Reinventing the Millennium

The 2004 Internet Industry Development Conference was much larger than last year's.

Although many fields are facing competition from foreign giants, it is still much better than in the first half of last year when many people had to consider "whether they can survive."

With the mainland's richest man returning to give a tit-for-tat response, Ma Chen, who hosted the conference, gave a smoother speech on stage. He was very confident in the future of China's e-commerce, but he was faced with the dilemma of corporate financing.

If so, you will have more confidence if you have money in your pocket.

Ma Yan's speech was equally enthusiastic. He did not mention eBay and Amazon, but only talked in detail about the start and development of Taobao.

Fang Zhuo, who was in the first row, listened very carefully and was thinking about whether to enter e-commerce now.

If you really want to enter the market, which of the two models, B2C and C2C, is more suitable for the current Yike, or the joint resources of Yike and Sina.

Such a huge field worthy of deep exploration is not so easy to do. If you make a hasty decision, it will easily involve too much energy.

Fang Zhuo hesitated in his heart, and then thought about the equipment purchase where the ice core was stuck, and sighed quietly.

"Mr. Fang, is there anything wrong with what Mr. Ma said?"

Ding Lei, who was next to him, noticed Mr. Fang's sigh and asked.

Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly: "No, Mr. Ma's speech was very exciting."

He glanced at Ma Ren who was about to finish speaking, turned his head and said, "I will be in Lin'an today, I have to go to Luzhou tomorrow, and I have to fly to New York in two days. Let's have dinner together in the evening."

Ding Lei nodded and agreed.

Fang Zhuo leaned back slightly and gave Ma Huateng, who had clearly heard his voice, a questioning look, and the latter nodded in agreement.

Soon, everyone in the first and second rows was invited to the dinner in the evening, and as the horses sat down, the number of Lin'an landlords increased.

The seats at the dinner are decided by the horse, and the richest person in the group pays the bill.

Near noon, the last speech of the half-day morning was given by the leader.

With a burst of applause, the opening of the industry meeting ended, and at noon there was an official dinner attended by leaders.

Fang Zhuo and others in the first row on the right stood up chatting and laughing, chatting in a friendly manner about this year's vigorous development momentum.

At this time, eBay President Whitman, who was in the first row on the left, came straight to Fang Zhuo, accompanied by a translator.

"I heard that Mr. Fang is also interested in e-commerce?" Whitman doesn't understand Chinese, so whether he was interviewing the day before yesterday or serving as a guest today, he was equipped with a translator.

Fang Zhuo could communicate with this person in English, but considering the people around him, he still said in Mandarin: "Not sure, Yike's investment in Dangdang is more for financial reasons."

Whitman didn't quite believe this statement, not only because eBay regarded Dangdang as an important competitor in the Chinese market, but also because he saw the reputation that Dangdang gained after arriving at the meeting.

She knew that Sina was a well-known Internet company in China, but she didn't know what this young man was capable of.

"China's Internet industry needs to improve." Whitman said slowly, "eBay has the ability and determination to help you. I think Dangdang has made a good start. Can Mr. Fang promote the cooperation between eBay and Dangdang?"

Fang Zhuo laughed, turned around to find someone, and asked by name: "Mr. Li, are you considering cooperating with eBay?"

With such a sound, the guests in the back row who were about to take a stand stopped and looked over curiously.

Li Guoqing was not a coward sometimes and said loudly: "Don't think about it, we are not afraid of competition."

Fang Zhuo was very satisfied with this answer.

Whitman was not surprised by this answer. He shook his head slightly and said regretfully: "Dangdang has had a good start. Once eBay increases investment in competition, Dangdang will lose such a rare 'good'."

She said firmly and even a little arrogantly: "eBay is the world's largest trading platform. I think all e-commerce companies in China should be more open to looking at competition with each other. Cooperation will benefit both sides."

70 billion dollar giant!

580 billion Huaxia Coin Giant!

This is equivalent to nearly 15% of the total market value of A shares at this time!

Whitman, the president who led eBay to achieve great success, said such a word, which almost has the power to sweep China's e-commerce.

Not only Li Guoqing and Ma Chen can feel this pressure, but also Lei Jun, who is watching behind and has already sold Joyo.com, can feel this pressure.

Why did Joyo sell to Amazon?

Because it is really burning money and there is no hope of profit in the short term.

Like Li Yanhong, who is also facing the pressure of foreign investment, although he is not in e-commerce, he still feels sad that the rabbit is dead and the fox is dead.

The atmosphere was stagnant for a moment.

"Hahaha."

Fang Zhuo's hearty laughter broke the stiff air.

He stared into Whitman's eyes and said to her and to everyone present:

"If the size of the company speaks for itself, Sony will not lose."

"If market value could determine everything, Yike would not be able to enter the United States."

"I don't think a person who can't even speak Chinese can dominate China's Internet industry and determine the direction of the e-commerce market."

