In business, profit was the most important thing.
No one would do a business without profit.
On April 30th, the French Carrefour headquarters decided to withdraw from the Hua Xia region after several meetings and discussions.
In the past year, Carrefour suffered heavy losses.
The stampede in Shancheng in November last year resulted in three deaths and dozens of injuries.
That time, Carrefour incurred the dissatisfaction of the local government. Because of the Carrefour stampede, all over the country issued a variety of promotional regulations.
Originally, the Carrefour headquarters thought that this was a special case. After all, the turnover in the Hua Xia region was still growing.
But since 2008, there were more and more things that made them worried.
During the snow disaster in Huadong, because of the price increase of supermarkets, they were criticized by the Hua Xia government and were given the reputation of hoarding.
Before they could calm down, there was a national boycott soon after.
They thought that this was the most miserable time, but the result was beyond their expectations. There was something even more miserable.
The problem milk powder incident broke out, and Carrefour became a street rat. Everyone wanted to beat them up.
How long had it been!
In half a year, people were trampled to death, and they were hoarding. Now, they even dared to sell poisonous food. What else did Carrefour not dare to do!
If these things happened at different times, it would have been fine. But they all happened at the same time.
It had been 13 years since they entered the mainland market in 1995.
In the past 13 years, Carrefour invested a lot in Hua Xia, but the profits were not high.
In the past few years, they were paving the way to expand the market. Seeing that they were starting to make profits and the profits were getting higher and higher, the Carrefour headquarters were even preparing to continue to increase their investment in China.
Something happened!
Accidents happened one after another, and they were constantly targeted. The reputation of Carrefour, which had been established for 50 years, suddenly fell to the bottom in Hua Xia. It was even smelly.
At this time, Carrefour was exhausted. In addition, they were also attacked by competitors in the European market.
The local market was sluggish, and Carrefour really did not have the energy to continue to waste time with Far away.
Far away, the final result might be Carrefour's victory, but was there any meaning to it?
Far away, Hua Xia was not the only one. There were also China Resources, Bailian, Wal-Mart, and RT-Mart.
When they fought to the death with Far away, they would be the ones to benefit in the end.
Moreover, once they invest too much in Hua Xia's market, their competitors in Europe will seize the opportunity to attack them.
In fact, Carrefour had been going downhill since 2005.
In March 2005, Carrefour was forced to withdraw from the Japan market and sold all eight of its stores to Aeon Group for 80 million euros.
Also in 2005, Carrefour withdrew from the Mexican market and sold its 29 hypermarkets.
In 2005, Carrefour pulled out of the Czech Republic market and transferred its 11 stores and four shopping malls to Tesco.
In March 2006, Carrefour was forced to withdraw from the Korean market and transferred all 32 of its stores to Korean companies.
In 2007, Carrefour pulled out of the Portuguese market.
And it pulled out of Hong Kong in 2008.
This series of blows all showed that Carrefour, the world's second largest retailer, was really unable to do what it wanted.
Apart from maintaining its advantage in the European market, it suffered heavy losses in other areas.
Originally, many senior executives of Carrefour regarded Hua Xia as a life-saving straw and the basis for overseas expansion. Before 2008, they did see hope.
But after 2008, a series of blows woke everyone up.
Like the previous times, Carrefour really did not have much of an advantage outside of the European market.
Wal-Mart, which had always been regarded as a competitor, seemed to be inferior to them in Hua Xia, but in fact, Wal-Mart was steady and had an advantage over them.
In 2005, Carrefour's global sales were 90 billion US dollars, and Wal-Mart's were 280 billion US dollars.
At that time, Wal-Mart's sales were three times higher than Carrefour's.
In 2007, Carrefour's sales were still more than 90 billion and less than 100 billion US dollars, while Wal-Mart had reached more than 350 billion US dollars. The gap was nearly four times.
The company that they regarded as their only competitor had now left them further and further behind.
On the contrary, Tesco, which they had disdained before, had sales of only 60 billion US dollars in 2005, but now it had reached 80 billion US dollars, and the gap was getting smaller and smaller.
These were just external troubles. In fact, Carrefour was facing more serious internal problems at this time.
In March 2007, Arnault Group and Coral Capital Group suddenly invested in Carrefour, and even the Halley Family, the largest shareholder of Carrefour, did not know about it beforehand.
Over the past year, the two sides had been fighting seriously.
The Halley Family, the major shareholder, had gradually withdrawn, and the current global president of Carrefour, Duran, was about to resign.
