After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 364 - 361: 30% Success Rate

Chapter 364 -361: 30% Success Rate

“Mr. Lu, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Approaching half-past two, a slightly overweight man wearing glasses hastened towards Lu Liang, who was sitting by the window.

Cheng Wei was born in ’83, 34 years old this year, and after graduating, he joined Ali’s Alipay department. After working there for seven years, he resigned to start Xiaoju Technology, known today as DiDi.

Since he and Byte’s Zhang Yiming were born in the same year and both started businesses in Beijing, before 2014, the media was fiercely debating who was the leading entrepreneur born in the ’80s.

But after May 2014, when DiDi accepted 50 million dollars in funding from Goldman Sachs, and in July of the same year, Liu Qing suddenly joined DiDi as the Chief Operating Officer.

Since then, the debate over who was the leading entrepreneur of the ’80s seemed to have concluded.

It was as if Cheng Wei had vanished, still physically present, yet seemingly without any difference to being absent.

Liu Qing, after taking over, successively helped DiDi secure investments of 700 million dollars, 2 billion dollars, 4.5 billion dollars, and 1 billion dollars from Apple.

When people mentioned DiDi, only Liu Qing came to mind, who also often represented DiDi at various meetings.

Cheng Wei’s influence in the company dwindled, as if being the company’s chairman was all there was to it.

“I’ve only just arrived myself, Mr. Cheng. Fancy a drink?”

Lu Liang smiled, put aside the documents, and signaled a waiter. Cheng Wei said, “An Americano, please.”

The two had met once before and played cards together at the last year’s World Internet Conference in Wuzhen.

Lu Liang arranged for a photo of thirteen people, which netizens jokingly called a two trillion yuan mega selfie, including himself and Lu Liang.

Back then, they had no business dealings, just a one-time encounter as card mates and drinking buddies.

Lu Liang cut to the chase, “Mr. Cheng, what do you think about the obstacles DiDi is facing with its IPO?”

He needed to know what Cheng Wei wanted and what he was willing to give up. After weighing the pros and cons, he would then decide whether or not to get involved.

As for offending the Liu family, that wasn’t within his considerations— you could say it was a very low priority.

As Zhu Hu put it well, blocking someone’s financial path is like killing their parents; no matter what the Liu family’s daughter was like, even Old Liu would handle it without issue.

The market pie is only so big; doing business is like rowing upstream, to eat a larger share, someone else must eat less.

“DiDi doesn’t necessarily have to list in the US. Listing in Xiangjiang can satisfy most investors’ expectations,”

Cheng Wei stated, setting the tone.

DiDi’s domestic business was nearing saturation, and in recent years, it had been actively expanding into international markets.

A US stocks listing would indeed be the best choice, but because the Hong Kong Dollar is pegged to the US Dollar at a rate of 7.8, the issuance of Hong Kong Dollars is just like issuing US Dollar vouchers, making a Hong Kong Exchange listing a second-best option.

Lu Liang chuckled, “But after all, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange can’t compare to the New York Stock Exchange, right?”

Cheng Wei nodded, “A regionally focused market naturally can’t compete with a global market.”

International capital generally refers to capital institutions led by Wall Street; the same is true for markets, with only US stocks truly being considered global.

If DiDi insisted on listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it would face even greater internal resistance, and neutral foreign investors like Temasek and Saudi Sovereign might also have objections and might even take action to stop it.

“The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is good, but the New York Stock Exchange is undoubtedly better. Everyone wants to rush to a broader market with more potential for development.”

Lu Liang looked thoughtful, pondered for a while, and then asked, “Mr. Cheng, how much do you know about DiDi’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange?”

Cheng Wei looked slightly upset, sighed, and said with a bitter smile, “Mr. Lu, I’m not afraid of your ridicule; I only know there’s such a matter, with Mr. Liu fully responsible for the big picture and all the details.”

For every major decision in DiDi’s development thus far, he indeed knew that much.

Liu Qing only gave him the right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and though it seemed he had a choice, he could only choose ‘yes.’

“…”

Lu Liang was speechless.

He thought of Hu Weiwei; her situation at Mobike had been similar.

But Hu Weiwei was better off than Cheng Wei because Li Bing was preoccupied with building cars and didn’t focus much on Mobike.

However, Liu Qing was different; DiDi was her first job after leaving Goldman Sachs and might well have been her pledge.

