Chapter 238 The Confused Negotiation Table

Countless companies were breaking their heads trying to get a slot for his investment. To have Lin Chen personally visit for an inspection today was already a heaven-sent opportunity for ByteDance.

Lin Chen merely curled his lips slightly, his tone flat and emotionless: "I just happened to be optimistic about this track and laid out a strategy accordingly. It's nothing impressive."

His calm and composed demeanor appeared even more unfathomable in the eyes of ByteDance's senior executives. To have such a steady mindset at such a young age, and to possess massive capital without being arrogant or impatient—this temperament far surpassed countless veteran entrepreneurs who had spent decades in the industry.

The Vice President on the side, Li Bingkuan, quickly chimed in:

"President Lin is far too modest!"

After a few lines of flattery, the atmosphere in the conference room relaxed slightly, but still, no one dared to let down their guard.

Li Yiming took a deep breath and finally moved to the core topic of this meeting, his expression turning solemn.

"President Lin, we specifically invited you here today because we don't want to beat around the bush. Let's get straight to business."

"Currently, our ByteDance is going all out to expand a brand-new global content ecosystem project. The project is named douyin."

"It covers three core directions: short video iteration, overseas business layout, and new cultural entertainment sector research and development."

"The prospects for this project are definitely broad enough, with a market volume starting at a trillion, but the only problem is that the cash burn rate is too fast, and the funding gap is enormous."

Li Hongtao's brow furrowed slightly, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness as he candidly stated the predicament:

"Our company's current cash flow is more than enough to maintain daily operations, but it is completely insufficient to support the full implementation of this new project and rapidly seize the market."

"Early-stage R&D, team expansion, overseas promotion, server construction, and market subsidies—every single one is a massive expense. Relying on the company's own funds, we simply won't last until the project's profit period."

At this point, he deliberately paused for a few seconds, looking up cautiously at Lin Chen to observe his expression before continuing.

Throughout the process, his posture was exceptionally humble, completely lacking the assertiveness of a big-name tech CEO.

"Therefore, after repeated discussions and multiple rounds of voting, our company's senior management has finally decided to launch a financing and equity expansion plan."

He leaned forward slightly and announced the financing plan that had already been finalized, enunciating every word with absolute clarity.

"Currently, the overall valuation of our ByteDance, as verified by professional investment banks, is 900 million yuan."

"We plan to publicly raise 100 million yuan this time in exchange for 10% of the company's original shares."

As his voice fell, the conference room instantly fell into a brief silence.

In Li Yiming's view, this proposal was already the greatest sincerity ByteDance could offer.

A 900 million valuation, 100 million for 10% of the shares—for a leading internet company with high growth and a high-quality track, the equity's cost-performance ratio was extremely high. It was a rare, high-quality financing plan in the industry.

In their expectations, even if Lin Chen were interested, he would deliberate carefully, ask for details, bargain, or even inject capital in batches and request a betting agreement. These were the standard operations for all capital investments.

After all, 100 million yuan was not a small sum. No one would spend it casually.

All the senior executives of ByteDance held their breath, their gazes collectively falling on Lin Chen, waiting for his response. The atmosphere instantly became tense.

Su Wan lowered her head slightly, her fingertips gently rubbing ByteDance's financial statements. Her brain was rapidly calculating the equity ratio, valuation premium, and return on investment for this financing, ready to provide professional reference to Lin Chen at any moment.

As the head of finance, she assumed Lin Chen would make a decision after rigorous consideration and weighing the pros and cons.

Lin Sisi also quietly looked up at her boss, making her own guesses in her heart.

She felt that Lin Chen would likely agree to enter the game, but would probably push down the valuation or split the funds into batches to secure the shares steadily.

Everyone was waiting for a rigorous, detailed, and drawn-out business negotiation.

But no one expected that the silence would only last for two seconds.

At the moment everyone was holding their breath for an answer, Lin Chen leaned back in his leather chair, one hand resting casually on the table. His posture was relaxed and lazy, without a hint of hesitation on his face. His tone was light, yet it carried a domineering aura that crushed the entire room.

"No need to consider it."

"This hundred million, I'll provide it all."

"The 10% stake you are offering this time will be taken in full by my Chenqi Investment Xingcheng Co., Ltd. Not a single cent will be left for anyone else."

These few short sentences were spoken in a low volume and at a steady pace, without any passionate intonation, yet they were like a thunderclap, exploding violently throughout the conference room.

In an instant, there was dead silence.

It was so quiet that one could even clearly hear everyone's breathing and heartbeats. Everyone's movements froze instantly, and the expressions on their faces stiffened in unison.

Li Hongtao was completely stunned. His pupils contracted suddenly, and the composure and steadiness on his face vanished without a trace.

His mouth hung slightly open as he stared blankly at Lin Chen. His brain had crashed, and for a moment, he couldn't even process what had happened.

He had expected Lin Chen to invest, he had expected Lin Chen to be optimistic about ByteDance's project, and he had even expected the other party to enter at a premium. But the one thing he had never expected was that Lin Chen wouldn't hesitate for even a second and would directly cover the entire financing amount in full!

One hundred million in cash! Not a few million or tens of millions, but a full hundred million!

Even for a large company like ByteDance with a valuation of 900 million, a cash flow of 100 million was a huge sum capable of changing the project's landscape.

Facing an investment of this magnitude, any capital in the industry would go through layers of due diligence, repeated calculations, multiple rounds of negotiations, split payments, and binding betting agreements. The process was tedious to the extreme.

But Lin Chen?

After hearing the proposal, he decided in two seconds and took it all in full. No bargaining, no pushing down the valuation, no discussing betting agreements, and no dragging out the process. It was outrageously straightforward!

This kind of style could no longer be described as generous; it was simply domineering to the extreme, so overbearing that it overturned all conventional wisdom!

Beside him, ByteDance's Vice President Li Bingkuan was completely dumbfounded. His eyes were wide and round, and his body leaned forward slightly as he stared fixedly at Lin Chen, his face written with disbelief.

He had been in the investment connection industry for over a decade and had seen countless capital tycoons and investment institutions, but he had never seen an investor so casual and so domineering!

ByteDance's CFO, legal counsel, project managers, and other senior executives were all frozen in their seats at this moment. Their eyes were full of shock, and with one look at each other, they could see the bewilderment and astonishment in each other's eyes.

They had originally prepared a thick stack of materials, risk control reports, project prospect analyses, and profit forecasts. They had even prepared all the contingency plans for dealing with price suppression, negotiations, and capital injections in batches. In the end, none of it was used.

The other party didn't look at the details at all, didn't obsess over the risks, and didn't weigh the pros and cons. He just threw down a hundred million yuan investment and locked in all the shares in full!

On the other side, standing to the side, Su Wan's cold and steady face showed a noticeable ripple for the first time.