Chapter 713: Breaking Through 700 Billion Yuan! Zhou Hongyi: But Chen Yansen Is My Best Friend

Penguin had been established for fifteen years and publicly listed for nine. It held two trump cards—QQ and WeChat—in addition to its e-commerce and online gaming businesses, yet its market capitalization was a mere 116 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, Pinbei, founded just two years ago, had somehow secured a market capitalization of 88 billion US dollars, merely on the strength of its titles as Hua Country’s top social e-commerce platform and second-largest e-commerce company?

Many found this baffling, believing Pinbei’s valuation was overinflated.

But in reality, the five major underwriters, including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley, had chosen to fully subscribe with barely a second thought.

Were the financial tycoons and industry elites of Wall Street all idiots?

Obviously not.

As soon as the news broke, domestic media outlets scrambled to report on it.

“Pinbei’s IPO Is a Done Deal! Raising $8.8 Billion, a Record for the Lighthouse Country Market!”

“The Pinbei IPO Wealth-Making Miracle: Over 6,000 Employees to Become Rich Overnight, Potentially Becoming Millionaires, Multi-Millionaires, or Even Hundred-Millionaires!”

“The World’s Richest Man’s First Public Company: From an Innovation Park College Student to an $88 Billion E-commerce Giant!”

“Pinbei Priced at $40, Valued at $88 Billion!”

Overseas media also provided extensive coverage.

The New York Financial Times’ headline read, “An $8.8 Billion Fundraising Demand Puts the Lighthouse Country’s Market Capacity to the Test,” while The Wall Street Journal’s was titled, “Pinbei Isn’t the Hua Country Version of Amazon, It’s the World’s Richest Man’s First Capital Show!”

Netizens, meanwhile, were joking in the comments section: 1 Pinbei = 2.4 Qian Dus = 8 NetEases = 10 360s = 26 Sohus!

No one knew who first posted this formula, but it quickly went viral on Hua Country’s social networks.

When Li Yanhong saw it, his eyes narrowed. His expression turned utterly foul, radiating an indescribable gloom.

When Ding Lei heard the news, his heart sank. He muttered a string of curses, “Who did this? Was that really necessary? Do you have to rub it in my face?”

Zhou Hongyi, on the other hand, was magnanimous, responding with a self-deprecating tone, “Congratulations to my good brother, Chen Yansen. I wish him a smooth and successful IPO! 360 is also working hard, and I hope everyone will continue to support 360’s mobile phone and software products.”

Zhang Chaoyang hadn’t paid the matter any mind at all. He had been out drinking at a bar until the early hours of the morning and still wasn’t awake.

With Pinbei’s IPO plan set in stone, no one was happier than the company’s employees.

From customer service, content moderation, and operations to investment attraction, finance, and legal affairs, people in every department were ecstatic.

One thousand stock options were equivalent to 40,000 US dollars, ten thousand were equivalent to 400,000 US dollars, and one hundred thousand were equivalent to 4 million US dollars.

Not counting the stock options they had already received, as long as the annual sales volume target of 600 billion yuan was met, everyone would get to divide up a bonus pool of options worth 400 million US dollars.

Even those in customer service positions would receive a minimum of 500 shares, which translated to 20,000 US dollars.

Back in their hometowns, that was enough for a down payment on a house.

Suddenly, the entire project team was fired up, working as if they were on steroids.

Two days later, Huang Zheng finished his business trip and rushed back to Xucheng to oversee Pinbei’s fourth-quarter operations.

At the same time, a company named Orange Car Company Limited completed its registration.

Although the move was kept quiet, it didn’t escape the notice of those who were paying close attention.

‘Chen Yansen wants to build cars?’

‘That guy must have been a Taotie in his past life; he wants a piece of every industry!’

‘Well, he has Deep Blue Battery, so it’s only natural for him to enter the new-energy vehicle industry.’

A number of bosses from traditional car companies couldn’t help but gossip behind his back.

The only silver lining was that Chen Yansen hadn’t chosen to partner with other automakers. Instead, he had decided to apply for a manufacturing license independently, and the production base’s workshop layout was still a complete blank slate.

In other words, it would be impossible for Orange Car to launch and begin deliveries in less than two or three years.

Orange was indeed a competitor, but a future one.

…

…

On November 4th, 5th, and 6th, Yu’e Bao’s returns continued to climb. The daily return per 10,000 yuan was 1.53, 1.57, and 1.62 yuan, respectively. The trailing seven-day annualized yield reached a high of 5.9%, just 0.1% shy of breaking 6%.

More than a decade later, an ordinary person hearing about a 5.9% composite yield would likely assume it was a P2P lending scheme, but in 2013, this was a bona fide money market fund.

As a result, the total funds under Yu’e Bao’s management continued to swell.

