Although Lin Yi vowed to be with Wang Xing, it turns out that this road is not easy.
Years later, the company that had just started construction almost announced the completion of a new round of financing worth US$1 billion.
One billion US dollars is an astronomical figure for other companies, but it can only be said to be ordinary for Dudu Kuadu. After all, they already received US$2.4 billion in the last round.
Although the valuation has not been announced, it goes without saying that it will definitely increase.
The market had generally predicted that the next round of financing would be higher than the previous round. Since only US$1 billion was raised this time, it means there will be more action within the next year.
None of the media paid much attention to Du Kuadu's financing, but they still celebrated it grandly internally.
After all, two major competitors, Wanli Travel and Uber, received US$2 billion one after another a year ago, which had a certain impact on the morale of both companies. This is the best response.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone!"
Dudu's entire financing team has been managed by her since Liu Qing joined, and a considerable number of professional talents Liu Qing poached from the financial industry have been added to the staff.
Moreover, such talents also enrich many other departments of the company.
Although Cai Chongxin from Factory A and Liu Chiping from Goose Factory have similar backgrounds, they both unreservedly embrace the "investment banking system" and make eclectic appointments, which is rare at least among domestic IT companies.
of.
This is directly related to Liu Qing himself.
Therefore, Cheng Wei did not interfere with their work. In fact, he did not even worry about the details. He only spoke highly of their achievements and their significant contributions to the entire company.
At this time, Cheng Wei was still in a very happy mood. After the haze of the previous year was gone, the boss was happy and naturally everyone in the company could breathe a sigh of relief.
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"Jean, you did a great job this time. With the $1 billion in the account, I have a lot of confidence in Wanli and Uber."
"However, the next round of financing cannot be taken lightly. I don't know what other tricks they can pull off. Their confidence must be completely destroyed."
Cheng Wei praised Liu Qing both privately and publicly, and the second half of his words represented Liu Qing's most important value to him.
"Judging from the current progress, it will be at least the middle of the year. Although investors are willing to support us, they do not want us to treat this cash-burning strategy as the norm."
Cheng Wei gave her a strange look, not because there was anything wrong with what Liu Qing said, but because it was correct nonsense.
Sure enough, she had something else to say.
"Will, actually I have another good news to tell you today. This may be another opportunity for us all to change our destiny."
Cheng Wei was very interested: "Oh?"
Liu Qing thought about it and spoke very cautiously: "I have talked to Uber twice during this period, and their attitude has been greatly relaxed."
"oh?"
It was still the same modal word, but Cheng Wei's mood was completely different, because if what Liu Qing said was true, it would indeed be an unexpected surprise.
Almost all of them have had contact with Uber.
However, Kalanick's previous attitude was very arrogant. Lin Yi and Cheng Wei both experienced this, so there was no consensus at all in the negotiations between them.
This is also an important reason why Cheng Wei always felt that he had to win Wanli Travel before he could covet Uber.
Could it be said that Lin Yi is the only one who refuses to take soft and hard measures, while Kalanick, the weakling, is actually strong on the outside but weak on the inside?
"Uber's subsidiaries in this region have been split separately, and the shareholding ratio has been greatly diluted after two large financings."
"Kalanick made a bold statement in March last year that he would spend $1 billion to hit this market, and it has been nearly a year now."
"Uber has definitely spent more than 1 billion US dollars, but it has not destroyed the market. In terms of market share, it is still behind Ten Thousand Miles Travel."
"You may think that it is easier for Kalanick to raise funds than us, but Uber was established earlier than us and has been losing money for so many years. In fact, the pressure from investors is very high."
"That's why he agreed to discuss with us the business merger of the two companies, but he also had preconditions."
Cheng Wei was not surprised. He never believed that pie would fall from the sky.
"What conditions?"
"Kalanick hopes that after the merger, Uber will become Dudu Kuaidu's largest shareholder and sit on our board of directors. Of course, this company will mainly be managed by our team."
Liu Qing added: "At the same time, Kalanick hopes that we can cut ties with Lyft in the United States and Grab in Southeast Asia, which we have invested in before, and use Uber's services overseas."
"He also hopes that we can distance ourselves from Uber and make it clear that we will not conduct business outside the mainland and continue to compete with them."
The companies she mentioned are all Uber's competitors around the world, and they all cooperated with them to form an "anti-Uber alliance" in order to make Uber miserable.
Now what Uber means is equivalent to: Don’t rebel against me with them, you go with me to fight against them. The advantage is that the boss of this territory will be yours from now on.
"If you can't beat them, then join, that's right."
Cheng Wei smiled unkindly, "But Kalanick didn't understand something. It's not that we can't beat him at Uber now. At least in this market, he has nothing to do with us."
"Uber's business in this region, if it spends US$1 billion, its valuation based on scale will only be at most one-quarter to one-fifth of ours."
"Who gave him the confidence to impose so many restrictions on us after the merger, telling us not to allow this or that?"
"If that's the case, his current plan is basically the same as when he came up and said he wanted to acquire at least 40% of us."
"Almost two years have passed, and Kalanick still has not recognized the reality, and does not even respect the basic facts of this moment and the other moment."
"I don't see his sincerity!"
Liu Qing said expressionlessly: "Kalanick believes that his greatest sincerity is his willingness to discuss the merger with me."
"ha!"
Cheng Wei felt very ridiculous in his heart, but now he was facing Liu Qing and not Kalanick himself, so he didn't throw away any harsh ridicule.
"Well, the fact that he can relax this means that after burning money all year long last year, even Uber has already felt the pain."
"These conditions are definitely unacceptable, but I am willing to give him this face. Please help me make an appointment, and we can discuss it in detail in person."
Of course, such a big matter required the first person in charge of the company to come forward to discuss it in person, and Liu Qing silently agreed.
After she left, Cheng Weicai suddenly had a strange thought:
Traveling thousands of miles was unexpectedly difficult, and I almost broke my tooth. It is normal to change your mind under such circumstances.
But when did Liu Qing come into contact with Uber, and why didn’t he tell me in advance?