pjbooks Chapter 170 Cashing out 2 million from stocks
Chapter 170 Cashing out 2 million from stocks
Chapter 170 Cashing out 2 million from stocks
In April, Pinduoduo launched a secondary entry point on WeChat.
As the saying goes, choice is more important than effort. Once this secondary entry point is launched, Pinduoduo's usage is destined to almost double.
If this trend continues, monthly active users will exceed 3 million in April.
Lin Mu hardly needs any extra work; he can reach tens of millions of monthly active users by the end of the year without doing anything. However, he is not the kind of person who reaps the rewards without sowing.
As someone who has been through it all, he knows that the competition among e-commerce platforms will settle down around 2014 or 2015, leaving only a two-year window of opportunity; after that, it will be the era of food delivery wars, Didi Chuxing, and new consumption.
During these two years of loose monetary policy, he had to do everything in his power to expand Pinduoduo's scale. Now, four years have passed.
In just one month, he had burned through 2 million of his 5000 million yuan in cash, leaving him with 1.5 million yuan. He needs to raise more cash to launch a series of major initiatives, such as the "Pinduoduo Cut-One-Drop" promotion, which is also due for launch.
He still holds a 20% stake in Yuezhi, and it's time to cash out those shares and use the funds to fund Pinduoduo. Of course, this investment won't be free; there will be corresponding changes in the shareholding structure.
The person he cashed out his shares from was someone his girlfriend, Sheng Mingyue, had helped him contact—a friend of her father's in the clothing trade. This friend was willing to pay 200 million yuan for 20% of his shares, adding a piece to his business empire: a luxury women's clothing line.
At the entrance of the Kaiyun Hotel, Lin Mu met Sheng Mingyue, whom he hadn't seen for some time.
The two haven't seen each other for over a month since the Chinese New Year: Sheng Mingyue is constantly traveling all over the country, busy with her own business; while Pinduoduo is in a period of rapid development, and Lin Mu is constantly attending banquets and meetings with all sorts of leaders and partners.
Judging from Sheng Mingyue's complexion, she looked much more haggard. Before Lin Mu could speak, Sheng Mingyue walked over with concern and fastened the buttons on his shirt, saying, "This dress I bought for you doesn't fit anymore. You've lost a lot of weight recently."
Lin Mu felt a warmth in his heart and said, "Don't talk about me like that. You've lost a lot of weight too. You need to take care of yourself."
Sheng Mingyue patted her stomach and laughed, "It's not without its advantages; at least I don't have to suffer through strict dieting anymore."
After chatting for a few minutes, the two walked into the hotel.
O
A short while later, Sheng Mingyue's father, Sheng Youwei, arrived with his friend. This friend was in the women's clothing business and was currently seeking an IPO. By purchasing shares in Yuezhi, he could better present his story to the capital market; moreover, Yuezhi would also be using his connections to develop a new business line, making it a win-win situation.
During the banquet, Sheng Mingyue spoke eloquently, stating that the direction of women's affordable luxury has great potential, and that Yuezhi can not only make stockings, but also expand into the lingerie category in the future. Over the course of the meal, the parties established the basic framework for cooperation.
Next, a designated person will conduct an investigation, draft the contract, and then meticulously review every detail. In fact, business deals are often finalized before the drinking session even begins. Inviting someone for drinks is to solidify relationships; it all happens after the business is concluded.
The group flattered each other and drank a few cups. Sheng Youwei drank to his heart's content, looking at his prospective son-in-law Lin Mu with increasing satisfaction: Lin Mu was only 26 years old this year, yet he was about to take charge of a company valued at over 10 billion yuan, and he had built it from scratch without any help from his family. In just a few years, he had created such a empire. Even if all the young talents in China were brought out, he would still be considered a dragon among men.
Sheng Mingyue casually started a conversation, saying, "Xiao Mu, I'm planning to open a new shopping mall in Shancheng soon. My friends and I have already acquired the land, but we shareholders with decision-making power are still undecided about the specific layout."
"One group of shareholders believes that we can simply copy our past successful experience, replicate a model shopping mall in Chongqing, introduce major high-end brands, and connect with some emerging first-tier brands. But the other group believes that times have changed and we should try something new."
"Aren't there all the hype surrounding new consumption and internet celebrities lately? One side wants to use new consumption and internet celebrities as the style for mall layouts and emphasize these aspects when attracting tenants. The two sides are arguing fiercely now, each with their own reasons. Which side do you think is more promising?"
Huh? How did this topic suddenly shift to me?
Lin Mu pondered for a moment. He didn't know much about shopping mall operations, but he was clear about industry trends. In later years, grain stores and anime-related businesses were extremely popular, and almost every shopping mall would dedicate a floor to selling anime-related products to attract customers.
It's 2011 now, so it's a bit early to get into anime and manga culture. But the mall needs time to build and decorate. By the time it's finished, it'll probably be 2014 or 2015, which will be just right for getting into anime and manga culture.
Lin Mu replied politely, "Uncle Sheng, I don't know much about mall operations. I just have relatively wide access to information and can predict trends to some extent. Uncle Sheng, have you ever thought about setting up a dedicated floor for ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) related content?"
This question struck Sheng Youwei like a ton of bricks. The seasoned businessman was completely bewildered and asked, "What is ACG, or 2D?"
Lin Mu gave a brief explanation of the concept of ACG: "Simply put, games, anime, and comics all belong to ACG content."
Sheng Youwei seemed to understand something, and said, "Oh, I think I get it. Didn't you do a collaboration with 'Meteor Butterfly Garden' on phone cases a while ago? That marketing campaign was quite successful, so that's part of ACG marketing, right?"
"No, no, no," Lin Mu shook his head, "Meteor Butterfly Garden is realistic content, which is not the same as anime/manga. Anime/manga and ACG content absolutely cannot contain elements of real-life celebrities. For example, I later collaborated with Qidian to launch a lot of merchandise featuring characters from online novels, which is what makes an excellent adaptation of ACG content."
Sheng Youwei frowned, seemingly understanding but not quite, and asked, "Is there really such a large market to dedicate an entire floor of a shopping mall to this kind of content?"
Lin Mu was indeed aware of this. The next few years would be a period of explosive growth for pan-entertainment content in China, with various entertainment industries developing rapidly. Of course, such a vague prediction was not something that could be stated explicitly, but Lin Mu could illustrate it with existing examples.
He said, "Uncle Sheng, I mainly observed this trend from Japan. After Japan completed its urbanization transformation, people gradually became atomized. Atomization means that people pay more attention to the differences between individuals and no longer place too much importance on groups, collectives, and families."
"Because of atomization, teenagers generally feel lost, and this loss leads them to seek spiritual compensation, which is why ACG content becomes their emotional support. In the 80s and 90s, Japanese ACG content experienced a boom. I think we will see a similar situation in China soon. Of course, this is just a trend I predict, and I'm just mentioning it to you; the final choice is still in your hands."
Sheng Youwei stroked his chin, thinking to himself: Lin Mu's words carry a lot of weight. Most importantly, this kid seems to never make a wrong judgment; his ability to seize opportunities and grasp trends is exceptionally strong. He planned to go back and find a team to conduct thorough market research.