Rebirth of the Age of Wealth

Chapter 515 Immature Suggestions

Nowadays, society generally believes that this is indeed the case. The current Internet industry is a high-tech industry, so entrepreneurs in this industry are different from other industries.

Entrepreneurs generally have higher academic qualifications and better schools. Looking at their resumes, they are either from Qingbei or famous domestic universities. Most of them have studied abroad, so naturally they are more arrogant!

Not only the founders, but also the co-founders, and even ordinary practitioners in this industry are awesome. In this era, a bachelor's degree is the threshold.

Let’s look at the college entrance examination results of these executives. They are either the city’s top scorer or the county’s top scorer. Such a proud man will always be a little arrogant, and naturally there will definitely be some flaws in his heart - he is extremely confident in himself!

Especially the self-confidence in their respective majors, there will even be some phenomena that are almost paranoid, and they will not tolerate others to interrupt, but today Li Weidong is here to interrupt.

Zhang Chaoyang, Wang Zhidong, Ding Lei and a small number of senior executives they brought stood in their own squares. Although they were mixed together, they were clearly distinct. They were the makers of the largest portal website in China.

According to the rankings of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the three portals are always in the top three. They were listed on Nasdaq at the same time last month, and even advertised on CCTV's News Network.

Directly allowing China's 15 million Internet users to become users of these three websites. If you are an Internet user and do not use these three portals, it is simply a joke.

In this era, there are not many ordinary people who can become Internet users according to CNNIC statistics and are online for more than one hour a week. Most of them are people who are following the trend of the times and have certain spending power.

Therefore, in this era, it seems that many economic activities that do not conform to the free Internet model can still be carried out smoothly.

For example, ten years ago, you could imagine that WPS could make a fortune by selling word processing software. This would be unimaginable in later generations. Free is the mainstream, and individual users would not use it for a fee!

After Li Weidong shook hands with the three founders and CEOs, he shook hands with the people behind them one by one. Different from the posturing of the three CEOs, he was much more friendly with these people.

After Li Weidong shook hands with them, Zheng Sijing also shook hands with a few people. The smile on his face seemed a little apologetic, but in fact he was very satisfied with the shock shown by these people.

Comrade Zhang Chaoyang, who is the oldest, has the highest academic qualifications, the most seniority, the most activeness, the highest global reputation, and is known as the "Godfather of China's Internet" spoke.

"Director Li, welcome to Sohu for guidance. On behalf of all my colleagues at Sohu, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you. Director Li, please come here, Mr. Zheng, please come here, everyone!"

This building is the office of Sohu. NetEase and Sina are in the building next door. However, Zheng Sijing agreed with them to communicate in Sohu's office building, so everyone naturally gathered here.

In this case, Zhang Chaoyang can naturally regard himself as the host, and it is his duty to invite guests in. But it is inappropriate to include Wang Zhidong and Ding Lei among them.

Of course, maybe this was something he did intentionally. Now that everyone is in a state of competition, it is understandable to have some inner battles. Of course, he did it for Li Weidong to see.

Give Li Weidong a vaccination in advance and let him know how difficult it is to reconcile the relationship between the three families. It is best to retreat from the difficulties and come over to drink tea and chat, and then sing happily in KTV!

After all, he is good at these!

Zhang Chaoyang led the way, Li Weidong took the lead, Zheng Sijing, Jiang Zongtao, Wang Zhidong, and Ding Lei were in the second echelon, followed by executives from various companies, huffing and puffing towards the building.

This shocked the onlookers who had noticed this situation for a long time. The appearance of the heads of the three major portals together was enough to cause a sensation, and depending on the situation, they had to wait for someone else.

The three bosses were waiting for almost no one at the same time. Now the real boss has appeared. He is young and easy-going, but judging from the performance of the three influential figures, the people around him are full of melons.

The news quickly spread like crazy. Thanks to the use of instant messaging and forums, in just a few minutes, all the scientific and technical personnel in the Haidian Park knew that an unknown expert had arrived.

But not long after, a post about Li Weidong appeared in the forum, with various comments and suspicions. Just when everyone was discussing it intensely, the post suddenly disappeared.

Zhang Chaoyang led the way and Li Weidong arrived at the top floor of this office building. Sohu occupied the top two floors of the entire office building.

