"Waiter, please add a few more dishes."

Wang Juntao arrived a little later than the agreed time. He greeted the waiter on his own and planned to chat with everyone.

He came here specifically for Yang Xiao, but Yang Xiao didn't ask him questions at this time. He just chatted with everyone.

Wang Juntao looked at Yang Xiao's calm face, but felt a little anxious.

At this time, Tan Bin was sitting aside. Seeing Wang Juntao with stubble on his face and a haggard look, he asked with some concern: "Brother Tao, have you been very busy recently? How come I haven't seen you for two months, and you seem to have aged a lot?"

"Don't mention it. The business at [Huiduotuan website] is too busy. I can't have a peaceful New Year. For the sake of business, I came back early."

Wang Juntao’s group buying website is called this rustic name. Currently, most of the group buying websites are named with words like “tuan” and “hui”, and their meanings are easy to understand at a glance.

"I know, Brother Tao, your company is so big, you must be very busy."

Tan Bin looked at Wang Juntao with admiration on his face.

In his spare time, he went to Wang Juntao's company, which was also a large office on half the floor of an office building. He naturally thought that Wang Juntao was "making a lot of money" now. He even asked Zhou Hongyu privately who was more powerful between Yang Xiao and Wang Juntao.

Wang Juntao waved his hand casually at this time. Ever since he and his friends invested in group buying, even though they were still staying in Shenzhen, he had no time to visit the club location of Tan Bin and his friends.

Although he also contributed some funds to the e-sports club.

However, he would like to make greater strides in the group buying business.

In his opinion, what's the point of setting up an e-sports club and how much money can you make?

Even though he had a hobby in this area before and had fun with everyone, deep down he looked down on this industry.

The prize money for competitions these days is only a few tens of thousands of yuan at most, and you still have to take care of your own food, clothing, housing and transportation. What’s the point of generating power with love?
In addition, now that he has invested most of his wealth in the group buying game, he is even more desperate.

In addition, perhaps because he wanted everyone to look at him with new eyes, he had no intention of paying attention to the e-sports club. After investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, he just didn't care about anything else.

Of course, there is another reason.

Since the e-sports club is now completely run by two college students, Zhou Hongyu and Li Yuanbao, he really doesn't have the face to go over and "seize power."

In their eyes, what "Brother Tao" was doing was a big Internet business comparable to Yang Xiao's, involving an investment of tens of millions, which was very different from their small-scale operations.

This really put Wang Juntao in a very difficult situation.

Now the competition in the group buying business is too fierce, he has added several million funds and devoted himself to it. He even started to act as a salesman, going out in person to run business with the salesmen and contacting merchants to join their platform.

How could a rich second-generation boy like him do such things?
After being hesitant for several days, I finally overcame my inner barriers, put on a stern face, and lowered my posture to communicate with the merchant.

But the current market is too cruel, whether it is Lashou.com, which currently sits on the top spot in the group buying market, or WoWotuan, which is second, or Meituan.

All three companies are burning money like crazy, and even using the platform's money to subsidize merchants' group-buying products.

But whether it is merchants or users, they are all profit-driven.

Users are looking for cheap prices, so they will use whichever platform is cheaper.

Merchants want to protect their own profits, and they will use the platform that gives them the greatest profit.

Other big platforms have already started to subsidize themselves, so what can a small platform like them use to compete with others?

At the beginning, they had four or five partners in total, and they pooled an initial capital of 10 million yuan, following the example of others and spending money to squeeze into the market.

The result is naturally predictable. After burning for a long time, not even a splash of water was made.

He added funds from everywhere, and personally, he had already added up to five million.

Other investors even started engaging in private lending, and their situation can be said to be extremely dangerous!

He also kept in mind some of the things Yang Xiao had said before, and did not listen to his friend's advice to use leverage to go all in.

But no matter what, he has invested almost all of his assets, and there is no turning back now, so he came to find Yang Xiao.

Wang Juntao was very happy at this time that Tan Bin could bring the topic to his career. Seeing that Yang Xiao did not respond at all and seemed to be uninterested in his topic, he became a little impatient.

So he looked at Yang Xiao and couldn't help asking:

"Brother Xiao, do you remember what I wanted to tell you during the Chinese New Year?"

"Oh? What's the matter? I think you mentioned that you would talk to me about something after I return to Shencheng?"

Yang Xiao felt a little amused in his heart, but he still pretended to be stupid on his face.

