Reinventing the Millennium

One is the president of Yike and the other is the CEO of Sina.

The two exchanged views on board seats in June in a small restaurant and reached a consensus on a certain angle.

At the same time, Fang Zhuo heard a different thought from Wang Yan's last words.

This person's origin and current position obviously do not want to be decentralized all the time, nor will he be willing to be the executor of the will of a certain person or faction.

In other words, he has a certain need to reorganize the board of directors and management.

Fang Zhuo made such a guess based on several exchanges, but he was not sure whether the guess was accurate. If it was accurate, it would be able to win over in the upcoming battle for control.

If possible, the situation I most want to see is to moderately control Sina.

Anyway, it will definitely be better than Sina's current stock price situation.

Fang Zhuo smoked a cigarette that night and thought until early morning. If he could successfully enter the board of directors, the next step would be to raise funds. The equity pledge in the United States, which Kong Yu was responsible for, was still being negotiated by many parties, and the progress was not very smooth.

The equity liquidity of unlisted companies is very poor, especially if the target is a Chinese company, it is even more difficult.

Fortunately, the product sales in April were very good. If it doesn't work, we can only borrow this part of the money first, but that will most likely cause trouble among investors, including the money raised in Yike's Series A round.

It's not that the money in the account is misappropriated without means, but it's not good to worry about defeat before thinking about victory. If things are not harmonious, it will be bad at both ends.

Besides, comparing Sina and Yike, it’s hard to say which one is more valuable.

Fang Zhuo had no program to record the next day, but he did not return to Shanghai. He still waited for news in the capital for a day, but there was no news from Wang Yan, and he could not rush him.

On the third day, Fang Zhuo inspected Yike's market development centered on the Beijing store, but there was still no news at night.

Yike Investment's entry into the board of directors is related to the success or failure of the entire control struggle. It is an extremely critical step. Even Fang Zhuo is a little impatient.

Once bad news comes, it means that MIGA will unilaterally absorb shares, forcing Sina to launch a poison pill plan, and MIGA will only become a superficial threat.

On the fourth day, just when Fang Zhuo couldn't help but want to call Wang Yan, a little tidbit soothed him.

Someone from Fenjiu contacted me and was willing to pay 100,000 yuan for the advertising slogan Mr. Fang said on the show.

One hundred thousand yuan.

Quite a few.

Fang Zhuo scratched his head in confusion as he listened to what was expressed on the phone. It seems that the program has not been broadcast yet. How did the people in Fenjiu hear about it? Looking at this situation, is it better to buy it out at a lower price before the show is aired?

Just think about it, isn’t there a better and more brilliant way to promote your brand?

If you say one million, I will take the money and donate it. It will not only become a good business story, but also get wider publicity.

Fang Zhuo was stunned for a while, and then he came back to his senses when he heard the voice on the phone. He politely declined: "No, just give it to Fenjiu. It's just one sentence."

This is called returning things to their original owners, which is the word for Fenjiu anyway.

The other party was chatting on the phone for a few words, so he really didn't mention the advertising fees, and instead said that he would send two boxes of wine to the address of Yike Company.

The call ends.

Fang Zhuo's heart, which was originally agitated because of the seat on the board of directors of Yike Investment, somehow calmed down, and he directly booked a flight back to Shanghai in the afternoon. Even though he failed to win Sina this time, he still held a lot of shares.

These shares will definitely appreciate greatly for MIGA, a private equity fund, because Chinese concept stocks are indeed fully undervalued. At most, after the third quarter of this year, Chinese concept stocks will definitely experience gains.

On May 11, President Yi Ke returned to Hang Lung 23. In addition to urging Kong Yu in New York to continue working hard, he also needed to pay attention to Apple's upcoming product launch conference.

If nothing else happens, Apple's Ipod will definitely pivot and start supporting Microsoft's Windows operating system.

A few days later, although the impact of the official media's statement is still there, at least everyone in the company behaves relatively normally. According to Su Wei, everyone has their love for each other deeply buried in their hearts.

Yike's products have faced a small wave of counterattacks in national channels. The cheaper S1 is already being produced secretly and is only waiting for Lenovo to release the product before going on the market to compete.

This month, Yike Technology will face two rivals, Apple in the United States and Lenovo in China.

On May 15, Su Wei and Fang Zhuo were waiting for news about Apple’s product launch in the President’s Office.

"One is today and the other is on the 20th, Mr. Fang, which one do you think will be good news?" Su Wei discussed with Fang Zhuo about competitors.

