My 1999

"President, do you think Yahoo can agree to our conditions?"

On the way back in the car, Fukunaga Hideo asked.

"Definitely. Yahoo will not allow any GOO or Nifty to surpass it. However, the conditions may be a little different from what I expected."

After hesitating for a moment, Hideo Fukunaga asked.

"President, does the Excite portal have to be sold?"

"Are you confident that he will surpass Yahoo?"

Hideo Fukunaga shook his head simply.

"I have said many times before that the Internet is a winner-takes-all industry, with leading companies accounting for 80% of the market share. Now Yahoo! Japan has an unbreakable advantage. It is difficult for us, GOO and Nifty to surpass it.

Since it is destined to fail to grow, it is better to sell it at a good price while it is still valuable.

And if we focus on searching the track and be the first, we will get more. "

Patting him on the shoulder, Xu Liang's tone was full of expectation.

"Fukunaga, do your search carefully, I have high hopes for you."

"Please rest assured, President, I will work hard."

Fukunaga Hideo said seriously.

"I'm waiting to see your results."

"Hi."

Xu Liang smiled faintly, "Find an Internet cafe ahead to drop me off, and then send President Fuyong back to the company."

"President, the company's internet speed is better..."

He waved his hand to interrupt him.

"A company is just a company, and the desktop software in Internet cafes represents the most popular part of the Japanese Internet. From here we can see the popularity of a software and website."

When he comes abroad, Xu Liang's favorite place to go is the Internet cafe.

Last time he dug out Naver in an Internet cafe.

And Li Haizhen did not live up to his expectations.

With financial support, after acquiring the game website Hangame, the company's revenue increased by 20%, and Bing's search market share exceeded 50% in one fell swoop, becoming the search engine with the largest market share in South Korea.

Moreover, the continued development of South Korea's Bing Search has also given great support to the development of China's Bing Search. Some underlying technology updates were completed through cooperation between the two parties.

In addition, the rapid promotion of encyclopedia, knowledge, music, games and other functions in the South Korean market is also one of the main factors driving the increase in Bing’s search market share in South Korea.

"President is still wise." Hideo Fukunaga said respectfully.

Xu Liang glanced at him and nodded slightly.

He also likes to hear good things, but he prefers people who can do things.

Although Li Haizhen has a tough temper and domineering style, she has managed South Korea's Hongmeng Technology Company into a single-minded company.

But it did allow the company to develop rapidly and also gave the head office generous feedback.

Xu Liang said nothing more.

Hideo Fukunaga's resume shows that he has some abilities.

After all, letting Excite develop rapidly while serving a difficult American boss is something that no one with little ability can do.

But it will take some time to draw a specific conclusion.

The car soon stopped outside an Internet cafe.

Xu Liang, Huo Gang, Lu Hui, and the Japanese translator Kagami Miyoko brought this time got out of the car.

Xu Liang originally brought a translator from China, but a translator who was familiar with Japan's national conditions would be more conducive to his understanding of Japan.

Xu Liang is also currently learning Japanese, but his level is limited.

I couldn't understand the name of the Internet cafe, so I walked in directly.

Japanese Internet cafes are like those seen in later generations. They are not large rooms with dozens of machines placed together, but individual rooms.

However, the service was not as attentive as later.

There are no comic books, no washing machines and no restaurants, but the privacy is better.

The price is not cheap either, it costs 120 yen per hour.

There were many people in Xu Liang's group, so they asked for the largest private room.

There are two machines placed in the room of about 30 square meters. The floor is covered with tatami mats, and there are mats behind them, so you can lie down and rest directly.

Xu Liang turned on the computer and counted the time.

The boot time is related to the quality of the broadband. If the Internet speed is relatively high, some photos and videos can be added to the website, then the website design in Japan will definitely be richer than in China.

"20 seconds? So fast?"

Xu Liang was surprised.

The system self-check time of domestic Internet cafes is generally about one and a half minutes, while in South Korea it is forty-five seconds.

The desktop is also Windows98.

Ignoring the system desktop, the other four major portals of Yahoo Japan, Goo, Nifty and Excite have interfaces.

Others include MSN Japan, Asahi Shimbun Online Edition, and KaKaKu.

The latter is a shopping website in Japan.

In addition, Xu Liang also discovered that Japan already has an Amazon site.

The good news is that there is currently no standalone search engine on the desktop.

It's a pity that the business integration between Hongmeng and Excite has just begun, and the Japanese Bing client cannot be downloaded yet, otherwise he really wants to put it on his computer next.

