Li Mu's direct and unhesitant rejection was within Lei Jun's expectations, but it still made him feel quite disappointed.
He had long realized that Li Mu would negotiate with him with money in one hand and a gun in the other, but he still hoped to get a chance to mediate.
Unfortunately, Li Mu was not prepared to give him such hope.
Li Mu's direct rejection was not because he wanted to show off, nor was it because he was obsessed with Zhuo Zhe. It was because he had to be careful of Amazon.
Amazon was the world's number one e-commerce company. In Li Mu's opinion, there were three key reasons why it did not develop in Hua Xia in his previous life.
First, Amazon took the same detour as Zhuo Zhe. They started with books and videos, but neglected the fact that authentic books and videos were not a demand at all in Hua Xia. Instead, it was a fan economy. Those who would buy authentic books and videos were either regular users or true fans who did not care about the difference between spending more and pirated books and videos. The authentic book and video industry was a niche market in Hua Xia, which had a population of more than a billion people. You just had to bind your image to this category. The image shackles were too serious. Under the influence of Jingdong, how many domestic consumers would first think of Amazon when buying home appliances? To a certain extent, this was also the reason why Dangdang had always been half-dead.
Second, Amazon did not understand the Hua Xia market. From online operations, website algorithms, and offline logistics, they were all playing the same way as the American market. Naturally, they were not acclimatized to Hua Xia.
Third, Zhuo Zhe's overall team was not good enough. Wang Hanhua had been in charge of Zhuo Zhe for so many years, but not only was there nothing to write home about, he was also not able to lead Zhuo Zhe to keep up with the pace when the Internet and e-commerce in Hua Xia exploded several times.
Speaking of which, it seemed that Amazon was nothing to be afraid of, but in the end, this was the situation in his previous life.
In his previous life, Hua Xia's e-commerce market did not have such an abnormal Taobao in 2002. In his previous life, even when Amazon acquired Zhuo Zhe, the domestic e-commerce market was just beginning to sprout. Everyone was feeling the stones to cross the river. Now, the domestic e-commerce market had been ignited in advance, and overseas investors would definitely pay attention to it and make corresponding moves soon. The overseas giants would also realize the strong potential of the domestic market and make the decision to enter Hua Xia earlier than in his previous life.
What's more, Li Mu had already taken out the relatively mature B2C and C2C models. Other companies did not need to feel the stones to cross the river. They only needed to keep an eye on him and catch up.
Before Apple launched the iPhone, no mobile phone manufacturer would have thought of promoting multi-touch and abolishing physical buttons. If it were not for Steve Jobs, the most popular mobile phone today would probably be the Nokia N200. However, once Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, he immediately promoted a huge revolution in the mobile phone industry around the world. From the beginning, there was only the iPhone without a physical keyboard. In just a few years, it became almost impossible to find a mobile phone with a physical keyboard. Even the BlackBerry was GG. Was this not enough to explain the situation?
Li Mu did not dare to compare himself to Steve Jobs, but the current revolution that his rebirth had brought to the domestic Internet industry was the same in terms of impact. Because he had come up with a new way of playing and achieved unprecedented success, the entire industry would change in the future.
If Amazon came to Hua Xia in advance, if Amazon changed the way it did in his previous life because of his appearance, what should he do? Amazon's current market value was at least 8 billion USD. If it changed its way of playing this game seriously in Hua Xia, he might not be its opponent.
Li Mu did not want to attract a world-class giant like Amazon after he had taken in Liu Shixiong and removed Jingdong from the long river of history. If the boss of Hua Xia's B2C market ten years later was Amazon, then he would become the sinner of Hua Xia's Internet industry.
Therefore, Li Mu had only one idea now. While developing himself quickly, he prepared for Amazon's entry into Hua Xia in advance!
If Amazon wanted to develop in China, there were only two companies in China that were suitable for them to acquire: Zhuo Duo and Dangdang. If they acquired either of these two companies, Amazon would have a certain foundation in China. It was equivalent to conquering Normandy first. It would be much easier for them to land in the future. They could just gather their troops and launch a follow-up attack.
Therefore, Li Mu had only one idea now. Buying Zhuo Duo was one, and killing Dangdang was another.
