After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 173 - 172: Wealth Brings Firepower Coverage

The next day, Liu Mingxuan sent a message, "I'm leaving, thank my son for your red envelope."

"Safe travels."

Lu Liang received it, replied with a message, and then ignored it.

When a relationship reached a certain level, even if they only met once a year, they could quickly regain the old times' feeling.

He and Liu Mingxuan had that kind of relationship.

On April 7, Watermelon Video had been online for a week.

The data was extremely impressive, with registration volume breaking the ten million mark.

Initially, most came for the "wool," but Byte's algorithm was exquisite, and the "wool" wasn't for everyone to exploit.

Gradually, some creators' data weren't favorable, and they gave up on their intent to exploit, thus staying on Watermelon Video.

Although Douyin's user base had reached five million and was considered a modestly successful app, Watermelon Video's sudden rise put Yang Zhenyuan under a lot of pressure, making him sleepless night after night, his broad forehead even more prominent.

That day, he rushed from Beijing to Modu to discuss with Lu Liang, planning to use clause twenty-one of their contract early.

Clause twenty-one stated he had the right to suggest that all shareholders dilute their shares to pool 5-10% into an equity incentive pool, but this needed a 66.7% majority to pass.

Even without Series A funding, his holding was only 60%, so he needed Lu Liang's support.

Yang Zhenyuan knew where Douyin fell short compared to Watermelon, so he planned to poach several industry bigwigs.

Real bigwigs couldn't be swayed by money alone; the price Douyin could afford, others could easily outbid.

Equity was the sole tether.

Originally, it was because of this that Yang Zhenyuan included clause twenty-one in the contract.

He just never thought he'd have to resort to it so soon, but there was no choice—the algorithm of Watermelon was too strong.

Douyin couldn't even see its competitor's back.

"Wait a bit longer, if we use it now, we won't have another chance."

Lu Liang reviewed Douyin's various data from the past week; although both the user base and daily active users had increased, the quality had clearly declined.

Before Watermelon appeared, Douyin's average daily active users were about 250,000, with an average online duration of about 72 minutes.

Since the launch of Watermelon, in just seven days, the average daily online time had forcibly reduced to 66 minutes, with a downward trend.

Yang Zhenyuan sighed bitterly and couldn't help feeling a bit pessimistic, "If we don't use it now, will there ever be another chance?"

"There will be."

Lu Liang's brow was tightly furrowed, and Yang Zhenyuan's pessimism was not a good sign.

If Douyin couldn't rise up, how would he ever sell it at a good price?

A spirited competitor and a beaten cur by the roadside were incomparable in price.

"Let's do this, first recruit a large number of engineers, attract talent by offering salaries 150% above the industry average."

"Don't worry about financial issues, just ensure the funds are put to good use, and if money is insufficient, I'll figure something out."

Lu Liang pondered, if plan A failed, they only had to change tactics and pave a golden path with money.

If history hadn't changed, by mid-November next year, Toutiao would expend one billion dollars to acquire Musical.ly for Douyin, resulting in a merger.

For Byte to invest such a large sum in Douyin, its valuation must exceed one billion dollars, conservatively estimated at two billion dollars.

Lu Liang still had nearly four hundred million dollars in cash, worrying about nowhere to spend it—he could engage in a real battle with Zhang Yiming.

According to Zhu Hu, Byte's liquid funds were just over two hundred million dollars, already spending one billion to promote Watermelon Video.

Though not disbursed all at once, including Byte's funds, it wouldn't exceed two hundred million dollars.

Nearly four hundred million dollars, couldn't he overpower them, completely undercutting their foundation?

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After all, times had changed, and as the saying goes, the poor must interweave tactics, while the rich cover with firepower.

Lu Liang now possessed the capital for covering with firepower; Zhang Yiming had better come over honestly to negotiate peace, or Lu Liang wouldn't mind fighting him to the end.

"Thank you, Mr. Lu. You are our anchor. With your words, we can rest assured."

Yang Zhenyuan was overjoyed. It was good to rely on a big supporter; equity was important, but real gold and silver were more essential.

