Top of the big era

Many times there are certain paradoxes in business, and Changyou is a typical example.

At the beginning, Changyou was just a game division of Sohu, which was 100% controlled by Sohu. However, Sohu's core business is not games after all. If it wants to develop and expand its game business, it must be decentralized and run independently.

This led to the subsequent spin-off of Changyou. Changyou's management took 20% of the shares from Sohu.

However, if Changyou wanted to further develop and grow, it would need more traffic support, so Changyou later introduced Ziweixing.

But this is still not enough!

Once this set of operations is carried out, Changyou will only be considered a top game company in China at best. But if it is placed on the world stage, it will not be enough.

If you want to envision the world, you must first have world-class talents!

Changyou's current management team is actually pretty good. No matter what, the self-research and development of the phenomenal online game "Dragon Babu" is enough to prove that this is the top management system in the country.

But this is not enough.

If Changyou wants to pursue greater goals, it must have better strategic design and a stronger management structure. In particular, current Changyou CEO Wang Fang has gone astray, trying to manage the company through immortality, and has gone further and further down the wrong path.

This requires even more reorganization.

This will inevitably mean that Sohu's control over Changyou will be further reduced, getting lower and lower, and there is nothing that can be done about it. The stronger the control, it is often a restriction on the growth of the company. The larger the company, the lower the shareholding ratio of the major shareholders.

Next, if Changyou acquires Ziweixing’s gaming division, it will be able to become even stronger. At the same time, Sohu’s shareholding ratio in Changyou will become smaller and smaller.

At the beginning, Sohu's shareholding ratio in Changyou was 100%. After several years of cooperation with Zhou Buqi, the shareholding ratio may be diluted to 25%. This is too outrageous!

But the problem came again.

Without cooperation with Zhou Buqi, Changyou would not be able to envision the world's gaming arena. At most, it would just be bouncing around in the domestic gaming industry.

It's like there are two roads ahead and you have to choose one.

In fact, for Lao Zhang, he had no choice at all. Changyou had already developed to this point, and it was impossible to turn back. He could only follow this guy Zhou Buqi until he died.

In the past few years, under the guidance of Boss Zhou, Changyou has successively represented "World of Warcraft", purchased the map copyright of DOTA and developed the independent game "DOTA2", and also purchased the next-generation multiplayer online competition. The game "League of Legends" has achieved great success.

Although the shares were diluted, the benefits gained were even greater!

In fact, there is no need to elaborate on these truths. Lao Zhang must have understood it. It was nothing more than fear. From time to time, he would complain to this boy, put some pressure on him, and tell him not to forget the well digger.

For Zhou Buqi, cooperating with Changyou is actually a good thing.

The first is that it is easy to enter the game.

All beginnings are hard.

If Zhou Buqi doesn't cooperate with Changyou, he will have to start a game company from scratch. However, he lacks sufficient understanding of games and does not have any powerful game talents at his disposal. He wants to "start a business" and start a game company. , it will be very difficult.

Even if it is launched and successful, three to five years may be wasted.

When the business is successful in three to five years, the day lilies will be cold!

It is better to cooperate directly with Changyou. It is simple, straightforward, and can be operated as soon as you get started. It is faster and more efficient.

You can cooperate with Blizzard to act as an agent for the domestic operation of "World of Warcraft", then steal DOTA's map copyright at a bargain price, and then develop "DOTA2".

Then, through the cooperative relationship with Blizzard, we established our brand in the world in one fell swoop, and thus got the opportunity to acquire "League of Legends". Even if we successfully entered the game and opened up the international market.

It's much smoother to cooperate with a mature game company like Changyou. Basically, you can play wherever you want.

The industrial layout can be completed as quickly as possible in the early stages of the mobile Internet.

There are pros and cons.

There are so many advantages, but the disadvantage is Sohu’s control over Changyou.

Boss Zhou has worked hard to play a big game of chess in Changyou. Even though he has little "effort", he is the soul.

Genius is 99% hard work and 1% inspiration, but that 1% inspiration is much more important than 99% hard work. The significance of Zhou Buqi to Changyou is the 1% of inspiration. His workload in Changyou is very small, but he is the most critical person and the fundamental reason why Changyou company can take off.

But Changyou is a Sohu company, which means Zhou Buqi’s shareholding in Changyou is not that large.

In fact, as far as this matter is concerned, Zhang Chaoyang and Zhou Buqi are facing the same problem.

For Lao Zhang, Changyou was originally his company, holding 100% of the shares, but as a result, it was gradually cannibalized and diluted by others. The housekeeper became the master, but the master stepped aside. How could this make sense?

