Chapter 292: Hearing the News

Chapter 292: Hearing the News

Chapter 292: Hearing the News
Yu Xing showed a strong interest in new energy vehicles.

Different from the time when he just graduated from campus and needed to visit investors for his first project, although the field span is relatively large, after a series of projects such as Guiai.com, Baixiaosheng, Bijia.com, WeChat, etc., investors are now actively willing to pay for his interests.

However, compared with funds, industry resources may be more important at this stage.

Yu Xing did not communicate with Xu Xin, and the luncheon dinner was still for discussing Tesla's operations and vehicle development with Musk.

Although Tesla has gone public, it still faces many problems. Even whether the Model S can be delivered on time is still an unknown, but it is still the global leader in electric vehicle manufacturing.

Of course, the popularity of electric vehicles in the world today is not worth mentioning compared to fuel vehicles.

As the luncheon drew to a close, Yu Xing asked a final question: "When will Tesla enter the Chinese market?"

"Well, the Chinese market is certainly an option. If all goes well, maybe I can deliver the keys to Chinese users in 2013." Musk gave an answer.

Yu Xing estimated that it would be 14 or 15 years. After all, things never go so smoothly.

Musk has sensed Yu Xing's strong interest in electric cars today, and said, "Yu Xing, you can buy a Tesla car when the time comes. It will definitely be great, and you can become Tesla owner No. 001 in China."

After listening to the translation, Yu Xing smiled and said, "Okay, it's my honor. Similarly, you can also become the No. 001 owner of our product."

Musk laughed.

After he finished laughing, he said, "I hope to see this day sooner rather than later. I have full confidence in the future of electric vehicles. Yu Xing, I heard that you got a lot of money after selling your company. You can actually support our company's stock."

Yu Xing changed his mind and said with a smile: "If necessary, I will use options to support Tesla."

While translating, Liu Wanying stared into Boss Yu's eyes.

Yu Xing shook hands with Musk, ending his communication with the president of the listed electric vehicle company.

The guests have left, but the investors are still there.

Yu Xing saw them off, but didn't see Zhang Suyang and Xu Xin off, so he had to ask, "Boss Zhang, Boss Xu, is there anything else you want to tell me? It's not time to start this project yet."

Zhang Suyang asked: "Mr. Yu, are you really determined to enter this field?"

Yu Xing nodded and said, "I think it is quite challenging, and I think its prospects are very optimistic."

Zhang Suyang asked again: "Is it more optimistic than competing with Penguin?"

Yu Xing couldn't help laughing and said, "Haha, last year I thought the gap between WeChat and Penguin could be bridged, and what was used to bridge the gap was my optimism."

He continued, "It's definitely not easy. If it were easy, everyone would come in. However, compared to the difficulty of competing with Penguin, this is another matter. WeChat is a threat from a rival. The difficulty of competition depends largely on the reaction of Penguin to determine our life or death. Well, the difficulty here is how to do well."

Zhang Suyang pondered Yu Xing's opinion.

"There are opportunities if we follow the policies. Even if our products cannot achieve the set targets, the policies may still be able to give them a push." ​​Yu Xing gave an example, "For example, the number of license plates in Beijing and Shanghai is becoming increasingly tight. In order to support the development of the new energy industry, we may have to give license plates to customers who buy cars. This is not a simple driving effect."

Xu Xin silently reviewed the current license plate policies in Beijing and Shanghai. It must be said that there is a lot of policy space.

However, her doubts were hard to dispel, so she asked, "What do you want to do? Take a ruler and measure the size of the Tesla car first?"

It sounds a bit harsh, but it is actually an existing practice. For example, Zotye Auto, which was founded in 03, has been imitating other manufacturers. Its Zotye 2008 was evaluated as "no different" from Toyota Terios, and its sales were not bad. It sold more than 1 units in the first year and more than 3 units in the second year.

"Mr. Xu, we should build cars honestly. Honestly means respecting the market, technology and supply chain." Yu Xing did not get angry and explained his thoughts. "I would like to learn from Tesla's cars, but the market environment and supply chain are different. If I use a ruler to measure them, wouldn't that be a death sentence?"

"It's not shameful to admit the gap. What we need to look at is the trend and development awareness of electric vehicles, find domestic opportunities, and try to promote its development. Those who learn from me will live, and those who imitate me will die. This saying is still very effective."

Xu Xin listened to this and saw Zhang Suyang's eager eyes. Finally, she expressed her opinion: "Then you can try it. Today Capital will send someone to talk when we raise funds."

Yu Xing nodded as if there was no grudge between them. When he saw her turning around and trying to leave, he stopped her again: "Boss Xu, since you came in person today, there will definitely be no problem chatting when the time comes. But you have to do me a small favor."

Xu Xin felt that Yu Xing was still acting like a normal person today, so she asked without hesitation, "What can I do for you?"