"Well, the group buying market is booming right now. I have a few shareholder friends who are willing to give up some of their shares in [Huiduotuan Website]. Do you want to come in and get involved? I can even let you be the majority shareholder."

"Brother Tao, let's be frank. The situation on the group buying side is indeed very good, and it is also favored by venture capital at the moment, but the good ones are those industry giants. What does it have to do with you?
On the contrary, you guys [Huiduotuan website] are having a hard time right now, right?"

Yang Xiao smiled meaningfully and looked at him, "Besides, if you give up some shares and let me become the major shareholder, there should be some tricks involved. I don't need to say more, right?"

Wang Juntao felt sweat on his forehead at this moment. He was silent for a moment, then smiled bitterly:
"Forget it, Brother Xiao, I won't play tricks on you anymore. To tell you the truth, I'm already trapped now. My friend got some information about you from me, and wanted me to come here to persuade you to join."

Yang Xiao smiled and said, "You want me to take over and build momentum for your [Huiduotuan website]?"

Wang Juntao nodded, with a look of shame on his face.

Yang Xiao had guessed his thoughts long ago, and even knew the plans of the so-called partner behind him. Considering the friendship between them, he did not want to say anything excessive.

"Tell me, what is the current situation of this [Huiduotuan website] of yours?"

Wang Juntao looked around at everyone present, put down the burden in his heart, sighed, and said:
"Well, we are all family, so I have nothing to hide. The current situation is that both Meituan and WoWotuan have plans to acquire our company, but they seem to have discussed it privately, and the acquisition prices they offered are all very low! They want to take away our sales staff with only 800 million. You know, several of us investors have invested nearly 2500 million now, and they want to take over our existing market directly! That is what we have worked hard for in the past few months!"

Zhou Hongyu and his friends have learned a lot from what they have seen and heard during this period. When they first heard the first half of Wang Juntao's sentence about the company being acquired, they were somewhat happy for him.

As a result, the second half of the sentence was that the 2500 million business was converted into 800 million, and they all kept silent.

They all looked at Wang Juntao with pity, thinking that he was somewhat miserable.

My goodness, it’s only been a short time and over 10 million has gone down the drain?

I guess Brother Tao himself has lost several million, right?
Rich people really know how to have fun!
Yang Xiao understood the key point, pondered for a while, and asked him a very important question:

"How much money do you have in your company's account?" "Less than 10 million."

Wang Juntao felt a little guilty when he said this. In fact, the actual account balance was only over 2 million, and even the employees' salaries had not been paid for half a month.

Yang Xiao also understood the art of speaking, and did not want to get to the bottom of it, or to reveal his fig leaf.

"My advice is to cut your losses as soon as possible."

"Brother Xiao, actually our [Huiduotuan website] has already occupied about 15% of the group buying market in Shenzhen, including some surrounding cities, with a market share of more than 50%. It is still very promising. We have a plan. As long as you invest 51 million, all our shareholders will unite to transfer % of the shares to you, allowing you to directly control the company. How do you think?"

Wang Juntao's words were extremely sincere, even more exaggerated than visiting Zhuge Liang three times at his cottage to invite him to take charge. They were ready to let Yang Xiao take over directly!
Yang Xiao shook his head: "Not so good. The group buying market is not something that can be played with just 10 million or so. I have made it very clear before. I dare not touch it."

Seeing Yang Xiao shaking his head to refuse, Wang Juntao became anxious and quickly explained:

"No, Brother Xiao, you misunderstood me. We don't need to look at the whole country. We only need to occupy Shenzhen and several surrounding cities. With your influence on the Internet, we can make the cake bigger and then sell it to Meituan or Lashou.com. Everyone can make money, and you will still make the most money. You will not lose money on this deal."

"Haha, to tell you the truth, Brother Tao, I invested in several movies not long ago, and also partnered with others to set up a new online music company. You should be able to find information about this on the Internet. My cash flow has already bottomed out, so where would I get the extra money for group buying? What's more, subsequent investment will definitely be needed, and I don't have the money." Yang Xiao declined with a smile.

"This"

Wang Juntao knew all the news that Yang Xiao mentioned, including the visit of the crew of "Lost in Thailand" and the establishment of Time Online Music Group. These were not secrets and there had been related reports on the Internet. Could it be that the other party really had no money?

After thinking for a long time, he remembered his friend's request, so he continued:
"Then can you help me promote our [Huiduotuan website] on your Weibo and Tieba?"

