novelraw Chapter 521 : I_m Starting to Doubt Your Sincerity
Chapter 521 : I_m Starting to Doubt Your Sincerity
Chapter 521: I'm Starting to Doubt Your Sincerity
The next afternoon, Chen Fan arrived punctually at the Beijing airport.
From a distance, he saw Chen Wenchao holding up a sign. Chen Fan raised his hand and waved.
Chen Fan traveled light this time, without any luggage. Chen Wenchao couldn't help but marvel at this, thinking that this guy was truly relaxed and confident. One might think he was here for a vacation.
Driving Chen Fan to the hotel where he would be staying, Chen Wenchao explained that this hotel had a partnership with Baidu, so the accommodation was free.
After settling Chen Fan in, Chen Wenchao asked if he wanted to rest for a while.
Chen Fan asked, "When will your boss meet with me?"
Chen Wenchao cleared his throat lightly, "According to the schedule, it's tomorrow morning."
"However, the boss instructed that if you're willing this afternoon, I can take you on a tour of Baidu headquarters."
Chen Fan thought he had nothing else to do anyway, so he nodded in agreement.
So the two went downstairs again and drove to Baidu headquarters.
Baidu's headquarters was located in Haidian District. At this time, Baidu had not yet gone public, so the entire company was far from reaching the scale it would in the future.
Chen Wenchao acted as a guide, leading Chen Fan up and down for a thorough tour of the company.
Chen Fan observed very carefully. At this moment, Baidu was still very pragmatic, with most of the company's employees coming from technical backgrounds. Moreover, at this time, Baidu had gathered most of the top engineers from across the country.
Cohesion and full of motivation, this was what Chen Fan saw in every Baidu employee.
Chen Fan knew that in the next few years, Baidu would enter a golden period of rapid development.
However, Baidu as a company had its unique characteristics.
It was born in the chaotic period of China's internet, almost a pioneer of the domestic internet.
But apart from the search engine, almost none of the projects the company later developed managed to become profitable.
Whether it was Baidu Zhidao, Baike, or Tieba, they were all national-level applications.
But they just couldn't convert the massive traffic into cash flow.
It was like losing money to gain popularity.
Speaking of Tieba, one key figure must be mentioned: Yu Jun.
As Baidu's senior product manager, during his tenure at Baidu, he launched national-level applications such as web search, mp3, and Baidu Tieba, making Baidu unrivaled for a time.
But after Yu Jun later resigned and went to Didi Chuxing, Baidu never developed another national-level application.
Chen Fan knew very clearly that in the next few years, Baidu would still enjoy a period of glory, forming the BAT trio of domestic internet giants with Alibaba and Tencent.
But with the arrival of the mobile internet era, Baidu gradually fell behind due to reasons such as decision-making, and was eventually surpassed by ByteDance.
In the end, the internet trio became ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent.
After finishing the tour of the headquarters, Chen Fan found it quite informative. Accompanied by Chen Wenchao, he had dinner in the company cafeteria, then returned to the hotel.
"Goodbye."
"See you tomorrow."
The two exchanged smiles, both understanding that although today's interaction was friendly, tomorrow would be the key. Come tomorrow, they would truly be representing their own interests.
The next morning, Chen Fan got up and had breakfast at the hotel.
At 8:30 am., Chen Wenchao came to pick up Chen Fan by car.
Originally, Chen Fan thought he would be able to meet Mr. Li directly at the headquarters.
However, upon arrival, Chen Fan realized he was mistaken.
They led him directly into a conference room where at least four Baidu executives were seated.
Since Chen Wenchao had the most contact with Chen Fan, he was also allowed a seat on the side.
Chen Fan was confused and looked towards Chen Wenchao.
"What's going on? Didn't we agree yesterday that I'd be meeting Mr. Li?"
Chen Wenchao gave an awkward smile.
"Don't be impatient. Our Mr. Li is currently attending a very important meeting out of town and is on his way back."
"These gentlemen are all our company's executives. They will discuss with you first. Whether or not an agreement is reached, our boss will definitely meet with you when he returns."
Chen Fan felt a bit frustrated, feeling as if he had been tricked.
However, he didn't show it, instead sitting in the chair expressionlessly.
Since they wanted to talk, let's talk then.
Without any pleasantries, the meeting went straight to the point.
A middle-aged man with a balding head across the table opened a file and began to read.
"Chen Fan, a student from Yunhai University, just graduated this year. Started his own business during college, currently owns a club, and also founded Feifan Technology, launching two heavyweight products..."
This guy rattled off almost all of Chen Fan's information in one breath.
Chen Fan was left speechless. What was the point of this?
After finishing, the man finally looked up.
"Mr. Chen, we've investigated you, and we're very clear about all this information. First, your Go Navigation Home, although currently holding the largest market share, is not irreplaceable."
"Our company's internal valuation puts it at around 30 million yuan. However, our people have talked with you several times, and both parties haven't reached an agreement. I'd like to ask if you have any other requirements?"
Chen Fan glanced at Chen Wenchao sitting in the corner and said calmly.
"He should have told you my requirements. If you want to acquire Navigation Home, it's simple. I require the acquisition price to be no less than 50 million yuan."
"50 million yuan, this price is too high. And it far exceeds our valuation of Navigation Home..."
"Let me interrupt!" Chen Fan directly cut off the speaker.
"First, I want to remind you all of a few points."
"One, my requirement is not less than 50 million yuan, not exactly 50 million yuan."
"Two, regarding whether it's worth it or not, I think that's meaningless. Worth depends on the buyer's perspective. An ordinary Tang Dynasty jar, in the eyes of someone who doesn't appreciate antiques, might not be worth as much as a pickle jar."
"But in the eyes of an antique collector, it immediately becomes valuable."
"I think you should understand this better than I do."
After these words, the four people opposite fell silent.
They hadn't expected this young man to be so eloquent and articulate.
It completely disrupted the negotiation strategy they had planned earlier.
The four exchanged glances, and finally, the balding middle-aged man spoke.
"How about this, we can add another 3 million yuan, making it 37 million yuan!"
Chen Fan shook his head without speaking.
After a while, this guy gritted his teeth.
"40 million yuan. This is already our company's final bottom line."
"To be honest, 40 million yuan has already far exceeded our valuation of Navigation Home..."
Chen Fan still shook his head expressionlessly.
"If the price doesn't meet my requirements, I'd rather not sell."
"You..."
Seeing the atmosphere becoming a bit tense, Chen Wenchao was hesitating whether to speak up to ease the situation.
But Chen Fan suddenly turned to speak.
"When exactly is your Mr. Li coming back?"
"To be honest, if he doesn't show up soon, I'm going to doubt your company's sincerity."
Just as Chen Wenchao was feeling awkward and unsure how to respond, the door of the conference room was pushed open.
A female employee dressed as a secretary walked in.
"Which one is Mr. Chen Fan? Mr. Li would like to see you."
Chen Fan smiled.
Finally willing to show his face.