At this time, they really did not have the energy to fight with Hua Xia, which was Far away.
The headquarters of Carrefour discussed it again and again and finally decided to withdraw from Hua Xia.
On the afternoon of the 30th, Luo Guowei received a notice from the headquarters that on the 2nd of May, the global president of Carrefour, Duran, would be visiting Hua Xia.
The moment Luo Guowei received the notice, he knew that the headquarters had made the decision.
In the office.
Luo Guowei paced around a few times and suddenly felt a faint reluctance to leave.
Even though he had always said that he hated Hua Xia and hated Chinese.
But after working in Hua Xia for two years, he suddenly had to leave as a failure. Even the cheerful Luo Guowei could not help but feel melancholy.
Standing by the window, Luo Guowei looked at the bustling city outside and sighed softly.
Chen Ying, who was about to come in, saw this and stopped. She lowered her voice and quietly retreated.
She still had a lot of respect for her boss.
Outsiders thought that Luo Guowei was frivolous and only knew how to pursue romance, and that Chen Ying was in charge of everything in the company.
But they did not think that if it was not for Luo Guowei's tacit approval, what could Chen Ying, an assistant, decide?
Not to mention her ability, at least the CEO of Hua Xia was open-minded.
Unfortunately, it was too late to say anything now.
Once Carrefour left Hua Xia, and in such a failed manner, Luo Guowei's future was bleak.
…
Just as Carrefour was about to leave.
Far away from the building.
Li Dong and Shen Nanpeng signed the last contract.
Now, the first round of financing for Weibo had come to an end.
Sequoia invested 100 million USD, 7% of Weibo's share capital. Yesterday afternoon, Li Dong and IDG, which was represented by Xiong Xiaoge, also signed the contract. They also invested 100 million USD, 7% of Weibo's share capital.
In addition, Baidu invested 30 million USD, as well as some technology and talent support, 5% of the share capital.
Victoria Capital invested 10 million USD, 1% of the share capital.
Li Dong used 20% of Weibo's share capital in exchange for 240 million USD, as well as Baidu's technology and talent resources.
From the current perspective, Li Dong did not lose out, and Weibo also received the value it deserved.
The valuation of more than 1.2 billion USD was already beyond everyone's expectations in 2008.
In his previous life, Sina Weibo was invested by Ali in 2013, and the valuation was only 3.3 billion USD.
At that time, Sina Weibo had more than 400 million registered users, which was much stronger than Far away Weibo.
Moreover, it was five years later, and the market environment was very different. At this moment, Li Dong was quite satisfied with Weibo's financing.
Of course, he was even more satisfied that both IDG and Sequoia agreed to temporarily lend the financing to Faraway Group for a period of time, limited to one year.
However, Li Dong did not do nothing, and both parties also signed a supplementary agreement.
Weibo would raise funds again, and both parties would have priority to increase their shares to 15%.
Li Dong did not have much of an opinion on this.
If Weibo wanted to raise funds again, Sequoia and IDG were indeed the better choices. Moreover, it was hard to say if Li Dong would open another round of financing.
If Weibo chose to go public after only one round of financing, the supplementary agreement would naturally be invalid, and there was nothing much to say.
If Weibo continued to raise funds, it was just priority, and it was not a discount, so Li Dong did not care.
After signing the contract, Shen Nanpeng smiled and said, "General Manager Li, happy working with you!"
Li Dong shook hands with him. He had to admit that Shen Nanpeng was a talent, an absolute talent.
Shen Nanpeng, who had just turned 40 this year, founded Ctrip and Ru Jia Hotel chain, and all of them were listed on NASDAQ.
In 2005, he founded Sequoia China and became a venture investor.
At this time in 2008, Sequoia, which was under Shen Nanpeng's control, was not considered too powerful in the country, and could not compare to IDG. However, after a few years, Li Dong knew how accurate Shen Nanpeng's investments were.
Ali, Jumei, Vipin, Dianping, Meituan, Gaode …
Sequoia had invested in all of these companies, and they had achieved great returns.
Originally, Sequoia entered the country late, and could not compare to IDG, which had been in the country for 10 years. However, under Shen Nanpeng's leadership, the two companies were evenly matched.
Just from this alone, Shen Nanpeng was more worthy of Li Dong's attention than Xiong Xiaoge.
