Ten days passed in a blink of an eye. During this time, people in the outside world were angry or cursing online about Uber’s unprofessionalism and unkindness as a “foreign-owned” company. It's like a carnival.
There are also some people talking about Uber's misfortune: highlighting the car accident that occurred in the past, talking about Jing Gao's embarrassment, and mocking Uber's quietness. All of Uber's resources are currently dealing with safety issues. These people argued fiercely about how Didi should merge with Uber, looking to the future with a strong sense of participation.
Of course, what is talked about the most, and what is most talked about by people who know the inside story, is that Alibaba’s second-in-command, Cai Congxin, flew back from the United States and directed Ruoding, who reversed Didi’s decline in one fell swoop. There are also praises for Cheng Wei and Liu Qing. They are the concrete implementers. There is also praise for the rising star Ren Zhi. A tiger father has no dog sons! His decisiveness and precise strategic vision were all mentioned in some drinking bureaus.
No matter which way you look at it, Didi’s “desperate counterattack” against Uber’s acquisition is a classic case of business warfare.
It seems to be echoing what "the big brother" Jack Ma said in a debate a few years ago: Ali is the air force. There is no saying in the world that the Army can defeat the Air Force.
This time it was a combination of sea, land and air, bombing the Phoenix Fund indiscriminately. Give him a "Van Fleet Ammunition" first and then talk. A slap with the left hand, and another slap with the right hand. Let me ask you: Are you convinced?
However…
After more than twenty days passed on October 18, when Xie Shihuang called Ma Yun and Cai Congxin flew to Shanghai to deploy for the confrontation, some subtle changes began to accumulate, and some clues and qualitative changes began to appear.
During these twenty days, the waves set off by Ali and Yinhe were as turbulent as the tide on August 15th in the Qiantang River: the waves were like mountains spewing snow. But eventually, the tide recedes. Only then will people discover that among the waves that cover the sky and the sun, someone has hit the water in the middle!
As the tide recedes, the figure will gradually become clearer. He will bring darkness and shroud it above and above people!
…
…
It was raining lightly at night in the deep city, and the sky was extremely dark. Jing Gao arrived at Shencheng Airport in a black Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle.
He didn't want to fly back to the Magic City or the capital, but came to pick him up at the airport. Cao Danqing completed the acquisition of a company with a third-party payment license on behalf of Phoenix Fund and flew to Shenzhen to see him.
The night is getting darker. In the drizzle, the car lights flashed in the driveway outside the airport. Jing Gao was waiting outside the airport pick-up hall. At this time, the phone's ringtone suddenly rang.
Jing Gao answered the phone, and Guo Lingyu's crisp voice came from inside, "Mr. Jing, are you...how are you lately?" Some voices calling for Uber to suspend operations and rectify have reached their peak recently. She heard a little bit. Regulatory authorities will make a decision in the near future.
There was a pause in her tone, and she could tell that she was concerned. Jing Gao said calmly: "Miss Guo, thank you."
"You're welcome." Guo Lingyu said sincerely: "Mr. Jing, no matter what the final outcome of your confrontation with Didi and Alibaba this time, I hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with you in the future. Whether I represent Goldman Sachs or Guo .”
There was a car accident not long ago, which was a "natural disaster" for Phoenix Fund. Totally unexpected. Although she had a good personal relationship with Liu Qing, she recognized the strength Jing Gao showed.
Jing Gao was somewhat touched and smiled: "Thank you."
After exchanging pleasantries with Guo Lingyu for a few words, Jing Gao put his cell phone in his trouser pocket, pondered for a few seconds, turned his head and asked Jiang Zi beside him, "Wei Bo's side still refuses to cooperate with the review?"
When he was a netizen, he also hated controlling comments. He doesn't feel comfortable scolding anyone. But now that public emotions are being vented on him, he still wants to control them. This is purely a matter of position.
Jiang Zi has a plump figure. She is wearing a magenta shirt and a gray one-step skirt. She is dressed in a very professional style. She is a mature and charming beautiful woman. She said: "Yes."
Jing Gao nodded gently, "Tell Wu Jingshu to buy Sina's shares immediately. I want the controlling stake."
There were many people coming to pick me up at night. Jiang Zi's pretty appearance and plump and graceful figure attract the attention of men. These words of Jing Gao made many people smile knowingly. I also want to acquire Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent! Bragging is not a draft.
Jiang Zi ignored the smiles around him and said seriously: "Okay, Mr. Jing."
A moment later, Cao Danqing's tall and graceful figure appeared at the airport exit. After receiving Danqing, Jinggao took her directly back to Guanlan Golf Villa. Wei Chenjun and Li Yifeng each lived in the hotel with their teams. Jiang Zi and Dong Youwei lived here in Jinggao's villa, as well as bodyguards and nannies.
