Top of the big era

Christmas is coming, and the festive atmosphere is very strong, just like the Spring Festival in China. The streets are full of such elements.

When Gu Zanli and Yao Yao's work visas expired, Zhou Buqi sent a special plane to send them back home. When the plane came back, I brought Yang Mi, Dili Reya, Jiang Bingjie and Li Xinwan over, as well as my sister Zhou Nan.

Unexpectedly, when Zhou Buqi went to pick up his sister at the airport, he saw an acquaintance!

You know, this is a private airport, and you rarely see any outsiders.

This is more embarrassing.

Zhou Buqi usually keeps a low profile and hides his personal life very well. This time he came to pick him up at the airport... Forget about his sister, there are also four little stars, Yang Mi, Jiang Bingjie, Li Xinwan, and Dili Reya, and there are also women around him. Secretary Sun Wanran, surrounded by beauties and beauties, is sure to cause misunderstandings.

Fortunately, this is not an outsider.

It's Liu Qiangdong.

He took his girlfriend and son, rented a private plane in Sydney, and came to Silicon Valley to spend Christmas. He had also informed Zhou Buqi before, but he didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that they met at the airport.

Liu Qiangdong has very good eyesight, and he saw so many beautiful girls around Boss Zhou, especially Yang Mi... Recently, several TV series of hers have been broadcast in China. She is currently popular, and she can be recognized at a glance.

The smile on Liu Qiangdong's face became even stronger, "What a coincidence."

"Well, come and pick up my sister." Zhou Buqi remained calm, stretched out his hand and pinched the little face of his tough-headed son, and said with wide eyes, "Call daddy!"

The little guy seemed a little afraid of him, and then he said timidly: "Hello, uncle."

Zhou Buqi was a little speechless.

This brat is quite clever.

Liu Qiangdong laughed and said, "It has been decided. I will go to Los Angeles in a while and buy a house here."

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "Have you decided?"

Liu Qiangdong said: "Well, starting from next semester, I will go to the University of Southern California to study for at least a year. I have received an invitation letter from the University of Southern California."

Zhou Buqi nodded, a little strange, "Then why did you end up in San Jose?"

Liu Qiangdong smiled and said: "Come and experience it here in Silicon Valley. In addition to the University of Southern California, there is also an invitation letter from the University of California, Berkeley. That's the one you say hello to. What about you? I heard that Changyou acquired Ziweixing for US$8.26 billion. Has the international gaming division’s transaction been approved by the authorities?”

Zhou Buqi was very happy when he mentioned this, "Yes, approved!"

Yesterday, the deal was officially approved by the authorities.

The game division of Ziweixing International has been officially merged into Changyou Group. Adding up the assets of both parties, Changyou's total share capital has reached 2.89 billion shares. Changyou's current stock price is US$7.37, and its market value has reached US$21.3 billion!

In fact, at the beginning of the year, when Changyou went public, its market value exceeded US$20 billion.

However, the situation then took a turn for the worse, and Changyou was affected by the entire gaming industry. Its stock price fell again and again, and at its lowest, the market value was only US$12.2 billion.

The transaction passed regulatory approval, the assets were merged, and Changyou's market value finally returned to the US$20 billion mark.

This is amazing!

Not counting giants such as Microsoft, Sony, Penguin, Nintendo, IBM, Apple, and Disney that are not engaged in gaming, Changyou has surpassed Blizzard and become the world's largest gaming giant!

Ranked second is Activision Blizzard, with a market value of US$14.32 billion.

EA ranks third with $11.63 billion.

Ranked fourth is Zynga, which has a market value of US$8.35 billion.

Among the remaining major game companies, the top ones are all domestic game companies. NetEase, Giant, Shanda, Perfect... European game companies have almost completely failed and completely disappeared from the global game market value list.

European games are generally traditional single-player large-scale games, which are really miserable.

Among the top 50 game companies, in addition to China and the United States, the ones that really dominate the list are Japanese game companies. Half of Japan's IT industry market is supported by games.

Sega, US$5.75 billion; Konami, US$2.23 billion; Bandai South, US$1.82 billion; Square Enix, US$1.68 billion; Capcom, US$820 million; Koei Tecmo, US$423 million; Multiplayer, US$337 million; GungHo, US$220 million; Hudson, US$84 million; AQ, US$72 million; Tose, US$44 million; Sun, US$42.2 million…

Ren Yuxin has already made an acquisition plan. He has a total budget of US$1 billion. Companies such as Sega, Konami, and Bandai Minami do not need to consider it.

He targeted a total of 8 game companies.

The core is led by Capcom and determined to win.

Koei Tecmo is an alternative.

The value of the remaining game companies is not that high. Except for Hudson, which has a market value of more than 80 million U.S. dollars, the market value of other companies does not exceed 20 million U.S. dollars, generally several million U.S. dollars, as well as NihonFalcom, Eighting, Marvelous, Broccoli, Nippon and so on.

Among them, Capcom is the top priority.

This is the focus of Ren Yuxin’s attention.

