After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 204 - 203: $2.245 Billion Dividend

"They must have mastered L2-level intelligent driving but just don't want to put it in the Qin."

Li Bing, in conversation with several engineers, could be considered a semi-expert after so many years in the automotive industry.

His prediction was that if BYD Qin's sales were pleasing and its reputation was good, they would soon launch the next model, most likely an SUV aimed at the mid-range market.

The low to mid-range market, while coveted by several new forces, was out of reach for them to engage in a price war with BYD.

After all, BYD boasted that they could produce even a nut on their own, while their competitors still needed to have others manufacture for them.

If they had to compete with BYD in the future, they definitely wouldn't outcompete them and would have to target the high-end market, winning with quality.

Listening to their conversation, Lu Liang absorbed knowledge like a sponge, feeling as if he had gone back to the days of learning foreign languages last year.

Li Bing was engrossed in the discussion, yet he did not dare to neglect Mr. Lu, "Mr. Lu, how is the development of the car machine going?"

"It's estimated that in another three to four months, there will be a basic version 1.0."

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Since Hu Weiwei went to Beijing, Lu Liang had been at ease, basically not worrying about the matters there.

And her first task after joining Tianxing Technology was to integrate the project data into a report that Lu Liang could understand.

Li Jiahui was a genius, but still mortal, even though he had Tsinghua University behind him, often guided by academicians of the National Engineering Academy, along with thirty-five professors, doctors, and masters from the field of computing to assist.

But with only half a year's time, to develop a completely autonomous car machine system was obviously unrealistic. However, Lu Liang's requirement was just to have something that was up to the mainstream market's standard, with gradual improvements to follow.

After consideration, they decided to adopt Android's basic architecture while drawing appropriately from Tesla's public patents.

After all, Tesla disclosed all their patent technology either to become the industry's benchmark or to nurture the industry, letting all companies help train their algorithms for free.

But since they were starting from scratch with nothing, it was okay to borrow a little when necessary.

Taking the best of others and compensating for their own shortcomings.

Lu Liang did not object, as these were open technologies, but reminded that while borrowing was fine, they must not rely on the other party's framework and needed to distinguish primary from secondary.

After all, if the other side wants a unified industry while they play the role of the Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch, if you use their technology, later on, they can also use yours.

If the progress bar was 100%, they were currently at 10%.

However, it took over a month to progress from 0 to 1%, but only two weeks from 1 to 10%. Another three to four months should be enough.

"It's quite fast, I hope the Tianxing Car Machine can surpass our NIO Car Machine," Li Bing said, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes; envy naturally arose at the thought of the advantages of having money.

The progress of Lu Liang's development team was catching up from behind, almost equal to theirs, and the contest of car machines in December was still an unknown outcome.

Lu Liang smiled indifferently and softly said, "Mr. Li, it's not about who surpasses whom, it's all for the good of the ES8."

He reminded Li Bing as an investor that NIO could develop a car machine, but the focus should still be on the ES8.

Research and development is a bottomless pit. If NIO insists on going its own way, they might have to reconsider whether to continue investing in NIO.

"Yes, it's all for the good of the ES8," Li Bing quickly smiled apologetically, obviously picking up on the reminder from Lu Liang.

For a moment, he nearly forgot that Lu Liang was not only a competitor in the car machine arena but also one of the founding investors of NIO.

Even if everything went smoothly, NIO would still be in a severe cash crunch over the next two years.

You can't afford to offend the financier.

"I'll leave the car here. It's not worth much, don't bother with any of that 'borrow one, owe two' business." Lu Liang planned to leave.

The pace of development in the new energy industry was faster than he had expected, and it was time to expand the scale of his assets a bit more.

The next day at noon, invitations were sent out from the company to all fund investors.

The first fund was distributing its second dividend, the second fund its first dividend, and discussions for the establishment of the third fund.

That day, business magnates from all over the country, including Zhu Hu and Lei Jun from Beijing, Shen Peng and Guo Changguang from Modu, along with the Li Guo Zheng trio from Xiangjiang, all gathered together.