The real tech moguls were out of reach, but they could produce volume, through massive piles of shitty code, simulating algorithms.

They could at least reduce the gap in algorithms from a factor of 12 to within a factor of 6, that is, building user profiles in one hour.

Yang Zhenyuan didn't realize that Lu Liang's heart wasn't in it; he was solely focused on electric vehicles, and this move was merely a tactic for seeking peace through battle.

In the afternoon, Yang Zhenyuan returned to Beijing with Lu Liang's promise, and then the whole Beijing Circle's internet giants exploded.

Baidu, the old employer, took the brunt, offering a salary 150% higher than the current rate to poach an entire tech team.

Next were ByteDance and Kuai Shou, who continuously lost more than fifty people who formed a research team of over one hundred members.

"Holy shit, has Yang Zhenyuan gone mad?"

"Raising 1.5 million dollars in Series A, could that make him so aggressive? Jumping over, it'd be hilarious if he ends up broke."

"My cousin works at Douyin, heard Yang Zhenyuan just got back from Modu, seems like he went to meet Lu Liang."

"Lu Liang... isn't he into new energy? What's he doing meddling with short videos?"

"New energy is current, but earlier he saw potential in short videos; it's said that it was because of him Yang Zhenyuan left Byte to start his own thing."

"No need to say 'it's said', Lu Liang is the founding investor of Douyin, still holding a 33.25% stake even after the Series A financing."

"Damn, Byte's in for it now; when it comes to splashing cash, who nowadays can outspend Lu Liang?"

In some place in Zhongguang Village, several big company employees were chatting idly, when it came to splashing cash, nobody could outspend Lu Liang, that was almost consensus.

After all, the first quarter of this year isn't over yet, and Lu Liang's two private equity funds already earned 1.3 billion dollars.

Even if he decided to spend 300 million dollars just for fun, and even if it all went down the drain, investors wouldn't dare complain.

In contrast, Byte is just an unprofitable internet company; talking about splashing cash, they really can't compete with Lu Liang.

As evening approached, Zhu Hu suddenly called: "Has Yang Zhenyuan gone crazy? Was this really your idea?"

"Yes, it was my idea."

Lu Liang smiled, paused, then added, "If you don't want to follow, I can take back the shares from Golden Sand River."

Zhu Hu pondered for a long time, then suddenly asked, "How much of a premium are you planning to pay?"

"How about 10%? Making some interest isn't bad."

Zhu Hu turned gloomy, gruffly retorted, "Can you be any more ruthless?"

"Does that mean you're in?" Lu Liang asked with a smile.

"I'm in for whatever amount; I think Shen Peng feels the same, don't think about leaving us behind."

Zhu Hu was fiercely resentful; by now, no one would question Lu Liang's insight in investment or speculation.

As a victim, he had particular authority.

Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder if Lu Liang had calculated it all.

Otherwise, how could he have timely withdrawn from ofo, letting him voluntarily pay a 20% premium to take over.

Although ofo's valuation reached 500 million dollars, management issues and financial problems were continuously revealed.

Especially Dai Wei, this guy seemed determined to carry the Enfeoffment Decree through to the end, planning to bring Jingwei Capital into the Series C financing and even give up another veto right.

Hearing this news, Zhu Hu was extremely frustrated, already discussing with Ali about exiting the deal even at a loss.

Lu Liang exiting in Series B was admittedly very timely, as if he had predicted it.

Now, Golden Sand River holds shares in Douyin, and Lu Liang let Yang Zhenyuan go ahead and provided financial support.

It seemed he was very optimistic about Douyin's development; despite Byte's looming threat, Lu Liang was a man adept at creating miracles.

He insisted on staying to the end,

even if it meant losing money.

Lu Liang felt somewhat disenchanted: "If you're in, then fine, I'll ask Shen Peng's opinion."

After ending the call with Zhu Hu, Lu Liang phoned Shen Peng, who answered almost identically.

He laughingly said, "Just tell us the shortfall directly, as long as you're still in, Redwood will keep following."

Even though he too couldn't grasp Lu Liang's thoughts, losing a few hundred million was still something he could afford.

He trusted Lu Liang's vision.