Compared with the arms race in the first half, the landmark event that kicked off the second half may start with Mobike’s come from behind.
Zhou Dongsheng originally took the time to come to Shanghai to participate in the shutdown ceremony of "I'm Not the God of Medicine", and after doing a wave of marketing operations on the Internet, he originally thought about returning home to Yangcheng.
After all, both supply chain matters and the snail noodle project that is in full swing are concentrated in the two major regions of eastern Guangdong and western Guangdong.
For this reason, Zhou Dongsheng was naturally based in Yangcheng so that it would be more convenient for him to check the progress of the project. Although he, the hands-off boss, could come and go freely, the progress would not be delayed with or without him...
However, Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but wanted to join in the fun from time to time, and went to the front line to make his presence felt, to show his spirit of taking the lead...
Ahem, of course, one of the main reasons may be that I returned to Yangcheng and experienced the joy of a long separation being better than a new love, and a long drought being greeted by sweet rain.
As most wealthy people accumulate wealth, their debts often increase simultaneously. Zhou Dongsheng is no exception. As his assets continue to grow like a snowball, the amount of debts also increases exponentially.
It's just that other people's debts can be offset by paying real money, but all Zhou Dongsheng's debts are romantic debts, which are not necessarily easy to solve.
It wasn't until this moment that Zhou Dongsheng suddenly woke up and understood how advanced Principal Wang was in dealing with emotions. Being able to do so neatly and without any sloppiness was undoubtedly an ability.
Perhaps, this is the so-called "passing among thousands of flowers without a single leaf touching you"?
It's just that for Zhou Dongsheng today, he is still in a very different state. If he can't repay this romantic debt, then he can't pay it back. It's better to be a love-struck old man than to be a real old man...
Ahem, back to the topic, just when Zhou Dongsheng was planning to return home, he received a call from Hu Weiwei, the now proud founder of Mobike.
However, in a few words, Zhou Dongsheng roughly understood the ins and outs.
Since the beginning of 2017, Mobike has completed nearly three rounds of financing, with a total financing amount exceeding US$300 million, including the introduction of Temasek, a local snake, in order to enter the Singapore market, and a strategic cooperation with the famous Foxconn.
There is no doubt that such a large sum of money has provided all-round protection for the development of Mobike, which is enough to give Mobike the capital and confidence to catch up and surpass the small yellow bikes.
For this reason, in order to achieve this small goal in one go, Mobike naturally needs more chips and confidence. The simplest and most crude way is naturally to launch another round of financing.
Even though the financing of US$300 million has just been obtained, competition in the shared bicycle industry has undoubtedly entered a fierce stage!
Although everyone is racing against time to grab a piece of the market cake, in the final analysis, the market cake is only so big. If you want to eat more, others can only eat less.
For this reason, when the competition becomes more and more fierce, the costs and prices you need to pay will also become higher. As long as you don't want to be eliminated, you must ensure that you have enough ammunition at all times!
Otherwise, on this entrepreneurial road that is like sailing against the current, if you do not advance or retreat, once you are unable to continue, you will directly fall out of the first echelon and lose the qualification to compete for the top spot in the industry.
Only by constantly fighting for market share can we use this as a bargaining chip for financing. Only by completing rounds of financing can we avoid being consumed by competitors in this arms race.
Although hundreds of shared bicycle companies have emerged in China in an attempt to get a share of the pie through differentiated competition, when the industry enters a stage of fierce competition, it is only a matter of time before they are eliminated.
This is also a necessary process in the development process of any industry. When the Matthew Effect is formed, it is basically the time when the coffin of an industry is finalized.
If we look at it from a game perspective, is this actually a battle royale game like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds?
Every time the industry shrinks, there are always players who will be eliminated, and only by continuously collecting supplies and accumulating enough capital can it be possible to survive the brutal competition round after round until the final round arrives.
But compared to the game, the reality is undoubtedly much crueler. At the very least, if you want to be Voldemort and enter the finals, there is basically no way to do it. The only way is to constantly "shoot hard" head-on.
After several rounds of shrinking, Mobike and Little Yellow Bike have undoubtedly entered the finals ahead of schedule, and occupy sufficient geographical advantages. Even the bunkers have been built to be impregnable.
