The 10-day national ZX conference finally came to an end, and Ren Pingsheng ushered in a new stage of his career development after fulfilling his obligations as a member of the ZX.

At the Wangfujing Peninsula Hotel in Yanjing City, Ren Pingsheng signed an agreement with more than a dozen investment institutions and investors for Weibo's first round of financing. Long before the IPO of Universal Games, Ren Pingsheng has launched the financing plan of Weibo Company, after the entrepreneurial process of Universal Games, he is more and more aware of the importance of capital in the development process of enterprises, and at the appropriate time to obtain funds through the capital market, which has a strong role in promoting the rapid development of enterprises.

The development of Weibo is too fast, not only beyond the imagination of the market, but also beyond Ren Pingsheng's estimates. The construction of the new version of the website, the development of public welfare actions, and the implementation of the big V plan all require people and money. Higher requirements are put forward for the company's labor cost and financial cost.

In less than half a year, the company has grown from an entrepreneurial team of less than 100 people to 300 employees in the headquarters, and has established contacts in 273 cities across the country.

Since Weibo is still in the stage of developing the market, and the commercialization operation has not yet been put on the agenda, it cannot provide any income at present, and it completely relies on Ren Pingsheng's funds to maintain its operation, which is certainly not a long-term solution.

Although Ren Pingsheng is now worth 20 billion, half of it is wealth on paper, and the other half is mostly invested in the plan to short the United States.

After Wanyou Games went public, it has become a public enterprise, and Ren Pingsheng can't be the same as before, casually through loans or related party transactions, etc., to transfuse blood to other companies under his own, so it is imperative for Weibo to launch the first round of financing.

Compared with the first round of financing of Universal Games, Weibo's first round of financing is much easier, because Weibo is now a phenomenal Internet enterprise, its ranking in Chinese social networks, its popularity and reputation in China, have attracted the attention of many investors, and Universal Games' superior performance since its listing has also provided a good model for Weibo's financing.

After all, the chairman and founder of both companies are the same person, a role model for a new rise in Internet entrepreneurs.

Supported by these favorable conditions, although the current capital market is somewhat weak due to the subprime mortgage crisis, the investment community has expressed great interest in Weibo's first round of financing, and has offered a high valuation.

According to the signed agreement, Weibo raised $500 million in its first round of financing, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. The financing was led by Dawn Capital, with an 8% stake of US$200 million, ICG Capital and Ali Ma Ma each contributed US$100 million and each obtained a 4% stake, and Fuxing Group and Yingtai Group continued to invest, each contributing US$50 million and obtaining 2% of the shares.

The reason why the main investment is led by Dawn Capital is, on the one hand, because the valuation of Weibo is very high this time, and the notice amount has exceeded the A and B rounds of many startups.

On the other hand, Ren Pingsheng also expects Dawn Capital to provoke this investment, because he still owes the Chen brothers a favor.

......

A few days ago, Ren Pingsheng met with a Hong Kong man in Yanjing City through the intermediary introduction of Chen Lizong, president of Dawn Capital.

This Hong Kong man is thin and elegant, wears a simple pair of rimless glasses, and his facial features and intonation are obviously characteristic of Nanyue Province, but his speech and acting style are very professional, and he looks like a typical professional manager.

Cheng Beirong, a native of Hong Kong Island, graduated from the University of Hong Kong and obtained an MBA degree from the University of Singapore, and is currently the head of the northern region of Hong Kong-owned Swire Properties, with rich experience in commercial real estate development.

With an area of 136,000 square meters, Sanlitun Village is Swire Properties' first commercial complex in China, known for its international fashion taste and avant-garde fashion hub, and has become a fashion landmark in Yanjing City and one of the most iconic neighborhood businesses in China.

Since its successful operation in 2008, Sanlitun Village has achieved a 100% occupancy rate of retail properties and an annual rental income of HK$2.567 billion.

And all this, in addition to the careful polishing of Hong Kong-funded commercial real estate developers, is also inseparable from the experience and ability of Cheng Beirong, the operator of the Sanlitun VILLAGE project.

Although Sanlitun VILLAGE has not yet opened at this time, Cheng Beirong, a trader, has been famous in the Hong Kong-funded real estate industry for a long time, and he is also the target of the Chen brothers' Hengrong Real Estate wants to poach people.

The reason why headhunters will find Cheng Beirong is very simple.

Although Swire Properties' main assets and operations are in Hong Kong and mainland China, its parent company, Swire Group, is a veteran British foreign firm, headquartered in London, England, and the main major shareholder is British capital, so no matter how much Swire Properties' business intersects with mainland Hong Kong, there is an unwritten rule within this British foreign firm that the top leadership of the company must only be British.

With Cheng Beirong's current qualifications and status, it is basically hopeless to go to the next level in Swire Properties, so the headhunters see this opportunity and are trying to persuade him to change jobs, and the most frequent contact with him is Hengrong Real Estate.

Ren Pingsheng is currently in full swing looking for a commercial real estate operator, the demolition and infrastructure of the National Expo Park plot is very smooth, and it will soon enter the construction stage, but Ren Pingsheng feels that his experience in the real estate industry is still very lacking, and he needs a trader with practical experience.

So after learning the news, Ren Pingsheng immediately found the Chen brothers, through the good cooperative relationship they established in the early days, as well as the investment enthusiasm of Dawn for meager companies, the Chen brothers finally reluctantly cut their love, allowing Ren Pingsheng to take the lead.