The level of commitment was not on the same plane.

Lu Liang reined in his smile and spoke bluntly, “Mr. Cheng, forgive my straightforwardness.”

“Mr. Lu, please speak.”

“What can I gain by helping you?”

Lu Liang already had a plan in mind; he couldn’t guarantee absolute success, but the chances of success were no less than 30%.

It’s just that the cost of entry to DiDi was too steep. Should the plan fail, there was no telling when he might recoup the expenses.

Hence, he wanted to know: was the price Cheng Wei was willing to pay worth betting on a 30% success rate?

Upon hearing 30%,

Cheng Wei’s eyes lit up.

He pondered for a long time because he knew that every sentence that followed was crucial.

A slightest mishap in the rewards offered might not satisfy Lu Liang, spelling the end of the discussion.

“Mr. Liu doesn’t just possess vast resources and a network; her own ability and vision are also exceptional.”

“In April 2015, DiDi completed a massive fundraising of two billion dollars, at which time, the company had over 3.5 billion dollars in cash reserves.”

“Merging with Kuaidi and the acquisition of Uber, calming the market only cost 1.5 billion dollars, and more than one billion dollars were invested into the research and development of autonomous driving technology.”

“Now, after more than two years, DiDi has achieved results in this field, owning patent technology that is no less inferior to Baidu’s Apollo project.”

A few days before Lu Liang came to Beijing, Cheng Wei had already met with Li Junyi several times, and Lu Liang was also recommended by Li Junyi.

At that time, Li Junyi had said that Lu Liang was innately cold and almost without weakness, a near-perfect person. If there had to be a weakness, it was Tianxing Technology.

For some unknown reason, he clung to it. Clearly, it was a field he was neither good at nor familiar with, yet all his actions over the past two and a half years, whether directly or indirectly, had benefited Tianxing Technology.

To convince him to assist, significant returns were just one of the basic conditions; it still had to start with Tianxing Technology.

Cheng Wei spoke in a grave tone, “Mr. Lu, if you represent Tianxing Technology and join DiDi, DiDi will not only fully open its database but will also permanently and exclusively share all patent technologies and shareable qualifications without charge.”

As long as Lu Liang joined DiDi and helped him counterbalance the foreign capital forces led by Liu Qing, successful or not, DiDi would have no secrets from Tianxing Technology.

Lu Liang was astounded, narrowing his eyes, “Mr. Cheng, successful or not? Are you authorized to make this decision? Mr. Liu won’t object?”

“I am the decision-maker, as I am DiDi’s chairman and CEO,” Cheng Wei said, his eyes filled with determination, ready to risk it all.

Lu Liang was at a loss for words and chuckled, “With you there, it’s better than not.”

Cheng Wei’s face stiffened, and he fell into silence; it was the same logic of why Dong Zhuo kept Emperor Xian.

After all, he was the founder of DiDi and still had some prestige in the company; Liu Qing was just a parachute executive.

“Let me think about it.”

Lu Liang finished his coffee, brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes, leaving a remark, “I’ll give you an answer before I leave Beijing on Wednesday.”

For success, three elements are essential: the right timing, the right location, and harmonious human relationships. DiDi’s IPO is being obstructed, National Security is connecting the dots, and Cheng Wei is extending an invitation—all seem related.

In reality, they just seemed to be; otherwise, the success rate wouldn’t be just 30%.

Moreover, to join DiDi in such a straightforward manner smelled of cutting ties.

Even if he agreed, it was necessary to wait for an appropriate moment.

After saying goodbye to Cheng Wei, Lu Liang went to ByteDance to attend Douyin’s shareholder meeting.

This time the plan was to release 15% of the shares for fundraising 3 billion dollars, with a valuation of 20 billion dollars.

The funds raised from the financing would be divided into three portions: the development of e-commerce, group purchases, and live-streaming sales promotions.

Lu Liang listened, feeling drowsy, only aware that after this round of financing, his 9.25% stake would become 7.86%.

Though his shareholding had decreased again, it had increased in value to approximately 1.572 billion dollars.

After the shareholder meeting, Zhang Yiming found Lu Liang, smiling as he asked, “Not following this round?”

Lu Liang replied with a smile, “We’ll see if no one else invests.”

As one of the original shareholders, if no one acknowledged the valuation, they would have to back it. If others recognized it, they could naturally retire with their mission accomplished.