On the 8th of April …
On this day, Ali held a Taobao financing reception in Lin 'an.
Compared to Weibo financing, Taobao's financing attracted more attention.
It was not that Taobao's value was higher than Weibo's. The key was that this was the first time Ali had used Taobao for financing alone.
Moreover, it was Ali Group's first financing after it was delisted.
Previously in 2005, Ali found Yahoo and financed 1 billion US dollars in order to develop Taobao and compete with eBay.
However, at that time, the entire Ali Group was the main body for financing, and Yahoo took 39% of the group's equity.
Although Ali used this money to incubate Taobao and Alipay, it also caused Yahoo to have too much power now. In addition, Ali was not very interested in Yahoo's business in Hua Xia, and now the two sides were in conflict.
Now, Ma Yun could no longer make decisions about Ali Group's power.
The reason why he chose to finance Taobao alone was probably to prevent it from being too big to handle.
In addition to these factors, another reason was that Taobao was the only C2C platform that chose financing in recent years.
Of course, the actual situation was that after Taobao became big, Hua Xia's C2C platform almost did not have much room to survive. There was Paipai before, but Paipai was backed by Tencent, so there was no need for financing.
With the continuous expansion of the online shopping market, platforms like Taobao, which occupied 80% of the C2C market share, were fully deserving of being the overlord.
Some small and medium-sized C2C platforms, including B2C platforms, were all staring at Taobao's financing.
Like Li Dong, they also wanted to see what e-commerce platforms were like in the eyes of investors.
How popular were they?
Were the capital institutions optimistic about the prospects of the online shopping market?
In terms of foresight and experience, it had to be said that there were many talents in the capital institutions. Some investment managers' foresight was even more accurate than the bosses of some large groups.
To be able to obtain the recognition of most capital institutions, it meant that the project definitely had a promising future.
Therefore, the Taobao financing reception on the 8th attracted a lot of attention.
Other than Taobao, there was something else that made everyone look at him.
Many people knew about Ali's internal strife.
At this financing reception, Ali might announce some news to the public to get rid of some small shareholders, including Yahoo!'s major shareholder.
In fact, before Ali went public in Hong Kong in 2007, Ali had already dismissed most of the small and medium-sized VCs.
Currently, there were very few minority shareholders left. After the privatization, according to the information released by Ali, Yahoo was the largest shareholder and currently held 39% of Ali's total shares.
Ma Yun and his team held 32% of the shares.
The third largest shareholder was Softbank with 27% of the shares.
The three parties held 98% of Ali's shares. In fact, the shares held by other capital institutions were almost negligible. They only held 2% of Ali's shares.
Logically speaking, Ma Yun, his team, and Softbank together held 59% of the company's shares. There should be no struggle for control.
But capital institutions will always be capital institutions. Everyone in the world comes for profits.
In the past two years, although Ali's performance had been growing, it was not as big as before. The prospects were good, and people could see the future with high returns.
Now, although some of Ali's businesses were good, they still made people feel that there was a crisis.
Especially Taobao and Alipay, facing the impact of Wan Tong and Wan Jia Wang, it made people feel that there was a crisis.
Under such circumstances, although Softbank did not directly oppose some of Ma Yun's decisions, it did not say anything. Instead, it sat and watched the battle between Ma Yun's team and Yahoo!, with a wait-and-see attitude.
Perhaps, at this time, Softbank was not as calm as it appeared, and it no longer trusted Ma Yun as much as before.
This was the reason for the constant internal strife in Ali. Ma Yun should have seen these things, so he desperately needed help and an opportunity to prove himself.
Between Yahoo! and Softbank, he had to get the support of at least one party to continue to lead Ali.
In Li Dong's view, Taobao chose to finance at this time not only to raise money to compete with Wan Jia Wang, but also to pull in a group of allies.
…
Lin 'an.
By West Lake.
A Maybach slowly stopped.
Li Dong opened the window, looked at West Lake from afar, and said softly, "If you want to compare West Lake to West Lake, it is always appropriate to put on light makeup. Compared to Pingchuan, Lin 'an has a little more flavor because of the existence of West Lake. "
Bai Su, who was sitting next to him, heard this and said with a smile, "In fact, Pingchuan also has a lot of beautiful scenery …"
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am not envious of Ma Yun. Pingchuan has its own advantages. Moreover, how can people like us really have the mood to look at the scenery?"
Li Dong laughed at himself. No matter how beautiful the scenery was, did they have the chance and time to see it?
West Lake was right under Ma Yun's nose. How many days could he see it in a year?
Even if he chose to hold a financing reception by the West Lake, he still hid in the hotel. Who really came for sightseeing?
In this world, the bigger the business, the busier they were. In the end, maybe they didn't know why they were busy. Maybe it was for their ideals, or maybe they were really lost in it and forgot their original intentions.