At this moment, Ren Cheng and the two of them were standing in Sanlitun VILLAGE, which had not yet opened, and Cheng Beirong pointed to the open block composed of large and small transparent buildings, which were scattered and clean, and said:

"In two months, there will be 180 well-known domestic and foreign brands here, 40% of which are opening stores in China for the first time, and their first stores are in Sanlitun Village. ”

"We believe that with the development of China's economy, the rise of the middle class as the main consumer group, the main consumers continue to be younger, and the consumer vision is becoming more and more internationalized, young people will pay more attention to the "physical sense" and "shopping experience", such a market environment has given birth to the first-store economy, so that many international brands that have not yet entered the domestic market tend to open physical stores in China.

"When more and more hipsters gather here, it forms a field that attracts more and more trendy brands to set up shop here, and because of these brands, more hipsters will come here. Cheng Beirong looked at the empty Sanlitun Village in front of him.

"Compared with other commercial real estate, the biggest advantage of Sanlitun Village is the first-store economy. ”

Ren Pingsheng nodded with admiration, Cheng Beirong's business judgment is very accurate, and the future trend of Sanlitun VILLAGE also proves this. Therefore, Ren Pingsheng wanted to recruit Cheng Beirong into his own banner, so that he could manage the commercial complex of the National Expo Park plot for himself.

Facing this senior professional manager, Ren Pingsheng asked in a business tone that Hong Kong people are accustomed to:

"Mr. Cheng, I want to hire you as the CEO of my company, you can say anything you need, I have the ability to satisfy you. ”

Cheng Beirong of course knows the purpose of Ren Pingsheng's trip, he has learned about Ren Pingsheng and Pingsheng real estate through headhunters and his own connections, although Pingsheng real estate currently has no completed project in China, but this land located in Handong New District, Hanhai City is extraordinary, and the National Expo will attract global attention in 2 years, which will inevitably drive the flow of people and business districts in this area, which is an excellent opportunity to build commercial real estate.

But Cheng Beirong didn't directly express his attitude, he wanted to see the vision and insight of this young boss, so Cheng Beirong said lightly:

"I've done a good job at Swire, and there's no need to change owners urgently. ”

Ren Pingsheng smiled slightly:

"SANLITUN VILLAGE IS A GREAT PROJECT, BUT SWIRE PROPERTIES IS NOT A PLACE YOU SHOULD STAY FOR LONG. ”

Seeing Cheng Beirong frowning, Ren Pingsheng took a long time to say:

"Swire Properties entered the Chinese market in 2002, and it took an average of more than 6 years from land acquisition to opening, and the current layout is limited to first- and second-tier cities. ”

Cheng Beirong looked at the empty block, shook his head and said:

"Swire is known for its slow pace and meticulous work, with a greater focus on first-tier cities, core locations and large-scale mixed-use developments. It's true that this model takes a longer investment, but the return is also longer and better. ”

Ren Pingsheng smiled and said:

"Slow work and deliberate slow work are two different things, the operation of real estate mainly depends on the efficiency of the use of funds, Hong Kong-funded enterprises rely on the convenience of Hong Kong's international financial center, in terms of financing has an inherent advantage, and the reason why Hong Kong-funded real estate deliberately and slowly develop is because they do not trust the mainland in their hearts, do not believe in the mainland's development prospects. ”

With the advantage of being adjacent to the mainland, Hong Kong-funded real estate developers entered the mainland market early in the early days of reform and opening up, and hoarded the cheap land at that time and slowly developed it, and even more, such as the famous Li Chaoren, who has been in the mainland for 20 years, and has developed more than 20 real estate projects, 19 of which have not been built, and 10 have been developed for more than 10 years.

These Hong Kong-funded real estate developers are not focusing on mainland development at all, they just want to rely on the resources in their hands to monetize.

Therefore, Ren Pingsheng broke the intentions of Hong Kong-funded developers in one sentence.

"The most fundamental motivation for Swire to acquire less land and slow development is that they don't want to deposit funds in China, they just want to make money in front of them. ”

Listening to Ren Pingsheng's assertion, Cheng Beirong was silent, he has been in charge of project development in the mainland for 10 years, and has a deep understanding of Swire Properties' style and philosophy, although what Ren Pingsheng said is not 100% correct, but it is not far off.

Ren Pingsheng saw that Cheng Beirong's expression had changed, and he continued to exert pressure:

"If you look at what's going on around you, China's economy is only going to get better, not just the first-tier cities, but hundreds of second- and third-tier cities that are upgrading their consumption, and people who are gradually becoming middle-class need more commercial complexes, and they all need better designs, better operations, better developers. All of this is waiting for us to provide and create. ”

Ren Pingsheng clapped his hands and said loudly:

"This is an unprecedented opportunity and one that all real estate people dream of. Staying at Swire Properties, you can only make one Sanlitun Village, join my company and we will create hundreds of Sanlitun Villages. ”

Ren Pingsheng's words left a deep trace in Cheng Beirong's mind like Hong Zhong Dalu, but the scene he depicted made Cheng Beirong's blood boil.

Cheng Beirong has been on the mainland for 10 years, and he is full of confidence in China's future after experiencing first-hand the changes that have taken place here, but he also regrets the missed opportunity for Swire Properties.

The young man's prediction of commercial real estate in front of him is largely similar to Cheng Beirong's ideas, which also makes him full of curiosity about his life real estate and the National Expo Park project, and he really moved his mind.

It's just that Cheng Beirong has worked hard in the workplace for so many years after all, he will not make a rash decision directly, he needs to slow down.

"Give me some time, let me think?"

Ren Pingsheng nodded and agreed without hesitation, he knew very well that Cheng Beirong would not refuse his invitation.

Because, the Chinese market is too big.