The next thing to do is to use the solid bunker to further expand your advantage and block other opponents' paths through means such as "blocking bridges". In this case, the poison circle alone can kill the opponent.
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For this reason, Mobike has once again launched a new round of financing needs non-stop, and this time its appetite is huge. In just three months, its appetite has doubled, and its valuation has naturally followed suit.
When it comes to the E round of financing, there is a high probability that this will also be the last round of financing. If it does not succeed, it will be a failure. If it cannot achieve the ultimate goal of listing, it will most likely face an unsustainable end.
Again, after all, institutions are not philanthropic, and they cannot continuously provide blood to enterprises. Once there is not enough future expected support, institutions that are keen on throwing away money will no longer be a throwing away money.
Naturally, such a large amount of financing needs to be informed to all shareholders, and Zhou Dongsheng and Hu Weiwei naturally have to convey it in person.
After all, Mobike can achieve its current heights because of at least one-third of Zhou Dongsheng's contribution to the military medal, whether it was the urgent financing, the spokesperson who provided help in times of need, and the support given to traffic...
From Hu Weiwei's perspective, Zhou Dongsheng's contribution cannot be erased in any way. People have a scale in their hearts to distinguish closeness and distance.
Zhou Dongsheng has sufficient priority in his heart, at least among the company's shareholders, so it is natural that he must fully consider Zhou Dongsheng's ideas.
Even though Zhou Dongsheng took the opportunity to cash out in the last round of financing, Hu Weiwei also gave priority to meeting Zhou Dongsheng's needs. After all, Dongsheng Group has a big business now, and the resources required are higher than Mobike!
Therefore, when Hu Weiwei first told Zhou Dongsheng about this matter, to a certain extent, this can be regarded as a type of "inside information", but before going public, companies do not have the obligation to open their hearts to the market.
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With the arrival of a new round of financing, Zhou Dongsheng is undoubtedly facing a multiple-choice question. Now he holds nearly 10% of the shares, which is Zhou Dongsheng's only remaining bargaining chip.
On this card table belonging to Mobike, a new round of financing means the arrival of a new round of reshuffle, and what is in front of Zhou Dongsheng, a veteran player, is nothing more than a few options.
Just like Texas Hold'em, you can follow, raise, or sit still and choose to wait and see, and finally fold and cash out!
As for how to make a decision, it will naturally test the player Zhou Dongsheng’s judgment.
Zhou Dongsheng recalled carefully, and in his impression, Mobike’s final fate was that it was acquired and ended successfully.
As for the details of the price, Zhou Dongsheng naturally can't remember clearly, but judging from this ending, in the current round of financing, Mobike's valuation has at least reached a sub-peak.
in height.
Compared with after the completion of financing, after a period of development, the valuation will undoubtedly have room for further improvement, but by that time, there may not be a window period to cash out.
After all, chasing the rise and killing the fall is the norm in the market, but buying the bottom and picking the top is a taboo in the market. Once the future expectations are almost overdrawn, both the market and investors will tend to be rational, mostly choose to wait and see, and will no longer blindly enter the market.
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If you want to find a new buyer at a higher price, it will undoubtedly be much more difficult. Compared with retail investors in the secondary market who are keen to hunt for bottoms and tops, many investors in the primary market are obviously more cautious.
They are more willing to sell down than hit the top.
Therefore, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion. Even if the valuation of Mobike can be further improved in the future, the price for cashing out may not be higher than it is now, but may be further reduced.
Therefore, it may be the safest choice to cash out at this stage while there are still enough future expectations as support.
After all, Mobike is okay, but if not, it will end up being acquired. Even if the price is lowered is an inevitable result, at least there is an "honest person" who is willing to take over, so that many shareholders can work together to solve the problem.
But the little yellow car...if it runs too slowly, it might be buried in it together. In my last life, I queued up to get my deposit refunded. Is it possible that I will have to join the debt collection queue in this life?
Thinking of this, Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but have an idea. The world is wide in an instant. As long as he can make a profit and leave the market in time, what's the matter with a slight loss? If he doesn't give others a little sweetness, how can others be willing to be the taker?
