Reinventing the Millennium

On August 27, the seventh day after Fang Zhuo arrived in Beijing from Shencheng, the Ministry of Finance and Commission received an accurate notice that the ice core project will be officially listed as a key project. At the same time, several supporting policies will also be announced within five days. It will be implemented together at the subsequent signing meeting.

That is to say, on September 1st, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will hold a semiconductor industry analysis symposium and a signing meeting between the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and CSMC.

At that time, ministry leaders and the two directors of the Electronics Department and the Industrial Policy Department will attend and accept interviews from relevant media.

This made Fang Zhuo very excited.

He received a call from the leadership secretary on the way to Sina's headquarters. He was in a good mood and asked one more question: "Can Sina also interview me? Can I publish news on the website?"

When the secretary heard this, he was startled and said in embarrassment: "This..."

"It's okay, it's okay. I just ask as a habit. After all, I am also responsible for Sina." Fang Zhuo guessed that the occasion was indeed inappropriate and said quickly and understandingly.

The secretary breathed a sigh of relief, one less thing to worry about.

Fang Zhuo thanked him again and ended the call.

Liang Mu, who continued to act as secretary in the passenger seat, turned and asked, "Mr. Fang, is it settled?"

"There will be a meeting on the 1st of next month." Fang Zhuo shared his joy, "It's done."

Liang Mu was also very happy when he heard this. Influenced by his boss's recent thoughts, his first reaction was to think about money: "With this, DCM's money will definitely come in!"

"Indeed, DCM is close to ten, and IDG is still not sure how much it can ultimately invest, but social funds have already come in 30 million, and Lao Xiong has to match it at least 1:1, so he already has 60 million." Fang Zhuolue said. Calculated, "Luzhou SDIC is certain. Based on this calculation, the progress of the first round of financing has been more than half. It depends on the attitude of Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs after this trip."

"They have no reason not to move forward," Liang Mu said.

"With DCM and IDG, even if Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank don't come in, it will be easy for us to find other companies with the current framework." Fang Zhuo said leisurely, "It's not easy."

Liang Mu nodded deeply, it was indeed not easy.

From what he knew, Mr. Fang maneuvered his way around, first finding three guests to prepare a game for DCM to enter, and then asking the guest IDG to come in half-heartedly. Finally, with these two generals, they could offset Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to a certain extent. initiative.

This does not include the work done before contacting investment institutions.

If it weren't for semiconductors, why would it be so laborious if it were replaced by Mr. Fang's Internet?

Liang Mu thought about this and became even more emotional: "Mr. Fang, it's not easy to engage in semiconductors. This is the first round of fundraising."

On the contrary, Fang Zhuo said optimistically: "It will be easier to do things after you get money. This has been a good start and everyone is very cooperative."

Everyone is very cooperative...well, it does take some means to make everyone very cooperative.

The emotion in Liang Mu's heart suddenly subsided a little, and he asked Changhong again. According to Mr. Fang's consideration, this is related to the market competition after the completion of the production line: "Does Mr. Ni want to put it on hold for now?"

Originally, Liang Mu believed him after listening to Mr. Fang’s analysis of Ni Runfeng last time, but after going back and thinking quietly, he realized that the boss still had sharper public opinion methods. According to Mr. Fang’s style, Ni Runfeng probably didn’t know about it yet. There are already weaknesses that have been exploited by Mr. Fang, who has only met him twice.

"Changhong's matter should not be rushed. I'm just a spectator." Fang Zhuo smiled, "Mr. Ni still has cards in his hand, let him make a move and see how this situation will evolve."

"Mr. Ni can't solve the problem of APEX's rebate, so what other effective methods can we use?" Liang Mu discussed.

Fang Zhuo pondered for a while and said: "Actually, there is no need to underestimate Mr. Ni. The information about the foreign invasion of APEX company is because I have an industry in New York, so it is easier to know the situation. I am afraid it would take a lot of effort for someone from China."

"Regardless of the fact that Mr. Ni's daughter is at APEX, listed companies like Changhong have many means of whitewashing their financial affairs."

"Changhong's annual reports last year and the year before that included one-year accounts receivable that were not accrued. This is a method that can both make the company suffer losses and turn it into profit. If Mr. Ni can't do anything, Changhong can still continue to make money. There is an explanation for the report."

"His biggest problem is that if the rights in his hands are quickly taken away, Changhong's financial situation may be exposed in another way. Losing 1 billion is completely different from losing 3 billion or 4 billion."

