"Didn't you say that the publicity director of Wanli Travel is your good brother? He was always the first to get the news before, but this time you don't even know?"
"Ask, but I won't let you know. Anyway, you will know in a while."
"Mysterious..."
Smoking is sometimes a social skill. I don’t know why the gossip between women in TV dramas always happens in the bathroom. Anyway, men mostly exchange information in the smoking area.
A middle-aged reporter with a big belly put out his cigarette butt. When he returned indoors, he found that his young apprentice had already taken a seat and set up the machine.
"Master, what news do you want to announce about today's Wanli trip?"
"How do I know?"
The middle-aged reporter didn't find out the news in advance and couldn't show off in front of his apprentice who had just joined the industry, so his tone was not pleasant.
While he was smoking a cigarette, everyone was almost here now. The management of Wanli Travel, headed by Lin Yi, appeared on the stage.
Even reporters who have not paid much attention to or know much about the taxi-hailing industry or this company before will be able to recognize it as long as they have done their homework before coming here.
"The battle is not small."
A host walked out of the stage to control the order of the scene, and then said:
"Today I invite all friends from the media to come over. There are two important things to announce. First, I would like to invite the company's CFO, Ms. Liu Jiani."
Jenny Liu took the microphone and said simply: "I am honored to report to you that the company has completed the latest round of financing of US$2 billion."
"We are as always grateful for the support of all investors, especially Factory A, which continues to lead this round of financing..."
When the people in the audience heard the keyword "2 billion US dollars", they didn't care about the clichés that followed her.
"Another 2 billion!"
The young reporter seemed very surprised when he heard this amount. The middle-aged reporter felt that his reaction was startled, and he commented very experiencedly:
"Two billion is not too much. When Uber raised US$3.5 billion not long ago, Dudu's Liu Qing once publicly commented that it was nothing more than this, implying that their next round of financing may be even higher than this."
The young reporter still said excitedly: "But Wanli Travel's last round of financing was at the beginning of this year, which means that the company's financing amount since 2016 has reached 4 billion US dollars!"
After being reminded like this, it seemed to be true, but the middle-aged reporter quickly realized, when has it been my turn to teach a young boy a lesson?
"Do your job well. What you should consider is whether you can gain valuable news by interviewing the other side about this matter."
With his tone, the little reporter didn't dare to refute anymore, looking like he was being taught.
After Jenny Liu announced the news on the stage, she did not give the media a chance to ask questions and directly returned the microphone to the host.
The media in the audience were also very patient. They still remembered that it was said at the beginning that there were two things to announce. Generally speaking, the second thing is more important than the first.
At the same time, they are also curious in their hearts. Raising US$2 billion is indeed good news and deserves a special mention, but what else is more important?
The second news was announced by Lin Yilai. He didn't give in. What he said in a calm tone caused an uproar in the audience.
"We announce that Wanli Travel has reached an agreement with Xindudu, and the two companies will merge from now on. This merger has received widespread support from Dudu shareholders, especially Goose Factory, which has contributed most to this..."
"Fuck!"
Financial media who are familiar with the trends in the taxi-hailing industry and even the entire Internet industry in the past two years will not be surprised by the merger.
But the problem is, there are no signs.
And based on the balance of power between the two companies, if Liu Qing was sitting on the stage today and announced the merger of Wanli Travel, they would not be so surprised.
What qualifications does Wanli Travel have to merge with the other party?
Liu Qing didn't show up today, nor did any of her men show up. If Lin Yi hadn't personally told the news in front of everyone, many people would have laughed it off as a rumor.
"Very good!"
Compared to other people's surprises, the young reporter simply expressed surprise and attracted the attention of several colleagues around him.
His master asked angrily: "Why are you happy?"
The young reporter replied excitedly: "Didn't you hear what he said? After the merger, the users and data of the original Tuk-Tuk Taxi and Uber apps will be unified into Wanli Travel, and then these two apps will cease operations after a period of maintenance.
"
"The unprecedented defeat of Dudu Taxi and Liu Qing is the punishment imposed on them by public opinion. It is the glory of us media people and a just sanction!"
Of course other people knew what he was talking about. It had only been a few days since the ride-along incident, but how could two people be killed to bring down such a company?
A middle-aged reporter can judge based on experience that this is impossible.
"Stop dreaming. I'm sure Wanli Travel has made many transactions in private. How different can they be from Dudu..."
At this point, he suddenly wanted to understand a problem and suddenly realized: "I know why they wanted to raise funds first, because the previous valuation was not enough!"
This guess is correct.
Since 2014, the valuation of the taxi-hailing industry has basically doubled every year, which is consistent with the growth rate of business scale.
This time Wanli Travel raised US$2 billion, and its post-investment valuation has reached US$18 billion. It was barely reached after many users came in from rivals after the free ride incident.
One trades off the other. During this merger, the two parties integrated at a ratio of 1:1. This was actually a disadvantage to the other party, because when Dudu Kuadu merged with Uber, its valuation had already reached US$20 billion.
The reason why investors agreed to complete this merger at a slightly underestimated price was not because they were willing to pay the price for the company to go offline and suffer business losses.
Lin Yi showed great sincerity and made two promises.
One is to raise the post-merger valuation to a new level in the next round of financing to ensure that investors who invested in any previous round will not incur book losses.
The second is that from next year, that is, in 2017, the merged Wanli Travel will achieve profitability in a full financial year for the first time.
On the day this news was announced, at least dozens of mainstream investment institutions celebrated because this merger meant that the three-year war in the taxi-hailing industry had finally come to an end.
Who's winning?
What's important? What's important is that you don't have to burn money anymore!
After Lin Yi and the others announced the two pieces of news, they did not accept any additional interviews and left first, leaving behind a bunch of reporters who were still confused.
Some of them were smart enough to immediately contact another party, and only after confirming the news of the merger from there did they dare to believe it.
The middle-aged reporter later rejected the young apprentice's messy descriptions such as "just sanctions" and gave a professional report.
"The smoke has cleared: the dust of the taxi-hailing war has settled, and the new king of long-distance travel has ascended the throne."