For Zhou Buqi, Changyou's current status is entirely due to his planning and strategic design. As a result, he has made such a big contribution to Changyou, but he can only be a minority shareholder. How can this make sense?

If both parties do not give in, it will inevitably break up and the company will be doomed.

This kind of thing happens too many times in the business market.

Most of the time, both parties fall out.

One party does not want to lose control, and the other party is proud of his talents and does not want to work for others in vain... Once the conflict cannot be resolved, even the most prosperous company will quickly decline and go bankrupt. The most typical example is Jianlibao, which was a company that could follow The big companies Coca-Cola competes against.

Only under rare circumstances can both parties put aside their conflicts and work together sincerely to push the company forward.

Boss Zhou and Boss Zhang belong to a very small number of cases.

Over the years, the two have maintained a good friendship.

However, we still have to complain when we should complain, and we still have to apply pressure when we should apply pressure.

After all, judging from the final result, it was Lao Zhang who gave in.

He retreated again and again, handed over the board of directors, handed over the management, and then had to accept the huge deal of Changyou's acquisition of the Ziweixing gaming department and hand over his seat as the largest shareholder.

"EA acquires Friend Studio for US$1.92 billion?"

Lao Zhang saw this report on the news. At that time, his whole body went numb and he was completely shocked.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, it has been officially announced. Now we have to wait for the regulatory authorities to pass the review."

At this time, the two parties were lying on the deck of Zhou Buqi's newly purchased luxury yacht, heading from Los Angeles to San Francisco together. Both of them were shirtless and wearing shorts, and they did not look like business tycoons at all.

Zhang Chaoyang was wearing sunglasses, drinking ice-cold watermelon juice, his body was bronzed, and he was sunbathing a lot. He said sadly: "EA is too stupid to spend so much money."

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "What are you talking about? Why, I made money, are you jealous?"

Zhang Chaoyang glared at him and snorted coldly, "Others don't know, but I don't know you? It must be that the prospects of social business have dimmed, and you are no longer optimistic about this market, so you sold off your friend's studio."

Zhou Buqi laughed, "Who can say for sure what will happen in the future?"

Zhang Chaoyang said calmly: "If others are not sure, I believe it. If you say so, I don't believe it. You are the one who started the social game industry. I don't believe there is anyone in this world who understands social games better than you."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Can I understand that this is your approval of me?"

Zhang Chaoyang was silent for a while, and then sighed, "But it's normal. I know you so well, and I'm still being fooled by you, let alone the people at EA. I can only say that we are connected by fate. , I feel the same way.”

"What a mess!" Zhou Buqi was angry and funny, "Old Zhang, I kindly saved my time to go on vacation with you, and you are here to be weird with me?"

Zhang Chaoyang was almost furious, "A vacation? What a crappy vacation! Taking a boat from Los Angeles to San Francisco is called a vacation? Is it okay to take a car? Is it okay to take a plane? Are you just showing off to me and buying a luxury yacht?" "

Zhou Buqi said sarcastically: "Old Zhang, have you taken some gunpowder? You're so aggressive."

Zhang Chaoyang sighed: "I've been fooled, why don't you let me complain?"

"What have you been fooled by?" Zhou Buqi was a little confused, "When did I lie to you?"

Zhang Chaoyang said angrily: "Changyou's acquisition of Ziweixing's gaming division, isn't this a trap?"

"Damn! Here we go again! This is for the company's long-term plan, for the development of Changyou, okay?" Zhou Buqi was speechless, "It's obviously a good thing, but it seems like I'm plotting to usurp power. I'll control Changyou, Isn’t that natural? Do I still need to usurp power?”

The two sides have discussed similar issues many times.

The conclusion has been reached.

The transaction must proceed.

The most Zhang Chaoyang could do was complain and constantly remind the other party who was the real well digger. In the end, he couldn't change the result even if he wanted to. "The current market value of Changyou is US$12 billion."

"Really?" Zhou Buqi really didn't pay much attention to Changyou's stock price. "It's okay. The economic situation is getting better now. Have you not read financial analysis from the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal? Technology stocks will be booming in the second half of the year. rise."

Zhang Chaoyang didn't seem to hear what he was saying at all, "I have read the materials of Ziweixing International's game division and studied it for several days. Friend Studio is the least valued studio in this division. As a result, it was sold for a sky-high price of US$1.92 billion.”

"A sky-high price?" Zhou Buqi chuckled, "It's not that exaggerated. It's all depreciated. It's just 20 times the PE. It's nothing."

Zhang Chaoyang said: "Yes, even if the remaining core assets of the game division are evaluated according to the standards of friend studios, with a PE of 20 times, the remaining part... will be worth US$8 billion."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "A little less, but about the same."

He was somewhat proud when he said this.

This is the importance of the 1% inspiration for making games!