Yu Xing said smoothly: "Help me find a deputy who can take charge of the overall situation, find a place that can provide policy support, find a factory that can upgrade and transform, and if you can help me bargain, it would be even better."

Xu Xin glared at Yu Xing.

Zhang Suyang looked at Mr. Yu with amusement, feeling that he often had an inexplicable sense of entitlement.

Xu Xin stared at him for a while but got no response, then followed up with the question and asked, "How much money can I make by investing for you?"

Yu Xing said confidently: "I've already let you help me, and you still want to make money. Do you want to take all the good things for yourself?"

Xu Xin didn't respond at all and just turned and left.

"Hello, Mr. Xu, hello, did you agree?" Yu Xing called out to the back, "Hey..."

Zhang Suyang said leisurely, "Mr. Yu, speaking of investors in China who are more familiar with the automotive industry, I have thought carefully and Mr. Xu is indeed one of them."

Yu Xing asked with interest: "Are there any others?"

Zhang Suyang thought about it carefully and shook his head. "This industry in China is weak and not a popular investment area. There don't seem to be many institutions that really put in the effort to research it. On the contrary, GM and BMW's venture capital firms are probably more professional. This is not good news for you. It may be harder to get funding than you think."

Yu Xing just said "hmm" and didn't say much.

Zhang Suyang finally asked: "Mr. Yu, have you ever roughly estimated how much money is needed from the establishment to the final launch of the car?"

Yu Xing has two impressions of data from different periods in this regard. One is that Ideal Auto raised US$5 billion in the five years from its establishment to its listing, but only spent US$20 billion. The other is that Xiaomi Auto achieved initial success by investing 10 billion Chinese yuan.

Of course, there is also NIO, which doesn’t know the numbers but only knows that it can continue to raise funds and make money.

He thought about it, found a suitable target, and smiled: "This part still needs to be evaluated. I haven't talked about this with Musk today, but I think we can refer to Tesla's process. It raised $6 million from its establishment to its listing, and raised another $2.26 million from the secondary market when it went public."

"I think if this project wants to succeed, be competitive, and have a piece of the pie, it can't rely on investors burning money."

"This is also the lesson I learned from the competition with WeChat."

"It is difficult for WeChat to generate revenue on its own under the siege of Penguin. In the end, it will either fail completely or find a buyer. If new energy vehicles want to succeed, they must have a relatively healthy self-generating function."

Yu Xing finally said: "Mr. Zhang, I will invest a large part of the funds in my hands, and Red Falcon will also support me, so the funds are not my focus now. What I need to pay most attention to now is the problem of our domestic supply chain."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Suyang had only one feeling in his heart, that Mr. Yu had rules and regulations, and he might be making rapid revisions while exploring.

He decided to have a good talk with Mr. Xiong when he returned, and then see if he could provide some industry resources.

On the second day of March, the "Dialogue" column of Bai Xiaosheng, which had been silent for a long time, was updated. Musk, the boss of a foreign electric car company, appeared, and naturally showed Yu Xing's interest in the new energy direction.

However, this issue did not receive much response.

The concept of new energy vehicles is quite unpopular in China. Nowadays, the hot topics are still the Internet, mobile Internet, e-commerce and other related concepts. The only relatively lively discussion is who else can be found for the next dialogue with Dr. Yu.

So far, there are Liu Qiangdong who is engaged in B2C, Xu Xin who is engaged in investment, Wang Chuanfu who is engaged in domestic car development, and Musk who is engaged in electric cars. Judging from the content presentation alone, it is still quite broad.

Someone summarized these four conversations and gave an impression: "I think all four of them are very confident. Whether it's e-commerce, investment, or cars... they are all very confident in the direction they have chosen, and their execution is beyond doubt."

Yu Xing interacted a lot under the post.

He also sought everyone's opinions on subsequent guests, and said that he would invite Pony and Ma Dian to communicate when he attends the Pengcheng Conference this month.

Musk’s interaction did not go viral, and didn’t even go viral, but Yu Xing’s invitation under the post did go viral.

It is hard to tell which is better between Alibaba's WeChat and Penguin's micro-chat, and the two sides are engaged in a protracted battle, which has always maintained a certain level of popularity online.

Alibaba has discovered that every time it updates its content, relevant public opinion will report it more or less, which is like free publicity. It also intentionally or unintentionally makes fun of this serious strategic competition in the same way as it spends money on promotion.

WeChat was acquired at a huge price, and now it has truly caught up with Micro Chat, proving that the previous competition has indeed laid a good foundation.

However, in the current situation, Alibaba is racking its brains to think about how to take the lead and even the final victory.

This is indeed a difficult problem to solve.

With Murong Fu on both sides, it would be hard for anyone to win.

In this way, stalemate may be the norm for the foreseeable future.

This rare, back-and-forth competition that involves a lot of weight has made people in the industry and onlookers very curious about the leader's thoughts, and they hope that Yu Xing can really make a successful invitation.

