Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chen Yansen and Liu Qiangdong sat facing each other, steam wafting from a purple clay teapot on the side.

The members of Jingdong’s entourage had tense expressions, betraying their nervousness.

Liu Qiangdong was the first to break the silence. He chuckled and said, "President Chen, I made a special trip here today because I sincerely hope that Orange Mobile Phone will join Jingdong. You and I are both well aware that the mobile phone market is fiercely competitive. An additional sales channel is crucial for Orange Technology’s growth."

"Is that so? Since Orange Technology withdrew from the Jingdong platform after the 418 Home Appliance Festival, our performance doesn’t seem to have been affected at all."

Chen Yansen set down his teacup, leaned back, and gazed at Handsome Dong with a broad smile.

’He wanted tangible benefits, not to listen to the other guy’s bullshit.’

It was true that cooperation was mutually beneficial, but in the current e-commerce environment, a partnership between Jingdong and Orange Technology was clearly more advantageous for Jingdong.

’And Liu Qiangdong thought he could win Orange Technology back with just empty promises?’

’Not a chance!’

At these words, Liu Qiangdong gave a dry laugh and beckoned to his assistant, who understood immediately and handed over a marketing and promotion proposal.

He took it and, without the slightest hesitation, pushed it across to Chen Yansen. "This is a token of my sincerity."

Chen Yansen picked it up and casually flipped through the pages.

The proposal included promotional slots on the Jingdong homepage, the 3C digital channel’s image carousel, and popular recommendation sections. It also promised to host four "Super Brand Day" events for Orange Technology annually, complemented by offline advertising, public relations, online ad placements, and social media campaigns to provide full-scale, platform-wide exposure.

Additionally, it offered a special payment period as short as twenty days, after-sales support, and big data backing.

Compared to last year’s onboarding contract, the terms of this new proposal were far more flexible, the allocation of resources was significantly greater, and every detail hinted at a desire to break the impasse and start anew.

Brother Sen was very satisfied with Liu Qiangdong’s sincere and apologetic attitude.

But then another thought occurred to Chen Yansen. ’Since Jingdong already signed an 800-million-yuan procurement contract with Meizu,’ he mused, ’they have a backup plan. Logically, they shouldn’t be groveling before Orange Technology like this. They must have other conditions up their sleeve.’

"What does President Liu want in return?" Chen Yansen couldn’t be bothered to beat around the bush and asked directly.

"I knew I couldn’t hide it from you." Liu Qiangdong grinned, then paused before continuing, "Jingdong wants to establish a long-term advertising partnership with Toutiao, Lingxi Browser, and the Orange Application Mall."

After he finished, he stared intently at Chen Yansen, watching for the slightest change in his expression.

Chen Yansen understood what he was getting at. ’He just wants to use an annual contract to secure a lower rate.’

In 2012, limited by the penetration rates of broadband, 3G networks, personal computers, and smartphones, the total number of internet users in the country was under 600 million.

Early-starting platforms like Taobao and Jingdong were quickly hitting a traffic ceiling.

This was a critical period of transition from the PC internet to the mobile internet. Apart from Penguin, Senlian Capital controlled the most formidable mobile resources.

If Jingdong wanted to break past its valuation ceiling of 15 billion US dollars, it couldn’t do so without Senlian Capital’s help.

"No problem," Chen Yansen agreed readily.

’Why turn down money that’s being handed to you on a silver platter?’

’But as for a discount, Liu Qiangdong could forget it!’

You get what you pay for. The advertising services for Toutiao, Lingxi Browser, and the Orange Application Mall all used a CPM bidding mechanism. The higher the bid, the greater the exposure. If he wasn’t willing to spend the money, he would have a hard time acquiring new customer traffic at scale.

Seeing Chen Yansen agree so readily, a look of delight spread across Liu Qiangdong’s face. He quickly raised his cup, toasting with tea in place of wine and thanking him profusely.

"When does Jingdong plan to go public?" Chen Yansen asked casually.

"To be honest with you, the valuations from brokerages in Hong Kong Island and the Lighthouse Country are only a little over 10 billion US dollars. I would rather hold out for another two years than go public at a loss and let outsiders cash in on a bargain."

Liu Qiangdong sat up straight, his face grim as he spoke.

In his mind, Jingdong would absolutely not go public with a valuation of less than 20 billion US dollars.

After all, Ali Baba’s valuation was already approaching 80 billion US dollars. If Jingdong’s market cap on its IPO day was only 10 billion US dollars, it would be far too humiliating.

"By the way, Pinbei’s current market share and sales growth are both very impressive. President Chen should start preparing an IPO plan soon." Liu Qiangdong changed the subject, testing the waters with Chen Yansen.

Huang Zheng, hearing this, subconsciously perked up his ears.

He held a significant number of Pinbei stock options, and once the company went public, his net worth would skyrocket.

Everyone at Pinbei, from customer service reps to the CEO, held company stock, but the project itself had only been founded two years ago.

Therefore, everyone believed it was only a matter of time before Pinbei went public.

"I’m not in a hurry. It’s not like Pinbei is short on funds," Chen Yansen said with a nonchalant shrug.

Liu Qiangdong felt a sting of jealousy, and a flash of envy crossed his eyes.

In reality, Senlian Capital’s investments in warehousing and logistics were by no means inferior to Jingdong’s. But Chen Yansen’s approach was cleverer: he had spun off Cloud Speed Express to operate independently, responsible for its own profits and losses. This greatly eased the concerns of venture capital firms.

Furthermore, Cloud Speed Express not only served Pinbei’s merchants but also handled package pickups for Tmall Mall, Taobao C Stores, and Jingdong POP Stores. After defeating the Three Passes and One Reach, Liao Wei had quickly turned a profit by raising prices.

He had instantly transformed what was once a liability into a profitable enterprise.

Liu Qiangdong wanted to emulate this model, but he was afraid of compromising the service quality and delivery speed of Jingdong Express.

The two sat on the sofa, making small talk over tea.

The matter of Orange Technology joining Jingdong, as well as the advertising agreements with Toutiao, Lingxi Browser, and the Orange Application Mall, were all delegated to their subordinates to handle.