If the acquisition of Zhuo Duo did not work, then he would kill both companies. This way, when Amazon came to Hua Xia again, they would have to first establish a landing point, then gather troops and launch an attack. At that time, he could take advantage of the fact that they did not have a landing point to attack with all his strength. At that time, even if they were sitting on a net worth of 10 billion USD, they could not do anything to him in the Hua Xia market.
Under such circumstances, he had to fully invest in Zhuo Duo. If he only had a small stake and used money and resources to make it choose a side, once someone gave more money and resources than him, it would immediately consider choosing another side. If it was really prepared to betray him and stand in his opponent's camp, there was nothing he could do. After all, he was only a shareholder and not the controlling party.
Hungry Man and Meituan, these two food delivery companies, had a "change of ownership". Teng Xun entered Hungry Man's Round D and held less shares. Ali invested from Meituan's Round B to Round D and did not hold much shares. What happened after that was very tragic. Boss Ma wanted to control Meituan, but the stubborn teenager, Wang Xing, in a fit of anger, merged Meituan with Dianping and then became Teng Xun's subordinate, becoming Teng Xun's biological son. Ali could only cry and persuade Teng Xun's adopted son, Hungry Man.
Li Mu did not want to have an unstable factor like Meituan in his camp, nor did he want to have a stubborn teenager like Wang Xing. In a situation of great strategic importance, he had to prepare for both sides. He could either fully invest in Zhuo Duo or start a full-scale war.
Therefore, his attitude to Lei Jianguo was very clear: there was no side to side with. You, or Zhuo Duo, were not qualified to choose a side in front of Taobao.
Lei Jianguo adjusted his mood at this moment. Since the opportunity to mediate was gone, then it was time to talk about the acquisition. He did not want to use Zhuo Duo to start a war with Taobao. Taobao had YY, Alipay, and its own logistics company behind it. Zhuo Duo had two fathers behind it: Jinshan and Lenovo. However, these two fathers could only provide money, but could not provide any real useful resources.
More importantly, Li Mu's Taobao had such a huge impact on Zhuo Duo that the two fathers had no interest in investing money. They just wanted to sell their children as soon as possible.
Therefore, under these circumstances, Lei Jianguo only hesitated for a moment before asking Li Mu, "Li Zong, what kind of offer are you willing to make to Zhuo Duo?"
Zhuo Duo's current prospects were not optimistic. In his previous life, he gritted his teeth and persisted until 2004 to sell it for 75 million US dollars. In 2002, even if Taobao had not appeared, at most it would have been worth 30 million US dollars. However, Taobao's impact on its sales of audio and video products had caused the company's overall valuation to be greatly reduced.
The Internet industry was an industry where future development was highly valued. If revenue increased by 50%, then the company's valuation could increase by 100%. On the other hand, if revenue decreased by 50%, then the company's valuation could decrease by 75% or even more. This was mainly because the industry's valuation bubble was already very high. Therefore, once the company's performance collapsed, the valuation bubble would burst at an alarming rate.
With this in mind, Li Mu said, "The current offer I can make is 830,000 RMB in cash."
According to the exchange rate of 8.27 RMB to US dollars, that was exactly 10 million US dollars.
Mr. Lei was stunned. In his heart, he respected and hated Li Mu at the same time.
He respected Li Mu because he grasped the pain point so accurately. Before he came, Mr. Lei had already predicted that Li Mu would not give him a premium. Therefore, Mr. Lei's highest estimate was 15 million US dollars. If Li Mu had offered 15 million US dollars, he would have accepted the offer without hesitation. Jin Shan and Lenovo were also in a hurry to get rid of their assets. However, if Li Mu had offered less than 10 million US dollars, then Mr. Lei would have rejected him without hesitation. If the offer was less than that, he would not have been able to accept it, and neither would his two fathers. However, Li Mu just happened to offer 10 million US dollars, which was Mr. Lei's bottom line.
Mr. Lei hated Li Mu's ability to grasp the situation so accurately. This price was too harsh. If Li Mu had insisted on this price, Mr. Lei would have signed the agreement with tears in his eyes while cursing in his heart. Then, in the next few years, every time he thought of Zhuoyue Network, his heart would ache.