Checked the configuration information.

Intel Celeron 300A processor, Kingston 128MB memory, Asus motherboard, NVIDIA 128M graphics card, 64G hard drive, 14-inch CRT monitor.

It's better than the computers in domestic Internet cafes now, but not much better.

Open the Yahoo! Japanese interface and ask Miyoko Kaga to translate it for you.

One after another.

If Xu Liang is interested, he clicks on it to continue translating.

If you are not interested, just read the title and pass.

"Japan Telecom and Japan KDDI Telecom also announced that they will invest 8 trillion yen in 2001 to launch 3G communication services."

Xu Liangliang moved and clicked the mouse.

"Translate everything for me."

Miyoko Kagami did not dare to neglect and quickly started to translate.

Xu Liang frowned slightly as he listened.

Now the communication networks of major developed countries in the world are preparing to enter the 3G era.

The 3G era means the germination of mobile mutually beneficial networks.

In the future, when Hongmeng and Bing enter the Japanese market, they should not only focus on the PC side, but also pay attention to the mobile side. After all, the latter is the future. They should take the lead in advance, especially in Japan, a conservative country. If they can cultivate user habits first .

Even if Google comes in later, as long as they don’t fall behind, Gugou will not be the leader in search in the Japanese market.

After listening to the entire website, I briefly browsed through it.

Xu Liang found that compared to domestic websites, Yahoo Japan has richer content and more pictures.

In terms of website layout, comics and animation have a very high status, surpassing games and movies.

From here we can see the preferences of Japanese netizens.

"It seems necessary to increase investment in online comics."

If a search engine wants to be successful, it must have traffic support.

Encyclopedias, knowledge, pictures, music, games, these are all ports into which traffic flows.

The more traffic there is, the more ads can be sold.

Xu Liang opened the Yahoo Japanese comics section.

The above are all comic consultations without specific content.

The same goes for animation.

After looking through it and finding nothing, Xu Liang gave up.

"Ms. Kaga, is there an online manga website in Japan?"

Miyoko Kagami shook her head.

"Where's the animation website?"

"No. Maybe I don't know, but there really isn't a very famous animation website."

Xu Liang understood.

After continuing to browse online, I gave up.

"Let's go back."

——

The most prosperous area in Tokyo is Minato-ku, and the most prosperous place in Minato-ku is Roppongi.

The most luxurious residential area in Roppongi, Nishi-Azabu 1-chome Tekko-zukuri is definitely on the list.

Not only is the transportation convenient, but all facilities are complete around it.

It is very convenient whether you live or work.

The car came to a slow stop.

Masahiro Inoue, wearing a black suit, walked down from above.

After briefly looking at the black wrought iron door in front of him, he stepped forward and rang the doorbell.

After a while, the courtyard door opened.

A serious-looking bodyguard appeared at the door.

Bowed.

"Mr. Inoue."

Inoue Masahiro nodded slightly and walked in with his secretary.

When I came to the door, a woman in kimono came to me.

Masahiro Inoue saluted respectfully.

"lady."

The woman smiled in return and said, "Sun Sang is waiting for you in the study. Please come with me."

"Thank you."

After changing his shoes with his secretary, he walked in.

After passing through the living room and pushing open the study door, the woman made way for the passage and Masahiro Inoue stepped in.

A middle-aged man in casual clothes with a slightly bald forehead stood up on the tatami.

Inoue Masahiro took two steps forward and bowed slightly.

"President."

Son Zhengyi nodded slightly and pointed to the opposite side with his left hand.

"sit."

The two sat down across a coffee table.

The woman served the teapot to the two of them and stepped back.

"I have read the information you sent me this afternoon. I didn't expect that in less than a year, a gaming giant with such potential would emerge in China." Son sighed.

In fact, he has always been paying close attention to the Chinese Internet market.

But after the Nasdaq crisis, SoftBank's revenue declined, and he stopped paying attention due to internal and external difficulties.

in addition.

Although Hongmeng has a lot of business and the search field is also developing rapidly, its largest source of revenue is online games, so in most cases it is regarded as a game company.

"They also have great potential in search."

Inoue Masahiro said.

Masayoshi Son nodded, "After all, the potential of Sosou is limited, and it is far less promising than online games."

Masahiro Inoue nodded and said, "President, you want to invest in Hongmeng?"

"We have this plan, but they are not short of funds and may not be willing to accept our financing. Moreover, we really cannot let Excite be acquired by Goo and Nifty, threatening our position in the portal field." Son Zhengyi said.