After the meal, Jing Gao and Cao Danqing sat at the square table in the small living room on the third floor of the villa, looking at the pouring rain outside.
The house is quiet and the lighting is soft.
Cao Danqing sat at the table, gently holding Jing Gao's right hand with both hands, feeling the roughness of his palm, looking at his slightly thin face, and the huge pressure. At this scene, she suddenly understood, He said softly: "Brother Jing, will we be okay?"
Huge wealth not only brings enjoyment, but also brings huge pressure and huge crisis. If Jing Gao goes to jail, she is willing to accompany him there.
Jing Gao smiled and said warmly: "Danqing, what do you think?"
Cao Danqing could never forget the warmth, calmness and determination in Jing Gao's eyes when he asked her back. It was as if winter was approaching in the north, but here in the south, it was as warm as spring around him.
On the morning of November 12, Liu Zhen had just finished a meeting in a third-tier city and called Jing Gao. He felt exhausted, weak, weak, and scared, and said, "Mr. Jing, thank God, the fire is out. "
Jing Gao held a mobile video conference in the afternoon, using Tencent's software. It started on time at 2 o'clock. All the participants were Phoenix executives. He ended the conference with just one sentence: Let's get started!
If this confrontation can be compared to a war, then now is the time to sound the charge and launch a counterattack!
If the stage of this confrontation is compared to the four seasons, then now is the time of winter! Be as ruthless to your enemies as the harsh winter.
On the evening of the 12th, all Uber users received a notification of a software version update. The updated software offers a new payment option: Phoenix Pay. What’s even more eye-catching is a prompt box that pops up when opening the new version of the software. “In order to repay the support and love of all new and old users, Uber will hold a free month of taxi rides.”
…
…
Didi’s headquarters is in Beijing.
At about 8 o'clock in the evening, Cheng Wei was eating and drinking with Wang Gang and several friends in a private dining room in a courtyard. While drinking and drinking, several people were very excited, giving pointers and talking about the past and the present.
"I have to say that Mr. Cai is the most powerful one. He has ruined Uber. He is now back in the United States for vacation."
Wang Gang said: "Hey, Cai always goes back to spend time with his wife and children. Today is Saturday. We hard-working people only work overtime on weekends."
"Ha ha."
"Mr. Cheng, have you received the request from the Wuzhen World Internet Conference? Given Didi Chuxing's performance in the Internet field, you should have been invited last year."
Cheng Weibai was fat, adjusted his glasses, and leaned on the wooden chair. He was a little drunk. He smiled and waved his hands and said, "I got it. I'll leave in two days." At this moment, Cheng Weibai said The cell phone on the Eight Immortals table rang.
The sound in the box suddenly stopped. Cheng is always NO1.
Cheng Wei answered the phone, and a subordinate's urgent voice came from inside, "Mr. Cheng, Uber is crazy. They are going to offer free taxi rides for a month. They just prompted it on the software. Should we follow?"
"What?" Cheng Wei accidentally knocked the wine glass in his hand to the ground, but he didn't notice it at all. His drunkenness turned into cold sweat on the spot. He didn't speak for a long time, and then said: "Let me think about it."
"Old Wang, come out with me." Cheng Wei called Wang Gang out of the box with a slightly distorted voice, and in the courtyard of the courtyard, facing the biting cold wind, he quickly explained the situation, "We have to hurry up Contact Mr. Xie and ask about the situation."
This morning, not long after the work meeting in a third-tier city ended, the two of them received the news. Whether Uber will be suspended for rectification in that city is a benchmark. Didi sent people to watch over there.
The two of them were also asking Mr. Xie, Mr. Cai's assistant, about the situation today. I want to know whether the relevant departments will let Uber suspend operations nationwide for rectification. It is said that the results will be given soon. Haven't they heard any specific information yet?
And since Uber suddenly launched such a large "free" promotion, they smelled some kind of bad signal.
Wang Gang said: "I will contact Mr. Xie right away. You should contact Liu Qing quickly. Uber is coming in a menacing way. They are going to cause trouble!"
The wine party dispersed in a hurry. The few people who were still touting just now were slightly embarrassed. It seems like something big happened to Didi. Otherwise, why would Cheng Wei leave in such a hurry?
On the morning of the next day, Cheng Wei, Liu Qing and 11 Uber executives held a meeting to report the latest situation. The atmosphere in the bright conference room was a bit depressing.
Everyone already knows that when Uber launched the new version, the regulatory authorities had just concluded a meeting and decided not to suspend Uber for rectification, but required it to make its own rectifications to prevent such incidents from happening and submit them to the regulatory authorities for approval.
It's equivalent to a yellow card warning. If you make a mistake next time, it is possible that two yellows will turn into one red.