By November 8th, it reached 700 billion yuan for the first time!

The funds managed by WeChat’s Linqianbao and Ali Baba’s Yulibao were also skyrocketing. Internet finance had entered an unprecedented fast lane.

Meanwhile, backed by supplementary support from Wanke Cloud, the Wanke Coin from Thunder’s “Crystal Project” began to skyrocket in value.

Initially priced at 0.01 yuan, it surged to 0.43 yuan in just eleven days—an increase of over forty-fold.

Someone who had casually bought 100 yuan worth of Wanke Coin had now earned over 4,000 yuan.

Making money seemed far too easy!

Yu’e Bao’s returns were soaring, the Growth Enterprise Market was up over 80%, and P2P wealth management products were popping up one after another.

Some people even took out loans to play the stock market, invest, or start businesses, terrified that being a step too slow would mean missing out on hundreds of thousands in profit.

No one thought anything was amiss.

When people around you were buying new cars thanks to a market rally, when small businesses started with online loans were breaking even in three months, when the fear of “missing the next big thing” caused more anxiety than “losing your principal,” rationality became a shackle to be mocked.

The storm clouds were gathering!

Chen Yansen stood before the floor-to-ceiling window in his office and let out a soft sigh.

‘When was starting a business ever that easy?’

‘For ordinary people, the harder they work, the more tragic their outcome often is.’

The Hu City Intellectual Property Court, along with the district courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Texas, had accepted the parallel lawsuits filed by Tiangong and Qualcomm. The cases were currently in the evidence-gathering and scheduling phase.

Qualcomm had filed for a preliminary injunction, demanding that Tiangong Technology suspend sales of the Celestial Craft A100 Chip.

Chen Yansen’s legal team didn’t take it lying down. They also filed for a preliminary injunction to prohibit Qualcomm from selling chip products suspected of technological infringement.

The two sides had completely dropped all pretenses!

Qualcomm had intended to threaten the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) into cutting off supplies to Tiangong Technology, but just as Paul Jacobs was about to call Zhang Zhongmou, he received a message.

Tiangong Technology had signed foundry agreements with both GlobalFoundries and the United Microelectronics Corporation, gaining two more manufacturing partners in one fell swoop.

In other words, unless he could get all three foundries on board, even if Zhang Zhongmou agreed to halt Tiangong Technology’s 28-nanometer production, GlobalFoundries and the United Microelectronics Corporation could step in to fill the gap at any time.

He had no way to threaten Chen Yansen!

On the contrary, Chen Yansen sent word that he was planning to suspend cooperation with Qualcomm and would choose chips from MediaTek and NVIDIA instead.

Paul Jacobs was instantly livid!

After all, according to an industry report from just half a month ago, Orange Technology’s global shipments had already reached 93 million units, making it solidly the world’s third-largest mobile phone brand.

If they lost Orange Technology’s orders, Qualcomm’s revenue and stock price would suffer.

After a moment of contemplation, Paul Jacobs called in his assistant, gave a few instructions, and then snorted coldly. “In Hua Country, handset makers who want to take Orange Mobile Phone’s market position are a dime a dozen. With Qualcomm’s power, you think we can’t cultivate a second Orange Mobile Phone?”

「One day later.」

Lei Yijun, at the Yanjing Xiaomi Headquarters, received a call from the President of Qualcomm’s Great China Region.

The call was brief, but it contained a massive amount of information.

If Xiaomi was willing to abandon the Aurora Future System and forgo using the Celestial Craft A100 Chip in its next-generation flagship phone, Qualcomm would fully support Xiaomi, giving it priority access to Qualcomm’s latest chip products.

Qualcomm would also offer Xiaomi flexible terms on its patent royalty rates, which would be more favorable than those for other manufacturers, thus lowering the cost for Xiaomi Mobile Phone to expand overseas.

Furthermore, they could introduce Xiaomi to overseas carrier resources and help it optimize its supply chain, allowing it to break free from the developmental constraints Tiangong Technology imposed on it.

Frankly, the terms Paul Jacobs offered were extremely generous.

Lei Yijun knew perfectly well that if Xiaomi could hitch a ride on the Qualcomm express, its brand influence and position in the overseas market would be completely transformed.

‘Betray Orange Technology? Betray Chen Yansen?’

Lei Yijun muttered to himself.

‘Chen Yansen has a reputation in the industry for seeking revenge for the smallest of grievances. Is it really worth angering Orange Technology just for Qualcomm?’

「Meanwhile.」

As it happened, Zhou Hongyi also received a call from Wang Xiang, President of Qualcomm’s Greater China Region.

“President Wang, surely you know that Chen Yansen is a very close friend of mine!” Zhou Hongyi retorted, his brow furrowed slightly.