The real business world had always been cruel. Every successful businessman followed a principle: Always dig a grave for the opponent in advance, and then drag the opponent into it step by step. Since Li Mu's rebirth, many things had been done in this way. He just did not expect that Boss Ma would play the same trick on him now.
Boss Ma's vision was very accurate. It could not even be described as accurate. It had to be described as vicious. He was the kind of master in martial arts novels who was highly skilled in martial arts and had a keen vision. He could see where the opponent's real weakness was at a glance, and then seize the opponent's weakness to achieve a precise kill.
Boss Ma saw that the only weakness of Taobao was logistics, so he took drastic measures against Taobao. This move was really beautiful, and Li Mu did not even know about it.
At present, Boss Ma already had the absolute strength to make Taobao have no other express delivery resources available except for the postal service. The capacity of the postal service's EMS was already a bit overwhelmed by Mango-ME. How could there be extra capacity to take care of other things? However, the real bulk orders for Taobao in the future came from the sellers on Taobao as well as a large number of cooperative manufacturers. If Ali Taobao were to lock down Taobao offline, the sellers of Taobao would probably be at a loss, not to mention Li Mu's flagship store business.
The overall capacity of EMS in 2002 was actually a pool of mud. The market demand was small, the state-owned enterprises were weak, and the system was complex and bloated. These were the drawbacks of EMS, which was also the root of the postal system's problems. If the postal service grasped the opportunity of e-commerce to take off, with its resources, strength, and status, the domestic logistics in the future would not have anything to do with companies such as Shunfeng and XTong.
Unfortunately, it was a failure. Although it was a failure, it was also the only logistics channel that could not be acquired by Boss Ma.
Liu Xiaodong deliberately did his homework all night. He studied the situation and characteristics of Out-of-Day Express, analyzed the boss Chen Ping's style and routine, and formulated a few preliminary cooperation plans. The best would be to sign an acquisition contract, the second would be to hold a controlling stake, and the worst would be to invest but not be able to hold a controlling stake. As for an acquisition, Liu Xiaodong believed that Li Mu would definitely not agree.
A merger and acquisition is to bring in the other party as a whole and dilute a portion of his shares to the other party. It is equivalent to the merger of the two companies, turning the other party's company's owner into his own company's shareholder. Both parties will be connected by marriage and become one. But this also depends on the size of the two companies and their future development. Taobao is so strong, and it will be disadvantageous for him to merge with anyone now, unless it is a company whose growth is similar to his own. How can Li Mu be willing to use Taobao's shares to merge with a courier company? Even Liu Yidong would not be happy about it.
The next afternoon, Liu Yidong wore a shirt and trousers, tidied himself up, and drove to the Out-of-Day Express alone. With the guidance of the receptionist, he arrived at Chen Ping's office on time and faced Chen Ping.
Chen Ping was very enthusiastic towards Liu Yidong. He took the initiative to get up from his desk, shook hands, and greeted, "Oh, CEO Liu, I've long heard of your name. I finally have the opportunity to meet you today!"
Liu Yidong replied modestly, "CEO Chen, you must be joking. Actually, I have long wanted to pay a visit, but I have been busy recently and could not find the time."
Chen Ping nodded his head and smiled. "Taobao's business is growing by leaps and bounds, and as the CEO, you must be the busiest one."
As he spoke, Chen Ping invited Liu Xiaodong to sit down and personally boiled water for tea.
Liu Yidong took out his name card and exchanged it with Chen Ping. He was not in a rush to get down to business, but chatted with Chen Ping while he brewed the tea.
Liu Yidong complimented him a bit and also complimented Out-of-Home Express. Chen Ping was not modest at all. He smiled and said, "From last year until this year, we have invested heavily in two sets of information systems. One is ERP, and the other is MIS. With these two systems, Out-of-Home Express's information processing capabilities are at the forefront of all the express delivery companies in the country. This year, our three logistics bases have been completed, greatly reducing the time needed for express delivery across the country. Right now, our express deliveries from Yanjing to Shanghai can be completed in three days. This is unique in the industry."
Liu Yidong nodded his head in agreement. He couldn't help feeling that this was a little difficult to deal with. Chen Ping was already bragging right from the start. He didn't even need to think about it to know that he was trying to put on a good show.
Chen Ping continued, "Now that spring is coming for the logistics industry, Out-of-Day Express also wants to seize this opportunity to develop. So we have been planning to further expand our logistics capacity in the near future."
Liu Yidong complimented, "Mr. Chen really has a unique vision!"
Chen Ping smiled. "I can't say that I have a unique vision. I can only say that I'm trying my best to keep up with the trends. Isn't e-commerce popular now, just like your Taobao website? I've been paying attention to the trends in this area, and I feel that this is a very good path!"
Liu Yidong thought to himself, you're in the logistics industry. Why can't you focus on your own logistics and focus on e-commerce?
