216: Chapter 216 Cuts Off Chen Rui's Hopes of Joining

After Qiao Linlin left, Chen Fan leaned back in his chair and stretched.

Just then, the phone on the desk suddenly vibrated.

Chen Fan picked up the phone and saw that it was actually a call from Xu Yi at Bilibili.

He was a bit confused, wondering why Xu Yi was calling so suddenly.

Since completing all the investment procedures last time, although Chen Fan often followed Bilibili's development and occasionally offered some suggestions, he had never actually intervened in Bilibili's daily operations.

Even so, Bilibili's user base had already grown to around 300,000, which was significantly higher than the same period in his previous life.

The main reason was that his crucial investment had arrived ahead of schedule, giving Bilibili the confidence to optimize its product and conduct some small-scale promotion.

He answered the phone, feeling puzzled.

"Hello, is this President Chen? It's Xu Yi." Xu Yi's voice came from the other end of the line.

"What is it, President Xu?"

Xu Yi deliberated for a moment before saying, "It's like this, President Chen. I received an email this morning, and we spoke on the phone later—someone wants to invest in our Bilibili."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and sat up a little straighter.

A new investor had come knocking so soon?

A thought flashed through his mind—it couldn't be that guy surnamed Chen, could it?

If it really was him, that would be very interesting.

In his previous life, that person invested 1 million in Bilibili and eventually developed Bilibili from a small, broken site into a company with a market value of tens of billions, even exceeding two hundred billion at its peak, and his own net worth reached over ten billion.

It could be said that it was one of the most classic angel investments in the history of Chinese internet investment.

But Chen Fan had no good feelings toward this person.

This person's stance was problematic—not only was it exposed that he had applied for Japanese nationality, but after joining Bilibili, starting in 2014, he held the Japanese Summer Festival in Jinling every year.

Therefore, in this life, he would never let this person get his hands on Bilibili.

Chen Fan suppressed the thoughts in his heart and asked, feigning ignorance, "Oh? Who is it?"

"A person named Chen Rui," Xu Yi said. "It seems he is a company executive and also a user of our Bilibili."

Upon hearing this name, Chen Fan almost laughed out loud.

It really was someone surnamed Chen.

It seems this person's eye for investment was as sharp as in his previous life, setting his sights on Bilibili so early.

"How much does he want to invest?" Chen Fan asked.

"2 million, for a 15% stake."

Chen Fan was stunned upon hearing this. In his previous life, Chen Rui only invested 1 million initially and took 18% of the shares. Why had it become 2 million for only 15% now?

However, Chen Fan quickly figured it out. In this life, he had already invested 3 million, so Bilibili's valuation had risen, and its development was much better than in his previous life. It was normal for the investment amount and share percentage to be different.

Regardless, Chen Fan had already made up his mind not to let Chen Rui in.

However, he still wanted to hear Xu Yi's thoughts.

"What do you think?"

There was a silence of a few seconds on the other end of the line. Xu Yi seemed to be organizing his words before speaking slowly.

"President Chen, I actually don't really want to accept it."

Chen Fan was slightly taken aback. Xu Yi actually didn't want to accept it? This was indeed different from his attitude last time.

He asked with some curiosity, "Can you tell me your thoughts?"

"Now that we have the 3 million you invested, Bilibili's capital chain is already very healthy," Xu Yi said. "Although we are still operating at a loss, some business partnerships have already taken the initiative to approach us. I think that maybe in another six months to a year, we can achieve break-even, or even turn a profit. At this juncture, I don't think it's necessary to accept his investment."

After a pause, Xu Yi added, "And for this person to suddenly pull out 2 million to invest in us, to be honest, I feel a bit uneasy. Someone who makes security software suddenly comes to invest in a two-dimensional website; I always feel something is not quite right."

After listening, the corners of Chen Fan's mouth curled up slightly.

Xu Yi was much more clear-headed than he had imagined.

In his previous life at this time, Xu Yi almost accepted anyone; as long as someone was willing to invest money, he was eager to agree immediately.

Because at that time, Bilibili was really too short of money, and they couldn't even afford to rent servers. Xu Yi didn't know how much of his own money he had poured into it.

But now it was different.

With his 3 million as a foundation, life at Bilibili was much easier.

This was exactly what Chen Fan wanted to see.

"I support you," Chen Fan said. "For now, having this kind of small investor come in really doesn't benefit the company at all, other than diluting shares, and they can't help with much. If a larger venture capital firm contacts us, we can consider it then."

"That's what I thought too, so I'll reject him." Xu Yi's tone was noticeably much more relaxed.

"Just go with your idea. Oh, right—" Chen Fan paused, a thought suddenly flashing through his mind, and he changed the subject. "Do you need any advertising partnerships on your end?"

"Advertising?" Xu Yi was stunned for a moment, then his voice suddenly raised a pitch. "Need! Very much need! President Chen, do you have resources on your side?"

Chen Fan smiled. "Doesn't my company have two games, 'defend the carrot' and 'happy elimination'? I'm planning to try placing an advertisement on Bilibili to test it out. If the results are good, all future games released will cooperate with Bilibili."

A sharp intake of breath came from the other end of the line, followed immediately by his assurance, his tone full of drive. "That's great! Don't worry, President Chen, it will definitely be effective. Over ninety percent of our Bilibili users are interested in games; I can guarantee this data."

"Alright, I'll arrange for someone to contact you when the time comes, and you can handle the specific details yourselves."

"Got it! Thank you, President Chen!"

After hanging up the phone, Chen Fan placed it on the desk and leaned back in his chair to think.

The matter with Bilibili had come to a temporary end. The matter of advertising placement would need to be followed up by Wang Jing.

He originally wanted to have Qiao Linlin call Wang Jing over, but then he thought better of it. Forget it, he would just go to the site himself for a walk. It would be a good opportunity to check on the progress of 'archangels sword' and mention it to Wang Jing in person.

He stood up, pushed open the office door, and walked toward the workstation area.

He first arrived at the workstations of the First Department.

The First Department was Zhang Tao's team. After the Fang Hongsheng joined the company, he had reorganized the company's systems—saying it was a reform wasn't quite accurate; it should be called an optimization.

First, he clarified the positions at all levels for the two teams.

Zhang Tao's team was designated as the First Department, and the Technical Lead's team was designated as the Second Department. Both of their positions were Managers, each responsible for the overall management of their respective departments—from project progress to personnel allocation, all the burdens were on their shoulders. When the company grew a bit larger, these two departments would be upgraded into studios.

Wang Jing and the few people under her established the Marketing Department separately, mainly responsible for the later-stage operation and promotion of the games.

However, the Marketing Department had few people, so Wang Jing's position was temporarily just Supervisor, to be promoted later when the team expanded.

When Chen Fan walked into the First Department, Zhang Tao was sitting at his workstation, his fingers clattering away on the keyboard, with the screen filled with dense code and spreadsheets.

Seeing Chen Fan had arrived, he quickly stopped what he was doing, turned his chair, and stood up.

"It's nothing, keep working. I'm just looking around," Chen Fan waved his hand, signaling him not to worry about him.

Zhang Tao acknowledged him, didn't stand on ceremony with his boss, and sat back down, continuing to stare at the screen.