Fang Zhuo said with absolute certainty: "You are not the first giant to fall in China, and you will not be the last."

Whitman felt the change in the surrounding atmosphere and turned his head to look at the interpreter.

Thousands of people pointed it out and died without any disease.

All the guests present were staring at this scene. The translator was obviously a little nervous under this situation, his throat slipped, and he started to translate with a little stumble.

Fang Zhuo waved his hand and responded directly to Whitman in original English.

Whitman frowned slightly, stared at the expression of the person in front of him, and nodded deeply: "In business competition, strength will ultimately speak for itself."

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly and said twice in Chinese and English: "You must let me see eBay's strength, and never repeat eBay's mistakes in the Japanese market."

eBay entered the Japanese market in 1999 and competed fiercely with Yahoo.

However, the year before last, eBay had already admitted failure and announced its withdrawal from the Japanese market.

When Whitman heard this, his expression darkened, he said nothing, turned and left the venue.

There was sporadic applause, followed by a small burst of applause.

Fang Zhuo raised his hand to stop and said with a smile: "What are you applauding for? Just normal communication, I will say the last thing about e-commerce, and then we go to dinner. We can't keep the leader waiting."

The applause stopped, and many people were curious about what this person's last words were.

Fang Zhuo cleared his throat and raised his right hand: "Destroy Amazon, destroy eBay!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Guests who were the first to leave at the back first heard applause and then laughter, and turned back frequently, not knowing what was going on in the venue.

"Don't clap when you should, and blindly clap when you shouldn't. Eat, eat."

Fang Zhuo smiled and complained that he should go back first and take the guests who came to his hometown to cook.

Only by being truly immersed can you feel the pressure of China Internet at this time, but it can also easily inspire everyone's fighting spirit.

Princes, generals and prime ministers, would you rather have the seed?

I dare to take down the emperor even if I am willing to be killed!

The group of people chatted and laughed as they went to attend the luncheon dinner.

Fang Zhuo didn't notice that there was a simply dressed girl in the back aisle looking at him walking in the middle of the crowd.

It’s not that you lack eyes for discovering beauty, it’s that the Internet future people around you are talking so much that you have to pay close attention to hear what they are saying.

The noon meal was very interesting. Lin'an showed local enthusiasm and sent a leader with a good drink capacity to drink at the table. This directly caused the afternoon meeting to be slightly delayed before continuing.

Fang Zhuo did not sit in the front row in the afternoon, but sat back. He first discussed the future development of Dangdang with Li Guoqing, and then regretted that Li Guoqing's wife Yu Yu was not here.

When the meeting came to an end, he had a brief exchange with Robin Li.

Because of the competitive pressure from Google, Baidu is now considering opening the final round of financing before going public.

At the same time, Robin Li said something that surprised Fang Zhuo. Google was also willing to join this round of financing.

Robin Li knew that Mr. Fang was a good expert in capital operations, so he wanted to seek advice and test Yike's investment.

"Google will definitely consider starting from holding shares." Fang Zhuo said thoughtfully, "Actually, Google will be listed in August. I heard in New York that they will adopt a new shareholding structure and create dual-class shares."

He continued: "It is to implement different rights for the same shares, so that you can control more voting rights with a small number of shares. Very few high-tech companies in the United States are listed in this way. Google has a great influence. You will be able to win next year or the year after It can definitely be benchmarked by being listed on the market.”

Robin Li was startled. Baidu will definitely go public, but he hasn't considered it yet.

"With a structure like Google's first, you can also face its investment in this way." Fang Zhuo first gave practical suggestions, and then said, "Of course, out of direct competition considerations, if Baidu has financing needs, we at Yike That’s enough, I’m optimistic about Baidu’s IPO performance, and if I participate in a financing round, I can develop my ice core production line.”

Robin Li was both excited and dumbfounded.

He asked about the situation of ice cores in another field entirely.

Fang Zhuo frowned and said three words in a row: "It's difficult, it's difficult, it's difficult."

He added: "I regret it."

Robin Li looked at the completely different expression on Fang Zhuo's face and mouth in amusement, and asked, "Do you really regret it?"

Fang Zhuoran changed the subject: "Drink more tonight, I asked Yike to come over from Shencheng Yun Maotai."

"If the outside world knows that Mr. Fang likes Moutai so much, Moutai's stock price will rise immediately." Robin Li complimented.

"I really have saved a lot, some of which are from older years." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "I just feed Zhang Chaoyang at night to prevent him from being angry."

Robin Li was curious and angry. What was he angry about?

He didn't ask, intending to see what was going on tonight.

Because he was busy and had many things to do, Fang Zhuo only attended the first day of the Internet industry development conference. He came back here just to inspire people.

By the way, let’s also take a look at the current situation of e-commerce.

The Medical Group is engaged in the sole online pharmaceutical sales business, but it is not large in scale, has a special field, and is semi-active and semi-passive with no sense of presence.

At 5:30 pm, the first day of the meeting ended.