It was also the deal that Zhou Buqi was most looking forward to. As early as when Ziweixing first opened a branch in Japan, he told Tang Binchen that he would pay attention to it.

Speaking of Capcom Co., Ltd., most people may not know much about them, but when it comes to their games, most people have played them. The most popular one is the "Street Fighter" series, the most famous is the "Resident Evil" series, and the most popular one is the "Resident Evil" series. The money maker is the Monster Hunter series.

There are dozens of games under its umbrella.

The current market value of only US$820 million is obviously severely underestimated.

Capcom's game intellectual property rights are even better than those of Sega and Bandai South. The reason why the market value is so low is because this company has been so successful in the past.

This has something to do with Japan’s business system.

Lifetime employment will inevitably lead to an increasingly conservative corporate style. Everyone just wants to maintain the status quo and grow slowly, for fear that the failure of a new business will lead to serious losses.

Once you lose money, you will encounter a cash flow crisis.

If a company is in trouble, it may lead to layoffs.

Stability will inevitably stifle innovation; innovation will inevitably mean instability. It is an impossible paradox to want to have a stable job without laying off employees, and at the same time want to invest more in innovation and research and development.

Capcom is so miserable because they still stick to the old ideas from decades ago, making video games, handheld games, and stand-alone computer games.

There are not even online games, let alone lightweight social games, let alone mobile games.

Ren Yuxin has been eyeing Capcom since he came up. This is the best opportunity.

Especially Monster Hunter.

Monster Hunter is the king of handheld consoles and a must-play game. But Capcom's strategy was too conservative, and it wasn't until seven or eight years later that they finally reacted and started developing a mobile version.

So for Ren Yuxin, the most important thing is to buy this game company.

Even if the full acquisition is not possible, a majority of the shares must be purchased.

…

Zhou Buqi arranged for Liu Qiangdong and his family to stay at the Hilton Hotel, and used his own money to buy presidential suits for the family of three at a price of US$6,500 per day.

After sitting down and chatting, I finally understood the main purpose of this guy coming to Silicon Valley.

"What? Old horse?"

Zhou Buqi was slightly startled.

Liu Qiangdong said: "There are many reports in the news, saying that he intends to cooperate with SoftBank and Blackstone Group to repurchase the Alibaba shares held by Yahoo."

"Um."

"There are also voting rights and Yahoo's board seat on Alibaba."

"What do you want to do?"

Zhou Buqi was speechless, having already guessed what he meant.

Liu Qiangdong clenched his fist and waved it twice, "How about you work behind the scenes?"

Zhou Buqi was amused, "What am I doing?"

Liu Qiangdong said: "JD.com is now the second largest e-commerce platform in China. Dangdang is not good, and Suning is not good. The only one in front of JD.com is Alibaba. However, JD.com still has a long way to go if it wants to surpass Alibaba. If If Boss Ma cannot successfully recover his voting rights from Yahoo, there will be problems with his control of Alibaba."

Zhou Buqi sighed, "No need."

"Why?"

Liu Qiangdong didn't understand it very much.

Ziweixing is the major shareholder of JD.com. From the perspective of interests, the two parties are the closest partners.

Now is a rare opportunity to target Ali.

As long as Boss Ma cannot get back his voting rights, there will be factional differences in Alibaba's board of directors, and there will be quarrels... Maybe it will be as chaotic as Yahoo.

When the enemy retreats and we advance, JD.com has the opportunity to surpass Alibaba.

This is actually a very normal way of thinking.

But Zhou Buqi would not agree, "This is not a good thing. It doesn't matter who is first in the industry and who is second in the industry. The most important thing is to look at the market size. What is most beneficial to JD.com's interests is to cooperate with Alibaba, let’s continue to expand the market size of the e-commerce industry. It is far from the stage of life-and-death competition. If the domestic e-commerce market wants to flourish, who do you think we need to rely on?”

Liu Qiangdong remained silent.

Zhou Buqi said: "Many times, Boss Ma has to do it. No one else can do it, and neither can I. Alipay has been split from Alibaba, but do you know what Alipay will do next? He told me, what will happen next? Alipay wants to build a convenient service system for people's livelihood. It not only needs to connect with banks, but also with payment channels such as water, electricity, Internet and gas bills, and truly promote convenient services on the Internet. In this process, how many departments need to be dealt with? How many leaders need approval? Who else can do this kind of thing except Lao Ma? Ask yourself, I can’t do it. I don’t have that much courage, nor that much courage.”

Liu Qiangdong nodded and looked up at him, "The Yahoo incident has been a big deal recently and has been reported all over the world. Are you involved?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I've met Lao Ma several times."

"How do you choose?"

"I will help him and help him gain absolute control over Ali."

"Um."

Liu Qiangdong's mood was not very high and he was obviously unhappy.

Zhou Buqi said frankly: "How you compete with him is up to you. But what I want to do is to promote the great development of the domestic Internet market. Especially in the era of mobile Internet, we need a few people who dare to be the first in the world. Come out. I can’t do it, but I won’t hold back those who can!”