Not all Internet companies are like Tesco, holding large sums of cash to withstand the cold winter.
Survival has become the most urgent need of these Internet companies at the moment.
As a result, a round of bloody Internet layoffs began.
For a time, every employee of an Internet company felt insecure. They were always on tenterhooks when going to work every day, fearing that one second they were typing code, and the next second they would be called to the office for a talk by their leader or HR.
Tesco is no exception to this trend.
In response to this situation, Qin Hao issued a letter to all employees.
The above content is also very simple. It clearly tells employees that not only does Tesco have no layoff plans, but also needs to conduct large-scale recruitment due to business development. Employees who have classmates or friends can also receive rewards after being recommended to join the company.
Immediately afterwards, the official website of Tesco also announced a new round of recruitment plans.
At this time, the employees of Tesco finally breathed a sigh of relief.
That night, some employees of Tesco posted on some forums, which caused quite a stir.
In an environment where the entire mainland Internet industry is engaged in layoffs and salary reductions to "cut costs and increase efficiency", a company like Tesco that not only does not lay off employees but also recruits a large number of employees is simply bizarre.
This has made some employees who were dissatisfied with salary cuts in other companies eager to take action. Some directly took leave to apply for jobs at e-commerce, while others went through internal introduction channels through acquaintances.
As a result, some very interesting situations often occur in Tesco's recruitment center. Many applicants find out during chatting that the people around them are from the same company or even the same department as themselves, and some even ask for leave to apply.
When they met their leader, they looked at each other and smiled awkwardly, pretending not to recognize each other.
In normal times, Tesco's poaching behavior would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among some peers, but during this period, many companies are eager for Qin Hao to poach more, so that they can pay less compensation.
Of course, Jack Ma didn’t think so and accused Qin Hao in public on several occasions of poaching a large number of talents from Alibaba with “illegal high salaries”.
Regarding Jack Ma's accusations, before Qin Hao even opened his mouth to retaliate, netizens were already scolding him on his behalf.
"Good guy, it's illegal to pay high wages. If you cooperate with others to work for you, it's like selling it to you?"
"That's right, Tesco is not a fool. Hire people with high salaries, which means that the people you poach are worth the price. If you offer a low salary, you blame others for high wages."
"Haha, illegally high salary. I suggest this word be included in the idiom dictionary. It's so classic. Let future generations see the face of contemporary capitalists."
Jack Ma was so angry that he vomited blood, but there was nothing he could do about it. Alibaba's welfare benefits were already somewhat different from those of Tesco, and now they were engaged in layoffs and salary reductions. The contradiction suddenly became apparent. Some even resigned from the entire team and went to Tesco.
, making it impossible to carry out many projects at all.
What depresses Jackma the most is that even the "China Iron Supply Army" for which he has "high hopes" has many people switching jobs to Tesco. On the one hand, the benefits offered by Tesco are indeed attractive enough, and on the other hand,
On the one hand, it is also because Tesco shows better prospects than Alibaba.
You know, the valuation of Tesco in this C round of financing has reached 15.3 billion US dollars. If it can be successfully listed on the US stock market in the future, it should not be a problem to double or triple the valuation.
Although there has been internal news that Alibaba is going to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market, it may not be successfully listed. Besides, it is difficult for the market value after the listing to reach the height of 15.3 billion US dollars.
One is valued at US$15.3 billion before it is listed, and one may not be able to reach US$15.3 billion after it is listed.
However, for Ali, after the "layoffs and salary cuts", the books did look much better. Jack Ma also knew very well that this was a life-and-death battle. Once Ali fell behind, it would be difficult to keep up with Tesco.
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As a result, Jack Ma began to intensively promote the IPO in Hong Kong.
Just when Alibaba was focusing on its IPO in Hong Kong, Tesco, driven by Qin Hao, once again opened up a new business - smartphones.
At the beginning, many executives and investors were opposed to Qin Hao's plan to build mobile phones.
After all, in 2007, the global mobile phone market was crawling under the shadow of Nokia's dynasty, and even Samsung could only pick up Nokia's leftovers.