But it’s not this that depresses all Didi executives. This can only mean that Uber has survived the "crisis", but that Uber has launched a fierce counterattack. It’s free to play, and people all over the country love it! Despite the fierce criticism online, these people will still use Uber.
If you do this, how can Didi beat Uber?
Vice President Lao Zhu said: "Mr. Cheng, Mr. Liu, the US$4 billion that Alibaba Capital raised for us has been used up in more than 20 days, and we have about US$1.5 billion left. This is not enough to burn. But we will not follow suit. Death. Data shows that from last night to this morning, our total order volume in first- and second-tier cities plummeted to 5%. It’s terrible!”
Cheng Wei sat at the main seat of the rectangular conference table and rubbed his face. He didn't sleep last night. "This is very unreasonable. CIC and CICC are our shareholders. If Jing Gao does this, he will offend a lot of people." Human.”
"Yes. That kid doesn't want to hang out anymore, right?"
Just as Liu Qing was about to speak, her phone suddenly vibrated. She took her mobile phone and went out. After a while, Liu Qing came back and pursed her lips vigorously, "I just received the news that the shares of Didi held by China Investment Corporation were transferred to a company in Hong Kong Island with a valuation of US$33.5 billion. The private equity fund of 'Satellite 4'. CDH Investment in Magic City also transferred its shares."
"Mr. Liu, didn't Mr. Wu, who was invested by CDH, promise not to change his promise?" The finance boss was a little angry.
The private battle between Didi and Uber has not stopped during this period of time. Not only in terms of public opinion, the two sides' efforts to win over, divide, and consolidate their respective shareholders are enough to write a complex operation as "Three Kingdoms".
CDH Investment has made it clear that it is optimistic about Didi’s future. Even if shares are to be sold, Didi will be notified in advance.
Liu Qing sighed softly and told the whole story, "Phoenix Fund promised to set up a chip design laboratory with at least 20,000 people in Magic City. It will be on par with Huawei's Magic City Research Institute. Just this morning, the intention was just discussed OK, they transferred 1 billion US dollars to an account jointly supervised by both parties. Real money was spent."
"What kind of chip design is Phoenix Fund doing? Who are they bluffing?"
"They have a mobile phone company, which you should have heard of, called Coolpad. There is no use questioning their determination and motivation. They do have needs in this area."
Cheng Wei grabbed his scalp hard. His scalp was numb. Jing Gao was so willing to spend money, so he probably wanted to kill them, right? Some time ago, Ali used various methods against Phoenix Fund.
Trolls scolded, slandered, reported, suppressed in various ways, poached...
…
…
The internal meeting within Didi did not end until the afternoon. Cheng Wei invited Liu Qing to sit in his office for a while.
The early winter in Beijing in mid-November was a bit dry and cold. The air conditioner is on in Cheng Wei's office, which is very comfortable.
He threw his coat on the seat, poured a cup of tea for Liu Qing, and spoke first to ease the pressure on the two of them, "The conference room was filled with smoke just now because of the gang of smokers. I also contributed a dozen cigarettes. I feel wronged. You’re breathing secondhand smoke.”
Liu Qing sat on the sofa next to the coffee table, holding a tea cup, "I'm used to it. Mr. Cheng, we have to communicate with Mr. Xie. We have to talk to Phoenix Fund."
In fact, according to Mr. Cai's vision, the focus of the struggle between the two parties is actually to win over their respective shareholders. If Didi relies on the power of Alibaba and Galaxy, as well as overwhelming public opinion, to win over more Uber shareholders, it can promote the merger.
As time goes by, in fact, the two sides are almost at the point of meeting each other.
However, while this was being done, an accident occurred at Uber, such as a car accident, so another focus was added: whether Uber would be suspended. If so, that's a godsend.
The two of them communicated with Ren Zhi. Galaxy Group is making efforts.
However, today is indeed close to a showdown. The two of them suddenly discovered that at the end of this confrontation, it seemed that Didi didn't have enough chips!
Cheng Wei nodded and said: "I called Lao Wang and Mr. Xie at noon. Mr. Xie said that we can talk first. He is already looking for an intermediary to talk to Jing Gao."
Just as he finished speaking, Cheng Wei's cell phone rang. "It belongs to Mr. Xie." Cheng Wei answered the call, pressed the speakerphone button and put the phone on the coffee table, "Mr. Xie!"
Xie Shihuang on the phone smiled bitterly, "Xiao Cheng, I found someone to give Jing Gao a message, but he refused. Just wait. I need to report to Mr. Ma and Mr. Cai."
Three combos from Idaka!
Cheng Wei and Liu Qing looked at each other, feeling a trace of despair and regret in their eyes.
In fact, it was good to sell it to Uber at a high valuation in September.