Of course, it was more likely that it was a habit.
When being busy became a habit, it was difficult to stop.
Once you stopped, you would be at a loss, and you would be embarrassed, as if a part of your life was missing.
Now Li Dong was actually developing in this direction.
Although he kept saying that he wanted to rest, he wanted to retire early, and he wanted to travel around the world …
However, if he really wanted to stop, he would definitely not be able to adapt at first.
Unless after a period of time, he got used to a leisurely life. At that time, he might be able to let it go.
With a sigh, Li Dong asked, "When will the financing reception be held?"
"It starts at 6 p.m. in the banquet hall of the Shangri-La Hotel."
Bai Su replied, looked at the time, and said, "It's only 2 o 'clock now. General Manager Li, shall we go to the hotel now?"
"No, there are too many people. If I go now, how can I surprise Old Ma? Let's drive around and find a place to have a cup of coffee. "
After Li Dong finished speaking, Bai Su and Tan Yong were a little speechless. Did he really think that no one would know that he was here?
If he had the ability, he wouldn't have driven his own car. It would have been better to drive a low-key one.
Who wouldn't recognize Li Dong's car if they had a bit of status?
Now he was driving around the West Lake, and there were so many people. Perhaps the news had already spread.
…
While Bai Su and Tan Yong were slandering.
At the headquarters of Ali.
Ma Yun looked a little annoyed and frowned. "What is this guy doing here?"
Not long after Li Dong arrived in Lin 'an, he received the news.
That guy was being watched everywhere he went. How could he act in secret?
What's more, he didn't seem to have the intention to hide it. He drove his Maybach around the West Lake openly. At this time, not only him, but the municipal government should also have received the news.
Although Ma Yun was annoyed, he didn't continue to complain. He just said, "It's best if he doesn't come to the reception tonight. If he comes, he is not allowed to enter! I've told the security in advance. The possibility of him not coming is almost zero. I'm sure he came for the Taobao financing reception! "
Lu Zhaoxi frowned slightly and said, "It's not appropriate, is it?"
Li Dong was not an ordinary person. If he didn't come, it would be fine. But if he came, even if he didn't have an invitation, it would be a slap in the face if he was not allowed to enter.
Ma Yun said angrily, "When I went to Pingchuan last time, do you know how he treated me and Ma Huateng? He didn't even go into the cafeteria and stood outside in the cold wind. An eye for an eye, what's inappropriate about that! "
Cai Chongxin, who was sitting opposite him, said with a smile, "Don't be angry. He might not be here to cause trouble. At this stage, if he really came to cause trouble, what do we have to worry about? He should have his motive. I just don't know if it's to get information or … "
Speaking of getting information, Cai Chongxin shook his head.
At this stage, if Li Dong still had to go out and get information, he would be too miserable.
Peng Lei, who was not far away, said, "I guess it might have something to do with internet finance. Didn't we agree in May to launch the virtual currency fund together? I think he might be here for that. "
Peng Lei had taken over as the CEO of Alipay not long ago. She was now preparing for the virtual currency fund, so she naturally thought more about it.
Seeing everyone speculating, Ma Yun waved his hand and said, "Ignore him. Let him do whatever he wants! We will do our own thing. It's fine if he doesn't come, but if he does, we will pretend that he doesn't exist! "
As he said that, Ma Yun seemed to think of something and immediately said, "Inform the others now. Inform me immediately if they see him coming to the headquarters! Don't let him enter our office alone. Also, if you receive a call from him, inform me in advance. I won't stop anyone from moving up. If you feel that Far away is more promising, I will sincerely congratulate you and send you off in a lively manner. But I don't want you to suddenly resign without me knowing … "
Ma Yun said a few more words. Li Dong was notorious. In order to poach people, he would do anything.
Tencent had suffered losses several times. Even Baidu had sent some technical staff to support the establishment of the Weibo platform when Weibo was raising funds. According to the original plan, these people would still return after the establishment was completed.
In the end, less than one-tenth of the people actually returned to Baidu!
Li Yanhong was angry because of this matter, but he was actually mentally prepared. The people sent to do technical guidance were generally troublemakers, and there were not many people.
In the end, they were kept by Li Dong. Although he was angry, he still let them go.
Now that Li Dong had come to Lin 'an, Ma Yun naturally had to guard against him.
Li Dong had not been involved in the Internet industry for a long time. Strictly speaking, Li Dong only officially began to get involved in the Internet business in 2006.
At the very most, it had only been three years since then.
Ali had been in the industry for ten years. The talent pool was much more than Far away. Since Li Dong had come, it was normal for him to want to poach some senior technical staff.
As they were talking, Ma Yun's secretary knocked on the door and entered. He reported, "Chairman, General Manager Li's car has entered the Wahaha headquarters."
