and Yike can still hold on for a while. However, when Bingxin is officially released and some related news is released, Yike will have to go."
After all, Yike is a Nasdaq-listed company with a large market value and influence, but last year there was news that Washington had difficulty in mediation. This is a non-static downward adjustment of expectations, and the expectations of the entire market are continuing to decline.
Regarding the company's stock price and market value, Wall Street analysts have praised Yike's revenue and market over the past three months, but there is always a twist.
——The uncertainty in Yike’s global market is increasing.
Some analysts simply give simple judgments, while others list various recent news.
As of the Spring Festival, YiKe's market value not only failed to break through US$4000 billion, but instead fluctuated and fell to around US$3900 billion.
When Fang Zhuo talked about this matter years ago, he often used a word to describe it, "cold politics, hot economy."
Yike's business performance is outstanding, but geopolitical factors have been increasing.
"Amei's strict selection, Amei's strict selection..." Su Wei muttered the word twice, and felt that it was surprisingly appropriate. She asked, "When will Bingxin be included in the strict selection list?"
Fang Zhuo frowned: "This is really annoying. The earliest it will happen is next month, and the latest will not be later than June."
Su Wei understood that this was because they didn’t want Bing Xin to get through the first half of the year safely.
She took two steps, put her hand on Fang Zhuo's arm, and said, "So... it's time to work harder from Yi Ke to Bing Xin. Since you're on the list, that proves that Yan Xuan was the right choice."
Fang Zhuo nodded slightly: "I just feel sorry for Bingxin. If it continues to develop like this, it really has a chance to always be ahead. This is the result of the hard work of President Qiu, Professor Hu, Dr. Liang, and all the employees of Bingxin. What a pity, what a pity."
He said several regrets in a row. If the ice core was not affected by external forces, it could directly compete with the Taiwan reporter.
"Why don't you talk about Yi Ke?" Su Wei said with a smile.
"After all, I am much younger than Professor Hu and Dr. Liang. I have the patience and time to wait." Fang Zhuo shook his head. He did not plan to report the news to Bingxin in the next two days. After all, he wanted everyone to have a couple of days to celebrate the festival.
"Everyone is mentally prepared. Dr. Liang has already said that we should just have a taste of it first. At least we have accomplished this small goal." Su Wei consoled.
Fang Zhuo patted Weiwei's hand, walked to the window, looked at the night sky outside which was still occasionally lit up by fireworks, and said, "Well, Yike's secondary listing in Hong Kong will be accelerated."
Once Bingxin is included in Yanxuan, Yike will inevitably be greatly affected and will soon become the target of "everyone looking for faults". Just as a friend said, regulations will appear even if there are no regulations.
Regardless of whether this matter is compliant or not, whether Yike will file a lawsuit afterwards or not, that is a matter for later.
"This is a force majeure factor. Since it has come, we should accept it." Su Wei added, "Anyway, it has to be like this, let's do something to liven up the atmosphere."
Fang Zhuo glanced back and at this moment Weiwei seemed to have transformed into the CEO of Yigoo again, offering a little cunning suggestion.
He said helplessly: "If Y is not doing well, he will drag A down with him, right? Both sides will perish together, and Yiguo will take the top spot in the end."
Su Wei made a gesture of pulling her tie and laughed: "The mastermind only showed up at the end."
Fang Zhuo shook his head and put all the things in his heart. No matter how big the matter was, he had to wait until he woke up to deal with it.
The next morning, the first day of the Lunar New Year, snowflakes began to fall in Shanghai.
Fang Zhuo didn't do anything in the morning when he woke up. He just smiled and distributed red envelopes to younger generations, big and small. Then he kept warm by the fireplace, read the newspaper, and replied to text messages from his boss and friends.
Near noon, he received a New Year's greeting call from Wei Zhe. Of course, the New Year's greeting was just a traditional opening, and the main topic was advice from the investors of "Dada Taxi".
——Stop burning, it can’t be burned anymore, let’s merge it.
The taxi-hailing software market was fierce from October 2013 to the first half of 10. The war was gradually subsiding, but Uber's entry into China triggered a new round of money-burning subsidies.
In other words, this market has been burning for a full year and a half.
