Reinventing the Millennium

There were more and more people in the Hang Lung 23 conference room as the meeting progressed.

When the investor session was over, Wang Xing watched Mr. Fang calling in executives from various departments of Yike from time to time. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be grateful to Mr. Fang for his attention or to envy Yike's many soldiers.

The meeting lasted from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the topic gradually changed from a social network project like Xiaonei.com to how to compete with a traffic overlord like Penguin.

Wang Xing noticed what a director said - he could quickly expand the scale of the school network and speed up its development. It could be listed in the United States or Hong Kong, or it could be a backdoor transaction. In the mid-term, it could rely on secondary market financing to compete relatively independently against Penguin Social. Internet business.

He feels that this type of idea is something he has never considered. Although he still has some hope for the project's prospects this month, he has not thought about where the hope lies.

"It's a bit late. That's it for today. Thank you for your hard work. Regarding the promotion and operation of the school network, Mr. Chen, please combine Mr. Wang's ideas." Fang Zhuo glanced at his watch and finally said, "It's the upward development office. For the route for white-collar workers, prepare a plan and continue connecting with Sina tomorrow to see if there are any good additions."

Fang Zhuo glanced around and saw no questions. He stood up and announced the end of the meeting, and then motioned Wang Xing to follow him to the president's office.

Some people left the conference room in a hurry, while others were still discussing temporary work in the conference room. Only Wang Fengyi, with his hands behind his back, and Shi Shiran followed Mr. Fang into the office.

"Brother Wang, I have to receive a work report from New York later, so you can answer the call for Mr. Wang for me in the evening." Fang Zhuo glanced at Wang Fengyi, who was waiting for dinner, "This meeting is going to be so long, Mr. Wang must hungry."

Wang Fengyi cheered up, "Okay, I'm good at this."

The secretary poured tea for the three of them.

Fang Zhuo thought for two seconds and said to Wang Xing: "Mr. Wang, today you have also seen that investors, Yike executives and I are optimistic about social networks, but specifically regarding your school network project, because there is Penguin Competition, according to my opinion, the shareholding ratio of your management will definitely be significantly reduced, and this must be mentioned up front."

Wang Xing nodded without hesitation, he could accept this.

"Of course, the decision-making power of your management is relatively independent." Fang Zhuo continued to use a "relative" term and explained, "If it were No. 1, I would definitely not say this, but opponents like the Penguins , I think you can consider our suggestions when appropriate."

Wang Xing still nodded without hesitation, he could accept this.

The immaturity of his own team has been exposed. The Yike discussion process in tonight's meeting allowed him to see the capabilities of a mature team.

Wang Xing feels that this month's experience has made him sincere and calm in his heart. What Mr. Fang said is definitely the best way to deal with the current situation.

He hesitated for two seconds and decided that he had to say something first.

"President Fang, before I came, our company was basically willing to accept the purchase price of 15 million from Chen Yizhou of Thousand Oaks Group."

Fang Zhuo was not surprised when he heard this and said with a smile: "15 million? Isn't this the price I gave you on the 1st? Even if you want to sell it to Chen Yizhou, it shouldn't be sold at such a low price."

Wang Xing was stunned and explained: "Our financial situation is not good, and there is competition from Penguin."

At this time, Wang Fengyi, who was drinking tea beside him, spoke: "I remember Mr. Fang answered a question on a CCTV program before, what would he do if his project was spotted by a giant? Mr. Fang said, that is a good thing, which means that the giant Everyone is optimistic about this track, and investors should invest money quickly.”

He said to Wang Xing: "You didn't just listen to this purchase price, right? If you really want to sell, go directly to Sequoia Investment's Zhanzuo.com, or simply go to Penguin. It must be more than 15 million, how much There has to be a premium.”

Wang Xing looked at the investor, Mr. Wang, and then at Mr. Fang, who was smiling, and murmured: "That's what I heard. Sequoia transferred its investment from us to Zhanzuo.com... Penguin is directly connected with We compete..."

Wang Fengyi said disapprovingly: "What's the big deal? You have to sell it, and you still care about so much? If I were you, I would sell it to Penguin, and I would rest assured that my son would be given to a wealthy family."

Wang Xing suddenly felt that Mr. Wang was so charming...

"Okay, Brother Wang, stop teasing Mr. Wang." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "I'm still very optimistic about Mr. Wang's ability. It's rare to be given up by venture capital, competed by penguins, and have partners alienated. Once you pay this tuition fee, you will remember it for the rest of your life."

Wang Xing felt that whatever Mr. Fang said was right in his heart?

