CHAPTER 229: CHAPTER 229: TAIL PRODUCT MEETING’S PREDICAMENT

After finishing his conversation with Wu Changxun, Chen Yiyang began the process of transferring shares with Tengxu.

Just as the process started, Shen Hong, the current CEO and largest shareholder of Tail Product Meeting, proactively approached Chen Yiyang for a talk.

In fact, Shen Hong was quite puzzled at this point.

The market value of Tail Product Meeting had plummeted by over ninety percent in the past two years, and the market was extremely pessimistic.

All the other minor shareholders either refused to provide further financing for Tail Product Meeting or were finding ways to exit.

Tengxu, the second-largest shareholder, had already completed internal decisions to sell their shares of Tail Product Meeting.

The reason for not selling yet was simply because they hadn’t found a buyer.

Then Shen Hong received a notification from Tengxu stating that a buyer had been found.

Shen Hong originally thought the buyer would be a foundation or a large investment institution interested in the future development of Tail Product Meeting, so they entered the market at a low price.

But when he looked at the buyer’s information.

Huh?

How is it a web celebrity?

Although Chen Yiyang had been involved in various acquisitions and investments lately, his biggest label was indeed that of a web celebrity.

And a niche one at that, with his name appearing more in entertainment news.

The last time he was frequently mentioned online was in the fraud incidents with Mom Sauce and Qiuqiu Flying Car.

Because of this situation, many people realized that Chen Yiyang had invested in Kuxing Coffee and discovered that he was actually an investor.

So Shen Hong was very confused. He didn’t know Chen Yiyang, so why did he suddenly take over the shares of Tail Product Meeting from Tengxu?

"Mr. Shen, please have a seat."

Chen Yiyang entertained Shen Hong in his office.

This office was located at his personal investment company.

Currently, Chen Yiyang employed more than a dozen professionals specifically to handle various investment matters for him.

Of course, which investments to make was entirely Chen Yiyang’s decision; the company staff only managed the process.

"I came here today especially to thank you for having confidence in Tail Product Meeting and investing in us," said Shen Hong, though he was almost twenty years older than Chen Yiyang.

However, he regarded Chen Yiyang with great humility.

After all, losing over a hundred billion in market value in two years is not something just anyone can do.

These past two years have been a substantial blow to Shen Hong as well.

"How’s the company’s current operating status, does it need shareholders to infuse more capital?"

Chen Yiyang casually engaged in some small talk.

After all, the shares were already transferred, and even though he was prepared to throw the investment into the sea.

Still, before actually throwing it, it’s necessary to chat and see if there’s any hope for salvaging the situation.

Of course, this is extremely difficult.

Because the ecological niche of e-commerce platforms is already fixed.

Even the once-giant Taobao is gradually declining, not to mention smaller platforms like Tail Product Meeting.

"Additional funding is actually not needed," Shen Hong said, "The company is currently still profitable."

"Still profitable?" Chen Yiyang was momentarily stunned.

He initially thought that the doomed-to-bankruptcy Tail Product Meeting would be heavily indebted by now.

But it’s still profitable?

"Are you not familiar with our company?" Shen Hong was also somewhat surprised.

Tail Product Meeting is a listed company that issues annual financial reports.

The reputedly rich scion couldn’t possibly have decided to take over their company’s shares without even looking at those reports, could he?

"Honestly, no," Chen Yiyang scratched his head.

He really hadn’t thought to check out Tail Product Meeting’s financial reports.

"Tail Product Meeting has been profitable for ten consecutive years since its establishment. However, the profits have been decreasing each year in recent years."

"Hold on, let me check something." Chen Yiyang’s phone suddenly received a few documents just then.

It turned out his investment company staff had, after being notified by Chen Yiyang to proceed with the transfer of Tail Product Meeting’s shares from Tengxu, completed their investigation and sent a summary of Tail Product Meeting’s current status.

Chen Yiyang took a look.

Tail Product Meeting has indeed been continuously profitable since its establishment.

This is quite rare for an e-commerce platform.

Because Jingdong, with a similar ecological niche to Tail Product Meeting, has been loss-making every year.

Yet investors still favor Jingdong.

Meanwhile, the non-loss-making Tail Product Meeting is on the brink of collapse.

Of course, in the business field, this is not unusual.

Because Jingdong, although loss-making, is still expanding, with a portion of the losses being investment-related, and the company’s main competitive strength is always growing.

But Tail Product Meeting is a different story.

Tail Product Meeting mainly sells brand remnant goods, but its market competitiveness has been declining, and the number of loyal customers has continuously decreased.

Investors naturally do not see a bright future for Tail Product Meeting.

Because Jingdong still has a future, but Tail Product Meeting has none.

"Actually, I don’t think our company has reached the point of impending bankruptcy."

At this time, Shen Hong said to Chen Yiyang, "Tail Product Meeting’s current positioning is unique among all e-commerce platforms. As long as there’s demand for branded goods, remnant goods will always have a market."

"But a shopping platform that only sells remnant goods and has unstable product supply might not attract enough customers to shop on the platform, don’t you think?" Chen Yiyang countered.

"This is indeed the problem we want to solve." Shen Hong admitted that Chen Yiyang had a point.

The biggest reason for Tail Product Meeting’s decline lies in this.

"Look at Douyin, it was originally a video platform, but with a wide audience and many users, they can sell anything.

So, for an online platform, having enough user base is most important. After all, Tail Product Meeting isn’t a streaming salesperson."

After saying this, Chen Yiyang tapped his finger on the table.

He suddenly had a moment of inspiration.

But he couldn’t figure out where this feeling was coming from.

After chatting casually with Shen Hong for a while.

Shen Hong sensed that Chen Yiyang wasn’t really interested in Tail Product Meeting, speculating that there might be some secret transactions involved in this share transfer.

He stood up, disappointed, and took his leave from Chen Yiyang.

He had flown over overnight and after resting for a day, needed to return to Tail Product Meeting’s headquarters in Yangcheng the next day.

After sending Shen Hong off, Chen Yiyang sat in his office, unable to figure out where that earlier feeling came from.

So, he decided to focus on the work at hand.

His current work mainly consisted of reviewing various reports and signing documents, maintaining control over his companies.

’Zhenxuan Association’—what company is that, and when did I acquire it?

Chen Yiyang saw a name in the report, and after a few moments of confusion, he remembered.

He seemed to recall mentioning that the ’Old West’ should get a new name.

But since he’s terrible at naming things and has been busy.

Ultimately, he let them come up with a name, have a junior accountant review it.

If the accountant has no issues, just go ahead with the rename.

The junior accountant had mentioned to him earlier that ’Old West’ was renamed to Zhenxuan Association.

But he hadn’t paid attention at the time, so he didn’t react when he just saw it.