Chapter 729: The Way to Get Rich
Seeing Tang Wanli's strange look, Lu Yiming quickly denied it and said, "How could I forget? Delong Group is a large company worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Mr. Tang, you have acquired so many industries. I have to do some research before investing, right? After all, I never fight a battle without preparation."
Tang Wanli is a man who is good at networking and is best at observing people's words and expressions. Although Lu Yiming explained it, he could see that Lu Yiming had forgotten about the investment!
This made him feel embarrassed and angry, as if he was trying to please someone else.
After all, Delong Group was a business he was proud of, and Lu Yiming's contempt made him very angry.
Just when Tang Wanli wanted to say something, two people came over and greeted him.
"Boss Tang, you are here. I have been looking for you for a long time."
The person who spoke was Zhao Bin. After he finished speaking, he looked at Lu Yiming provocatively, and then said to Tang Wanli: "I am very interested in Delong Group. How about we talk about it?"
Tang Wanli was overjoyed when he heard that Zhao Bin was willing to invest. However, he did not show it too obviously. He said calmly, "It is our blessing that Mr. Zhao is interested in Delong. There is no rush for the investment. Let's find a place to talk slowly after the banquet."
Zhao Bin said: "Okay, I am very sincere."
Zhao Bin, who thought he had already won over Tang Wanli, did not forget to secretly demonstrate to Lu Yiming, obviously trying to "steal the love".
Luo Yongjie said to Lu Yiming with a smile: "Boss Lu, I heard that you are also very interested in Delong Group. It seems that we think alike. I snatched your opportunity. You won't be angry, right?"
After learning about Delong, Lu Yiming knew that this kind of company was not good. It was not a normal business logic at all. Therefore, he was not interested in it and judged that this model would not last long. Now seeing Luo Yongjie and Zhao Bin still vying to jump in, although Lu Yiming looked very angry, he was actually very happy in his heart.
In order to make the two more confident, Lu Yiming's eyes showed a little more anger, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Boss Luo, you are too polite. What's the point of snatching or not? When doing business, it's all about ability. And who Boss Tang is willing to cooperate with is still a foregone conclusion."
Luo Yongjie rarely had the upper hand in front of Lu Yiming. Seeing Lu Yiming's gnashing teeth, he immediately felt a little proud: "Don't worry, President Lu, President Zhao and I have always been vigorous and resolute in doing things. As long as we find the right opportunity, there is no cooperation that we can't negotiate."
Lu Yiming had a helpless expression on his face and said, "Oh, then I wish you two success."
After showing off in front of Lu Yiming, Luo Yongjie and Zhao Bin followed Tang Wanli away.
Ni Cong said unhappily, "Fuck, who is this? How come he speaks more provocatively than you?"
Lu Yiming said nonchalantly: "They are just two dogs, you don't need to know them."
Wang Dazhuang asked in surprise: "Aren't you usually the most vindictive? Why are you so calm now? They stole your business."
Lu Yiming did not tell the two that the Delong Group was a big bomb. He just smiled and said, "There is no end to making money. They took the business by their own ability. Why should I be angry?"
Ni Cong didn't believe it, "No, there must be something wrong here. You are narrow-minded. If someone takes advantage of you, I'm afraid you won't wait to get revenge."
Lu Yiming rolled his eyes and said depressedly: "Can't I turn over a new leaf?"
Ni Cong looked at Wang Dazhuang: "Do you believe it?"
Wang Dazhuang shook his head: "No one would believe that."
Two days later, the news indeed reported the cooperation between Zhao Bin and Tang Wanli.
Delong Group received a large amount of capital injection, and with the Zhao family's network of connections, its strength has been further enhanced. It has once again raised high the banner to start a new round of mergers, and its stock price has also been rising steadily.
The media reporters who like to watch the fun reported in great detail the grievances and hatreds between Lu Yiming and Zhao Bin. Zhao Bin had suffered a defeat at the hands of Lu Yiming in the past, but now he is taking revenge and directly intervened to seize the Delong Group and kick Lu Yiming out.
《Shock! A man who made Asia's richest man lose face!》
《Shocked! He actually did this to the richest man in Asia! 》
"Is it because of too much pride or bad luck that the richest man Lu failed in Delong? "
The news media was bustling with activity, and the spectators across the country were enjoying the show to their heart's content. After all, it was rare to see Mr. Lu suffer losses in his business, so everyone was happy.
In the office of Zhenxiang Catering Service Co., Ltd., Ni Cong pointed at the news in the newspaper and said to Lu Yiming with a smile: "Look at what this is? This is very satisfying."
Seeing so many people waiting to see him make a fool of himself, Lu Yiming was extremely annoyed: "Is it necessary to be so hostile to the rich? I basically cut foreign leeks, is it necessary for me to be hated so much in China?"
Ni Cong shook his head and said, "Do you need a reason to hate the rich? Obviously everyone is so poor, but you are so rich. Who else should I be hostile to if not you?"
Wang Dazhuang also agreed with this: "Yes, even on the Hurun Rich List, you seem to be out of place. Everyone has assets of hundreds of millions or billions, but you have exceeded 100 billion, standing out from the crowd. This is even more excessive than a tall tree attracting the wind."