Before the meeting, people chatted in the reception room and saw many familiar faces, each with countless thoughts in their hearts.

These people, including themselves, were all part of Lu Liang's network.

It's no exaggeration to say that, should a terrorist attack occur at this moment, the nation's economy would likely be set back by at least three years.

"Mr. Lu, it's always the same with you, liking to keep people in suspense," someone couldn't help teasing with a laugh.

Today is the 24th, and by tomorrow at noon, Sky Star One would update its net worth for the month, which would also reveal how much Lu Liang had made from shorting the yen last week.

Yet, he had chosen today and even sent out invitations three days in advance, nearly hooking them all by their eager lips.

Xu Xiaojun, dressed in a tailored suit, joined the crowd and started a conversation with a smile, "I heard it's something like 300 to 500 million dollars."

This figure was what he had heard from Little Wang—given their relationship, it should be quite convincing.

As he looked at the group, his eyes were full of sentiment. If Lu Liang became his brother-in-law, these people would become connections of his family too.

Unfortunately, Lu Liang wasn't interested in Xu Huiqi, and even that day, his sister had to take a taxi home by herself, for which he was scolded a long time.

"More than the dividends of one and two, I care about the fundraising scale of three," someone else suddenly said.

If it were only about dividends, probably not so many major players would have come today. The key issue was the initiation and negotiation for fund three.

Without a doubt, the management scale of fund three was expected to far exceed the combined capital of fund one and fund two.

"Why bother speculating here when Xiaocong is over there? Just ask him and save the trouble."

This person knew Wang Xiaocong well and gestured for him to come over, prompting Little Wang to hurry over, "Mr. Zhou, long time no see."

"Xiaocong, you have a good relationship with Mr. Lu. What's the situation with fund three?" the man asked with a smile.

Little Wang looked embittered: "Mr. Zhou, to be honest, he considers me a loudspeaker and refuses to divulge anything to me."

The day he received the invitation, he had rushed to find Lu Liang, but despite all his talking, Lu Liang simply wouldn't reveal any details.

After a pause, he added, "Mr. Lu seemed to still be considering the scale at that time, and the amount involved must be substantial."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhou laughed, "Even if it's 2 or 3 billion dollars, it wouldn't be enough to go around for everyone present."

In the middle of the month, Lu Liang shorted the yen and even if the profit was 300 million dollars, the minimum profit for the two funds would be 2.2 billion dollars.

With the principal doubling in six months, even if fund three aimed to raise 5 billion dollars, there would be plenty of people eager to invest.

Hearing this, everyone nodded and agreed, each asserting that money wasn't the issue.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted, "Mr. Lu is here."

Lu Liang donned a suit, which he rarely wore, and smiled and waved to the crowd, "Everyone, please come inside."

He was grateful that he had leased a 3,800-square-meter office space in one go last year; otherwise, he would have had to find a new venue this year.

While larger spaces do not necessarily mean better or more beautiful, if the space is too small, the flaws become glaringly amplified.

The two-hundred-square-meter conference room,

easily accommodated seventy to eighty people.

Lu Liang greeted the audience and then took a seat, allowing Wen Chao to go up and recount the investment journey of the past six months.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good day. Nine months have passed since the launch of fund one."

"In December last year, we carried out our first dividend distribution, handing out 286.4 million dollars."

"The yield of the dividend cycle at that time, I believe, was unmatched by anyone else globally."

"Half a year has passed, and we have gathered once again, adding 23 investors to fund two."

Initially, Wen Chao was a bit stiff in front of all the big shots but gradually became comfortable and spoke with ease.

Although he said a lot, seemingly unnecessary pleasantries, it was all done with Lu Liang's blessing.

Because he needed them to realize that money doesn't just fall from the sky. They pay high management fees, and even the shares they acquired through connections have been worth it given the returns at this moment.

After speaking at length for over ten minutes, he finally got to one of the topics everyone was most concerned about: the amount of the dividend and the total assets of the two funds.

The combined assets of the two funds were 3.345 billion dollars. They planned to reserve 1.1 billion dollars of the principal, distributing the remaining 2.245 billion dollars of profit as dividends.