In layman's terms, bad debt accrual means that someone outside owes you money, and you accrue it if you don't want it anymore. It will be shown as a loss. But if the person returns the money to you one day, it will become a profit for the current period.

Ni Runfeng is in power. He can let Changhong not accrue and continue to press APEX for payment. But once he is not in his position, the people who come next are likely to directly accrue the arrears, which will immediately become a large-scale bad debt.

Is it good for Changhong to record a loss in its accounts?

not good.

But this can quickly consolidate the position of latecomers and eliminate Ni Runfeng's influence in Changhong. After all, he is a person who has been in power for nearly two decades.

In 2000, Ni Runfeng briefly stepped down, but soon returned to take charge of Changhong. This person's connections and energy are quite strong in Sichuan Province.

Only by turning the accounts into staggering losses can Ni Runfeng's social, corporate and administrative influence be completely shattered. Once this is done, Changhong's book losses may immediately turn into real losses.

Liang Mu understood what the boss meant and the underlying judgment.

He suddenly had a feeling that Changhong's current predicament was like a whale being cut open in the sea. The smell of blood had attracted many predators to swim around, looking for opportunities to bite.

Before this group of roving hunters realized that another shark, which had long been accustomed to hunting, had quietly approached after collecting various information, silently watching the situation in this sea area.

Liang Mu took a breath, looked at the smiling boss, and said, "Mr. Ni's selfishness is indeed too serious."

Fang Zhuo shrugged: "Anyway, the purpose of his acquisition has been failed. Just wait, Mr. Ni will realize that the dilemma he faces is much greater than he imagined."

Liang Mu's throat slipped and he nodded, listening to his boss continue to talk about ministry policies with great interest.

In the eyes of the boss, Changhong's predicament is just an opportunity to try, but for Ni Runfeng, it may become a straw that he has to grasp.

Soon, the Audi car slowly stopped.

Fang Zhuolin smiled before getting out of the car: "When I return to Shanghai, I will ask the company to buy an Audi and drive Xiaoyu's car every day. I will be a little embarrassed."

"Mr. Fang doesn't drive Ferrari very much." Liang Mu put aside his thoughts and judgments about Changhong and returned to his current responsibilities.

"It's a bit ostentatious, but it's okay to drive on the track." Fang Zhuo said truthfully, "I'm getting more and more used to riding in cars and have time to think. In fact, Ferrari is very good as a pastime in life, but now my work and life are divided. not open."

Liang Mu was convinced that since he joined Yike, others have had holidays, but he has never seen Mr. Fang take any rest.

The driver stopped the car, and Fang Zhuo arrived at the Sina conference room with Liang Mu in a relaxed mood.

Because news from the ministry had to wait, Ni Runfeng remained reserved. He has been dealing with Sina work these days.

Under the control of President Wang Yan, Sina is doing well from top to bottom. The wireless business is making steady progress and the news content remains strong. However, there is also some hesitation in the recent e-mail business.

While Fang Zhuo helped make the decision to "increase competition in the email market," he also dealt with a more important matter.

A long time ago, Fang Zhuo and Wang Yan had said that they would take advantage of the rising stock price of Sina to do related things. First, they would completely clean up the original directors and let them leave with the rising stock price. Second, they would take advantage of the high stock price to do something related. Fund raising through private placement.

In Fang Zhuo's view, the current Sina stock price has almost reached its recent high, which is just right for raising funds. As for what the funds will be used for... Anyway, just raise the money first.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Fang Zhuo hosted a Sina executive meeting for the first time in a long time and decided on two things.

"The email market must compete, not just compete, but compete vigorously."

"We cannot learn from 263 Mailbox. Their charging route will not work. They will only eat away at more and more market share and then die. We must learn from NetEase."

"Also, reducing the email space is a wrong decision. We will not look forward to this. The most important task now is to attract more users."

The development of email in China has gone up and down. The competition between free and paid services has become increasingly fierce in the past two years, and the industry has been exploring its profit model.

In 2001, both Sina and NetEase imposed partial charges. Sina also reduced the free space from 50M to 5M, which really caused dissatisfaction among many users. However, the background at that time was that portals were doing their best to make the company profitable to stimulate The current situation of stock prices is no longer the same.

Last year, 263, a free mailbox with more than 20 million users, suddenly announced the full implementation of paid mailboxes. It only took two months to reduce the number of users to 590,000.