Looking back at domestic business competition, this kind of money-burning competition in terms of time and scale is also making history.
Someone simply estimated that the taxi software market has burned through at least 300 billion in the past year and a half. The first to be burned was Duji, which sold its taxi business to Uber. The next to be burned was Penguin. Didi sold part of its shares to Kuaidi, which basically accepted Alibaba's acquisition.
The market is now dominated by three companies: Uber, Kuaidi, and Dada.
Compared with the two giants behind Dada and Kuaidi, even the foreign company Uber cannot sustain this kind of indefinite market subsidies.
Yike certainly has no shortage of money, nor does it lack the ability to find investment. The same is true for Alibaba, which just went public and set an IPO record. On the contrary, Uber... despite its dominant position in the global market, must be cautious about its next decision.
The main force driving this merger is Japan's SoftBank Group.
Masayoshi Son first invested in Hua Xia’s Kuaidi and then in Dada. As if such investments were not satisfying enough, he finally invested in Uber abroad.
Therefore, seeing that the competition in the Chinese market was extremely fierce, as a common shareholder of the three companies, he advocated more healthy competition.
Before calling Mr. Fang, Wei Zhe had briefly discussed the matter with shareholders including IDG and Shenxin, but their attitudes were rather noncommittal.
He felt that this might still depend on Mr. Fang's intention.
Regardless of Dada's own wishes, the merger cannot proceed without Mr. Fang's approval.
"How do you merge the three companies? Isn't this a monopoly?" Fang Zhuo mentioned a word that he has heard frequently recently and responded to Wei Zhe with a smile.
"Masayoshi Son doesn't have a specific plan. He just thinks the current competition is not good for business, so he wants to help cool it down." Wei Zhe said truthfully.
Fang Zhuo asked, "Boss Wei, what do you think?"
Wei Zhe came from Alibaba. The work he was in charge of always involved money, but this was the first time he had seen a field as money-burning as a taxi-hailing software.
"The taxi market is indeed a bit overheated. Although users' usage habits have been cultivated, there is no end in sight for this competition, which is indeed a headache for Dada." Wei Zhe expressed some of his thoughts.
"If you can't see the end, then you can't see the end." Fang Zhuo said.
Wei Zhe made a transition: "Although we are troubled internally, we all believe that Dada will not be the first of the three companies to fall. No matter what happens to Alibaba and Uber, we have the will to persevere to the end."
Fang Zhuo laughed twice.
After a moment, he said: "I don't support the merger now on principle."
Wei Zhe waited for the next words. Usually, this kind of "in principle" would turn around.
However, he waited for nearly twenty seconds and there was no movement on the other end of the phone. Only then did he realize that this was probably Mr. Fang's principle.
“Mr. Fang, when do you think the market situation will become clear?” Wei Zhe could only look for Mr. Fang’s underlying meaning. Since it was not “a merger now”, he might still support it in the future.
"Who do you think is more likely to give up first, Alibaba or Uber?" Fang Zhuo asked.
Wei Zhe pondered and replied, "Uber."
He then gave the reason: "Alibaba has just gone public and has plenty of money to spend. Moreover, it made big moves before the New Year and increased subsidies for its taxi-hailing software. They are obviously more aggressive. I think Uber will consider the cost of winning the Chinese market more."
Uber has not yet gone public, and it probably has no plans to go public in the next few years. The pressure it faces may be greater than that of the other two domestic companies.
"Okay, Dada will hold a meeting in a few days, and I'll ask Qi He to go there. As for when the merger will be appropriate in the future, let's wait until Uber is driven out of the Chinese market." Fang Zhuo made a decision and said, "Ali has a strong desire to attack before the New Year, so the competition to be the first to set off fireworks after the New Year should start with Dada."
He went on to say: "It's not just Dada. I'll ask CEO Lei to come over and see how our businesses can be integrated. Dada and Mi Tuan will both be burned. I want to put pressure on Alibaba's electronic payment business."
When Wei Zhe heard Mr. Fang's decisive words, he didn't know whether to be surprised or happy.
Although the merger was rejected, Mr. Fang's words prove that capital is still not receding, and will generate greater momentum.
