Jiang Cheng's impression of Zhang Yiming was still quite good.
After all, he had watched many videos of his entrepreneurial journey in his past life.
A boy from an ordinary family starting from scratch to become a business giant worth hundreds of billions.
Jiang Cheng truly admired him from the bottom of his heart.
Moreover, Zhang Yiming was not only very far-sighted but also very skilled in management and operations.
A company needs not only a leader with unique vision but also a crucial management mechanism.
Both of these points were perfectly embodied in Zhang Yiming.
After some pleasantries, Jiang Cheng walked toward the center of the gala hall, welcomed by Zhang Yiming.
Along the way, the people at the gala couldn't help but speculate about Jiang Cheng's identity, wondering how he could have the founder of ByteDance personally welcome him with such a large group of people.
One must know that the people following Zhang Yiming were no small figures; they were all top executives of the company.
From vice presidents and managers to directors of various departments.
Everyone greeted Jiang Cheng with humble and respectful expressions.
Zhang Yiming led Jiang Cheng and Chen Xueer to a large round table closest to the podium.
At this moment, the round table was already full of people.
Seeing Zhang Yiming approaching with two people, the group couldn't help but stop their conversations.
Zhang Yiming said to the people at the round table, "Let me introduce everyone, this is ByteDance's newest shareholder, Jiang Cheng, Chairman Jiang."
Then Zhang Yiming said to Jiang Cheng, "These are the representatives of ByteDance's shareholders..."
In 2017, ByteDance's main shareholders were still led by SIG Susquehanna, Sequoia Capital, and the Sina Social Media Platform Fund.
Besides the original three angel investors and Zhang Yiming himself, those with the largest stakes present were Sequoia Capital and Jiang Cheng.
In 2014, ByteDance began its Series C financing, obtaining $100 million in funding while giving up 20% equity. The $100 million was provided by Sequoia Capital, the Sina Social Media Platform Fund, and Shunwei Capital. At that time, ByteDance's market valuation was only $500 million.
In 2016, ByteDance launched its Series D financing again, this time giving up 9% of its shares for $1 billion.
This round was also provided by Sequoia Capital and CCB International, with the market valuation reaching $11 billion.
The Series E investment, originally scheduled for December 2017, was snatched up by Jiang Cheng last month with a $2 billion intervention, securing a 9% stake in ByteDance.
After Zhang Yiming finished his introduction, several people stood up enthusiastically to shake hands and converse with Jiang Cheng.
Everyone present was a big shot. Although facing them was quite overwhelming, Jiang Cheng's expression remained steady, appearing very calm and composed.
However, the onlookers were not as calm as he was.
"Holy crap, the newly-crowned national husband is actually sitting at that table. That's where all the big shots are gathered."
"Isn't that table full of shareholders??"
"Could the husband be the son of one of those shareholders?"
"It's possible. Otherwise, how could he sit with those big shots? Netizens still haven't managed to dig up his identity."
Although everyone present was a senior, at this moment, Jiang Cheng was an investor just like them.
Jiang Cheng smiled neither humbly nor arrogantly and politely said some pleasantries, "Uncles, please don't be so formal. You can just call me Xiao Jiang."
Everyone present was a shrewd veteran of the business world.
Seeing how clever Jiang Cheng was to use his age to his advantage in his very first sentence.
He directly gave these old-timers some face, leaving a very good impression of himself on everyone present.
Several of them had secretly investigated Jiang Cheng's background.
It was just very strange that no matter how they investigated, Jiang Cheng's background was a complete blank.
Or it was a mess, as if some big shot was intentionally erasing traces behind the scenes.
Worth over twenty billion at only eighteen years old, his background was certainly not simple.
In such settings, everyone spoke in pleasantries, and no one took Jiang Cheng's words too literally.
Shen Nanpeng of Sequoia Capital was the first to speak, "How can that be? Chairman Jiang has achieved so much at such a young age. If my boy were half as capable as you, I wouldn't have to sigh every day."
Li Songbo of the Sina Social Media Platform followed, "You're right. Although Chairman Jiang's Xingchen Investment was only established a few months ago, its development has been incredibly rapid. Even I heard of Xingchen's great name early on. If my boy had your vision, I'd probably wake up laughing in my dreams."
Seeing everyone praising him one after another, Jiang Cheng smiled, unperturbed by the flattery, "I'm merely following in the footsteps of you seniors."
Shen Nanpeng said with a chuckle, "You are indeed the most humble young man I've ever met."