This year's Internet Summit Forum was held in Pengcheng on March 3, co-organized by the local government and the Digital China Federation. The theme was "Transformation and Development: IT's New Mission", which coincides with the transformation from PC to mobile.

Yu Xing has received news that it has been confirmed that more than 70 IT company leaders will attend the conference.

And, he was also one of the guests who took the stage to speak after the much-anticipated mobile instant messaging competition.

In the first week of March, Yu Xing had been thinking about how to write this speech. However, before he could find any clue, an unfavorable change occurred over the mountain.

On March 3, "Travel World", which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was questioned by short-seller Citron for fraud, and its stock price evaporated by more than half at one point, which was another incident of Chinese stocks being shorted.

The company Travel World had been on the mountain's target list early on, but due to a shortage of staff and the negative impact of manufacturing penguins, its materials had not been fully completed.

At the end of last year, considering that WeChat was short of funds, Journey World, which had the same fraudulent listing and numerous loopholes as Hua Xia High Speed ​​Channel, was positioned as a backup fund for fundraising.

However, this blood pack was ultimately not used and was instead regarded as the next target for obtaining more capital after shorting the Penguin.

According to Liu Wanying's plan, once the short-selling research report is completed, the attack on Travel World can be launched in the middle of this year.

But... other short sellers got there first!
Liu Wanying took a quick look at Citron's short report and found that it was not much more comprehensive than what she had prepared. She felt bad and regretful.

"If I had known this earlier, I would have rushed over all at once like last year!"

She said this to Yu Xing in annoyance.

If I had gone public last year, I would have made some money. And if I had gotten there before Citron, considering the capital I could use this time, the profit might not be less than that from shorting Penguin.

Such a large sum of money suddenly disappeared from the plan...

It is difficult for Liu Wanying's mentality to remain stable.

Yu Xing was very happy to see this and consoled him, "Huaxia High Speed ​​Channel, wasn't this company shorted by Citron before? Then we provided more evidence. If it weren't for Citron's short selling, market sentiment might not be so sensitive. We don't know how many short sellers are watching it. It's hard to say for sure."

Liu Wanying sighed, "It's just a matter of one thought... Who knows if I can find a suitable target in the future!"

Yu Xing laughed and said, "Deception lasts forever."

Deception is ever-present, and targets that can be shorted are always floating in the market, it just depends on how to find their traces.

He continued, "Even if there is no suitable target in the future, there are still many opportunities in the early development of mobile Internet. Switching from shorting to longing, isn't this the meaning of Red Falcon's existence? When WeChat was sold, didn't the profit from our holdings be less than that from shorting Penguin?"

Not only is there less, the name is more legitimate and the funds are cleaner.

Liu Wanying was somewhat comforted.

Yu Xing thought about it and mentioned a trend: "Zhai Yifei, who came from Baidu, is testing the waters of mobile apps this month. Hongshun can invest in it to give it a try. This kind of mobile Internet change still needs to be experienced by oneself to summarize the gains and losses."

Liu Wanying pondered for a while and asked, "Should we freeze temporarily when we cross the mountain?"

Yu Xing hesitated slightly and shook his head, saying, "I like the feeling of exposing a scam and seeing their stock prices evaporate. Besides, once you make a car, cash flow is very important."

Liu Wanying hummed. To use Boss Yu’s words, she also liked the feeling of cutting open.

Hong Shun will contact Zhai Yifei, and at the same time, Bai Xiaosheng will also make a small investment, which is still a kind of internal incubation.

On March 3, Yu Xing flew to Shenzhen in advance and appeared at the summit forum again as a guest speaker.

Last time, he was a listener, an unknown person whose doubts were suppressed by Tang Jun with his status and qualifications in just a few words.

This time...

Yu Xing actually knew that he had gained a certain reputation by resisting the penguins, but when he stepped onto the stage and heard the warm applause, he realized that his reputation might be even higher than he had imagined.

"Hello everyone, I am Yu Xing who keeps fighting despite repeated failures."

Facing the camera and the seniors present, Yu Xing received spontaneous applause as soon as he said this, and his second sentence was interrupted.

He waited until the applause died down and continued, "I am honored to be here to attend the meeting, and I am also very nervous to be here to speak. I thought about it for a long time before coming here. The organizers may have invited me because of what I did in the past."

"What is it? It's actually very simple and can be summed up in four words."

"I heard the news and went shopping."

"In 2010..."

The guests at the scene reacted a little slowly to the homophony and ran away after hearing the news. Xun is the "xun" of penguin and Tao is the "tao" of Taobao. Then they interrupted Yu Xing's speech again with laughter and applause.

Ma Dian, who was sitting in the front row, was very happy and laughed so hard that he fell forward and backward.

Similarly, Pony the horse in front was listening to the sounds around him, drinking his tea calmly while pinching the teacup, as if he wanted to smash the cup as a signal to summon the executioner and chop at Ke Zhenwu in Jiaxing.

(End of this chapter)