As for domestic mobile phone manufacturers, the four major mobile phone manufacturers known as the "Chinese Cool Alliance" can only survive by producing "contract phones" for the three major operators.
All offline mobile phone stores in China basically sell mobile phones from international brands such as Nokia, Samsung, and Sony.
Qin Hao did not speak out about the concerns of executives and investors. Instead, he held a manager-level meeting and also invited investor representatives to attend.
Qin Hao didn't talk nonsense, but took out a mobile phone from his pocket.
"This is the new model that Apple is about to release - iPhone 3G. It is an engineering prototype that I asked someone to get from the United States. On this phone, I saw the shape of the future Internet."
"That's a smartphone!"
"Today, when we go online, we have to sit at a computer desk, facing a screen of more than 20 inches, and equipped with a heavy host machine, which greatly restricts our freedom to access the Internet."
"If we can do it, with just such a mobile phone, we can easily access the Internet without any obstacles."
"Imagine what that would be like, and if such a mobile phone is equipped with software like Tesco, it allows users to easily complete shopping with just a few clicks of their fingers. What does it mean for Tesco?
"
Having said this, Qin Hao paused deliberately to give the executives and investor representatives present time to think.
Some investors frowned and said: "However, manufacturing mobile phones is completely different from Tesco's business. Isn't what we urgently need to do now to defeat Taobao and then go public in the United States?"
His words aroused the recognition of many investors present.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After all, they invested so much money in Tesco in order to get Tesco listed in the United States, and then cash out at a high price and earn huge returns.
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The mobile phone business is a completely unfamiliar field to them, and unfamiliarity means risk.
Qin Hao said unhurriedly: "What about after the listing? How can Tesco ensure its absolute advantage over its peers? How can it build its own moat?"
While speaking, Qin Hao pointed to the iPhone 3G in his right hand again.
“This is Tesco’s moat.”
Those who do venture capital are actually not tired of risks, but the imbalance between risks and returns. As long as there are sufficient returns, they are actually willing to try no matter how high the risk is.
Some investors were convinced by Qin Hao, but of course some had reservations.
As for the senior executives of Tesco, they were all promoted by Qin Hao, and many of them were his classmates in Beiqing.
Qin Hao’s roommates Gao Feng and Cao Hexiang hold important positions in e-commerce.
Moreover, every decision Qin Hao has made over the years can be said to have been at the forefront of the times. This is also the most important reason why Tesco has been able to rise in such a short period of time.
After the executive meeting, Tesco’s mobile phone R&D department was officially established.
However, for a long time afterwards, most Tesco employees did not know that their company had such a department.
On the one hand, the mobile phone R&D department is too low-key and has no business contacts with other departments. On the other hand, it is also because the office location of the mobile phone R&D department is not in the Tesco headquarters building, but is arranged by Qin Hao in another part of the Beiqing Industrial Park.
In a research building.
In the blink of an eye, it was May 12, 2008, and Qin Hao suddenly received a call from Xiao Qianxi.
"I just saw the news, and suddenly I remembered that Xie Qiao seemed to have gone there with people from the publishing house to collect news. I called her many times but didn't get through..."
Qin Hao comforted him: "Qianxi, don't panic. I've already asked the rescue team to head over there. Xie Qiao's signal is probably just interrupted. When the rescue team finds her, I will contact you as soon as possible."
Xiao Qianxi breathed a sigh of relief: "Then should I tell Qin Chuan?"
"It's best to tell him. This stupid boy doesn't know what he will do when he is impulsive."
As a result, he was really afraid that something might happen. Qin Chuan disappeared that night and must have gone to Tianfu.
However, after experiencing this incident, Qin Chuan, this silly boy, finally got a beautiful woman in his arms. It can be said that fools are blessed.
Tesco has also won praise from the market for dispatching a rescue team as soon as possible, delivering a large amount of supplies, and making subsequent large donations. Many users even purchased items on Tesco after seeing some news reports.
I use a lot of products myself, so many of Tesco's warehousing and logistics centers were sold out for a time.
Qin Hao had to stand up and call on users to calm down and not make impulsive purchases.
