Reinventing the Millennium

It can't be said that Lu Zhendong had too many mood swings when he left Yike Company.

As both domestic giants, everyone is already very familiar with the style of Yike or Mr. Fang.

Yike put forward its competitor "Google" to increase its own attention. When it talked about the "default engine cooperation agreement" that has not yet been signed, it was intentionally vague and misleading. Since it has not been signed yet, then everything is definitely possible. As for final price……

500 million US dollars, who are you trying to bluff?

Lu Zhendong made a judgment in his mind and tried to verify this judgment on the way back. Speaking of this "giant", Yike may really be at a higher level...

When he returned to the capital, the news of the request was in hand.

Google and Yike do have a default engine cooperation. The figure is US$500 million over three years. There will probably be renewal negotiations this year, but it has not yet happened.

500 million in three years, which is US$166.7 million in one year, which is equivalent to almost 1.1 billion in Chinese currency per year.

Considering that this contract is for overseas markets, it is not too exaggerated, so even if the contract is renewed, there should not be an excessive increase.

Lu Zhendong returned to the company with his judgment and information and held an internal discussion. The result was that everyone had similar opinions. This was just a method used by Yike to raise prices.

So, should the price be raised? Is this cooperation worth pushing forward?

Lu Zhendong conducted a lot of communication in the next week and got approval from the head Robin. After considering various circumstances, he came up with a more sincere price.

"900 million in three years, Mr. Qi, if this cooperation is achieved, we will have greater room for cooperation in the future, including cooperation with companies such as Tesco. We can also discuss it."

Lu Zhendong picked a noon time and called Mr. Qi of Yike again.

Baidu and Yike can indeed expand a lot of cooperation in terms of traffic. Baidu has huge traffic, but... regardless of Alibaba or Yike, there is little cooperation in this area.

The main reason is that both Taobao and Tesco have blocked Baidu crawlers and prohibited Baidu from crawling user data, products and transaction data. Since then, cooperation between the giants has been interrupted.

Baidu has a much closer relationship with Penguin, because the latter went crazy buying volume when it promoted "Laixin" and "Yixin", trying to use the traffic of another giant to consolidate its position as the communications hegemon.

However, the mobile Internet seems to have changed its gameplay, and Penguin can only be eclipsed in the end.

Judging from the nature of traffic alone, Penguin and Yike control social traffic, Alibaba and Tesco control e-commerce traffic, and Baidu monopolizes content traffic.

Of course, Baidu is also the traffic king, but without its traffic, the other three giants of their own system are also living well. On the contrary, Baidu's repeated attempts to expand the boundaries have ended in failure.

"Ninety million in three years? Haha, Mr. Lu, let's talk about this matter next time." Qi He expressed his attitude using Lu Zhendong's previous words in Shanghai.

It does sound 50% higher than the 200 million a year. Maybe Baidu has made a lot of determination, but...it's more about satisfying the boss's curiosity. The cooperation between Yike and Sogou is strategic. , maybe we will still be a family in the future.

Lu Zhendong held the phone that was hung up, feeling quite solemn. The internal driving force for discussing cooperation with Yike was actually not small.

Although this year we have also signed default engine cooperation with mobile phone companies such as OPPO, but... with the wave of Conexian mobile phones and the display of Yike Mobile's strategy, the feeling that the initiative is in the hands of others has become unprecedented. Clear.

In the past, all Baidu had to do was increase its market share in the same field. Now, the entrance position on the hardware side has become more and more important, and the competition on the hardware side is difficult for Baidu to intervene.

Baidu is still the well-deserved number one in the search engine field, but the scale of challengers seems to be growing too fast.

Lu Zhendong was rejected this time. After careful consideration and discussion, he went to Robin for a separate report, and then called Mr. Qi again.

"Mr. Qi, regarding our cooperation with Yike on the default engine, I think..."

Qi He had just had a business quarrel with Liu Qiangdong. This time he received a call again and heard about the default engine. He couldn't help but ask: "What's your problem?"

It’s not that you have rejected me, I have also rejected you. You are not satisfied with my price, and I don’t agree with your price either?

Why are you still calling after half a month?

"Mr. Qi, we can speak more frankly." Lu Zhendong and his colleagues in the company had two main judgments.

The first one is that the cooperation between Yike and Sogou is just that, and it is not indestructible. Otherwise, why doesn’t Yike YMS mobile phone provide the engine replacement support that Sogou urgently needs?