"Then I still hope that the press conference on the 20th will be good news for us." Fang Zhuo gave the answer without much hesitation.

Su Wei was surprised: "Why choose Lenovo?"

"It always does things that please those who love it and those who hate it." Fang Zhuo replied.

Su Wei thought for a while, "always"? It seems that the deal between Yi Ke and Lenovo was just this one, and the other party didn't know that he already knew the other party's actions.

She continued to ask: "Do you think there will be new trends in Apple's iTunes?"

Fang Zhuo has already thought about this problem: "I'm afraid not yet. Apple has not established an advantage in the user group. The only thing that can impress music copyright companies is money."

"But will Apple spend this money at this stage?"

"Most likely not."

"I put myself in Steve Jobs's position. Apple's current situation is that it still needs to accumulate users. After adjusting its support for Microsoft, it needs to face the challenges of M1 and J1. In other words, in the field of Microsoft systems, Apple is It’s challenging us.”

Fang Zhuo discussed seriously: "Only when the user base improves, and only after organizations such as RIAA and SESAC comprehensively clean up and crack down on free music websites, will iTunes have the internal driving force to spend money to buy copyrights."

"One inside and one outside." Su Wei concluded, "In fact, the internal product performance is also driving changes in the external environment. The more popular MP3 music players are in the market, the more music copyright companies have to crack down on the existence of music sharing websites. .”

Fang Zhuo smiled and praised: "If Xiao Su understands this, it is enough to add a general manager in front of the vice president."

He added: "Music companies and copyright agencies should have also discussed new music methods internally. The expansion of user groups will allow them to make choices. Currently, there are only two choices on the market, Apple or Yike."

Su Wei concentrated: "The choice is two-way. There are many music companies that the two companies can choose from."

"We need to build a Yike Music camp, and the money from Series A financing is used for this." Fang Zhuo made this clear and determined again that he would not use financing money in exchange for Sina shares.

It is not necessary in extreme circumstances to demolish the east wall to repair the west wall.

The two chatted for a while, and the news from Apple's press conference came.

As expected, Ipod will be compatible with the Windows operating system, and Apple has to face up to the effects of its own closed ecosystem and the rise of competitors.

At the same time, it has upgraded the capacity of the micro hard drive to 20G, and the battery life has also been increased.

In addition, a limited edition Ipod was also released, and users can choose to have the signatures or logos of No Doubt, Madonna, Tony Hawk, and Beck engraved on the back of the machine.

These are all famous American bands, singers, and athletes.

The price of the limited-edition iPod has increased by $49 to $548.

Toshiba, a Japanese micro-hard drive manufacturer, updates its technology very quickly. The initial version is 5G, and it will soon be upgraded to 10G. It will be able to provide 20G commercial micro-hard drives in less than half a year.

Yike is following up on a large scale to upgrade the 10G version, but the 20G version is planned to depend on market response.

Currently, Yike Technology's M1 is divided into two versions: 5G and 10G. The former is supplied domestically, and the latter is supplied abroad. The price has also been upgraded according to the cost of the hard drive, but it has always maintained a space of about US$70 with Apple.

"Should our 20G be put into production immediately?" Su Wei noticed the product data.

"Don't worry, let's take a look at the types of shipments on Apple's channels. If they are all 20G, then it will lose." Fang Zhuo thought, "It is equivalent to using its reserves to create high-end products in terms of price. But simply this It cannot stand."

"After all, the figure of $599 will still have an impact on the consumption choices of the general public."

"If Apple does this, then we can speed up the distribution of the 10G M1. For now, users generally feel that this storage capacity is enough. If Apple wants to make high-end products, then we will make mass consumer products."

Fang Zhuo was a little happy.

Su Wei smiled and said: "How can we take the initiative to send it to the market below? I think it is very interesting to create this limited edition as added value. Not only foreign countries, we can also learn from it at home."

Just as Fang Zhuo was about to nod, the cell phone on the table began to vibrate.

He glanced at the number and "shh" at Su Wei.

It's Wang Yan calling.

"Hey, Mr. Wang." Fang Zhuo made his tone sound normal, as if he was not the person who wandered around the capital for a few days before returning.

"Mr. Fang, didn't you talk about the non-executive director a few days ago? I mentioned it at the meeting." Wang Yan paused and said lightly, "I also communicated with Mr. Duan and Mr. Jiang. "

He paused again, and Fang Zhuo felt that the pause was very long.

"In principle, we welcome Yike's investment." Wang Yan said.

Fang Zhuo said nothing and waited for the next sentence.

Wang Yan finished speaking and waited for a response.

