No Internet Gene? Wanda E-commerce Still Raises Funds Rapidly

Wanda Group is becoming more and more like an Internet company. After acquiring the controlling stake of the local third-party payment leader 99Bill for RMB 2 billion, two Internet investment funds quickly participated in the additional issuance of Wanda e-commerce and obtained a 5% stake.

"That means Wanda E-commerce's registered capital has increased to 20 billion yuan." This afternoon, a person from a Hong Kong investment institution said that this should be the largest investment case for a Chinese e-commerce startup to date. 1 billion is already a considerable amount for many other startups in the mainland, but Wanda E-commerce only accounts for 5%, which should be based on the valuation method of the Internet industry.

The above-mentioned person did not disclose the interests of each party after the two PEs came in. In August this year, when Wanda E-commerce was established, Wanda Group, Baidu, and Tencent held 70%, 15%, and 15% respectively. Later, Wanda Commercial Properties and Wanda Investment Holding established Wanda Information, taking over the 70% held by Wanda Group. Wanda Investment Holding is Wang Jianlin's wholly-owned company, and it and Wanda Commercial Properties each hold 50% of Wanda Information's shares. This means that Wang Jianlin and Wanda Commercial Properties each hold 35% of Wanda E-commerce's shares.

The two PE companies hold 5%, and the equity of Wang Jianlin, Wanda Commercial Properties, Baidu, and Tencent has been diluted, but not by much. Wanda's prospectus shows that Wang Jianlin holds 51.07% of Wanda Commercial Properties and directly and indirectly holds nearly 53% of Wanda E-commerce. After the dilution, he is still the largest shareholder behind the scenes.

At the beginning, "Tencent Million" announced that 5 billion was only the first phase of investment, which would be expanded to 20 billion in the next five years. This capital increase and share expansion is equivalent to the completion of the long-term goal.

The above-mentioned person said that increasing capital and expanding shares will help expand the scale of operations and improve credit. For a startup that has not yet been truly operational, this move shows that the investors behind it have a strong intention to get involved.

When Wanda e-commerce was first established, it raised doubts. One view was that Wanda Group lacked the Internet gene and the conditions to develop e-commerce. In the previous two years, Wanda's e-commerce project had not developed. Now the new company has not been operating for a long time, perhaps there are many unknowns.

Not long ago, Wang Jianlin said that there was no obstacle to the establishment of the company, but the initial focus must be on backend construction, especially the big data center, which will not be put into use until July or August 2015. In the third quarter of next year, Wanda e-commerce will be fully launched. In order to promote the connection between Wanda Plaza and the hotel industry and the platform, dozens of software are currently being developed at the same time. At that time, he also revealed that Wanda would acquire a payment company.

Not long ago, it was reported that Wanda Group has decided to invest RMB 2 billion in 99Bill, China's largest third-party payment company, to acquire a controlling stake.

Industry insiders said that the acquisition of 99Bill was a core move for Wanda Group in building its O2O backend, which indicated that it had complete transaction support comparable to BAT and could establish a complete closed-loop model, thus pushing Wanda Group to become a true Internet company. Because payment not only corresponds to the flow of funds, which can be extended to the field of Internet finance, but also corresponds to a huge amount of data, covering both ends of BC. It is the foundation of big data operations, from which more business models can be generated.

99Bill will also bring Wanda many market resources, especially merchant resources. In 2014, the transaction volume of the 99Bill platform will reach 1.2 trillion, with 3.5 million corporate merchants and 330 million individual users. It will work closely with more than 200 financial institutions to provide solutions and financial value-added services in multiple industries such as retail, insurance, business travel, and e-commerce.

In addition to backend construction, Wanda e-commerce's most competitive condition lies in Wanda Group's rich offline ecosystem. It focuses on commercial retail, hotels, cultural entertainment, tourism and other aspects, which has always been regarded by many industry insiders as the most fertile soil for the development of O2O. In 2013, the passenger flow of Wanda Plaza alone exceeded 1.2 billion. At present, there are more than 40 million members, and it is expected to increase to 100 million in the next year.

This is also the biggest reason why the two giants Tencent and Baidu value Wanda. Tencent's social portal and Baidu's traffic will also provide strong support for Wanda's e-commerce.

Those who question Wanda e-commerce may have overlooked the positioning of Wanda e-commerce. Wang Jianlin clearly stated at the beginning that Wanda e-commerce would not engage in physical transactions like Alibaba, but would focus more on the connection between people and services, and strive to build an open O2O platform. This field has a high frequency of consumption, and the future market size will be much larger than a single physical transaction.

Wang Jianlin said that Wanda e-commerce, like Wanda cultural industry, is a strategic pillar industry of Wanda Group in the future. Credit Suisse, a well-known investment bank, said that Wanda e-commerce will serve as the entrance for Wanda Group's resource integration, and it will form a synergistic effect with Wanda's many industries.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.