As for how to give this "sweetness"... Zhou Dongsheng suddenly thought of a very dirty idea in his mind. When this idea came up, Zhou Dongsheng had to sigh with emotion.
"Sure enough, those who play tactics have a dirty mind!"
Then he smiled, and the plan came to mind, and he was already ready to make a move, and an impulse arose spontaneously that he couldn't wait to realize it.
………
The next day, the conference room at the headquarters of Mobike Technology in Shanghai was packed with seats, and all shareholder representatives were present. This was also a meeting held by Mobike Technology for the next round of financing.
Zhou Dongsheng was bored, so he simply attended in person, taking Zhang Xiaoguang with him. During the dinner, Zhou Dongsheng also saw many familiar old faces, such as Li Chaohui, the representative of Tenda Investment.
This old acquaintance had countless dealings with Zhou Dongsheng. Not only did they have common interests in several projects, but he also wanted to get involved in the Dongsheng Group's cake, but he couldn't find a suitable opportunity to do so.
But now, watching Zhou Dongsheng soar into the sky, missing out on such a potential stock, this feels even more uncomfortable than losing tens of billions.
Ahem, Mr. Li must have had a similar feeling when he looked at Tengda (funny).
"How come Director Jay has time to come over to attend the meeting in person? With your presence, this meeting will be a great success..." Li Chaohui teased kindly.
Old God Zhou Dongsheng was sitting there. Hearing this, he couldn't help but feel moved. He pretended to throw out a bait casually, "Since the establishment of the group, my financial resources have been a bit stretched. Recently, the funding gap has been a bit large. I am not planning to sell it.
Is Mr. Li interested in some family wealth?"
As soon as he said this, Zhou Dongsheng had no intention of lowering his voice. He immediately attracted the attention of all the shareholders at the table. It can be said that the speaker was intentional and the listener was even more attentive.
"Oh? If Jay Chou was short of money for development, he would have said it earlier. There would be no need to sell off the assets. I think as long as Jay Chou is willing to speak up, many institutions will be willing to use money to support the development of Dongsheng Group, including us, Tengda."
When Li Chaohui heard this, his spirit was slightly shaken, and he said with dignity.
"It's a good relationship, but I can handle it for the time being. If you need anything, you must be the first to talk to Mr. Li. After all, the good news should not go to outsiders." Zhou Dongsheng said with a haha.
It’s just that the previously revealed intention to cash out has undoubtedly attracted the attention of all interested people present, and as fellow shareholders of Mobike, they are undoubtedly potential buyers, and they are also the group of people with the strongest willingness to take over.
After all, shared bicycles are booming now, and there are many people who are optimistic about its future. However, the chips are very limited, and there is no chance to raise money. Unexpectedly, someone is willing to take action...
Moreover, Zhou Dongsheng's motive of profit-making and leaving the market is not inconsistent, especially compared with the $2 million ante when he first came to the table, Zhou Dongsheng's current chips have increased more than a hundred times.
It is reasonable to choose to make a profit and leave the market. After all, the ultimate goal of investment is naturally to make a profit.
And this "unintentional remark" did not affect the meeting as usual. Hu Weiwei, who was sitting in the chair, looked as normal and didn't seem to feel anything was wrong.
"...Based on the estimation of the future market and the needs of the next stage of development, we hope to seek US$600 million in financing at a valuation of US$2.5 billion, and we will also pay the corresponding equity..."
Hu Weiwei put forward his conditions concisely and concisely, and all the shareholders in the audience were like old gods. The business was nothing more than asking for high prices and paying back the money.
This principle applies to the trivial details of merchants and to the commercial exchanges between countries. It is basically the same as the things used as bargaining chips, and the prices are different.
Zhou Dongsheng is not in a hurry. If he uses this valuation, wouldn't he be able to cash out US$250 million easily with the 10% of the chips in his hand? Plus the previous profits.
This short-term investment, which lasted for nearly a year and a half, has already created a return of nearly two hundred times for itself, not to mention the potential gains.
Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but sigh, these pigs selling in the spotlight are really making a lot of money!
