Top of the big era

This question is a bit big. After WeChat took the lead in the competition and gradually approached monopoly, it has been constantly debated in China.

After all, this is also the consistent strategy of the Internet.

Start by expanding the market for free and killing competitors. When the competitors are almost dead and the market is controlled, it is time to charge and start making money. Just like Youku, iQiyi, QQ Music, and Weidian Music. Even Taobao has launched a paid membership service.

Will WeChat be the same?

The public is not clear about the underlying logic of free and paid, so it is not surprising to have such misunderstandings.

After Boss Zhou raised this question, although Zhao Limuge and Zhang Zetian were the smartest and most promising among the new secretaries, they did not react for a while.

Zhou Buqi waved his hand, "Okay, you two think about it carefully, and tell me when you have thought it through! I have something else to do!"

He was going to see Yang Zhiyuan.

At this board meeting, Yang Zhiyuan resigned from the position of director.

This is actually not a glorious thing.

Zhou Buqi wanted to talk to him alone, at least to prevent him from speaking nonsense outside and saying something that was not conducive to the unity of the company because he left the board of directors of Ziweixing International.

At this time, Yang Zhiyuan was in the office of Yahoo CEO Thompson.

He was not in a good mood.

After Zhou Buqi went over, he stretched out his hands to shake hands with him with some apology, and said happily: "Old Yang, Yahoo's development has been very gratifying recently! The brand value of 'Yahoo' has at least tripled in the past two years!"

Although Yang Zhiyuan was unhappy, he would not turn against him. He forced a smile, "Indeed, we all saw it. It was you who brought Yahoo back to life. This is a fact we all know."

"The United States is a sports power. Next, Yahoo will focus on promoting 'Yahoo Sports'." Zhou Buqi pulled him to sit on the sofa. The two spoke in Chinese. "Now the biggest brand in the United States is 'Google'. Google Browser, Google Mail, Google Cloud Drive, Google Docs, etc., are quite popular. Yahoo can be said to be ranked second, with Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Entertainment, etc., which are incredible! "

Yang Zhiyuan said: "Ever is also doing well as a brand, especially EverDrive, a cloud disk business, which is really an incredible achievement. Kurian can build this brand, which is enough to prove that he is capable of leading this company."

"Yes." Zhou Buqi nodded, and then sighed, "Old Yang, Ziweixing International can't do without you!"

"Huh?"

Yang Zhiyuan looked at him suspiciously.

What does this mean?

You can't do without me, so you kicked me out of the board of directors?

He didn't want to leave at all!

The reason why he resigned was because he saw the signs that the boss Zhou next to him didn't want to see him in the board of directors, which made him unwilling to be humiliated and chose to resign voluntarily.

Zhou Buqi hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Old Yang, the current situation is very complicated, you should have sensed it. We need a more diverse structure in our board of directors. We have too many Asian faces, which is not conducive to the company's roots and long-term development in the United States."

"So Tang Binchen and Xu Liangjie both withdrew?"

Yang Zhiyuan basically guessed that this would be the result.

Zhou Buqi sighed, "It's not the same as before. For many things, we can only look forward. However, if the situation gets better in the future, maybe I will invite you back to serve as a director again!"

"Forget it! Forget it!"

After this experience, Yang Zhiyuan was somewhat discouraged.

He was not short of money.

After this, he planned to really return to the field and live a low-key retirement life.

Zhou Buqi said frankly: "Yahoo is a crucial business in Ziweixing International!"

Yang Zhiyuan said confidently: "Social business, cloud computing business, and Yahoo, these will be the three most profitable businesses of Ziweixing International in the next ten years."

"Not only that."

Zhou Buqi could also see his decadence and felt somewhat reluctant.

"Hmm?" Yang Zhiyuan glanced at him, "What else?"

Zhou Buqi said: "In the next three or four years, I have three big plans."

"Can you tell me?"

Yang Zhiyuan was very curious.