Wang Fengyi stopped talking. He was not joking. If Mr. Fang were in this situation, wouldn't it be a joke? Is Mr. Wang, a young micro-manager, not very good at it?

"Fifteen million is not much different. However, the purchase price is the purchase price. This amount of money alone cannot defeat Penguin." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "Counting Yike Investment, Shenxin Technology, IDG, and Sina, these are the four "Home, I plan to ask Goldman Sachs again. After all, they must know the prospects of social networks like Facebook in the United States, and they should also be interested in projects in the East."

Wang Xing did not hide his surprise. The four companies participating in the meeting today were not enough? Actually want to attract another powerful Goldman Sachs?

Fang Zhuo simply said: "I think it is necessary."

He did not explain the deeper considerations.

One reason why Goldman Sachs was brought in that I won’t tell others is that in many cases, Goldman Sachs is a good middleman.

Penguin's listing was handled by Goldman Sachs.

In addition, Liu Chiping, who joined Penguin as chief strategic investment officer last year and became president of Penguin in February this year, was born in Goldman Sachs and once operated the reorganization of the famous Guangdong Group.

Goldman Sachs has joined the investment in the school network, which will firstly solve some of the financial needs, and secondly, it will also leave an easy retreat for this project.

Competition with giants is extremely expensive.

Take Development, which originally acquired Xiaonei.com and later renamed Renren.com, as an example. The acquisition price was only US$2 million. However, it later raised US$384 million from SoftBank Group to support its development until it went public.

Later, also facing competition from rivals such as Penguin and Sina Weibo, Renren burned at least US$300 million in cash but still failed to turn things around.

Of course, the competitive environment was different at that time, but you had to be mentally prepared to burn money. After all, Penguin has been favored by the secondary market and will not be lenient when it comes to spending money.

Fang Zhuo does not intend to use himself as the main force to burn this money. There are many places to use money now.

Also, I don’t intend to burn money until there is nothing left.

IDG, Shenxin Technology, Yike Investment, Sina, and Goldman Sachs, among them are either biological sons and godsons, old friends, or multiple collaborators. In the face of Penguin's entry, it is possible to fight, but it is also possible to fight. Think about defeat before you win.

Of course it would be best if it succeeds.

What if we really fail?

Goldman Sachs and Shenxin Science and Technology, a Penguin shareholder, can jointly promote Penguin's acquisition of Xiaonei.com.

There is a saying in the investment community that early investors make money from later investors.

You can lose, but you can't lose money.

Anyway, there are competing products that can be produced in the same line as blog → Weibo. Sina is currently the most proficient company in making social media platforms.

Anyway, the competition after the arrival of the mobile era will be fierce.

A project like the Xiaonei Network is not a thorn in the side for Fang Zhuo, and QQ Alumni is also not a thorn in the side for Penguin.

The real meat and bones are the Penguin’s massive flow.

Fang Zhuo judged objectively from his heart that even if he could raise money and allocate resources, it might still be difficult for him to defeat Penguin who also had money, resources and traffic.

But this does not prevent each other from learning from each other.

He is now somewhat unable to judge how seriously Penguin attaches importance to social networks such as QQ Alumni.

If the Penguins do what they do normally, then there is a lot of hope for this wave of competition.

If Penguin was trying its best to invest, then its play style suitable for traffic conversion this time would not be able to cope with it normally.

Before the change, Fang Zhuo might have called Ma Huateng directly to ask about the situation.

However, this time there was some direct friction. Xu Chenye, one of the Penguin Five Tigers, stood up and spoke out, so let's talk about it first.

Fang Zhuo had a lot on his mind and planned to decide how to push the next step based on the specific competitive situation. But now facing the ignorant Wang Xing, what showed up was that the school network needed the most financial and resource support.

Is it necessary to discuss various considerations with Wang Xing?

Seems unnecessary.

As long as the current King Xing can remain brave and diligent, and his Taoist heart will not be broken by the entry of giants.

Fang Zhuo chatted with Wang Xing for a while. Seeing that the time was approaching nine o'clock, he asked Wang Fengyi to go outside to solve the problem of food and clothing with an obviously high-spirited Youxing. He still had some work to deal with.

The time between Shanghai and New York was reversed, and it was not until eleven o'clock in the night that Yu Hong completed the communication about the progress of Android system and mobile phone development.

R\u0026D centers have been set up in both places, but the focus is different.

Previously, because Yike took the initiative to break the news about mobile phones, I wonder if it affected Apple's strategy. Recently, there has been more and more news about its mobile phones. However, Wall Street and the industry generally do not support the two companies entering the fiercely competitive market. Mobile phone market.