However, Liu Yidong said, "Although e-commerce is trendy, it's not easy to do. Many times, I feel like I'm in a terrible situation."
Chen Ping nodded and said, "Indeed, we spent a lot of effort building the IT processing system. For an e-commerce company like yours, you must have invested a lot of manpower and resources in the back-end database, right?"
Liu Yidong smiled. "It's not just not small, it's shockingly large."
Thinking back to the front-end development of Taobao website, as well as the technical support for algorithms, orders, and data analysis, there were very few companies in the country that could achieve this. This was because the cost was too high. If they didn't take the wrong path, it would take a long time. Luckily, Li Mu didn't bother with his own people. Although Taobao website was a joint venture between the two of them, the entire Taobao website's technical development used Makino Technology's core technology. This included the awesome Fang Xudong. These were considered Li Mu's own resources brought in to help develop Taobao website. Logically speaking, Chen Ping should also bear 10% of the cost, but Li Mu had never schemed with him on such matters. From this, it could be seen how difficult it was to find a reliable partner.
At this moment, Chen Ping's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Liu Yidong and couldn't help but smile. "I also have a very strong idea recently. I want to build an e-commerce platform based on our logistics. Mr. Liu is an expert in this area. Why don't you give me some advice and give me some ideas?"
Liu Yidong was surprised and anxious. He wanted to talk to Liu Yidong about acquisition or cooperation, but he hadn't finished laying the groundwork and brewing before Chen Ping said something like this. He wanted to do e-commerce? If this was true, wouldn't he become a competitor of Taobao website?
Liu Yidong couldn't help but frown and look at Chen Ping. He muttered in his heart, "Normally, as an industrialist rooted in the offline world, if you really have foresight, you should have positioned yourself well and made it clear that you are a downstream industry of e-commerce! Only by finding this position, desperately developing, and seizing the opportunity of e-commerce can you rise. But you're actually coveting your upstream industry. Are you too arrogant, or is your brain squeezed by a door? Bridgestone and Michelin tires are so awesome, ZF and Aisin gearboxes are so awesome, but when did they ever think about getting involved in the manufacturing of complete vehicles? What's more, you're a logistics company with low technical content and no online experience. You want to cross over into e-commerce?
Seeing that Liu Yidong didn't speak, Chen Ping felt a burst of pride in his heart. He smiled at Liu Yidong.
He didn't want to do e-commerce at all. He didn't understand e-commerce. The reason why he said this was because Boss Ma had told him before. Ever since he met with Boss Ma and talked about Boss Ma's acquisition, Chen Ping's respect for Boss Ma had risen to the level of worship. He felt that Boss Ma had opened a brand new door for him. If he cooperated with him, his future would be smooth sailing. Moreover, Boss Ma was not only eloquent and had unique foresight, but he could also make decisions like a god! On the day he completed the acquisition of Home Express, he told himself that Taobao would definitely come knocking on his door soon. He didn't expect that Liu Yidong would be sitting in his office so soon.
Chen Ping also understood Boss Ma's strategic intentions. Taobao also wanted to cooperate with Out-of-Home Express. Even in a certain period of time, Out-of-Home Express would become the key to affecting their development. Therefore, what he needed to do now was to arm Out-of-Home Express and make Taobao worry and fear. By doing this, Boss Ma could also take this opportunity to discuss future cooperation with Taobao.
Liu Yidong felt that things weren't just outrageous, they were even a little strange. Everything was greatly different from what he had expected. Chen Ping's words and expression couldn't help but reveal the meaning, as if he had already put him in a trap. Moreover, that smile was a little strange, and he always felt that there was a hidden dagger in it. He concluded that this was definitely not a mistake in his estimation, but there must be a secret that he didn't understand.
Therefore, Liu Yidong didn't hide anything and said to Chen Ping, "Boss Chen, let's get straight to the point. Right now, we want to work on the logistics link, so we are interested in acquiring Home Express and letting it become a part of Taobao. What do you think?"
Chen Ping admired Boss Ma even more. From the beginning until now, he had guessed everything correctly. There was almost no deviation. He was completely the Zhuge Kongming of the business world!
Immediately, Chen Ping said to Liu Yidong with a smile, "Boss Liu, we are not interested in a simple acquisition. If it's a merger, we can have an in-depth discussion."
Liu Yidong smiled slightly and said, "We currently have no plans for a merger. If Boss Chen is even a little interested in an acquisition, why don't you give us a price first and we can talk about it."
Chen Ping shook his head and said with a playful smile, "To tell you the truth, Boss Liu, we are only considering a merger. And to tell you the truth, I don't only have Home Express, I also have Shentong and Zhongtong."
After saying this, seeing that Liu Yidong couldn't suppress the shock in his heart, Chen Ping smiled and added, "Oh yes, Shentong and Zhongtong are 100% controlled!"
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