The core businesses of Ziweixing's game division are actually four parts, "Angry Birds", "Minecraft", Friends Studio and Baokai Studio.

To put these four parts together, Ziweixing invested a total of approximately US$2 billion.

It has only been two years, and the profit has been 5 times that of reselling it.

This makes Zhou Buqi full of confidence in leading Changyou to show off his talents in the gaming industry. He feels that the advantage of foresight is not obvious in the Internet industry, but it is too obvious in the gaming industry.

Zhang Chaoyang's eyes were dazed and he said in a dull tone: "12 billion...8 billion. Simple mathematical calculation. If these are combined, it will be a large market of 20 billion US dollars. Changyou's shareholding ratio will be reduced by at least 40%."

"Damn!" Zhou Buqi was angry and funny, "I thought you were going to say something, but it's the same thing again! It dilutes the ratio, but it doesn't dilute the number of shares you hold. Stop doing this!"

Zhang Chaoyang said: "After this transaction is completed, Sohu will no longer be the major shareholder, and the largest shareholder will become Ziweixing."

Zhou Buqi said: "To be precise, it's Ziweixing International."

"Yes, Ziweixing International."

"That's the company's shareholding, not me personally. I...I still lost money!"

"Did you lose money?"

Zhang Chaoyang raised his eyebrows.

Zhou Buqi said sternly: "Yes, it's a loss! When Changyou IPO went public, there were still 70 million issued shares that no financial institution had taken over. In the end, I took over. Have you forgotten? It cost me 800 million U.S. dollars at that time! Now These 70 million shares are only worth over US$400 million. I directly lost US$400 million on this transaction."

Zhang Chaoyang seemed to have just woken up and said repeatedly: "Awesome! Awesome!"

Zhou Buqi snorted, "Don't be sarcastic. Isn't this just for the company?"

"It's not sarcasm, it's praise." Zhang Chaoyang said seriously with a serious look on his face, "You are really awesome. Isn't this trick called 'If you can't let go of your children, you can't trap the wolf'? You took the initiative and lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Under these preconditions, even if I don't agree with Changyou's acquisition of Ziweixing's game department, I can't do it. It's awesome, it's awesome! It's really plotting against me."

Zhou Bu Qisheng laughed angrily, "I think you are crazy! Who plotted against you?"

"No plan?" Zhang Chaoyang curled his lips and said confidently, "This must be your plan. Why are you embarrassed to admit it? In the business market, there are always conspiracies... Well, this should be a conspiracy of yours. Just admit it. , what’s the big deal, isn’t it that you want to completely control Changyou step by step and turn Changyou into your company. I have agreed to hand over the board of directors and management to you, what else do you have to hide?”

Zhou Buqi was on the verge of tears, "Old Zhang, really, I have no plans! Is it that important who is Changyou's largest shareholder? No matter what you think, I really don't care. Changyou's acquisition of the game division It’s a deal, it’s a deal that’s beneficial to both parties, I really haven’t thought about it that much.”

"Just pretend!"

"I'm really not pretending."

"I don't know about you yet?" Zhang Chaoyang snorted coldly, "I also think you are very clever in your scheming. If you still don't admit it, will I look down on you?"

Zhou Buqi was a little crazy, "I'm crazy!"

Zhang Chaoyang said: "I have a small request."

Zhou Buqi has a strong sense of responsibility and naturally regards himself as Changyou's new owner, giving orders, "Okay, as long as it's for the good of the company, everything will be fine!"

Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile: "That game of yours..."Plants vs. Zombies" is really interesting. I play it all the time when I have nothing to do, and I even downloaded one on my phone."

"Then what?"

"How about adapting it into a movie?"

"Adapting Plants vs. Zombies into a movie?"

Zhou Buqi was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself that this Lao Zhang really has a soft spot for the entertainment industry. Isn't it because he wants to compliment some of his female celebrity friends?

"Yes, Universal Pictures doesn't belong to you. This game is so popular and well-known now, how good would it be to adapt it into a game? The movie will make a lot of money, and with the promotion of the movie, the game can become even more popular."

"That's okay, but even if it's adapted, it will be a cartoon."

"The cartoon is great, I will be a producer when the time comes."

"You?" Zhou Buqi twitched his lips, "Do you understand movies?"

Zhang Chaoyang said: "I have also filmed a lot of self-made programs on Sohu Video. I have experience as a producer... Don't worry, I will definitely not give random directions!"

"OK."

Zhou Buqi didn't hesitate too much. No matter whether the adaptation of this animated film could be successful or not, he couldn't refuse this matter. He had to appease Lao Zhang and not make him mentally ill.

Once he becomes depressed, the responsibility will be huge.