After Fang Zhuo put down the phone, he summarized the news reported by Xiao Yu and considered whether to let the Android center here in Shanghai go to the United States to study. The progress was indeed quite behind.

At half past eleven, Xiong Xiaoge's call came in.

He is now talking more and more directly to Mr. Fang, and is too lazy to exchange pleasantries: "Is the school network going to be Eastern Facebook?"

"Let's see, I think Wang Xing has a plan in mind." Fang Zhuo replied.

Xiong Xiaoge said: "This is a direct competition with Penguin, and it is in the style of play that it is good at. If you don't do it yourself and let Wang Xing do it, I won't worry about investing."

"Next time you come over, just bring a knife and chop me in half. I don't have any extra time for Yike, Tesco, and Bingxin. There are endless things to do. I think he's pretty good. Besides, the key thing is We will also communicate when making decisions." Fang Zhuoyou said, "Uranus is the main player, and I will provide support and check for deficiencies. I think this year's domestic situation may be a year of e-commerce and social networking."

Xiong Xiaoge understands this meaning. E-commerce naturally means that domestic competition is likely to intensify. In the social year, Xiaonei.com, 5Q.com, Zhanzu.com, QQ alumni, and earlier blogs and QQ space, this concept is Also very hot.

He was silent for a while and then asked: "Penguin seems to be serious, can he really beat it?"

After Xiong Xiaoge said this, he immediately explained without waiting for Mr. Fang's reply: "It's not that I don't trust your judgment and ability... it's... the power of Penguin Traffic is a bit shocking to me."

Of course Mr. Fang is extremely talented in business, but the good results achieved by Penguin’s multi-front operations in space, e-commerce, games, portals and other fields are simply shocking.

Xiong Xiaoge used to be particularly optimistic about Penguin's development. Even so, he never imagined that Penguin could develop to such an extent.

"Who can do something that is sure to be successful? This time, bringing together several companies can be considered as sharing the risk. It can be expected that our investment will be able to return the number of users." Fang Zhuo said euphemistically, "The number of users is the result. , that is, money, so that we won’t go home in defeat.”

He paused and then said: "You have to play a game to know. Otherwise, if you give up a social network today, will the penguin field also be given up tomorrow? What about the day after tomorrow?"

Xiong Xiaoge sighed, the feeling of being the penguin's opponent was indeed not wonderful.

However, when he thought about it, judging from his past experience, it seemed that being President Fang's opponent was not much better.

He pondered for a while and finally agreed: "Then give it a try. It's such a loss. Anyway, I can make up for it myself from the large deposit certificate."

It is also because both IDG and himself have made money, otherwise we would have to think more carefully.

"Very good, Old Xiong, you are indeed the investor I admire most." Fang Zhuo praised.

Xiong Xiaoge hung up the phone. Mr. Fang's compliment made him feel that he had some plans to take risks.

…

The next day, Wang Xing participated in a project discussion meeting at Hang Lung 23, which mainly discussed domestic social network target groups.

The college students in the campus ecosystem are a given, but the white-collar office group is still his imagination.

But just one night later, Yike issued a simple investigation report to discuss this matter.

Wang Xing had to lament Yike's efficiency in doing things.

In the afternoon, he did not see Mr. Fang, but everything was done in an orderly manner in the conference room, where investment institutions were initially finalized, experienced people were recruited from Sina, and many universities with which the company had maintained cooperative relations were contacted.

Another day passed, and Wang Xing still didn't see Mr. Fang. However, the investments of Yike, IDG, and Shenxin Technology were basically confirmed, and he was waiting for two more companies to further complete the procedures.

On May 3, Wang Xing was about to fly back to the capital, and it was Wang Fengyi who went to the airport to say goodbye.

"Mr. Wang, Mr. Fang has been very busy these days, because the reporter has stirred up trouble again, but he still values ​​your project very much. He will have to go to the capital when he comes back. You must not slack off." Wang Fengyi said earnestly. Teaching.

"Brother Wang, don't worry, I will never let down the expectations of investors, nor the trust of Mr. Fang." Wang Xing said.

Wang Fengyi left with satisfaction.

Wang Xing looked at the back of his master as he left, thinking about the remarks he had made about being a dog on Zhihu in the past two days, and couldn't help but feel that Wang Fengyi was an excellent investor with a sense of humor, sharp eyesight, and good judgment.

It would be great if I met such investors earlier.

However, it’s never too late to have a good meal. Now with the blessing of this group of people, I have to fight with penguins no matter what.