"We can come up with an attractive price."

Son shook his head.

Since the Nasdaq stock index plummeted in March 2000, SoftBank's profits fell 78% to US$79 million in just the first month. By November, its stock market value fell by 90%, currently only US$19 billion.

Most of the 11 venture capital companies and more than 450 Internet companies around the world that he was responsible for managing went bankrupt.

The harsh environment destroyed SoftBank’s financing ability.

Moreover, the next key development direction of SoftBank and Yahoo Japan is broadband access business, which requires a large amount of capital investment.

An attractive price, representing an investment of tens of millions of dollars.

Too much.

Masahiro Inoue also understands SoftBank’s current difficulties.

"Hongmeng is a Chinese company. Maybe they are also interested in China Internet, and SoftBank owns many shares of China Internet companies."

After thinking about it, Son shook his head again.

"Huaxia Internet Company has great potential. If we sell it now, we will lose future profits."

"Hongmeng's future profits will also be considerable." Inoue Masahiro reminded.

Son nodded.

Think for a moment.

"You make an appointment the day after tomorrow, and I will meet Mr. Xu to talk first. The location should not be at the company."

"clear."

——

In the hotel, Xu Liang was talking on the phone with Jiang Xiaoyang.

"How do you feel about flying all over the world during this period?" Xu Liang said with a smile.

"What do you think?"

Jiang Xiaoyang said angrily.

In almost three months from September to now, she has flown to seven or eight cities across the country, either negotiating or on the way to negotiate.

Most of the food and accommodation are in the hotel.

I'm exhausted.

"When we have money in the future, I will buy you a private jet. Then we will no longer have to catch a plane and can fly directly to wherever we want."

"This is what you said, I remember it."

"Haha, no problem."

There was a pause.

"How was your conversation with Esther?"

"Seven million, accounting for 15% of the shares. The contract was just signed this afternoon."

"Not bad. You can rest for a while now."

Jiang Xiaoyang responded, "Fifty million is considered a full investment. By the way, Auntie is still in the capital?"

"Yeah. But I'll go back in two days."

"Go back? Why?"

"I don't worry about the little land at home. I have to go back and take a look. Besides, she misses my dad after being away for so long."

"Uncle and auntie are so loving."

Xu Liang listened and strongly suspected what she meant.

"What are your plans next?" Xu Liang asked.

"What are your plans? I have been busy for such a long time. I am ready to take a good vacation to recuperate my energy and do a good job in post-investment services. By the way, the Hangzhou government is planning to hold a 'high-tech investment forum' and has invited us, Hanhua ,are you going?"

"Not going."

"Before I went to college, I would reject all such invitations in public."

He is not ready to challenge the public order and good customs of society.

It sounds shocking for high school students to start a business, but it may not be a good thing for business development.

"I knew you would refuse."

The two have known each other for almost a year, but she has never found in Xu Liang the impulsiveness and recklessness that young people should have, which is simply unbelievable.

The phone suddenly vibrated, and Xu Liang saw it was Hideo Fukunaga.

"I'll take a call first."

"Um."

Hang up and pick up.

"President, I just received a call from Masahiro Inoue, the president of Yahoo! Japan. He asked us to meet at the Ginza Ito Club at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Where is Ginza Ito Club?"

"This is the most famous private club in Tokyo, with more than 2,500 members.

It brings together elites from all fields of society, including business figures and many political leaders. In addition, ambassadors from more than 100 countries are also members of this club. "

"Are you also his member?"

"No. Ginza Ito Club requires a registration fee of 1.2 million yen (equivalent to US$11,697), an annual fee of 180,000 yen (equivalent to US$1,755) + a deposit of 500,000 yen (equivalent to US$4,874), which is a bit too expensive for me That's it." Fukunaga Hideo said with a bitter smile.

Although he is the manager of Excite's Japanese branch, Excite's profits are limited and it is not a large company. Although his salary is high for ordinary people, it is still not enough for top private clubs.

"Work hard. I believe it won't be long before you can walk in openly as the president of Hongmeng's Japanese subsidiary."

"I believe in the president."

Fukunaga Hideo said sincerely.

Xu Liang smiled calmly, "In reply to Masahiro Inoue, just tell me that I will be there on time tomorrow."

"yes."

After agreeing, "Then I won't disturb the president's rest."

"Well, you should go to bed early."

"Thank you, President, for your concern."

After hanging up the phone, he called Jiang Xiaoyang.