Reborn in Russia as a Big Shot

61. A business that guarantees profits without loss

Although Shopee is still in its early stages, it has already developed a logistics strategy that is tailored to local conditions.

St. Petersburg has 102 universities with a total student population of over 36. These people are not only potential consumers of Japanese and Korean culture, but also "poor people" who never have enough money.

This is especially true for international students who do not have the right to work.

Delivering packages isn't considered a formal job, so there's no fear of being caught. Plus, it's pay-as-you-go, flexible hours, and St. Petersburg's metro network is extremely developed; a university student monthly pass costs 240 rubles for unlimited rides.

Hongxing Warehouse is Shopee's only warehousing center at present, with self-pickup points set up near various universities and radiating throughout the city via the subway network.

This approach works in St. Petersburg and can be replicated in Moscow, but it's difficult to use this "tricky" method outside of these two metropolitan areas; in other places, you have to honestly spend money.

Li Yuanhai's move to JD.com to help Liu Qiangdong build his own logistics network from scratch also requires a lot of manpower, so he definitely needs to keep his capable assistants for himself.

He recommended some peripheral talents to Li Xiang, mainly mid-to-low-level managers from Dangdang.com.

However, going to Russia to join Shopee, a small, fledgling platform, is too uncertain, and those who are doing well in China are unwilling to risk their future.

Li Xiang certainly wouldn't personally handle poaching these minor figures; if it could be resolved with money, he wouldn't waste his energy and simply handed it over to a headhunting company.

During the Lunar New Year, Li Xiang and Natasha were both planning to immigrate. The elders in their family wanted to see their grandson more, so Li Xiang didn't return to Russia until after the Lunar New Year.

Natasha couldn't speak the language in mainland China. It was fine when she first arrived, but as time went on, she became less accustomed to Chinese life.

With Li Xiang gone and her husband no longer by her side, Natasha naturally couldn't stay in China any longer. She quickly bought plane tickets and took her son and Roman to Turkey.

My uncle, Li Hongbin, hasn't received his tourist visa yet, so he can't go for the time being.

Natasha won't stay in Turkey for long. If everything goes smoothly, she can get her US E2 visa processed in three or four months.

She and Li Xiang made a promise to meet in the US. The E2 visa requires investment in the US, and Li Xiang had to arrange everything for her.

Natasha has come to terms with it. Why keep a husband around for someone else when she can rely on Li Xiang? She'd rather not bother herself than rely on Li Xiang.

Knowing Natasha's family background, Sister Han was worried about her son's safety, so her attitude was very clear: regardless of whether Li Xiang and Natasha decided to get married in the future, she would only recognize Natasha as her daughter-in-law.

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The Milishvili family is the largest shareholder of VKontakte, holding 60% of the shares, but Li Xiang has never met anyone from the Milishvili family since he invested.

That's actually normal.

Although Milishvili comes from a former gangster family, he has successfully cleaned up his act by going from fighting and killing to becoming a gambling tycoon. It's best to avoid getting involved with Li Xiang, who is a front man for the Tambov gang.

This time, it was Li Xiang who took the initiative to contact Vyacheslav Milishvili.

Xiaomi has two older brothers and one younger sister. He is the youngest of three sons in his family. In addition, his grandfather is still alive, and he also has two uncles.

After Old Mi went to jail, his presence in the family was not very prominent.

It wasn't until recently, with his investment in VKontakte bringing unimaginable returns to his family, that he gradually solidified his central position.

"Pavel said you want to talk business with me. Is there anything we can do together?"

Xiao Du is also called Pavel.

Russians don't like beating around the bush; they do everything directly. Li Xiang cut straight to the point: "I'm doing e-commerce."

Li Xiang opened Shopee and turned the computer screen to show Xiaomi.

"I want to build my own logistics and warehousing like Ozon, but I am a foreigner after all, and I don't want to make heavy asset investments in Russia."

"If you're interested, we can follow the model of VKontakte and Red Star Data Center..."

Xiaomi interrupted, "I'll fund the infrastructure and rent it to you? That seems a bit too risky for me. E-commerce isn't that easy. What if you mess it up? Who am I going to rent all those logistics warehouses to?"

"Pavel said you were a good friend, asking me to share the risks with you. You clearly don't consider me a friend."

Li Xiang picked up the whiskey and held it in the air. "Of course I contacted you because I consider you a friend. This business is a sure thing for you."

Xiao frowned slightly, but still raised her glass. "Tell me about it."

After they drank together, Li Xiang continued, "If you use the equity of the logistics warehouse as collateral, I will lend you 30 million rubles in my personal capacity."

"Take this start-up capital, plus the lease Shopee offers you, and go to the bank for a loan to cover the remaining funding gap."

"The worst-case scenario."

"I promised to rent your warehouse for 15 years, but Shopee went bankrupt and couldn't pay the subsequent funds. You wanted to sublet the warehouse, but no one would take it over. You could only go bankrupt along with Shopee."

"But what did you lose?"

"It's the company that's being liquidated. I provided the 30 million in start-up capital, and the loan was from the bank. It has nothing to do with you personally."

"Is that so?" Xiaomi had only graduated from university a few years ago and had never done business before. She had neither social nor business experience, so she was completely confused.

"We're just exchanging ideas right now. Whether this business is viable and how risky it is, you should find someone to assess it yourself."

Li Xiang continued speaking at length, "Once an internet platform gets on the right track, the possibility of bankruptcy is not high. There are basically two possibilities: either it survives until it becomes a monopoly giant, or it is acquired by other competitors."

"In either case, your storage center is guaranteed to generate income regardless of circumstances. You don't need to put up a penny, you don't need to take any risks, and you'll still receive rent."

"What about the 30 million? Don't you want it anymore?" Xiaomi asked the crucial question.

"Of course I have to take back what I lent you. Of the rent Shopee pays you, after deducting the loan to the bank, you should pay me back first. Only after you've paid back what you owe me can you withdraw your earnings from the company."

"The collateral for this loan is your company's equity. If you decide halfway through the business that you don't see the potential and want to withdraw, you can simply give me the company and settle the loan with the equity."

After explaining the other party's benefits, Li Xiang began to proactively state his own needs.

"This cooperation model is also beneficial to me. My biggest problem right now is that I don't have enough funds. Shopee adopts a light asset model, and only leases logistics warehouses instead of building them, which makes the company's debt statements look much better."

"By putting the debt off the balance sheet and having your company take the fall for it, I can isolate the risk and borrow more money from the bank."

Xiaomi nodded and said, "I think I understand."

"I'm guaranteed to make a profit; it just means I'm investing some time, energy, and family resources. If you're short on cash, this is a way to maximize your leverage. But the risk doesn't disappear; it just transfers. These additional risks are ultimately transferred to the banks."

"I'll go back and have someone assess it. If it's really as you say, we can talk."

Although Miguel has secured the central position of the new generation of successors in the Milishvili family, the investment in VKontakte involved a lot of luck and is not something that can be repeated.

He urgently needs some performance to prove himself and secure his position.

However, Xiao Mi's understanding of Li Xiang was not comprehensive. He only knew that Li Xiang was related to the Tambov Gang and had a gang background. No one should look down on the other.

If he knew that Li Xiang was backed by two epic plagues, Khodorkovsky and Gusinsky, he would avoid him on the street, let alone sit down to discuss business.