After a few seconds, Wang Yan wondered: "Hey, hey, is the signal bad? Mr. Fang, Mr. Fang?"

"The signal is fine, Mr. Wang, I heard it. I heard this 'in principle'. Normally speaking like this, there is nothing non-principled." Fang Zhuo controlled his gradually surging emotions.

Wang Yan laughed: "No, no, it's a reasonable and legal thing. I mean, just come to the shareholders' meeting on the 10th next month and meet everyone. Although I am a non-executive director, I can at least get to know people. .”

"No problem, Mr. Wang, thank you very much." Fang Zhuo thanked him sincerely. Although Wang Yan said it easily, it was a meeting and communicating with two shareholders. I don't know what kind of manipulation was going on.

It's like how much effort I put into taking over Sina, but what others see is only the surface.

In order to thank Mr. Wang, we can only work together to increase Sina's stock price.

Fang Zhuo expressed his warm thanks on the phone and fully expressed his optimism for Sina's future.

It took a while before the call ended.

"Is it done?" Su Wei asked with concern.

Fang Zhuo remained reserved: "If there is a twist in the horoscope, it still depends on the approval of the shareholders' meeting."

Su Wei took a quick step, put her hand on the desk, looked directly at her boss, and said excitedly: "Is it really done?"

Fang Zhuo then smiled and said, "There's something going on."

"Good guy, Wang Yan, Wang Yan." Su Wei was happy. At the same time, she didn't know how to evaluate the Sina CEO. After a few seconds, she said, "Stay away from Wang Yan next time. He will not die with you when he knows the situation." Bar?"

Fang Zhuo pretended to be serious: "Huh? What are you talking about? He is a shareholder, and I am also a shareholder. He wants Sina to be good, and I want Sina to be good. Sina is not the Sina of one household, but the Sina of all shareholders!"

Su Wei nodded repeatedly, yes, yes, it tastes like this.

Fang Zhuo walked back and forth in the president's office twice, feeling a little calmer. The shareholders' meeting is on the 10th next month. There is only less than a month left, and the financial pressure is still very high.

He picked up the phone and called Kong Yu again to inquire about the progress of the equity pledge.

"Mr. Fang, we have changed two more banks. We are still talking."

Kong Yu's answer was not very optimistic. The bank he originally contacted was unwilling to provide pledge services, so he had to change institutions.

"Mr. Kong, come on, no matter what, we will have a result before the end of this month. I'll see if there are any solutions in China." Fang Zhuo's plan is to find a domestic bank.

Kong Yu agreed. He was so stressed recently that he started losing his hair.

Fang Zhuo put down the phone, thought for a moment and then called Xue Xuan, the former vice president next door, and asked him to discuss the progress of the project at the company tomorrow morning.

After the phone call ended, I was still about to check the number, and Yu Hong from New York called in.

"Do you know what happened at Apple's press conference?" she asked.

"I know, I was discussing it with Xiao Su just now." Fang Zhuo replied.

Yu Hong asked again: "How is Apple doing this time? Do we need to follow up and upgrade?"

"Apple is fine. We don't need it for the time being. Let's see how it performs in the market before the end of the month." Fang Zhuo said.

Yu Hong felt her boss's composure, and the original pressure of facing competitors had dissipated. Since Yike entered the US market, it was now a head-to-head confrontation with Apple.

She reported a few more words about the market situation and hung up the phone.

Fang Zhuo was thinking about the changes in the situation, and just now he had some clues, another call came in.

"Mr. Fang." The call came from Liu Yangyang, the secretary to the board of directors next door. Her tone was hesitant, "I recently heard news that Mayor Qiu may be transferred."

She is still used to her original job title.

"Transferred? Transferred from the CPPCC? Such cases are rare, right?" Fang Zhuo was surprised.

"Very few." Liu Yangyang confirmed and added, "According to my friends in Lin'an, there is news that Mayor Qiu will be transferred to Shencheng or Jinling."

Fang Zhuo was surprised again: "Or inter-provincial transfer? Both are good places. Lao Qiu already has such resources behind him, why would he go to the CPPCC?"

Liu Yangyang thought the same way. She asked, "Should we express our gratitude?"

Fang Zhuo hesitated for a moment, no wonder Lao Qiu called him last time, ah no, Mayor Qiu called him, he is really capable.

"No, just pretend you don't know about this. Just wait until I'm done and find a chance to do a work report or something like that."

Liu Yangyang responded, and with the timely help, there was no rush to put the icing on the cake.

I was a bit busy in the morning and didn't have time to update.