His wealth was previously in Yahoo stocks. After selling Yahoo to Ziweixing International, it was all converted into Ziweixing International stocks. He used to be a director of the company, so it was naturally inconvenient to cash out on a large scale. Now that he has resigned, there is no such restriction. If expectations are not enough, he is likely to cash out on a large scale.

Zhou Buqi does not want him to cash out on a large scale.

This will have a very bad impact on the market.

Thompson has left and left the office space to the two of them.

Zhou Buqi said bluntly: "First, I plan to give up the position of CEO."

"Is it Kurian?"

Yang Zhiyuan nodded. This is almost an open secret. There are many speculations not only within the company, but also outside. Since it was reported that Kurian would replace Tang Binchen as the company's executive director, many financial media have launched a wide range of discussions.

Zhou Buqi said: "You also said that his work performance is outstanding. There is also a threat from Microsoft. Microsoft's Nadella is deliberately targeting it. I need to improve Kurian's position so that he can confront it head-on."

Yang Zhiyuan smiled, "It's a good strategy. You stand behind the scenes and let Kurian stand in the front. This strategy is better than Lu Qi or Tang Binchen standing in the front."

Zhou Buqi continued: "There is another thing. I will reuse Yahoo's brand assets."

"Hmm?" Yang Zhiyuan couldn't guess his thoughts. "How to reuse?"

Zhou Buqi hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the truth. "In the next few years, the company may change its name."

"Change the name?"

Yang Zhiyuan was shocked.

Zhou Buqi said: "It may be changed from 'Ziweixing International' to 'Yahoo'."

Yang Zhiyuan took a deep breath and found it difficult to understand, "Why is this the case? If so, we should have done this two years ago! I had similar suggestions at that time!"

The company name "Ziweixing International" is really a bit out of place.

Especially now that Ziweixing and Ziweixing International are both listed on NASDAQ, the overly similar names have caused many investors to buy the wrong stocks. This has caused great inconvenience to the market.

In fact, when the two companies were trading two years ago, Yang Zhiyuan had raised this kind of question. He even proposed a reverse takeover, so that Yahoo could acquire Ziweixing International, so that the name of the new company could be "Yahoo".

This is very complicated.

Because Yahoo was in danger at the time and was about to be eliminated by the market.

Zhou Buqi was not sure whether he could save Yahoo.

If he failed to save it, wouldn't it be equivalent to leading Ziweixing International into a muddy abyss?

In addition, Zhou Buqi could not tolerate Yahoo to acquire him. He was the leader of the acquisition case and he had to hold the power. Now Ziweixing International has completed the internal integration and rectification of Yahoo, and the transformation has been a great success. The assets of "Yahoo" are firmly in its hands.

With "Ziweixing International" on the left hand and "Yahoo" on the right hand, there is naturally no close or distant relationship, and any name can be used.

There is also a more important reason.

That is, Ziweixing International was spun off from Ziweixing. To spin off a company rooted in the United States from Ziweixing, domestic approval is required. For this reason, Ziweixing has retained a 30% controlling stake in Ziweixing International.

This requires caution.

If Ziweixing International is sold directly to Yahoo, it will easily cause controversy. Some old people will think that you, Comrade Zhou, are playing tricks on asset transfer and relying on capital operation.

Now it is different.

Ziweixing International has taken root very firmly and its wings are strong.

It is normal for a company to change its name. It has nothing to do with capital operation.

However, Zhou Buqi was not in a position to say these words, so he waved his hand, "Anyway, this is just an intention. Whether it will be implemented or not is still uncertain."

Yang Zhiyuan was very excited, "We must do it! 'Yahoo' is the real more recognized brand! To put it bluntly, 'Ziweixing International' has no brand at all in the European and American markets. Such a name lacks the symbolic value of existence, and even has negative value."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "You seem to be looking forward to it?"

"Of course!"

Originally, Yang Zhiyuan was discouraged, but now he was excited again. Yahoo was the company he founded. If Ziweixing International really changed its name to Yahoo, he would have gone a long way and returned to the center of the Internet stage.

Even if it was just symbolic in terms of powerlessness, it was enough to comfort him.