"Wahaha?"
Ma Yun was stunned for a moment. After a while, he said, "What is this guy doing here?"
He had always thought that Li Dong was here for him.
However, Li Dong did not greet him when he came. Instead, he went to the Wahaha headquarters. This made him a little confused.
The others also looked at each other. Cai Chongxin said helplessly, "Maybe it's to discuss the cooperation. After all, Wahaha is the number one beverage. We are scaring ourselves. No wonder many people said that Tencent was in chaos for a few days because of him. Now, it seems that Li Dong didn't have such intentions. We were the ones who messed up a little. "
A person's reputation was like a tree's shadow. Now, Li Dong's every move attracted people's attention.
Sometimes he did not have that intention. As a result, many people began to be afraid just by hearing his name.
Even Ali was a little afraid of him.
Ma Yun said that he did not care about him. If he really did not care about Li Dong, did he need to hold a meeting when Li Dong had just arrived in Lin 'an to ask for everyone's opinion?
Hearing Cai Chongxin's words, Ma Yun exhaled and said, "Forget it. Let's not talk about him. Let him be.
Everyone was ready for the financing reception in the evening.
This time, it is not only about Taobao, but also about the group.
The group's tenth anniversary is approaching. I don't want to sleep in peace on the anniversary.
These days, not only am I tired, but everyone is tired.
I hope that after this, we can have a few days of peace. "
Everyone nodded in response. Far away was busy and chaotic. In fact, Ali's life was not easy.
Especially after the privatization, a lot of money was spent and Ali's assets were emptied.
In addition, not long ago, the Taobao merchants rebelled. The major shareholders and the management were in conflict. Far away was also eyeing them covetously. The implementation of logistics was not smooth.
All of this caused the higher-ups to be overwhelmed and exhausted.
Everyone hoped that the financing reception could be completed smoothly. At least before May, everyone could take a breather.
…
Wahaha headquarters.
Actually, Li Dong did not come here on purpose. But as he was driving, he passed by.
Since he passed by, Li Dong had nothing to do. So, he got out of the car and walked around.
Even though he did not make an appointment in advance, when he heard that Li Dong was coming in person, even though he still had a lot of work to do, Zhong Qinghou put aside his work and personally went downstairs to meet with Li Dong.
The two of them were not familiar with each other. Li Dong had dealt with many veterans in the industry. However, Zhong Qinghou was relatively low-key. He did not participate in normal gatherings and associations.
As a result, other than a few times they met at formal occasions, they had almost no private contact.
Zhong Qinghou was actually a little curious about Li Dong's arrival.
Logically speaking, if Li Dong really wanted to discuss business with them, he should have notified them in advance. There was no reason for him to come suddenly.
However, when Li Dong said that he was here for Taobao's financing reception, even Zhong Qinghou, who did not like to joke, could not help but laugh. "General Manager Li, many people said that you bully Ma Yun for fun. It seems that it is true."
Li Dong wanted to say a few words, but the old man suddenly laughed. "But it is good to bully him!"
Li Dong was a little stunned. How much hatred do you have? Look at your gloating expression. Can you pay attention to your image?
Zhong Qinghou saw his expression and could not help but laugh. "Don't look at me like that. Although we do not have much contact, in the business world, you are one of the few entrepreneurs that I admire.
To be a business, one should be down-to-earth.
Two years ago, the Internet was rising, and e-commerce had just emerged.
At that time, Ma Yun liked to go around preaching the benefits of the virtual economy, but he did not know that there were many disadvantages to the virtual economy.
I do not reject e-commerce, but I cannot accept his ideas.
Until Far away rose to prominence. From the physical to the Internet, they broke through the barrier between the two. At that time, it gave us a lot of inspiration.
It seems that Ma Yun's pure e-commerce theory has been rejected by him.
Otherwise, Ali would not have cooperated with Bailian and the other companies.
You have helped us vent our anger. That is why I said it is good to bully him! "
Li Dong heard this and laughed. After laughing, Li Dong said something shocking. "Old Zhong, since you think so highly of me, and your Waha-ha does not lack money, how about we change the payment to annual settlement?"
When this was said, the old man's smile stopped abruptly!
D * mn, everyone in the industry said that this guy was shameless. I did not think much of it, but now I have seen it for myself!
Waha-ha and Far away naturally had cooperation, and the scale of the cooperation was not small.
As the leading enterprise in the Hua Xia beverage industry, Waha-ha's annual sales were tens of billions.
Far away was currently the largest supermarket in the country. Just Far away alone, the cooperation between both parties had a scale of billions in a year.
This guy really dared to speak!
Zhong Qinghou was a little tired. It was better to ignore this guy. It was no wonder that when he chatted with the few old guys, they would show a helpless expression whenever Li Dong was mentioned.
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