The top and sub-top floors are designed to save energy. There is a lighting skylight in the middle. The sunlight shines down, making the entire office area very bright. You can enjoy the fun of sunbathing in the office.

Although the decoration is good, from the hardware point of view, it still has an obvious architectural style of the 1980s, which is somewhat incompatible with high-tech companies.

Therefore, there is no problem for this science and technology park to be used as a business incubation center, but as an office space for a company that has successfully started a business, especially one known as the three major portals, its price has somewhat dropped.

This is probably one of the reasons why these three companies want to move. Another reason may be that they are competitors, and it is a bit embarrassing to see each other in the same park without looking up.

Of course, the more important reason is that the listing is successful, the assets are capitalized, and the company has money, so it naturally has to have a decent office space.

Li Weidong stood at the door of Zhang Chaoyang's office, overlooking the entire office area. He had a feeling about the company that I had. Maybe Zhang Chaoyang should often stand here and overlook his employees!

A female staff member, probably an assistant, whispered something next to Zhang Chaoyang, and then Zhang Chaoyang nodded to her and waved her away.

Zhang Chaoyang pointed to the office area downstairs and said: "Chairman, here is the operations department, over there is the administration department, and beyond that is the marketing department, and the finance department!"

Then he pointed to the office area on this floor, introduced his office, and said: "This is the technology department, over there is the product department, there is the finance department, and there is the human resources department!"

Li Weidong commented, "Yes, put the two most important departments on your left and right so that you can pay attention to them at any time, and it can also virtually improve the status of these two departments!"

Li Weidong's approval made Zhang Chaoyang a little shy, and said with a smile: "The main reason is that sometimes an idea suddenly pops up in my mind, and I can communicate with them at any time!"

Li Weidong said: "It is understandable that for people engaged in technology, a little inspiration that occasionally flashes in their minds is a valuable asset. This is called epiphany, self-realization of one's own nature, epiphany and sudden cultivation, not bad!"

Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile: "I didn't expect you to be so proficient in Buddhist scriptures. This is a verse from the Sixth Patriarch Huineng's Treasure Altar Sutra!"

Li Weidong glanced at Zhang Chaoyang, wouldn't he start studying these illusory things now? That would be a bit unprofessional. I'm sorry for this CEO!

So he said with a smile but not a smile: "Proficiency is nonsense. You can find it by searching on the Internet. Why are you studying Buddhist scriptures? You can see through the world of mortals at such a young age?"

"No, no, I just watch it for fun when I have nothing to do. I watch whatever comes to my mind!" Zhang Chaoyang waved his hands quickly and said, he couldn't give shareholders the impression that he was not doing his job properly.

"Chairman, the conference room is ready. How about we go in?" Zhang Chaoyang asked, pointing to a conference room not far away.

Li Weidong nodded, and Zhang Chaoyang led several people into the conference room. Because Li Weidong's arrival, the specifications were much higher than the original arrangement, so there were many fewer people who could enter the meeting.

The three CEOs negotiated with Zheng Sijing that except for the three of them, no other management would enter. Only Li Weidong and Zheng Sijing participated in Jingwei Investment.

After all, the things discussed are somewhat high-end and might lead to quarrels. It is very necessary to keep things confidential. One more person will cause more embarrassment and more risks.

In fact, the persuasion led by Jingwei Investment this time is somewhat antagonistic to other directors of each company and will have a negative impact on the power of the company's board of directors.

After all, the most powerful department in a company is the board of directors. For listed companies, the shareholders' meeting has more formal power, and the specific power in the company is not reflected.

The company's development strategy is decided by the board of directors and is authorized to be implemented by the CEO. In theory, the CEO must be responsible to the board of directors, not to Li Weidong or a certain shareholder.

Of course, if Jingwei Investment reaches an agreement with them, the probability of it being approved by the board of directors is quite high, but it lacks procedural legitimacy and is suspected of granting power privately.

Ding Lei owns 48.13% of NetEase and Jingwei Investment owns 19.99%, which exceeds the absolute line of control. As long as Jingwei Investment and Ding Lei are of the same mind, no one can influence it.

However, what is more embarrassing is that Ding Lei's own shares are close to 50%. Coupled with several management members who are aligned with him, the shares have already exceeded 50%.