Lu Yiming shrugged slightly and said, "Okay, let's get back to the point. I have no interest in the Delong Group. These people can eat melons if they want. I don't care about small shrimps like Zhao Bin and Luo Yongjie at all."
He flipped open the financial newspaper in his hand and showed the contents to the two people: "To me, this person is slightly qualified."
When Ni Cong saw it, he immediately exclaimed, "Fuck, the CEO of eBay is coming to Xia Country?"
Lu Yiming said seriously, "Yes, I'm afraid this time it's aimed at me."
The newspaper clearly stated that Meg Whitman was about to arrive in Xia Country, and eBay was coming with great force this time, with an obvious purpose - to completely occupy Xia Country's e-commerce C2C market share.
A sword comes from the west, sweeping away thousands of troops!
Compared with eBay's mighty team, Jack Ma's Taobao is simply a group of wild bandits. The newspaper directly wrote the headline "Ants fighting elephants", implying that Jack Ma and Taobao are completely seeking their own death.
Ni Cong said: "You invested a lot of money in that Jack Ma, it won't go to waste, right?"
Although the loss of money was not theirs, after all, Lu Yiming was his classmate, roommate and business partner, and they did not want Lu Yiming to lose money.
Wang Dazhuang comforted him, "Don't think too much. Lu Yiming has a big family and a lot of money. Even if Taobao fails and loses money, it's just a drop in the bucket for Lu Yiming. It won't hurt him much."
Seeing the two's negative attitude, Lu Yiming immediately became unhappy and shouted, "I don't like what you are saying. The fight hasn't even started yet. How can you be sure that we will lose? It can't be an ant fighting an elephant. Does the elephant lose?"
Ni Cong complained: "Your words are not materialistic, right? eBay's market value is almost 30 billion, that's US dollars. If you pull out a hair, it can crush Taobao. How can you win?"
Lu Yiming took out a ten-yuan note and shook it loudly. Then he said with a smile, "How about we make a bet? I dare to predict that within a year, Taobao will win a great victory and gain a firm foothold. And within the next three years, eBay will be driven out of the Xiaguo market."
Ni Cong and Wang Dazhuang booed, "You are the richest man in Asia after all, and you only bet ten dollars?"
Lu Yiming shouted, "Is ten yuan too little? I can get two sets of meals at Zhenxiang Fast Food. If I buy crispy ice cream, I can buy five!"
The two were disgusted for a while, but they each took out ten yuan and agreed to join the gambling.
On the plane, Meg Whitman was resting her eyes when her assistant Ferdinand Hotham handed her a document and told her, "Shao Yibo has agreed to sell eBay, and our only competitor in Xia Country is now Taobao."
“Taobao?”
Meg Whitman obviously didn't know there was such a company, so she asked, "What is the market value of this company?"
"The company is not listed yet," said Ferdinand Hotham.
“What about the valuation?”
"Due to the Internet cold wave, the company's valuation is not stable, but now it is said to have 2 million registered users."
"Haha, with this little bit of strength, are you worthy enough to be our opponent?"
Meg Whitman is obviously very disdainful of Taobao. In her eyes, such a small company is no different from an ant. She doesn't know how many of them will be crushed to death if she passes by.
However, assistant Ferdinand Hotham reminded Meg Whitman: "Taobao's parent company is called Alibaba. This company is also nothing special, but the identity of its major shareholder is not ordinary. It may be worth our attention."
"Who is it?"
"It's Lu Yiming."
"Lu Yiming?"
Meg Whitman sat up straight, a look of surprise on her face.
"Why is it him?"
She has a headache.
After all, she had just fought with Lu Yiming in July and suffered a great loss, and was forced to accept an offer that made Yibei feel painful.
Because of this incident, many eBay shareholders have complaints about Meg Whitman. After all, no investor wants to be taken advantage of.
However, Meg Whitman thought about it carefully, a smile appeared on her face again, and she said meaningfully: "Maybe this is a good thing."
How could Meg Whitman not want to make amends after suffering a loss at the hands of Lu Yiming?
This time, she planned to settle all the new and old grudges with Lu Yiming.
Hangzhou, Alibaba Group.
At this time, after several years of development, Alibaba is no longer like the past where a group of people crowded in residential buildings to listen to Jack Ma's chicken soup. Now they have all moved into spacious and bright office buildings.
At this moment, after learning that eBay's boss Meg Whitman was coming to Xiaguo, the entire company was in a state of panic. After all, eBay had swept the Internet shopping market and was unrivaled. With Alibaba's small size, eBay could easily take it down.
In the face of absolute strength, any struggle is futile.
Who wouldn't be afraid when a giant like eBay is about to enter Xia Country and compete with them in business?
Jack Ma, who had just returned to Hangzhou from Zhonghai, felt a little tingling on his scalp because what Lu Yiming had just said to him had now come true.
eBay came with great momentum, and Eachnet was powerless to resist. So how could Alibaba resist this wave?
