118: Dajiang Military Industry

The press conference scheduled in Munich, Europe, was entirely Lu Weiqi's responsibility. However, as the company's chairman, how could he be absent from such a milestone event?

[Note: At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name, Taiwan Novel Website, accompanying you in your leisure and search.]

Chen Chen wasn't considering commercial matters, but rather other reasons.

One must know that certain countries have precedents in this regard, using any means necessary. Every year, scientists, researchers, and even professors from various fields die in all sorts of unexplained accidents.

It's better within the country, but once abroad... hmph, you only have one life.

Not just himself; Chen Chen was unwilling to let Professor Cheng, Dr. Lu, Dr. Zhou, and the big shots from the Red Star Lab go abroad, even if Red Star didn't currently possess any technology that a certain country would covet.

So Chen Chen was simply unwilling to go abroad, lest he transmigrate (pass away) again one day.

On November 2nd, Zheng Jiang arrived at Red Star Company as scheduled.

In the reception room, after a few pleasantries, Zheng Jiang cut straight to the chase.

"President Chen, I actually came this time to ask for your help."

Chen Chen took a sip of tea, set down the cup, and said, "President Zheng, speak your mind. There's no need to talk about 'help' or 'no help'."

"It's like this, President Chen. I want to purchase a batch of Yangtze River Batteries for our DJI Phantom drones. If possible, I hope to establish a long-term partnership with Yangtze River New Energy Company."

"Roughly how many do you need?"

"For the first batch, I want to purchase 90,000 cells."

Chen Chen did the math. The DJI Phantom used 3S batteries. If they took 90,000 cells and made them into batteries, that would be 30,000 battery packs.

It seemed this Zheng Jiang was still quite conservative.

"President Zheng, it's possible, but 90,000 is honestly a bit low. Your battery compartment doesn't match our current cell size. I can't modify our production line or open a new one just for these 90,000 cells."

"So, either you modify the Phantom's battery compartment based on our cell size to launch a long-endurance version, or you increase the purchase volume."

"This..."

Zheng Jiang was a bit at a loss for words. At this time, DJI was still a small company. How could they have the capacity to purchase batteries in hundreds of thousands?

"President Zheng, what are the current sales for your DJI Phantom 1, including the recently released Zenmuse?"

Chen Chen asked, looking at Zheng Jiang.

"About 300 to 500 units per month."

Zheng Jiang smiled bitterly. He used to fly helicopters and started his business making helicopter flight controllers. Now he was making quadcopters. Although market acceptance was decent, this thing was still a niche after all. The entire aerial photography market wasn't as big as imagined.

"President Zheng, I have an idea. We can put your DJI drones on our Red Star Mall, just like our other ecological chain company products. By leveraging Red Star's traffic portal—as you know, Red Star Mall already has over 50 SKUs—adding your DJI drone series could bring you massive traffic."

Zheng Jiang pondered for a moment, moved by Chen Chen's words.

"Furthermore, our offline stores can also provide a display booth for you."

"Our Red Star stores are all in first-tier cities. The people here are more accepting of new things and have stronger purchasing power."

"What do you think?"

After finishing his pitch, Chen Chen just watched Zheng Jiang. He believed Zheng Jiang wouldn't refuse.

"And the price?"

Zheng Jiang knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. President Chen's willingness to let DJI leverage the Red Star brand would surely come with a price.

"I want to increase my investment. Based on your current market value, a 1.2x premium investment. The agreement remains the same: I still won't participate in your management or development."

"Red Star must hold at least 40% of your shares."

"President Chen, that's too much. Moreover, I don't have a financing plan right now."

"It's not much. You know that robot vacuum company we acquired? On its first day on Red Star Mall, it sold over 7,000 units. Now, in less than a week, it has sold over 30,000 units—almost your entire annual production."

Zheng Jiang's breathing quickened. DJI was also a company that focused heavily on R&D, especially in flight control. But better algorithms required more user data. If they could leverage the Red Star brand, they might even reach sales of hundreds of thousands of units a year.

This was something Zheng Jiang hadn't even dared to imagine.

"The price I'm offering is very fair, with a premium. Not only that, once you see a design sketch by one of our employees later, you'll understand why I want to increase our investment in you."

Chen Chen took out his phone, pulled up a drawing from his photo album, and gestured for Zheng Jiang to take a look.

"We have model aircraft enthusiasts in our company too, and they've bought the DJI Phantom series. But they felt it was still too bulky, so they drew up this sketch, wanting Red Star to enter the drone field as well."

"At Red Star, we often support our Engineers in their endeavors. Considering I've already invested in you, starting another drone company would divide my energy. That's why I'm proposing to increase our investment in you."

"This way, we're one family. Isn't it only natural to look after one's own company?"

In reality, this drawing was something Chen Chen had sketched based on the foldable DJI Mini series from the future. When Shen Rou said he was coming to Red Star, Chen Chen had the idea to further increase the investment in DJI.

"President Chen, this... a foldable drone! This design is incredible!"

"President Zheng, what do you think?"

At this moment, Zheng Jiang didn't dare underestimate this young man in his twenties at all. He felt like Chen Chen was a big bad wolf, tempting him with all sorts of things.

"Personally, I agree with President Chen's proposal, but I still need to go back and discuss it with Wang Tao and the others."

"I understand."

After all, for Red Star to increase its investment, either everyone's shares would be diluted, or individuals would have to transfer their holdings. However, it was unlikely these founders would choose to transfer their equity now.

It was just a matter of spending more money, no big deal.

"How about this: once you've finished your discussions, contact Minister Zhang Feng of our ecological chain directly. He will include DJI in our Red Star ecological chain product management. There will be dedicated personnel to coordinate with you when you list on Red Star Mall."

"Give me an answer as soon as possible so that the modification of the Yangtze River Battery production line can be completed early."

After seeing Zheng Jiang off, Chen Chen couldn't help but sigh with emotion in his heart: DJI Military Industry, here I come!