Reinventing the Millennium

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, China Unicom held talks with Yike.

Huo Kaixiang, vice president of China Unicom, made a tentative bid, and Fang Zhuo, the head of Yike, picked up and left.

Just a short while after the talks began, the two sides were at each other's throats, each trying to set the tone for this valuation.

Judging from the scene, Huo Kaixiang frowned and Fang Zhuo concentrated on drinking tea. There was obviously a clear winner in the small confrontation.

Regarding the valuation of Yixin...

Wu Yunjun convened a meeting with senior executives yesterday, and they discussed it again and again. The previous US$200 million was obviously inappropriate, but suddenly it was set at a very high level and it was difficult to explain.

Today I wanted to talk slowly. Huo Kaixiang and others put down their bids, and I stepped in to stir things up. This way there is still room for maneuver, and I try not to talk about the valuation so high...

However, Wu Yunjun did not expect that Mr. Fang was born in the year of the dog, and he would fall out whenever he wanted!

This is the Chinese New Year, so don’t give up at all!

But, it does work!

“Mr. Fang, Yixin’s Spring Festival battle is really good, but when we talked about Yixin’s valuation a few years ago, it was US$200 million, nearly 1.4 billion Chinese coins, which is very good for a newly established company. "Wu Yunjun waited until the atmosphere calmed down a little, then slowly said, "Now, Yi Xin's valuation..."

He felt that no matter what, there was a foundation of US$200 million here years ago. Using this as a criterion, any negotiation would be easier.

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Wu, you said 200 million US dollars a year ago, but I didn't agree at the time."

Wu Yunjun was stunned: "Mr. Fang, what are you going to do..."

Fang Zhuo reminded: "Mr. Wu, think about it carefully, should you mention 200 million? I said we would talk about it after the year. I just didn't agree with the valuation at the time, otherwise we would have talked about it anyway, but I didn't want to hurt the relationship. "

Wu Yunjun fell into memories, which seemed to be a bit like this.

Fang Zhuo reminded again: "Mr. Wu, you mentioned it twice, and it was like this both times."

Wu Yunjun's memory became completely clear. The dog, dog, dog routine was too deep.

But he still frowned and said: "Mr. Fang, it's boring for you to talk like this. What happened in the past, you have completely changed your tone now, but we, China Unicom, have launched mobile phone card data packages. Can't we say you are insincere?"

Fang Zhuo sighed: "That's it, Mr. Wu, Mr. Huo said that just now. Now that you say it, I understand that our positioning of Yixin is very different. Otherwise, we can think about it separately and look back. Let’s talk again, how about it?”

Seeing that Mr. Fang was trying to pull again, Wu Yunjun didn't respond, but frowned and picked up the tea cup.

Upon seeing this, Wu Weidong, another vice president of China Unicom, immediately said dissatisfied: "Mr. Fang, what do you mean, if we can't reach an agreement, the package that China Unicom launched for you Yike will be in vain?"

"How do you call it a free launch? This is beneficial to China Unicom's market competition." Fang Zhuo looked over.

Wu Weidong was still dissatisfied: "This is obviously our sincerity and our profit cutting of the SMS business. How can it be considered advantageous in Mr. Fang's mouth?"

Fang Zhuo glanced at the senior executives of China Unicom, and several of them had signs of approval on their faces. He looked away and said decisively: "I can't say anything else. It doesn't matter if this is done here, or you can say it in front of the media. That’s what I, Fang Zhuo, said, China Unicom’s launch of data packages is beneficial and harmless!”

Wu Weidong opened his mouth, but when he saw Mr. Fang's firm look, he suddenly thought of Penguin, which had been suspended due to the plunge, and was speechless.

Mr. Fang is riding on the momentum of defeating another giant. He is talking about competition at this moment. Who can say that his judgment on the market is wrong?

Who can say this now can go back and pack his bags and go to Penguin to take office.

Seeing that China Unicom executives were silent, Fang Zhuo added: "We can't just look at the immediate benefits. China Mobile has Fetion, so it's understandable. China Unicom and Telecom must seize the opportunities in the 3G era. We really have to look at the immediate benefits. We Yi Xin might as well not give out the 880 million red envelopes this Spring Festival, it would be better to keep recruiting people and giving out bonuses.”

Wu Yunjun didn't think he was suspicious. Mr. Fang brought "Telecom" with him at this time. Could it be that he was involved again?

Seeing that no one in his family dared to take advantage of Mr. Fang's talent, he had no choice but to say: "Mr. Fang, we talked twice before the year before. You said we would talk after the year, and I agreed both times. You said China Unicom would promote packages, and I expedited it before the year. I'm pushing you, but now you only talk about China Unicom and not about Yixin, so what should I say?"

"This is..." Fang Zhuo looked at the name, "Mr. Wu mentioned it first. If he has questions, I will explain it to him. As I said just now, if we have differences in positioning Yi Xin, Then we can reach a consensus and then talk about it. Mr. Wu, I’m not upset or angry. It’s normal for investment matters not to be settled for a while. Just like when I negotiated patent acquisition with a foreign manufacturer, we talked about it for a full year. It was just done a year ago.”

