153: Chapter 153 Surpassing Taobao in just one month?

"220 billion!"

"How is that possible?"

In the silence, Ma Kun was the first to speak.

But his voice was trembling.

He stood up from his seat instantly, his palms pressed against the table, his body trembling slightly.

The string of numbers on the screen had no fancy embellishments, nor any unnecessary explanation; it just hung there cleanly in Pinduoduo's latest official announcement, as if it had been written down casually.

220 billion.

That was nearly 40 billion more than Taobao's sales for this year's 618 Shopping Festival!

The executive who had just stood up to leave felt his vision go dark and hurriedly reached out to grab the back of the chair beside him to avoid collapsing.

He had waited from the afternoon until now, for several hours, only to be met in the end with a number that had forcibly dragged Taobao down from its championship position.

Feng Haicang also sat back down in his chair, his voice incredibly hoarse.

"How can this be? We have operated Taobao for so many years, and all the merchants, users, brands, and scale we have accumulated over these years are still here."

"How long have they been online? In less than a month, they have already achieved 220 billion. How on earth did they do it?"

Old Ma leaned back against his chair, his face having lost its usual certainty.

He did not respond to this, only turning his head to look at the number standing quietly on the screen.

There was no trace of color left on Ma Kun's face.

"Whether it's the Multi-billion Subsidy, those game props, or the livestreaming sales rooms, Qin Mo found almost every option that could allow Pinduoduo to defeat its enemies, and used them all on the day of the 618 Shopping Festival without missing a single one."

He paused, bloodshot lines appearing in his eyes.

At this moment, he finally understood what he had missed.

"But do you know what the hardest part was for Pinduoduo to reach this point today?"

"That moment was also the time when we had the best chance to contain it."

No one in the conference room spoke.

Ma Kun's voice continued, carrying a tremor he couldn't suppress.

"At the very beginning."

"When this software was just launched."

"The hardest part for Pinduoduo was how to avoid our blockade and secure the base number of users needed for social fission."

"So, back then, Qin Mo spent a month secretly developing Pinduoduo in its early stages, accumulating users in the dark."

"You should know what I'm about to say."

He leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Pinhaohuo."

These words were almost squeezed out from between Ma Kun's teeth.

"In other words, at the point when Pinhaohuo's users exceeded one million, today's result was already destined. As long as Pinhaohuo completed its mission, we would have no chance later on."

The expressions on everyone's faces were hard to describe—whether it was shock or something else.

After hearing what Ma Kun said, several people even showed obvious fear on their faces.

At this moment, after understanding this, Feng Haicang continued to speak, drawing everyone's attention back.

He knew that talking about the past was meaningless now.

What they needed to pay attention to was the extent of the threat Pinduoduo posed to Taobao after reaching these figures.

"On the day of the 618 Shopping Festival, Pinduoduo had 500 million shopping users, which is more than half of Taobao's monthly active users."

"Combined with today's achievements, it will attract even more people to use Pinduoduo. In terms of user numbers, it might not take long for Pinduoduo to catch up to us."

"What should we do?"

He turned his gaze to Ma Kun.

Ma Kun closed his eyes, and after a long silence, he could only mutter.

"Let me think…"

Meanwhile, after Pinduoduo announced the total sales for the 618 Shopping Festival, that short announcement of just a few dozen words surged to the top of the trending lists on all major platforms almost instantly.

220 billion.

This number was nearly 40 billion more than Taobao.

Before this, everyone assumed that the champion of this year's e-commerce platform 618 Shopping Festival would still be Taobao, and that even if Pinduoduo surpassed JD.com, it wouldn't be too exaggerated, probably around 100 billion.

But no one expected that this e-commerce platform, which had been online for less than a month, would directly drag Taobao down from the championship position!

"How much? Over 200 billion? It really surpassed Taobao?"

"This is too exaggerated. Even without counting Pinhaohuo, Pinduoduo has been out for less than a month, and it actually managed to generate over 200 billion in sales?"

"Even counting Pinhaohuo, it's exaggerated; it's only been two months. But this result is normal; the Multi-billion Subsidy is too tempting. Users who wanted to buy high-end goods during this year's 618 Shopping Festival almost all went to Pinduoduo."

"After all, it's cheap. With a platform that can save you hundreds, who would go anywhere else?"

"After the 618 Shopping Festival, the landscape of e-commerce platforms is going to be rewritten. If Pinduoduo's growth rate continues, it's only a matter of time before its monthly active users surpass Taobao's."

Meanwhile, as these trending topics and comments swept across the internet, the most shocked were naturally the other e-commerce platforms.

Previously, even though they had estimates and thought Pinduoduo might have 100 billion in sales, no one expected that the real number would be double their estimates!

JD.com, Suning, and other e-commerce platforms couldn't believe it for a long time when they first learned of this figure.

No one expected that less than a month after its official launch, Pinduoduo would have already surpassed Taobao in sales.

This could already be considered a miracle.

Although everyone was very clear that this was just because of the 618 Shopping Festival and the Multi-billion Subsidy, the number was still quite exaggerated; Taobao had lost to its own arrogance.

However, just when the entire internet's attention was still focused on the 220 billion figure, someone had already discovered something else.

Pinduoduo's Multi-billion Subsidy channel had not been closed after the 618 Shopping Festival ended.

Nearly a day had passed, and it was still there.

The prices of all goods participating in the subsidy, although slightly higher than on the day of the 618 Shopping Festival, were still lower than the daily selling prices on other e-commerce platforms.

Someone specifically compared the price of the same mobile phone on Pinduoduo, Taobao, and JD.com, and the difference was still quite obvious.

Faced with this situation, most netizens initially thought that something had gone wrong with Pinduoduo and that they had forgotten to take down this portal.

But just as countless netizens were speculating, one hour after Pinduoduo issued its 618 Shopping Festival battle report, Pinduoduo's official blog posted a new announcement with only one sentence.

"The Multi-billion Subsidy channel will exist permanently, and the subsidies will not stop!"