52: Chapter 52 Free Purchase

On Monday of the third week, Transsion still showed no movement.

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming sent people to investigate, only to find their entire fleet lying idle. He began to panic and slowed down the pace of his own procurement.

Tuesday came, still with no movement.

Some merchants who wanted to hoard stock could no longer sit still and began frantically calling Bird to ask if they were still buying.

Prices that had been impossible to negotiate earlier were now being lowered voluntarily. However, Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming ended up berating them and refused to buy.

By Wednesday, Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming could no longer sit still. He sent people to Yangcheng to investigate, and the news he received was: Transsion's factory was indeed operating, but there was a significant reduction in materials.

On Thursday, General Manager Li Xiangdong could also no longer sit still, so he personally called Shen Fei.

The phone rang three times before it was finally answered.

The moment the call connected, General Manager Li Xiangdong suppressed his anger, constantly comforting himself that just as Zhuge Liang visited the thatched cottage three times in history, today he was doing the same...

He could be considered a man of great composure.

To survive, he had to swallow his pride.

"General Manager Shen, long time no see." General Manager Li Xiangdong tried to keep his tone light and devoid of any edge. "I heard you've suspended your recycling operations. Have you run into any difficulties? If you need help, don't hesitate to ask."

On the other end of the line, Shen Fei forced himself to suppress his laughter. "Thank you for your concern, General Manager Li! There are no difficulties; we've simply collected enough. Haven't you noticed that for the past three months, we've been collecting for a few days and then stopping for a few?"

"Col... collected enough?" General Manager Li Xiangdong was completely stunned. So, he hadn't been teasing him all these days! He thought of the nearly ten million units of inventory in his warehouse and panicked.

"General Manager Shen, you must be joking. I heard you go through four or five hundred thousand units a day, how could you have collected enough? That production line is a golden goose; how can you stop it?"

"Oh, our inventory is quite sufficient," Shen Fei said nonchalantly. In the middle of the conversation, he even signed a report Li Qing handed him before passing it back.

He treated General Manager Li Xiangdong like air, turning to Li Qing to give instructions: "Tell those merchants who are inquiring that we really have collected enough this time. No need to ask again; even if the price is lower, we don't want them."

"Understood."

Listening to the internal exchange on the other end of the line, General Manager Li Xiangdong felt no excitement about gathering intelligence; instead, a chill ran through his heart.

They had really collected enough, so what about the stock in his hands...

His heart skipped a beat. This was no longer gold; it was a ticking time bomb... After all, the environmental processing fee would be a massive penalty.

"General Manager Shen, your company really has hoarded a lot of stock."

"Just about. The main reason is that the value of these goods didn't meet my expectations, so we've slowed down our production lines. We have enough to last until the end of the year."

Shen Fei smiled again, applying more pressure to the other party.

"General Manager Li, is there anything else? I have a meeting to attend."

Of course, this was just a polite inquiry from Shen Fei; he hung up before the words had even faded.

The dial tone sounded like a heavy hammer striking General Manager Li Xiangdong.

He stood up immediately and rushed into Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming's office. "Immediately! Right now! Stop all recycling, and halt the existing trade-in operations as well."

"General Manager Li, what's wrong?"

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming hadn't yet grasped the situation.

"Transsion has really stopped buying. They've collected enough used mobile phones for their upcoming needs."

General Manager Li Xiangdong looked at this idiot's reaction, his face turning livid. "How much have we collected so far?"

Upon hearing this bombshell, Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming trembled as he rummaged through the documents on his desk. He quickly found the "death warrant." "We've currently collected 9.58 million units, with another 300,000+ in transit. Plus our previous inventory... it's nearly ten million."

"What's the total cost?"

"Because we were competing with Transsion for a while, the average purchase price per unit was 30 yuan. Plus travel expenses and storage fees, the total investment is... 320 million."

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming did a quick calculation, his heart growing increasingly frantic, and he sank to his knees.

General Manager Li Xiangdong's vision went black, and he forced himself to grip the table to keep from collapsing.

320 million.

Bird didn't even have 100 million in total liquid assets on its books!

After all, the Feature phone market had entered a white-hot stage. To eliminate other mobile phone manufacturers, Bird's goal had been to break even on this batch of phones; if they could do that, they could sell them.

But to collect these pieces of junk, and to really screw over China Star, they had even borrowed 200 million from the bank. Now, everything...

"Disband the team immediately, stop signing contracts, and breach every contract possible. We'll drag them out in court later."

General Manager Li Xiangdong roared.

He realized now that this was a trap. He hadn't fallen into the hands of Shen Guoming, but into the hands of that little brat, Shen Fei—and he had fallen twice in a row.

But just as he had feared, it was already too late.

That afternoon, recycling merchants across the country who had signed contracts with Bird collectively sent emails to their various branch offices. They held their contracts and demanded settlement.

Since Bird's announcement had stated cash settlement, the only reason they had waited a while was to maintain the partnership and because of the small kickbacks Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming had offered.

But now...

Over the next two days, 120 million in liquid assets was withdrawn from Bird's accounts in just three days.

By this point, Bird had fallen into a financial crisis. They were forced to borrow another 200 million from the bank to barely survive the crisis.

...

After this fiasco, Bird was severely wounded. Three days later, General Manager Li Xiangdong called Shen Fei again.

They had searched for partners everywhere, but the best quote they could get for disposing of these 10 million mobile phones was a processing fee of 180 million—an average of 18 yuan per unit.

Although there were better quotes, those parties simply couldn't handle such a massive inventory.

He eventually had no choice but to beg Shen Fei, even gritting his teeth to use formal, respectful language. "General Manager Shen... I... I was blind... and failed to recognize your brilliance."

"Could you... could you possibly... take a bit more stock? The price is negotiable."

"General Manager Li, I've already said that our inventory is sufficient."

Shen Fei knew very well that Bird was already at the end of its rope. This batch of mobile phones was a critical weapon to crush them, and he certainly wouldn't agree so easily.

That's right, he wanted a zero-cost acquisition.

"Then... could you at least help me dispose of a portion?" General Manager Li Xiangdong said humbly, gritting his teeth. "We bought way too much; our warehouses are overflowing. You have the experience and the channels..."

There was silence on the other end of the line for several seconds.

"I can help you dispose of them, but as you know, General Manager Li, times have changed. This is additional production capacity. If we were to expand, we would face the risk of losing money," Shen Fei said slowly, giving him time to process it.

"Moreover, processing used mobile phones incurs costs. Disassembly, classification, environmental protection... all of that costs money. So this time, the price certainly won't be the same as last time, and we cannot be expected to bear those risks."

"You name your price. How much are you willing to pay to take them?"

"Pay to take them? General Manager Li, have you lost your mind? You're the one begging us now. We don't need this production capacity; you should be the one paying me."