Fang Zhuo organized the dinner party for the evening with the people he had made an appointment with in the morning.

While he was talking to Wang Yan, a girl with long hair walked over from the side.

"Hello, Fang Zhuo, I'm Tao Shuyao."

Fang Zhuo and Wang Yan looked at each other and felt that this person neither looked like a local administrator nor attended an industry meeting. Otherwise, "Mr. Fang" would be indispensable.

Fang Zhuo shook hands with some confusion, gave a smile, and said, "Mr. Tao, how are you?"

Tao Shuyao was stunned for a moment: "Well, I am Tao Shuyao."

"Mr. Tao, how are you?" Fang Zhuo wondered.

Tao Shuyao's ears suddenly felt a little hot. She felt that the other party really didn't know her. This...

At this time, Wang Yan said: "Mr. Tao, if you have any questions about Sina's business, just tell me."

Tao Shuyao reluctantly and formally introduced herself again. I wonder if it was affected by the atmosphere, but also changed her title: "Mr. Fang, hello, I am Tao Shuyao. Uncle Qiu said that you are here to attend the meeting. I I happen to be in Lin'an too, so I'm presumptuous."

Uncle Qiu?

Qiu Di, Qiu Orchid, Qiu Xiaoguan.

Fang Zhuo knew what was going on. He pondered for two seconds, nodded and said, "Hello, Tao Shuyao..."

Ma Ren on the other side shouted to Fang Zhuo: "Mr. Fang, the car is here, the car is here, let's go drink."

Fang Zhuo waved to the people over there and looked at the person in front of him. He suddenly felt a little stuck. He was not interested and didn't ask Lao Qiu any further questions. He planned to just go through the motions.

Now I only know that this person’s family has an administrative background. I don’t know how to explain the background, but he suddenly appeared in front of me...

Fang Zhuo was stunned for a second and then said, "There is a dinner tonight, will you go?"

Tao Shuyao: "..."

This invitation was somewhat presumptuous.

However, it seems that Uncle Qiu has not elaborated yet, so his appearance is also strange to the other party.

Tao Shuyao was a little dumbfounded: "Can I go?"

"That's right, Tao Shuyao, leave your contact information and I'll treat you to dinner at noon tomorrow." Fang Zhuo quickly found his normal way of handling things.

The two exchanged numbers and said goodbye politely.

Wang Yan looked on in confusion: "Mr. Fang, what's going on? Which company does Mr. Tao belong to?"

"Introduced by a friend." Fang Zhuo waved his hand, not wanting to say this, "Let's go and eat."

Wang Yan understood in an instant, and he said as he walked: "Mr. Fang, are you moved by the world? I have some relatives and friends who are related to each other and have outstanding conduct and appearance."

Fang Zhuo severely reprimanded: "Sina's market value has been surpassed by NetEase. How can you have the nerve to talk to me about this kind of thing? Are you, the president, responsible to the board of directors?"

Wang Yan: "..."

The president is of course accountable to the board of directors.

Moreover, he has to be responsible for the personal safety of the boss of the board of directors.

At the dinner in the evening, we had a good meal, but Zhang Chaoyang from Sohu suddenly got up angrily: "Fang Zhuo, are you interested? Last year when I attended a development conference, you let Sina pry away our Yao Ming endorsement!"

"This year, you still want Sina to steal our NBA contract extension? Is it appropriate for you to do this?"

Changes occurred suddenly.

Wang Yan was ready to make a move and was careful not to let Mr. Zhang hit someone with a wine bottle.

Fang Zhuo said helplessly: "Mr. Zhang, you really don't blame me for this. I bought a team there. The league council took the initiative to mention the Chinese market and asked Sina to do it. I was passive and embarrassed. , helpless, you must believe me."

Zhang Chaoyang: "???"

Can you believe it?

"Mr. Zhang, sit down. What's the hurry? I'll just punish him with a drink." Ma Huateng persuaded.

"What's wrong with Mr. Fang? He must be passive." Ding Lei expressed his opinion.

"Three cups, punish yourself with three cups." Ma Ren helped.

Fang Zhuo said nothing and neatly picked up three glasses of wine.

Zhang Chaoyang's anger subsided for a moment, and he reluctantly accepted this explanation. This guy is indeed the owner of an NBA team, and they are all in the same group.

While eating and drinking at the bar, there were some disputes about the development of the Internet, especially between Ma Huateng and Ma Ren.

Fang Zhuo acted as peacemaker and made peace with He Xini. Anyway, what Ma said made sense.

The evening ended very late. At the end, Ma Ren held the car door and asked a question.

"Mr. Fang, do you want to engage in e-commerce?"

"To be honest, I'm not very interested, but if you guys can't do it well, I can give it a try." Fang Zhuo replied.

Ma Ren laughed loudly: "Then we will definitely overthrow Amazon and eBay and try not to let you end up."

Fang Zhuo nodded: "Well, definitely, definitely."