He was talking about the acquisition of Qimonda's patents, which finally came to fruition years ago and took a long time.

But Wu Yunjun wants to make progress today. There was a consensus in yesterday's internal discussion that Yixin's future development will be better and better. The later the discussion, the higher the price that needs to be paid.

You have already paid the price for Mr. Fang’s delay before, so how can you trip over the same stone again?

"Mr. Fang, you have always talked about Yixin's positioning, so how do you position Yixin?" Wu Yunjun changed his style and asked directly.

"The number one instant messaging software in the future, the third instant messaging software now, and the second instant messaging software in the near future." Fang Zhuo said without hesitation.

Wu Yunjun changed his mind.

Fang Zhuo continued: "But when I am here today, I see that everyone's positioning seems to be that Yixin is just a communication software with potential. This is difficult to talk about."

Wu Yunjun considered and said: "Mr. Fang, we recognize that Yixin is now ranked third in the industry."

"Okay, just recognize it." Fang Zhuo said simply and without any hesitation, "A valuation of US$3 billion."

Wu Yunjun suddenly choked in his throat when he heard Mr. Fang's quotation, and then coughed violently.

Similarly, several China Unicom executives in the conference room choked on their tea.

$3 billion!

The $300 million directly given to Mr. Huo was added with a zero at the end! Do it on purpose!

You sincerely don’t want to talk, do you?

How long has Yixincai been established? It has been less than 5 months since the National Day last year!

"Mr. Fang, Yi Xin's goal is good, but before that happens..." Wu Yunjun stared at Mr. Fang, "You have to be more realistic, right? Are you really not interested in talking to us at all when you are raising prices like this?" "

There were different voices within China Unicom, and Wu Yunjun confirmed that this valuation could not be passed.

"We distributed 880 million red envelopes during the Spring Festival, and CCTV's Shake interaction reached 10.5 billion times. Mr. Wu, isn't this reality?" Fang Zhuo said.

"Let's talk about something more pragmatic here. Don't mention the number of interactions." Wu Yunjun frowned and asked, "How many users does Yixin have now?"

"Before the New Year's Eve Spring Festival Gala, it was 12.86 million, and after the Spring Festival Gala, it was 16.75 million." Fang Zhuo reported an accurate number of users.

Wu Yunjun felt a little more relaxed. The number of interactions was measured in 100 million, which sounded scary. Now it would be much better to talk directly about the number of users. Moreover, the 12.86 million before the Spring Festival Gala was lower than China Unicom's internal expectations for Yixin.

According to the previous official data of Yixin and the prediction of user growth, we thought it would be a base of 13 million.

However, the Spring Festival Gala event was very effective. It directly attracted close to 4 million users in a few hours, which will obviously bring more fission.

His thoughts were spinning rapidly in his mind, and he muttered: "Mr. Fang, your user base is still far behind Fetion and Penguin."

"Mr. Wu, I haven't finished speaking yet. Today is not the first day of the Lunar New Year, but the fifth day of the Lunar New Year." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "At 8 o'clock on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Yixin's number of users was 18.7 million, and at 8 o'clock on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the number of Yixin users was 20.56 million. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, it was 22.49 million, and on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, it was 24.57 million."

The increase is almost 2 million per day, which includes both the growth in downloads of original smartphones and the growth in new sales of Android phones.

During the Chinese New Year, the Android smart red envelope machine costs less than 2,000 yuan. If you buy it, you can send red envelopes. The entire Android ecosystem has benefited from this.

Before this, Yixin’s user growth per month was about 1 million.

One day is equivalent to two natural increments over the past two months.

This is the explosive growth brought about by Spring Festival Gala red envelope marketing, acquaintance fission, and media marketing!

Seeing Wu Yunjun stunned, Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea first, and then said: "I guess, at 8 o'clock tonight, Yixin's user base will reach 26.5 million."

2650-1286=13.64 million.

The number of users has doubled!

It's not simple. As long as each of the original users recruits one more person, it can be doubled...

Wu Yunjun took a breath and was stunned for a while before saying: "Penguin's plunge yesterday was really not a loss."

A wave of systemic competition. Although the secondary market is dominated by emotions, some people see that the offensive of electronic red envelopes during the Spring Festival is too fierce. Otherwise, even if it falls, it will not create the largest decline since its listing.

The conference room fell silent.

Everyone is digesting the impact of user growth from Yixin.

What was the situation before?

Although Yixin gained a foothold thanks to the Hippo incident, Penguin used QQ to divert letters, which was very steady. This gradually restored the market's confidence, but in more than four months, it rebounded with the market. The market value exceeded US$30 billion.

Events like the 3Q War were indeed sensational, but the traffic it brought to Yixin Software gradually decreased and became calm, as evidenced by the rapid decline to a monthly growth of 1 million.

On the other hand, Penguin QQ's traffic foundation is still stable and long-term. Its competing product "Laixin" is very similar to Yixin, which is quite like boiling a frog in warm water.

Yixin is free, and so are incoming letters.

Yixin "tests" that it has been read, and the incoming letter also tests that it has been read.