"Brother Tao, my Weibo account is not only operated by me, but also by shareholders. As the saying goes, business is business. My current promotional offer for an advertisement on Weibo is 30 yuan. I don't make any money personally, so I'll give you a 5% discount as a friendship discount. But you know that your business scope is only in Shenzhen and its surrounding areas, so the effect of this advertisement may not be ideal. I can't guarantee any data conversion rate for you."

"."

Yang Xiao's words were half true and half false, but they were also very appropriate. Wang Juntao was completely silent after hearing this. He said slowly, "Then I'll think about it again."

In fact, Wang Juntao knew clearly in his heart that some traffic diversion was not enough to save their [Huiduotuan website] from its decline.

Unless Yang Xiao comes in to support the company completely, even if Yang Xiao has no money at the moment, he can still attract some investors to come in. This is the plan of Wang Juntao and his other partners.

They [Huiduotuan website] are currently facing squeeze from several industry giants, who are maliciously lowering prices, and it is obvious that they want to take the opportunity to swallow them up.

If we do not accept the acquisition, it will be very simple. We will slowly lose the existing market and die a slow death.

The current purchase price offered to them is 800 million.

In the end, maybe it will be 500 million, 300 million, or even zero yuan!
Because of the problem of follow-up funding, they are actually in a situation of chronic death!
Only someone like Yang Xiao, who is strong and has his own traffic, can save them from the dire straits.

But it was obvious that Wang Juntao could tell from Yang Xiao's expression and words that he was unwilling to take over this mess.

Yes, he himself was a little embarrassed to speak up, so why should he cover for them?

There are still risks here. What if Meituan is determined to burn money to the end and fight to the death?

I’m afraid Yang Xiao doesn’t dare to say that he can hold on to the investors until the end!

This is not a sure-fire way to make money!

Anyone would consider it!

In fact, Yang Xiao doesn't care about whether he loses money or makes money. This thing will undoubtedly overdraw his business credibility. According to Wang Juntao, he wants him to be a pure worker, work hard to build up the market, and then sell himself to those big guys?

Let him be the good guy? Dream on!

He had already rejected it outright, so he didn't want to talk more about this topic. He thought for a while and said:

"Brother Tao, how long do you think your [Huiduotuan website] can survive?"

"?"

Wang Juntao looked at Yang Xiao unhappily, thinking how presumptuous of you to say that!

Yang Xiao also laughed: "Uh, sorry, I said the wrong thing. What I meant is that Brother Tao, if you have no future over there, just come back and start an e-sports club. In two years, when the fan economy has reached a certain scale, it will be no problem to make a few hundred million with your eyes closed."

"Hundreds of millions? You must be kidding."

"Do I look like I'm kidding? Besides, do you think I would do something meaningless and unprofitable?"

Yang Xiao didn't even want to explain to him that when the gaming industry reaches its peak in the future, professional players' salaries will reach tens of millions.

These words are just fantasy at the moment. If you were to say them out loud, I'm afraid everyone here would drop their jaws.
"Then I'll think about it again."

"It's okay, Brother Tao. If your business fails, just come back. You also have shares in the SG e-sports club, so we can back you up when the time comes."

Yang Xiao's words were truly heartfelt. Considering the relationship between them in their previous life, he couldn't bear to see him die in the end, so he couldn't help but remind him and comfort him at this moment.

However, this consolation obviously had no effect. Wang Juntao simply did not believe that an e-sports club could generate hundreds of millions in revenue.

What's more, he now has the mentality of a gambler.

How could he be willing to leave the gambling table when he hadn’t been completely eliminated yet?
In the eyes of gamblers, as long as there is a glimmer of chance, they feel they can turn the tables!

Even if Yang Xiao has no solution, he and his partners will always think of other ways.

But no matter what, he always kept in mind Yang Xiao's words asking him not to owe debts.

At most, he could ask the old man at home to bleed gold coins and then go out to borrow money privately, but he doesn't have the courage to do that!
After finishing his dinner absentmindedly, he planned to go back and discuss the matter with his partners.

Yang Xiao looked at his unhappy expression, called him and said with a smile: "Brother Tao, if you [Huiduotuan Website] are forced to be acquired in the end, you can tell me in advance. At that time, I will take a look at it and try to help you raise the price. If it doesn't work, maybe I can take over completely."

"."

Hearing this, Wang Juntao's mouth twitched, and he was pondering Yang Xiao's ambiguous joke just now. Did he still want to join in?

Just want to take it all in?

He wants to go out and play by himself, why don’t you take him with you?
Damn, bad guy, really bad!

(End of this chapter)