Therefore, as long as it does not involve amending the company's articles of association, splitting, merging, changing the main business project, or major decisions exceeding 50% of the total assets, there is no need for Jingwei Investment at all.

He is also the most aloof person among the few. I have the final say on my home court, and no one can control it, unless Li Weidong supports the other two companies to kill NetEase regardless of the cost.

Zhang Chaoyang owns 28.31% of Sohu's shares, and Jingwei Investment owns 19.7%, making them the top two largest shareholders. If these two people cannot influence the board of directors, it means that their level is really poor.

However, Sina is somewhat different. Wang Zhidong, as the main founder and CEO, owns too few shares, only about 6% after listing.

Moreover, before going public for financing, Sina not only had several rounds of venture capital financing, but also merged its equity with Huayuan Information, the largest Chinese website in North America.

Therefore, Sina's ownership structure is more complex and dispersed. This was also the source of constant internal struggles at Sina in the previous life. Of course, it is unlikely that this will happen again in this life.

However, because of this, Sina is the company in which Li Weidong owns the most shares. As early as when he was at Huayuan Information, Peking University Capital had participated in his venture financing.

During the merger, Peking Capital naturally held shares in the newly established Sina Company. During the listing review, it was impossible for the Nasdaq Review Committee to find out that the actual controller of the two companies was the same person.

So even though Sina has the most complex equity structure now, and Sitong, a company that is currently in the limelight, is one of Sina's major shareholders, it is also the owner with the most tricks.

But Li Weidong is the most assured of Sina and is also the shareholder who most hopes for Sina's healthy development.

Of course, if we refer to the consequential theory of later generations, the price-performance ratio of owning NetEase stocks is undoubtedly the best. However, NetEase's financing times are small and the shares are too concentrated. Li Weidong's 18% is already a lot.

As soon as the door of the conference room was closed, the five people sat down and the closed-door meeting began. There was no one else around, which allowed them to give full play to their abilities.

They are all in the same circle. On the surface they are like-minded comrades who cherish each other, but on the inside they are competitors who are familiar with each other. They have the opportunity to sit together because of Li Weidong.

Li Weidong said with a smile: "First of all, congratulations to you for successfully ringing the bell on Nasdaq. It's just a pity that I got the news a little late and didn't have the chance to catch this feast!"

"Secondly, I saw on CNNIC that your ranking has always been in the top three with an absolute advantage. I am very pleased. It shows that you have established a firm foothold at the top of the industry!"

"It already accounts for half of the domestic Internet industry. The three of you sitting together, plus China.com, are almost an Internet industry association!"

"I also suggest that you consider setting up such an industry association. Any demands you have can be resolved within the association. It can also promote communication and cooperation, exert industry self-discipline, and promote the development of the industry!"

"Again, we have been reforming for more than 20 years, and we have long formed a consensus. If we want to develop and grow, we must first concentrate on making the cake bigger!"

"In fact, the cake of the Internet may be so big that you can't imagine it. It will touch all walks of life, and many great companies will be born in the future!"

"The scale of many companies is even larger than the three of your companies combined. Otherwise, there would be no need for Jingwei Investment to exist, at least there would be no need to invest in the Internet industry!"

"So there is not only competition between you, but also cooperation, and even holding together to keep warm. You should not knock someone to the ground, and then put another foot on them, so that they will never get over!"

Li Weidong continued to speak, and his tone became more and more serious, saying: "Let me tell you the truth, I will not allow this kind of thing to happen, and I have the ability to prevent this kind of thing from happening!"

Several people looked up at Li Weidong. The expressions in their eyes were very complicated. They were shocked, confused, overwhelmed, and even a little aggrieved and angry, but there was no disbelief.

It is estimated that at this moment they can realize the cruelty of a sentence: in the face of absolute capital, all efforts are in vain, and even the truth will choose to remain silent.

Zheng Sijing was also a little shocked. Among the people here, he was the only one who knew Li Weidong best, but this was the first time he heard such annoying words from Li Weidong's mouth.

Li Weidong continued: "Just think of this as an Internet economic seminar or forum held by an industry association, and try to communicate calmly!"

Li Weidong finally said humbly: "Let me also talk about my own views. Let me also listen to your views on this industry. Maybe I can give you some immature suggestions!"

(End of chapter)