In July 2017, after a month of negotiations with Alibaba, Lin Youde successfully sold the ofo shares and voting rights held by Toutiao for US$530 million. Including the previous rounds of financing, Toutiao made a net profit of US$440 million before tax.

Before selling the stock, Toutiao's investment department had already acquired a company called Tianjin Luding Technology. The only product of this company is a shared bicycle platform called Xiaolan Bicycle.

Luding Company was established in 2016. Under the storm, it completed a financing of RMB 150 million that year. Then it used this fund to enter more than a dozen cities including Deep Sea, Jinling, Guangzhou, Foshan, Yanjing, etc., and then received a B round of RMB 400 million at the beginning of this year, and then carried out a further round of expansion, covering hundreds of cities.

However, under the money-burning war, hundreds of millions of funds are just a joke. In the era of mobile Internet, if any industry wants to rise, there must be giants behind it, because giants will not only give funds, but also traffic and resources. OFO and Mobike, one behind is Toutiao + Alibaba, and the other is Tengxun. Not only has strong funds, it also successfully entered the secondary page entrance of Quxin, Alipay and QQ. Other players have basically become green leaves that set off.

It burned out in a few months. With OF and Mobike just obtained information of a total of one billion US dollars, no capital would be willing to invest in other shared bicycle players stupidly. As a result, the first wave of bankruptcy of shared bicycles emerged, and the same was true for Xiaolan Bicycle. Even the deposit could not be refunded because the deposit had long been misappropriated.

As a result, under a large number of online complaints and the pressure of suppliers to demand debts, Toutiao acquired Xiaolan Bicycle for RMB 1 million, and also assumed a debt of about RMB 100 million.

The reason why I am willing to bear such a large debt is that the same is true for other shared bicycle platforms on the market. If I start over, it will be delayed for nearly a year. This is not cost-effective for the headlines that quickly enter the shared bicycle market. Moreover, the fundamental problem of Xiaolan Bicycle is that its capital chain is broken. Its previous relationship chains, personnel teams, bicycle assets, etc. in more than 100 cities have also had high value. If it is formed by itself, 100 million may not be enough.

As for why I chose Xiaolan Bicycle, this was decided by Zhou Yujie himself, because this name is easy to remember, and the body color is also blue, and the appearance feels very good.

After acquiring Xiaolan Bicycle, Lin Youde quickly moved its headquarters to Shangshanghai and injected US$200 million to team building and market expansion. Toutiao also conducted targeted push based on the big data of the previous OFO era.

"Is this bicycle good to ride?" Zhou Yujie rode a Xiaolan bicycle at the entrance of the company building and said with a smile.

Ge Jialei, the person in charge of Xiaolan Bicycle, said: "Mr. Zhou, according to Mr. Lin's instructions, we should put user experience first, so our tires are hollow tires, and other brands on the market, including ofo and Mobike, are solid tires."

"It's easy to lose your anger, right? Are you all in need of a person who can get some breath?" Zhou Yujie asked.

Ge Jialei said: "Yes, it's all artificial to refill, and the cost in this regard will increase. However, we also hire local families in need, such as those who are not very disabled or those who cannot find jobs. On the one hand, we can reduce our costs, and on the other hand, we can also serve as a positive publicity resource for our brand."

"Okay, I support everyone to do things that are beneficial to society, and since they have done it, they should be promoted." Zhou Yujie nodded and said.

Zhong Guangwei said: "Quxin has also pushed the accounts with Xiaolan Bicycle nearby based on the user's geographical location. The first wave is to let everyone know about this matter. The subsequent push will be based on the previous records ofo and user habits."

"You decide how to operate and promote it yourself, but one thing is that I want to completely cancel the deposit for shared bicycles. As long as this user often uses Quxin or has a certain balance on Quxin, then you can use Xiaolan Bicycle without a deposit. What do you think?" Zhou Yujie said without caring.

Lin Youde nodded and said, "If this is the case, it will be a strong blow to other platforms, and it can quickly determine the outcome in the shared bicycle market."

When Ofo's money-burning battle with Mobike and other players was more ruthless, they were actually trying to waive deposits to compete for users, but it was difficult to implement them in detail. One is because the deposit is the lifeline of the shared bicycle platform. Their business model is ultimately based on huge deposits to maintain, and a deposit of more than a dozen people is used to maintain a shared bicycle. The second is credit issue. The shared bicycle platform does not have the credibility or business data of users, and it is impossible to tell who can waive deposits and who can't.

The former is just a loss of income, while the latter is a commercial pain point. If all the deposit is exempted, what should I do if the bicycle is stolen? What should I do if it is damaged? Although it is a real-name system, can I still sue it one by one? The legal cost is too high.

But this is not a problem for Toutiao. At least the data of a large number of users is still very clear. If the credibility is good, the deposit will be exempted directly. If it is not possible or cannot be determined, the deposit system will continue to be adopted.

Zhong Guangwei said: "Actually, I think we should instead guide potential users of shared bicycles to Quxin to deposit. As long as there is money in the account, they will naturally use Quxin Payment in the future."

Ge Jialei said: "Mr. Zhong, Xiaolan Bicycle's mission is to exist for the sake of Quxin, but it is still the early stage. You should also pay attention to user experience, right?"

Although the results are similar, the purpose of Quxin users and shared bicycle users will lead to different results. Ge Jialei naturally does not want to start attracting traffic for Quxin in the early stages.

Zhou Yujie nodded and said, "Yes, it's too early to talk about this now. Let's start by building the market of Xiaolan Bicycle. Although we have traffic and capital advantages, it is not easy to compete for the market ofo and Mobike."

Although ofo and Mobike's ending should be the same as in the previous life, in this life, behind Mobike is Teng Xun, and behind ofo is now Alibaba. Even if they go bankrupt, the giants behind them may take over. Then shared bicycles are very likely to break out again with a more tragic subsidy war.

Or the three parties have a tacit understanding of maintaining stability, but in this case, Toutiao’s shared bicycle business will be difficult to develop, so taking advantage of the present is the best time to develop.

Therefore, Zhou Yujie cannot wait until ofo goes bankrupt, and must start snatching the market now.
Chapter completed!