The second is that Yike's current approach is to seek higher prices.

When Qi He heard the Baidu vice president's request, he patiently said, "Mr. Lu, I told you last time about our cooperation with Google. If Baidu is willing, you can follow that standard. Otherwise, forget it. No more time spent, no more talking.”

This time he made it clearer.

After hearing this answer, Lu Zhendong calmly pointed out Mr. Qi's question: "Mr. Qi, as far as I know, Yike does have a US$500 million cooperation with Google, but..."

He laughed and said the correct answer without seeing the other person answering: "But, that's US$500 million in three years, right?"

"Mr. Lu, as I said, this is the new contract we want to sign. The one you mentioned is the old contract." Qi He replied.

"Hahaha, Mr. Qi, there is no need to say more." Lu Zhendong smiled, "We are indeed sincere. I have also reported to Robin that I am willing to come to Shanghai and let's talk face to face."

Qi He: "..."

He was silent for a while, not knowing what to say.

Just, just... I am quite busy. Has Yike ever played any tricks in cooperation before?

Qi He thought of his boss, calmed down his emotions, and said sincerely: "Mr. Lu, Google has started to advance cooperation negotiations with us. It's quite happy over there. If you have time next week, you can come to see us sign the contract. "

Lu Zhendong applauded in his heart, wonderful, wonderful, this is a brand new version he heard.

He raised his voice and asked: "Google is willing to give $500 million a year?"

"No." Qi He denied.

Lu Zhendong was refreshed. Can he hear the truth?

Qi He updated the data: "Google wants to give us US$550 million a year, and it has to be signed for many years."

Lu Zhendong laughed, feeling that it was still difficult to talk about it now.

When he put down the phone, he still felt suspicious in his heart. Qi He's tone was quite determined. The question was, how could Google increase the price like this? According to Qi He, is this 5.5 initiated by Google?

It's impossible, it shouldn't be possible.

He planned to find Robin again to report the situation alone.

Qi He on the other side put his phone in his pocket and wondered for a while, was Baidu really not willing to believe it at all?

In fact, the progress of Yi Ke's negotiations with Google is indeed not as light as what he said on the phone, but the more problem is not the default search engine, but the cost of pre-installing the "Google Store".

In addition, Google is also very interested in Siri, and this time it hopes to make Siri a cooperative subsidiary to launch an Android version of the voice assistant.

The only problem with the default search engine is that Google wants to give 550 million, but Yike only wants 500 million.

But what Yike wants is 1 billion in 2 years, and we will talk about renewing the contract after two years. Google wants 2.2 billion in 4 years, and we will talk about the number of new cooperation after four years.

Yike believes that the revenue of 2+2 will be significantly greater than Google's 4, and is not willing to be bound for many years.

However, no matter what Yike and Google talk about, the basic numbers are here. It is also the confession of Qi He and Lu Zhendong. Baidu does have only one domestic market and does not need to be as expensive as overseas markets, but no matter what, it should refer to Google's Sincerity.

In addition, the brothers Yike and Sogou also have to make an explanation, and this sincerity must be well demonstrated before they can really sit down and try it.

However, Baidu has its own judgment from the first step...

On September 15, just as Qi He and his boss welcomed the arrival of the Google team in Shanghai, he briefly talked about the latest situation at Baidu.

"No, Baidu doesn't have a sense of urgency, Sogou still doesn't work." Fang Zhuo felt this way after hearing this.

Qi He nodded: "Yes, there is no company in China that can give it a sense of crisis. Sogou is in trouble."

Sogou is just a small company. Even with the support of Yike, it can only let Baidu take a look at it instead of creating a sense of crisis. Google's market share abroad is almost the same as Baidu's domestically, but the giant Microsoft has always been eyeing this aspect. .

From Live Search to Bing, Microsoft is always working hard.

This year, news leaked out that Apple, which is also equipped with Google, is negotiating with Microsoft to install Bing.

Fang Zhuo doesn't know whether Apple will be impressed by Microsoft, but Google's stake there will obviously not be lower than that of Yike. Similarly, Samsung also has a similar agreement with Google.

At the very least, at this point today, both Google and Yusanjia have the default engine agreement in effect, which also effectively guarantees its market position on the mobile side.

This kind of status is exchanged for real money and silver, and it can also be exchanged for real money.