After shaking hands, Shen Nanpeng smiled and said, "General Manager Li, I hope we will have more opportunities to work together in the future. Whether it is Far Away Mall or PP, I have high hopes for both. If General Manager Li continues to raise funds, Sequoia hopes to accompany Far Away as it continues to grow. "
Li Dong smiled and nodded. "I will, if I still need money in the future."
Weibo had raised 240 million USD, which was close to 1.7 billion RMB.
A few companies agreed to lend a large part of it to Li Dong, which was 1 billion RMB. In a short period of time, Li Dong felt that it was about enough.
As for the mall and PP financing, Li Dong had yet to decide if he should continue with it.
After all, in the previous round of quotations, these two items were seriously underestimated. He was a little unwilling and wanted to wait a little longer, at least until the country's financial crisis was over. Perhaps it would be more suitable then.
Of course, Li Dong did not say this clearly for the time being.
After joking with Shen Nanpeng, Li Dong walked out with him. As they walked, Li Dong suddenly said, "Mr. Shen, what do you think of Far Away Technology?"
Shen Nanpeng did not quite understand what he meant, but he still said affirmatively, "Very good. Under the leadership of General Manager Li, I believe it will be even better. Otherwise, we would not have chosen Far Away. "
"Then, Mr. Shen, have you thought about whether Far Away Technology will be even better under your leadership?"
Li Dong seemed to be joking, but Shen Nanpeng stopped in his tracks and could not help but look at Li Dong.
Is this guy joking or serious?
Is he trying to poach me?
After all, Shen Nanpeng was not a professional manager. He was also a well-known tycoon in the country.
When the Hurun List was released in 2007, his personal wealth exceeded 3 billion, and he was ranked in the 200s.
Although he was not as rich as Li Dong, he was still a tycoon.
At this time, was Li Dong trying to poach him, or was he joking?
For a moment, Shen Nanpeng did not know whether he was telling the truth or not. After thinking for a moment, Shen Nanpeng smiled and said, "With General Manager Li around, I dare not show my slight skill in front of an expert."
Hearing this, Li Dong smiled and did not continue.
After chatting casually for a while, Li Dong sent them to the elevator.
He did not send them downstairs, and Shen Nanpeng currently did not have the qualifications to ask Li Dong to send him downstairs.
When the elevator door closed, Sun Tao, who had been standing at the side without saying anything, said, "General Manager Li, you want to poach him?"
Li Dong smiled lightly and said, "I'm just saying it casually. I'm just giving it a try. But then again, if he really agrees, I don't mind letting him enter Far away Technology. "
Sun Tao also knew how powerful Shen Nanpeng was, and said with some emotion, "Actually, the people in these financial institutions are the elites of the elites in the business world, not to mention their leaders. Shen Nanpeng is powerful, and Xiong Xiaoge is not bad either. But it's too difficult to poach them. Generally, they are tycoons and don't lack money, so it's difficult to use money to move them. As for their careers, they also have their own careers. It's even more difficult to use this to move them. It's too difficult to poach them. "
Li Dong smiled and said, "That's for sure. Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore. Others are powerful, but we're not necessarily worse than them. We're all trained step by step. In the past few years, our people have improved very obviously, and the training of the follow-up echelon needs to be increased. In a few more years, we don't need to think about poaching anyone from Far away, our own people are enough. "
As the two of them spoke, Bai Su hurried over with Li Dong's phone and quickly said, "General Manager Li, Chief Chen is calling."
Li Dong took the phone and chatted with Chen Lang for a while.
After hanging up the phone, Sun Tao said excitedly, "General Manager Li, is Carrefour going to withdraw?"
Li Dong smiled and said, "More or less. The global CEO of Carrefour will come to Hua Xia for an inspection the day after tomorrow. He said it's for an inspection, but I think he's here to wrap things up.
But whether it's true or not, it's hard to say now.
We'll know in a few days. If they really want to withdraw, Carrefour has invested nearly 10 billion in Hua Xia over the years, so it's not that easy to withdraw.
Also, let's not be happy too early.
Even if they really withdraw, it's hard to say who will benefit from it.
Chief Chen said that Du Lan might be holding a banquet this time, and the specific time will be confirmed when Du Lan arrives.
China Resources and Bailian should have received the news now. Other than these two, Tesco, Wal-Mart, RT-Mart … these companies will not just stand by and watch.
In short, if we want to eat the peaches, we have to chase away the few companies that want to pick the peaches first. "
Sun Tao heard this and nodded. Indeed, even if Carrefour withdrew now, it's not that easy for them to take advantage of it.
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