Chapter 572 - 411: A 30% Layoff? It Must Be 2N

Chen Yansen didn’t know what Handsome Dong was thinking, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t have cared.

Does Senlian Capital have a partnership with Jingdong?

Of course. Orange Technology has a flagship store on Jingdong.

But as for third-party channels like that, Orange Technology also has Tmall, Sunning, Gome, Dangdang, and Yixun. Jingdong is just one among many.

Senlian Capital’s collaboration with Ah Li, however, is much deeper. Never mind that Ma Liyun has invested in both Kuai Pao and Fast Taxi—just look at Kuai Pao. An entry portal for it is still on the Taobao app’s homepage, bringing in millions of impressions and hundreds of thousands of orders every day.

Judging by the results, Chen Yansen and Ma Liyun were the ones who could truly be called "good brothers."

Add to that the goodwill from the 10 billion in advertising fees, and Chen Yansen’s way of addressing Ma Liyun had been upgraded from "Mr. Ma" to ’Brother Ma’.

To put it bluntly, for the sake of money, the two had entered another honeymoon period.

Therefore, after Ma Liyun left Xucheng, he had Ji Gang call Wang Xin back to clearly state that Ah Li currently had no intention of acquiring Meituan.

Besides, the lesson from when Wang Xin had messed with him before was still fresh in his mind. Who knew if that schemer would try the same trick again.

If Ma Liyun let it slide, people might call him magnanimous to his face, but who knew how they’d be badmouthing him behind his back.

Lao Ma was also the type to hold a grudge.

If the benefits outweighed the loss of face, he would have brushed it off with a laugh without hesitation. But the combined value of Wang Xin and Meituan just wasn’t all that special.

It was nothing more than chicken ribs!

Tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard.

"Not interested?"

After hanging up the phone, Wang Xin’s brow furrowed deeply, his eyes filled with a disappointment and despair he could no longer hide.

In reality, Meituan hadn’t reached a dead end yet, but a top-down pessimism had already spread to every corner of the company.

「The next day, Monday.」

As soon as the news of Meituan’s layoffs broke, it caused an uproar in the employee group chats. A one-time layoff of 30% truly frightened a lot of people.

In other words, for a local promotion team that originally had 10 people, 3 had to go.

The task of submitting the layoff list was delegated down through the management chain. Among those 10 people was a supervisor, and it was his job to fill out the list.

So, in reality, it was 3 people out of 9, which was even more brutal.

"Fucking Wang Xin! We didn’t get a raise last year when the company’s business was number one in the industry, but the moment things go south this year, he takes the knife to us."

"Tell me about it. I heard the layoff rate at headquarters is also 30%. It’s chaos in the engineering, Customer Service, and operations departments."

"They’re only giving N for severance? Are they treating us like beggars? A layoff of over 10% is an economic layoff, they have to give 2N!"

"And what about HR? A bunch of lackeys! After you’re done laying me off, you’ll be getting the boot too!"

Meituan’s branch offices all over the country began to erupt in protest one after another.

Some went online to expose the situation, some called the labor association to file complaints, and others quietly packed their things, choosing to be the first to sign the papers and take the money.

"A bunch of idiots. If filing complaints actually worked, would Meituan still dare to make us ’volunteer’ for overtime?"

While others were cursing furiously, their faces flushed with anger, Li Zhixiang was brazenly editing his resume and then sent it to Kuai Pao’s official recruitment email address.

Afraid that wasn’t enough, he also went on several recruitment apps, proactively found Kuai Pao’s HR, and submitted his application again.

’Only by interviewing and getting hired early can I escape this sea of misery.’

’By the time these morons figure it out, I’ll already be collecting a paycheck from Kuai Pao.’

’If I’m even a step too slow, I’ll have to compete with dozens of people for the same position.’

After all, Meituan had laid off over 1,000 people in one go. Those who acted fast would naturally get the first shot at an interview.

Li Zhixiang decided that if he couldn’t get into Kuai Pao, he would immediately try for Qian Du Group Buy.

"Brother Xiang, are you applying to Kuai Pao?"

Just then, a colleague next to him tilted his head and asked with a grin.

"SHHH—! Keep your voice down, don’t let anyone hear."

Li Zhixiang quickly covered Zhang Zhiheng’s mouth and whispered.

"Actually, I also applied for the city operations position at Kuai Pao. Maybe we’ll be colleagues again in the future."

Zhang Zhiheng said with a smile, a subtle glint flashing in his eyes.

’I don’t know if Li Zhixiang can get in, but for me, getting into Kuai Pao will be a piece of cake.’

’To be precise, it would be a return!’

’Because I was originally a member of the ’Thousand People, Hundred Cities’ plan. I’ll be promoted to team leader as soon as I go back, which will make all my time spent collecting Meituan’s business intelligence worthwhile.’

’Wang Xin thinks he can win?’

’He’s dreaming!’

’The company is like a sieve, full of moles!’

’The moment an email about Meituan’s latest financing, market expansion, and marketing movements is sent, President Pei receives it. What does Wang Xin have to fight with?’

"Huh? You usually seem kinda slow, but you’re pretty sharp when it matters. Even quicker on the uptake than me. Zhiheng, if you get an interview first, make sure to memorize the questions and help a brother out."

Li Zhixiang said with a sly chuckle.

’Slow?’

Zhang Zhiheng sneered inwardly.

Meituan’s layoff turmoil sent shockwaves through the industry. Everyone knew that a company’s death knell usually begins to sound with layoffs.

Pei Yi also lost a third of the people he had planted six months ago.

Many of them were quite reluctant to leave!

The good old days of doing one job for two paychecks had been shattered by Wang Xin just like that.

Furthermore, part-time couriers for Meituan Takeout were uninstalling the order-taking app one after another. Orders were becoming fewer and fewer. Who would want to keep working if they couldn’t even earn thirty yuan a day, toiling under the sun and in the wind?

If they didn’t leave soon, there would be more couriers than orders!

The most capable delivery workers all went to Kuai Pao’s delivery department.

The next best were snatched up by Qian Du Delivery and Dianping Takeout.

Fewer orders meant couriers couldn’t make money, so they had no choice but to leave.

Fewer couriers, in turn, meant poor delivery times, weak fulfillment capabilities, and low service quality, which caused users to leave even faster and orders to shrink continuously.