Unfortunately, it was of no use. Users' enthusiasm for purchasing has not diminished at all. As a result, Tesco's purchasing department can only work overtime to make purchases. Many cooperative factory machines are almost out of smoke, and they still cannot keep up with the consumption speed of users.
This wave alone has brought more than 20 million new users to Tesco. Sales in June and July alone exceeded 20 billion yuan.
According to Liu Qiangdong, JD Logistics’ couriers’ tricycle wheels are almost dry, and a large number of packages cannot be delivered every day. Fortunately, many users buy things just to support Tesco’s charity, and do not pay attention to delivery speed at all.
They wouldn't complain if it was slower.
It was not until the opening of the Olympic Games in August that this trend eased. However, Tesco's market share has stabilized, accounting for half of the entire mainland e-commerce field. The remaining half is dominated by Taobao, eBay, Dangdang, and Joyo.
Amazon, Paipai.com divide these.
Among them, Taobao's market share has been hovering around 30%, and the number of users has exceeded 60 million, making it Tesco's biggest competitor.
Of course, Jack Ma disagrees with this statement. In several interviews with the media, Jack Ma said that Alibaba’s only competitor is itself, and other companies do not pose a threat to Ali.
Later, in an interview with the central media, the host reminded him that Tesco's market share had exceeded half. Jackma left the scene with a black face and angrily, leaving only the host who looked confused.
Just one month after the Olympics, some media suddenly received an invitation letter from Tesco. What they didn't expect was that the invitation letter from Tesco said: We sincerely invite you to participate in the company's first smartphone
Global press conference.
Mobile phone? Smart?
The media are a little confused. Before this, they only paid attention to e-commerce. When did they get a mobile phone?
However, since Tesco borne the travel expenses, the media still sent reporters to the press conference for interviews. No matter what, Qin Hao was still very popular. If I could interview him afterwards, the trip would be worth it.
That night, in the largest venue of the 798 Art Center in Beijing, after a flash of spotlights, Qin Hao appeared on the podium.
"Everyone here is welcome to attend such a boring press conference."
The scene suddenly burst into laughter.
Qin Hao's face straightened after he laughed at himself: "However, I believe that after the press conference, you will be like me, very honored to witness this piece of history."
At first, the reporters present thought Qin Hao was bragging, but after they saw the actual smartphone in Qin Hao's palm under a beam of light, no one questioned his words.
In 2008, the undisputed giant in the mobile phone industry was still Nokia.
Nokia also once influenced the aesthetics of mobile phones, so much so that many people believed that only designs like Nokia's were aesthetically pleasing.
However, all this was completely overturned after they saw the "MOSS" mobile phone in Qin Hao's hand. It had a narrow frame, only the thickness of a thumb, and was as exquisite as a work of art.
It turns out that mobile phones can be so exquisite?
Just the appearance made the reporters and audience present excited.
However, they soon discovered that they were excited too early, because when Qin Hao started to demonstrate the actual machine, almost every step of the operation would cause a burst of exclamations.
It turns out that mobile phones can still operate like this?
The press conference lasted only a short time, but the sensation it brought lasted for a long time, and the reason is very simple.
The "MOSS" mobile phone is so popular that Tesco's offline stores have long queues early in the morning because it is impossible to get it online, and it often sells out within five minutes of going on sale.
Even though the price of "MOSS" is as high as RMB 6,888, it still cannot change the enthusiasm of users to buy it. Many people even increase the price to RMB 8,000 to buy it. It is still hard to find one.
You know, this was in 2008, when most people’s monthly salary was only about 2,000 yuan, and it took four months’ salary to buy a domestic mobile phone, which was unimaginable in the past.
But the "MOSS" phone did it.
Qin Hao also relied on his godlike performance at the press conference to transform from an Internet upstart to a technology giant. Even the central media reprinted the press conference many times.
While Ding was frying pancakes, Xu Lin and Xie Qiao looked at Qin Hao's newspaper and were speechless.
"I knew Lao Qin Niu before, but I didn't expect him to be so awesome."
"Yes, we were all discussing the Internet before, but now we are looking forward to the mobile Internet. I feel like I can hardly keep up with the times."