Although Lu Yiming taught Jack Ma how Alibaba would make money in the future, he did not tell him what Alibaba would do to survive after eBay came.
To be honest, Jack Ma is now very panicked. He feels that he is going to be wiped out this time and become a victim of eBay's dominance.
As a last resort, Jack Ma contacted Lu Yiming again.
"Boss Lu, the female boss of eBay has come to Xia Country in person!"
After receiving Jack Ma's call, Lu Yiming was not nervous at all. He smiled and said, "Yes, and he is not a good person. Are you scared to the point of peeing your pants?"
Although he was really panicking inside, Jack Ma still pretended to be calm and said, "Whether we win or lose, we will know only after the fight."
Lu Yiming laughed and said, "As expected of Lao Ma, you are really ambitious."
Then, Lu Yiming continued, "No matter what, I am now a major shareholder of Alibaba. Just go ahead and do whatever you want to do in this battle. I will fully support you no matter what. We are all Xia people, and we can't let an old witch from a foreign country bully us. "
With Lu Yiming's full support, Jack Ma felt relieved and spoke more confidently: "Mr. Lu is right. As a country with a billion people, how can we be afraid of him? But Mr. Lu, Shao Yibo has sold Eachnet to eBay for $225 million. Not only that, eBay also used its capital advantage to place provocative advertisements on search engines and portals, banning our advertisements online. It's really aggressive."
Lu Yiming said: "This is indeed a problem, have you ever thought about how to defend against this move?"
This is also a question that Jack Ma has been thinking about recently. When Lu Yiming asked him about it, he immediately said, "We at Taobao plan to adopt the strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside, and place advertisements in offline subways, buses, online text messages, emails, and personal websites to let more people know about our reputation."
Lu Yiming said: "Although this down-to-earth approach is good, brand reputation is also very important. Let's put it this way. My cousin is a major shareholder of Baidu, and I also have a lot of shares in the 3721 website. I can help Alibaba crack eBay's "online ban" tactics."
Jack Ma also knows that posting dog-skin plaster advertisements is actually a way of throwing the Seven Injury Fist. Although many people remember the brand and product, it is actually not classy at all and is a bad idea. But there is no other way. The Internet is blocked, so he can only place physical advertisements.
However, Jack Ma was very pleased that Lu Yiming was willing to bring out the search engine Baidu and the portal website 3721 to help Alibaba break through.
Nowadays, 3721 has become the leading portal website in China. Many people go online by opening the 3721 website in their browsers first, and then searching for the website they want to visit from the navigation interface. It can be said to be a pure traffic transfer station. Qiandu goes one step further. You can find what you want by typing directly in the search bar.
With the support of these two websites, eBay’s ban on Taobao became ineffective.
"Mr. Lu, if that's the case, that's great! With the help of Qiandu and Sanqi Twenty-One, we at Ali can take the initiative."
Lu Yiming asked doubtfully: "Take the initiative to attack?"
Jack Ma explained to Lu Yiming: "Mr. Lu, eBay entered Xia Country through the acquisition of eBay. Such a large international group must have some plans for Xia Country's e-commerce market, and will enter our Taobao territory sooner or later. The enemy is strong and we are weak, so passively taking a beating is not an option. For us, offense is the best defense."
At this moment, Lu Yiming was also touched when he saw the "ant" in front of him sharpening his sword and gun and carefully preparing to attack the "elephant".
No wonder Jack Ma in history was not the first to start in the e-commerce field, did not get the most investment, and did not have the largest initial scale, but he was the only one among all the contemporary Xia e-commerce companies that survived to the end, and even defeated the prosperous eBay.
Jack Ma has made great contributions to this, even if his success was also due to a bit of luck.
But luck is elusive, and not everyone can grasp it.
In such a dangerous situation, Jack Ma still wanted to take the initiative and struggle to survive. It can only be said that there is no luck behind every successful person.
Facing Jack Ma's choice, Lu Yiming did not object. As the saying goes, those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. Alibaba is so big now, it is like an egg in front of a big rock, it will break at any touch. In this case, it is better to take the initiative. Maybe eBay will turn around, and Alibaba will have a chance to breathe.
Lu Yiming smiled slightly and said, “Okay, I’ll arrange it for you, come on!”
After finishing the call with Lu Yiming, Jack Ma suddenly became very confident. He rushed out of the office and announced the good news to everyone in the company.
When they heard that Lu Yiming agreed to help Alibaba break the impasse, everyone cheered.
"Great, Mr. Lu is on our side!"
"With the richest man in Lu taking action, Yibei is nothing to be afraid of."
"I really didn't expect that Mr. Lu would help us. That's great."
"Nonsense, Mr. Lu is the largest shareholder of Alibaba!"
The halo around Lu Yiming was so bright that he had almost become a legendary figure in the circle. Not to mention that every time he made a move, he would definitely reap great rewards. Even if he did not make a move, his words would be followed and regarded as a golden rule.
Soon, a war of unequal strength broke out between Taobao and eBay.
For Taobao, this battle is a battle to establish the country, and if they lose, it will be the end of the game.
But in the eyes of eBay's president Meg Whitman, this was clearly a commercial scam.