As a former senior executive of Alibaba, he is very clear about the significance of electronic payment. As the so-called two polar companies, they are the only ones capable of continuing to confront each other in multiple fields such as e-commerce, payment, and maps.
The other two, Du Ji and Penguin, have already fallen behind.
According to Mr. Fang, the competition with Alibaba is likely to become increasingly fierce this year, and the promotion of electronic payment by Yike itself is also a huge expense.
Finally, he wished Mr. Fang a happy new year. After hanging up the phone, he digested the news for a while and called IDG's head Xiong Xiaoge again.
"Mr. Xiong, Dada will not accept Masayoshi Son's merger proposal." Wei Zhe made the decision first.
Xiong Xiaoge spoke slowly: "Dada's decision...has it been carefully considered? SoftBank called yesterday, right?"
"Yes, we are very cautious. Not only that, we will increase subsidies in the new year to further occupy the market." Wei Zhe continued to make the second decision.
Xiong Xiaoge spoke faster this time, and his attitude became clearer: "Mr. Wei, Dada's current subsidies are already very large, and its market share is now the largest in China. Do you think it is necessary to increase subsidies under this situation?"
Regarding the current situation of the taxi-hailing industry burning money, he was vaguely worried in his heart. He really didn't expect that this thing would burn to this extent. It would be fine if it didn't merge and maintain the status quo, but now they are going to intensify the efforts. So, doesn't Dada have to continue to raise large sums of funds?
Who gave you the courage?
Liang Jingru?
Wei Zhe said with certainty: "Yes, this year we want to see another rival fall, whether it's Kuaidi or Uber."
Xiong Xiaoge frowned and said, "Boss Wei, I don't want to interrupt..."
Wei Zhe interrupted, “In addition, Dada is also cooperating with Yike’s attack in the electronic payment market.”
Xiong Xiaoge suddenly calmed down and said, "Oh, it's not Fish Leong, it's Mr. Fang who gave you the courage."
As China's largest investor, it is difficult for him to change his tone immediately. However, the initiative in this matter is obviously on Yi Ke's side.
Xiong Xiaoge was silent for a few seconds and said, "The competition in electronic payment is indeed very fierce. If you look at it this way, it won't just be Dada that will participate?"
Wei Zhe praised in his heart that Mr. Xiong’s brain was still quick.
"I will arrange a meeting with Mr. Lei in a few days. In the first quarter, we will also do some in-depth integration with AutoNavi Maps. Judging from Mr. Fang's opinion, the efforts this year will be greater. Alibaba is very proud, and Yike will have to respond." He replied.
When Xiong Xiaoge heard this, the first thing he thought of was not the electronic payment dispute between Alibaba and Yike, but the situation that Yike is facing now.
Will Yike start fighting with Ali from now on?
He did not continue to argue with Wei Zhe on the phone. After confirming the meeting time, he turned around and called Mr. Fang to inquire about his plans for the year.
Fang Zhuo has nothing to hide in this regard. Short videos do still need time to accumulate, and Sun Tongyu is also a hidden arrow, but electronic payment is an important competition and he has no intention of backing down.
"Is there any new news about Yi Ke?" Xiong Xiaoge wondered if Mr. Fang had some more certain good news, such as having reached an agreement with Washington.
"There is no specific news. Anyway, Yike will be listed in Hong Kong." Fang Zhuo sighed, "No matter what happens over there, I have confidence in the domestic market."
Xiong Xiaoge was thinking: "Mr. Fang, what do you mean?"
"Depend on you guys." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "We all came out together, don't we have to be loyal to each other at this time?"
Yike naturally does not need to rely on others to promote its own Yizhifu. However, Dada, Miduan and other companies within the Yike system are all independently operated, so the money is not all paid by Yike.
Xiong Xiaoge suddenly felt a little anxious: "Boss Fang, what is your wealth now..."
"This is how I take care of you. Otherwise, if I don't let you pay at this time, I would be embarrassed to ask you for help when I have the chance in the future, right?" Fang Zhuo said casually.
Xiong Xiaoge let out a sigh. Never mind. Now those who want to pay will probably have to line up. What Mr. Fang said does make sense...
(End of this chapter)