Yixin has been updated with built-in Yipay, and Laixin has been updated with built-in Tenpay.

What Yixin can do, Laixin can do, but the degree is different, but Yixin cannot accept unread messages from QQ friends like Laixin can.

It is very dangerous to boil a frog in such warm water, and you may be suppressed by a letter coming from behind without you realizing it.

Then, the Spring Festival came...

The letter was chopped into pieces this time!

Penguin gets off to a good start, Hong Kong stocks plummet!

Wu Yunjun was really stunned for a while. China Unicom's internal judgment on Yixin's data was completely distorted.

He even felt that the 3 billion valuation given by Mr. Fang was not that outrageous.

No, no, no, 3 billion US dollars is 20.5 billion Hua Xia coins, and 20.5 billion Hua Xia coins in less than 5 months is exaggerated no matter how you look at it!

The popularity of the Spring Festival Gala red envelopes will also pass, and Penguin will definitely not sit idly by. Yixin has indeed opened up an advantageous position, but there are still variables in whether the future prospects are "excellent" or "excellent".

As soon as Wu Yunjun pondered, China Unicom executives began to take action.

Huo Kaixiang recovered from the data shock and asked seriously: "Mr. Fang, the number of users is of course the number of users, and Yixin's prospects are very good, but I want to know, how do you plan Yixin's business model?"

Fang Zhuo glanced appreciatively at Vice President Huo, who originally proposed a valuation of 300 million. Indeed, this is where the problem lies.

Seeing Mr. Fang raise his hand to drink tea, Huo Kaixiang continued to ask: "I have noticed that Yixin is not just Yixin, it is Yixin of Yike. This Spring Festival Gala has taken advantage of the trend to promote Yipay. Mr. Fang also did it before I have publicly said that you think Yixin needs to be concise, so how does Yixin balance simplicity and business?"

So far, Yixin has not made any profit, and there is no advertising in the traditional sense. It is purely spending money.

It’s okay to spend money temporarily, but how to find profits in the future?

Yixin needs to be simple, send text messages for free, and test voice calls for free. How can this realize the commercial value of its user base?

"Mr. Huo, you asked a very good question." Fang Zhuo put down his teacup and nodded.

Huo Kaixiang was a little flattered all of a sudden, cheered up, and kept working hard: "If Yixin is Yikeli's Yixin, then this is a very good business model. Even if Yixin is not profitable, the whole will benefit, but if it is just Purely easy to believe, I think it is only half a model now, and the way out for the remaining models is temporarily a problem.”

Everyone at China Unicom is looking at Mr. Fang. This is an issue related to the valuation. Yesterday, the whole day of the meeting was devoted to discussing Yixin, but today Mr. Fang just walked out and showed off data growth that far exceeded expectations. This is considered a legitimate bargaining strategy.

"Mr. Huo sees it very clearly, but no matter how you divide it, in fact, Yixin will always be Yikeli's Yixin, and it will be supported by our entire Yike system. This is one of them." Fang Zhuo talked eloquently, "Second, this is a simple question."

“I am extremely happy to pursue the simplicity and beauty of Yixin, but I don’t have to pursue it.”

China Unicom's executives were all stunned. You...

"Let's put it this way, regarding the issue you are worried about, Yixin Guarantee can also learn from Penguin." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "We will actively explore Yixin's profit model. If it doesn't work, it will definitely be enough to support ourselves."

Huo Kaixiang: "..."

Mr. Fang’s solution seems a bit shady. You are the one who wants to fuck Penguin, how can you learn its bad habits... However, the business model does not seem to be unreasonable, with guaranteed guarantees and value-added services.

It may not be as effective as Penguin, and commercial income is indeed not a problem.

But, will Fang always do that?

Huo Kaixiang looked at Mr. Fang's calm expression and felt that this was not entirely true.

At this time, Tu Xueli, a senior executive of China Unicom, suddenly said: "The future direction of Yixin is completely in the hands of Mr. Fang. Which party always values ​​the development of Yixin more, or the development of Yike department?"

Fang Zhuo followed the sound and saw that these words were a bit heartbreaking.

"Using a high valuation to justify the president's decision, China Unicom will also have to spend resources on promotion, this kind of uncertainty..." Vice President of Business Wu Weidong continued.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly, there are many smart people.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Wu Yunjun's bright eyes and knew that this was probably not a temporary doubt.

"I have always dealt with investors a lot." Fang Zhuo did not get angry because of being questioned, but became more gentle. "Investment has risks. Investors have always kept this in mind, even if there is Yike behind Yixin. Same."

“But apart from risks, how do investors weigh whether to invest or not?”

Fang Zhuo glanced at the audience and said with a smile: "I have a good idea. Let's evaluate ourselves. Under such uncertain conditions, do you lose more by investing in Yixin, or do you lose more by not investing in Yixin?"

Everyone pondered.

"Or, let's just say this." Fang Zhuo stood up and pretended to walk out, "I want to leave now and don't want to talk anymore. Is your first reaction to hold me back and prevent me from leaving, or to send me out directly?"

Wu Yunjun sighed and acted as China Unicom's mouthpiece: "Mr. Fang, please sit down, please sit down quickly."