Mr. Lei also hoped that Li Mu would only offer a low price so that he could bargain more easily. Therefore, he said to Li Mu, "The valuation we can accept should not be less than 15 million US dollars. Your offer is a bit too low."
"Is it?" Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "Zhuoyue Network's business will be greatly impacted. It is inevitable that the valuation will be greatly reduced. The most important thing is that Taobao Network is only doing audio and video products now. We have not entered the book business yet. If we start the book business, Zhuoyue Network's business will be greatly impacted in a few months. At that time, my offer will be much lower, and I might even give up."
Li Mu was not exaggerating. If Taobao Network wanted to get rid of Zhuoyue Network, it would not be difficult at all. The reason why he wanted to buy Zhuoyue Network was that he wanted to save time. Time was far more important than money.
When Lei Jianguo heard Li Mu speak so directly, he was somewhat unconvinced. He said seriously, "Li Zong, in terms of audio and video products, Taobao Network has the resources of star Tieba. It is indeed very easy for it to expand. However, in the book business, Zhuoyue Network has been doing it for a long time. We have a very close relationship with major publishing houses and publishing companies. The value of these resources is also very high."
Li Mu smiled faintly and changed the topic. "Mr. Lei, I don't know if you know, but except for small and medium-sized sellers, all the products sold in Taobao have a settlement period. Our B2C business has a rolling cash pool of more than three billion in Alipay, and it is constantly increasing with the daily increase of Taobao's sales. Even when the settlement period of the brand day expires, we can at least guarantee that the cash pool on our books will not be less than 1.5 billion, and it will steadily increase. Under the premise of ensuring the growth of Taobao Network's transaction volume, in theory, I can freely use this cash. As long as Taobao does not go bankrupt, I will never need to make up for this money." Lei Jianguo was shocked.
Lei Jun was shocked, but after a moment, he immediately understood that Li Mu's words were true. Just the daily sales of the brand alone was 2.683 billion yuan, which was real money. If the Taobao B2C business pressured the partners for a month, and the normal monthly sales were 2 billion yuan, then Li Mu would have 2 billion yuan available in his account. When it was time to settle the accounts of the next month, there was another 2 billion or even more sales in the month just passed. After this money came in, it was used to settle the previous month's bills of the partners, and the remaining 2 billion yuan was added together with the previous 2 billion yuan.
For a long time, Li Mu had always held the accounts of the partners for a month until the day the partners terminated the cooperation with Taobao Network, or the day Taobao Network stopped the B2C business, he would have to pay them the next month.
But which partner would be stupid enough to give up the cooperation with Taobao Network? Which company had the ability to make Li Mu stop the B2C business? There was none at the moment, and there probably wouldn't be any in the next few years.
Therefore, in theory, Li Mu would always have a sum of money that did not belong to him, but was completely at his disposal. This sum of money would constantly change according to the sales volume of Taobao's B2C business. If Taobao's B2C business could achieve a monthly sales volume of 10 billion, then he would have 10 billion in cash on hand.
This sum of money would naturally be used by the merchants when they settled the accounts, so the merchants would not have any objections. As long as Li Mu could pay on time, even the central bank had no right to interfere with how Li Mu used it.
Seeing that Lei Jianguo's expression was a little unnatural, Li Mu smiled and showed his fangs. "President Lei, if I took out 30 million to support Taobao's book industry, not only would I not earn a single cent from every book sold, but I would also give the users 3 yuan and sell 10 million books first, what would happen to Taobao?"
Lei Jianguo's expression was stunned.
Li Mu felt as if he could see Lei Jianguo's inner monologue from his expression: How can you be so shameless?!
So, Li Mu smiled again and said casually, "If you think it's too extravagant to burn money like this, then I'll change it up. For example, every time I buy a book from Taobao, I'll get 3 YY coins for the exchange code. What will Zhuo Yue do then?"
Lei Jianguo was dumbfounded.
Li Mu felt as if he could see Lei Jianguo's inner monologue: Are you even human?!
Then, the smile on Li Mu's face grew even wider. He said, "Or should I just do a two-pronged approach? If the user buys a book, I'll give them 3 yuan in cash and 3 YY coins. What about Zhuoyue?"
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