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After Zhang Zhiyuan finished speaking, Zhang Yiming fell silent.

Many founders of well-known domestic Internet companies are from the same circle.

He and Wang Xing of Meituan are not only fellow villagers. Ten years ago, when Zhang Yiming just resigned from Microsoft, Wang Xing pulled him together to establish Fanbu.com as a partner.

Although they later parted ways, with this relationship, the two have always kept in touch and shared what they have, which is a bit like a group warming up.

Zhang Yiming is very familiar with Meituan’s situation.

In the current domestic food delivery market, Meituan and Ebue have almost monopolized the market.

Among them, Meituan is more popular and has recently been preparing for an IPO. Many investment institutions have given a valuation of 60 billion US dollars, which is far more than the current scale of ByteDance.

However, Meituan has a fatal flaw, that is, it does not have its own payment license.

As a platform mainly engaged in group buying and food delivery, without its own payment channel, it must be restricted by others.

Therefore, Meituan accepted investments from Penguin and Ali at an early stage, with Ali holding more shares.

However, Ali has always pursued absolute controlling rights. In order to maintain the independent development of the company, Wang Xing officially chose to join Penguin last year.

Since then, Ali has started to sell its shares in Meituan, turned around to acquire Elephant, and directly cancelled the Alipay payment port on Meituan.

Penguin also quickly responded by canceling the WeChat payment channel on Elephant.

This has created a very interesting situation. Meituan can only use WeChat payment, and Elephant can only use Alipay payment.

For users, it doesn’t matter what payment method they use, and few people pay attention to this matter.

But what Zhang Yiming saw was that he was completely constrained by the two companies.

Brothers should settle accounts clearly. Although Penguin is the major shareholder of Meituan, it also has to pay for using WeChat’s payment channel.

Under normal circumstances, the handling fee is 0.6%, although for “big customers” like Meidan, some discounts will be given appropriately.

But Meidan’s total transaction volume last year was 400 billion, even if the channel fee is 0.3%, it is a full 1.2 billion!

Money is only one aspect, more importantly, without its own payment license, it will be completely constrained by the two companies.

Why are Penguin and Ali the two mountains that the emerging Internet industry in China cannot cross? The reason is here.

Just like Meidan, without its own payment license, it must invest in one of them.

Otherwise, the two companies will directly close the payment channel for you, and Meidan’s online business will be suspended immediately.

Although there are many companies with payment licenses, the user scale cannot be compared with the two companies.

It is impossible for users to download and register a software and bind a bank card in order to order a takeaway, right?

Compared with Wang Xing, Zhang Yiming is more ambitious and has not accepted too much investment from the two companies from the beginning.

Because once the two companies occupy a large number of shares, ByteDance can only become a vassal of the two companies, and it will never be able to surpass or even replace them.

“I know the chances are slim, but it’s hard to reopen the application, so I must try my best.”

After a long silence, Zhang Yiming spoke again:

“Otherwise, if I don’t have a payment license, even if I launch an e-commerce business in the future, I will definitely be strangled by Penguin and Ali…”

“That’s right.”

Zhang Zhiyuan replied:

“However, payment licenses are all submitted by local applications and reviewed by the higher authorities. ByteDance and Meitai are both located in Yanjing.”

“I estimate that no more than five licenses will be issued this year, and Yanjing can only get one at most. Except for Meitai, no one else has any chance.”

“Meitai has at least hundreds of billions of transactions each year, which can bring a lot of fiscal revenue to the local area. ByteDance is indeed a weak point in this regard…”

“Can we apply from other places? For example, Shanghai?” Zhang Yiming asked.

“It is indeed possible to do so, but there are no fewer Internet companies in Shanghai than in Beijing.”

Zhang Zhiyuan smiled and replied:

“But man proposes, God disposes. Since the quota in Beijing is destined to be taken by the United States, we can only apply for a new company in Shanghai to give it a try.”

“Anyway, ByteDance is still in its development stage, and its e-commerce business has no upper limit, and the demand for payment licenses is not so strong. Even if it fails this time, there will be opportunities in the future…”

ByteDance is not in a hurry now, but Zhang Yiming must make long-term considerations for the future.

The last time a payment license was issued was 15 years ago, and only two licenses were issued that year, and the previous four years were four years ago.

If it fails this time, who knows how long it will take to wait next time?

Without a payment license,ByteDance cannot launch e-commerce business, otherwise Ali and Penguin will definitely ask for additional shares.

Zhang Zhiyuan was apparently persuading himself, but Zhang Yiming still found the key point in his words… to establish a new company.

In other words, it is indeed possible to go through the channels in Shanghai, but it will not be directly incorporated into ByteDance.

It is also true that Zhang Zhe only has 10% of the shares in ByteDance, and he certainly cannot make efforts alone, and all shareholders will enjoy the benefits.

Zhang Yiming pondered for a moment, looked directly at Zhang Zhe and said:

“Mr. Zhang, I plan to take out 5% of the ByteDance shares under my name and establish a new company with you. If I can successfully obtain a payment license, I will then merge it into the Douyin system. What do you think?”

Hmm?

Zhang Zhe looked at Zhang Yiming with some surprise. He didn’t expect him to make a decision so quickly.

Taking out 5% of ByteDance shares, calculated at the current valuation, is also worth a full 10 billion.

If it is sold publicly, Penguin and Ali will definitely be willing to buy it at a premium.

It is indeed very bold.

But Zhang Zhe did not know enough about the payment license, and he had to communicate with Zhang Zhiyuan when he returned.

So Zhang Zhe did not agree directly, but replied:

“This is not a trivial matter. I have to think about it carefully, so as not to disappoint Mr. Zhang’s expectations.”

“Okay, no hurry.”

Zhang Yiming smiled and replied:

“Mr. Zhang, please think about it and give me a reply…”

For an Internet company, especially a company like ByteDance with a massive user base, the importance of a payment license is unquestionable.

Just look at Ali’s Alipay Pass and you will know how much money it has made with a payment license?

The value of Alipay Pass is even higher than that of Baotao.

If you can work with Zhang Zhe and get a payment license, the potential of this new company will be much more valuable than 5% of ByteDance shares!

“Okay.”

Zhang Zhe stood up and said:

“Mr. Zhang, it’s getting late. Let’s do this for today. I’ll contact you as soon as I have news.”

“Okay, I’ll see you off.” Zhang Yiming also stood up and said.

“No, Mr. Zhang, you should be busy.”

After a few more pleasantries at the door of the private room, Zhang Zhe took Zhang Zhiyuan and, under the guidance of the staff, came to the private room where the stars were.

Standing at the door, you can hear bursts of pleasant laughter coming from inside.

Zhang Zhe pushed open the door and saw Jin Yang sitting on the sofa on one side of the private room.

There were also several female stars sitting on both sides, such as Da Mimi, Reba, and Baby, who seemed to be shooting a video together.