"Speaking of which, you know Lu Qi, who is in charge of Bing at Microsoft." Fang Zhuo said, "When I was in Silicon Valley, he came to see me and mentioned the default engine cooperation."

"Then if Lu Qi is found..." Qi He's eyes lit up, wouldn't this be the best helper to raise the price?

Fang Zhuo was noncommittal: "Let's talk about it first. After all, we still have a lot of cooperation with Google."

Moreover, this time, my old friend Larry Page personally led a team to fly over for a visit. It would be too uninteresting to have a rival of Microsoft standing here.

Fang Zhuo still has a certain bottom line when it comes to friends.

Larry is also different from Schmidt in that he is more sincere.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the team led by Google CEO arrived at Yike's headquarters at No. 333, Lujiazui Ring Road, Shanghai, and visited this important partner.

At eleven o'clock, Larry sat in the president's office on the 23rd floor of Yike and expressed his apology in private.

"Mr. Fang, I know nothing about Schmidt's position in Washington, and he never communicated with me when he attended that meeting." Larry mentioned a previous meeting held in Washington to discuss ice cores. .

Google Chairman Schmidt expressed a clear stance.

The contents of this closed-door meeting have gradually leaked out in some circles. In general, Ice Core has been shackled and is also regarded as one of the factors that led to its failure to list in New York.

Fang Zhuo frowned and expanded: "It doesn't matter, I know this is not Google's position. Schmidt is not speaking as the chairman of Google, but giving his opinion as the project leader of the Pentagon."

Although the latter's identity alone cannot bring such great influence to Schmidt, let this matter go as it is. He can't do anything to Schmidt, let alone Google.

You can't make the "Prism Project" public, right?

That's not my job, and I can't get the documents.

Larry saw a strange look on Mr. Fang's face and thought that he still had complaints in his heart. He could only apologize again and then talked about the topic of his visit: "Mr. Fang, although many media think that Yike is facing some developments. However, we at Google have firm confidence in our partners and are willing to use longer-term cooperation to prove this confidence."

Google wants to sign a four-year cooperation agreement not because it wants to pay less, but because it is willing to show its confidence in cooperation.

Fang Zhuo said seriously: "Since Google has confidence in us, it must respect our development plan. We plan to become the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer in terms of shipments in two years, and we will take more from Google by then." Money, how about it? Larry, do you have confidence in us?"

Larry was stunned, shook his head and smiled: "Mr. Fang, you are really..."

"I'm very real." Fang Zhuo commented on himself. "Sometimes I offend people because of this personality. But, Larry, the cooperation between Yike and Google has lasted for nearly 6 years. We don't think like Apple." By hooking up with Microsoft, not only the company, but also me, hope that everyone’s cooperation will continue to be pleasant, what do you think?”

Larry felt that Mr. Fang was quite sincere when he spoke.

He thought about the default search engine, the store share and other cooperation he hoped to promote, and was silent.

At this time, the mobile phone on the table rang.

Fang Zhuo took one look and hung up.

The phone kept ringing.

Fang Zhuo frowned, a little puzzled.

Larry listened to the ringtone of his cell phone and couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Fang, is it inconvenient to answer the phone?"

He stood up, intending to leave Mr. Fang some alone space.

"It doesn't count." Fang Zhuo answered the phone.

He replied briefly in English, mentioning that "Google wants to renew the contract in advance" and confirming that "Larry did bring people here personally."

Larry stopped after hearing this, and his eyes became bright.

"Obviously, Google wanted to renew the contract in advance, which caught Microsoft off guard." Fang Zhuo hung up the phone and did not conceal the identity of the caller. "It was Lu Qi from Microsoft who called. Your company doesn't have enough internal confidentiality."

Larry frowned and had to mention the voice of friendship he just heard: "Mr. Fang, you just said that you would not try to hook up with Microsoft like Apple does."

Fang Zhuo said calmly: "Yes, but Microsoft is just trying to seduce us."

Larry looked at Mr. Fang's expression, was silent for a while, and agreed: "Mr. Fang, you are indeed very real."

"Don't worry, Yike has always supported Google and is willing to move forward together in the future." Fang Zhuo expressed his position, feeling a little helpless about the unexpected phone call just now.

——Qi He on the phone: Mr. Fang, in English, this is Lu Qi.

——Fang Zhuo: ...Don’t do it, I’m very real.