While NetEase is taking advantage of the trend to maintain some charges, it also continues to provide free mailboxes with 25M space.

As of today, NetEase Mailbox has the highest market share, close to 40%, and has a huge user base.

even so……

"Mr. Fang, mailboxes don't make money. NetEase has so many users, and it's not reflected in the financial report." A vice president raised a small objection.

In the past few years, no effective way to make money has been found for mailboxes. Competition in the market is often subconscious - you build mailboxes, even though you don’t know what the use is, then I will do it too.

Such a subconscious style brings no subjective initiative. NetEase is the most proactive, while other players continue to follow with little interest.

Now, Fang Zhuo is emphasizing on improving the level of his mailbox business. Not only to get the first place, but at least to get the second place.

"It's impossible to make money in every business. It's relatively easy to acquire email users now. NetEase started to provide 50M free space, so we will provide 100M. NetEase still charges some fees, so we will make it all free." Fang Zhuo said, “Treat your mailbox as a traffic portal.”

Currently, there is not much concept of traffic entrance, because as long as you open an opening, the traffic will come by itself.

Wang Yan asked: "Entrance, where does this entrance lead? Our website does not require logging in to browse."

Fang Zhuo first talked about the market position: "NetEase's stock price has overtaken ours. Can everyone be more enthusiastic? The stock price cannot beat the other party, but we should find a field where we can beat the other party."

"Mr. Wang asked me where the traffic is directed. If our games in the future are better than NetEase, wouldn't this mailbox be directed?"

There was a chuckle in the conference room. Mr. Fang’s example was quite funny. NetEase’s games are so successful that only Shanda is equally good in China. Sina currently doesn’t have the gene for games.

"I stress again, it's best to be first if you're aiming for second." Fang Zhuo expressed his attitude again and named the director in charge of the mailbox business.

Then, his chairman personally informed: "Today we will also announce a decision. Our board of directors has approved a 10% private placement of 3 million additional shares, which will raise no more than US$150 million to consolidate the wireless market." , develop mailbox business and develop the game market.”

There was a slight commotion in the conference room.

There is no problem with the private placement, and it may have a small impact on the stock price. Combined with what Mr. Fang said before, this "is used to consolidate the wireless market, expand the mailbox business, and develop the game market"...

The email business and traffic entrance mentioned just now are serious!

Fang Zhuo observed the expressions of the executives and said with a smile: "Of course, if the money can't be used up, I wouldn't mind letting Sina invest in my semiconductors."

There was laughter again in the conference room.

Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea. Actually, this was really a last resort.

If the money from the first round of financing is just a little short, you can invest in the additional money as soon as you get it. However, it will indeed have an impact on Sina's stock price. If it is not necessary, it is best to keep the money in Sina.

The matter of private placement is decided by the board of directors, and the board of directors is in the hands of Fang Zhuo, so the notice is really a notice.

After Fang Zhuo made the announcement, he talked for a while about the new bonus plan and the blog Huaxia, which is currently booming in the market. After listening to everyone's opinions, he decided to set up a department with similar business.

This blogging business department is not taking off for the time being. It will first design a framework and development plan, and wait until the market matures before entering the market to compete with Blog China.

At the same time, this business will also be bound to email users and serve as a traffic operation area.

Sina's email + portal comments + game business + blog business will be deeply linked, which is the design and planning of Chairman Fang Zhuo.

Now, the only three parts left to develop are the e-mail, gaming business and blogging business.

It can be said that the east wind is ready, but everything is missing.

Of course, blueprint drawing is the ability that senior executives should possess. Fang Zhuo has always been excellent in this aspect. Putting business linkage and industry development together is the top priority in the eyes of management.

According to Fang Zhuo, the additional money is about to be received, and there are plenty of bonuses. It depends on whether you have the ability to take them.

The atmosphere in the Sina conference room became more and more enthusiastic as he talked. Everyone wished that President Wang Yan would stand up and resign on his own initiative, allowing Chairman Fang Zhuo to personally lead everyone to Qian Chong again.

The period when Chairman Fang Zhuo served as the president of Sina Hotline was the time when Sina's corporate culture was at its most distinctive. Performance was evaluated on a weekly basis, money was distributed in person, and only talents dared to work and use it.

This is also a scene that is much missed today in Sina. Many old employees have to vividly describe the short-lived sweetness to newcomers.