Reinventing the Millennium

On September 10, Medical Chairman Fang Zhuo held consecutive meetings at Jinmao 23 to discuss the company’s future development direction, with the intention of directly getting involved in e-commerce without securing an agent.

At the same time, Taobao, the main player in the e-commerce market, is also studying market development.

At the beginning of the year, Alibaba received US$102 million in financing led by SoftBank and began to vigorously develop its C2C business. Now in September, Ma Chen is negotiating with SoftBank for the company's fourth round of financing.

On this day, he held a meeting in Lin'an, mainly to boost morale.

"Last year, our Taobao transaction volume was 22 million. By the end of this year, we are expected to exceed 1 billion!"

"Facts have proven that our C2C model is the best solution in China."

"eBay is going to lose!"

Ma's speech received unanimous applause from everyone.

From 22 million last year to 1 billion expected to be exceeded this year, what a multiple of increase!

45 times!

How can this kind of growth not be exciting?

End of the meeting.

Ma Chen and Cai Chongxin stayed in the conference room.

Unlike his impassioned appearance at the meeting, Ma Chen's expression in private seemed quite solemn, as he was running out of money.

The reason why Taobao can have such a huge increase is that the funds behind it are burning quite wildly. The US$102 million raised at the beginning of the year is what drives Taobao's development.

Since its establishment in 2003, Ma Ren has shouted the slogan "no profit for three years".

Thanks to this, firstly, with the support of Alibaba, and secondly, with the infusion of external financing, Taobao, which does not try to make a profit, has indeed developed rapidly, but it also has a great thirst for funds.

"I will go to Tokyo on Saturday." Tsai Chongxin said solemnly, "SoftBank should be fine."

Ma Zhen nodded. SoftBank is now the largest financial backer. It is precisely because of eBay's failure in the Japanese market that Son firmly believes that eBay is also unlikely to achieve local success in China.

Although there is no specific data yet, Ma Chen believes that the market share of e-commerce has significantly reversed this year.

He is confident that next year Taobao's C2C will be able to completely set the order for the domestic market - as long as the capital chain can continue to operate.

Tsai Chongxin thought for a while and felt that even if he could get another investment from SoftBank at the end of the year, the problem might still not be completely solved.

He suggested: "How about Mr. Ma, we'll see what happens at the end of the year and we can have a chat with Mr. Fang?"

Tsai Chongxin has a very good impression of Yi Ke Fangzhuo. He had exchanges with him at the Internet Industry Development Conference in Shanghai last year and felt that introducing his power would be a mutually beneficial thing.

Moreover, I also heard that Yike is very interested in e-commerce, but the investment in Dangdang was not reached a while ago.

Ma Chen looked hesitant: "He is not an easy person to deal with. If we wait a little longer, we will get money from SoftBank at the end of the year and kill eBay first. Then even if we go to Yike, we will have more leverage to negotiate."

Tsai Chongxin also agrees with this assessment.

Companies that want to introduce other forces must consider their behavior. In particular, whether the other party agrees with Taobao's current strategy is something that must be paid attention to.

But he also felt that Mr. Fang was not a person who could not communicate.

"Okay, if there is no better choice next year, I will talk to Mr. Fang first, so there is room for maneuver." Cai Chongxin said.

Ma Dan nodded and said nothing more, but some thoughts in his heart were still changing.

…

On the afternoon of September 10, Penguin’s team arrived in Xiangjiang, where the company will announce its listing three days later.

Ma Huateng stood in a hotel next to Victoria Harbor, looking out at the bustling city scenery, but what he was thinking about was the surging e-commerce competition in the mainland.

"Dangdang is doing it, Amazon is doing it, Taobao is doing it, and eBay is doing it. E-commerce is an era not to be missed."

Ma Huateng said with emotion to the vice president next to him: "I heard that President Fang of Yike also wanted to enter the e-commerce market a while ago, but unfortunately he was blocked. He has always been keen on the development of the Internet, and we cannot fall behind."

The vice president said steadily: "Next year, our blog will be launched for internal testing, and our C2C website will also be launched. We have so many users, we will definitely succeed."

Ma Huateng nodded: "I also have this confidence."

The company is sitting on huge traffic, and how to effectively convert this traffic has always been a key issue. If you solve one part, Penguin can go public. If you solve many parts, Penguin can rule the roost.

Now that other domestic companies are exploring first, Penguin can naturally learn valuable experiences for progress based on traffic.

Blogs are an example.

E-commerce is also an example.

There will be many more examples in the future.

…

On the evening of September 10, Baidu’s Beijing headquarters.

Li Yanhong welcomed the Goldman Sachs team and discussed the company's listing prospects with them.

Time is a bit tight this year, and he also wants to rely on the full-year performance to get a better stock price. Therefore, both parties prefer to go public next year.

But preparations can already be carried out in advance.

"We can start a road show in December, from Hong Kong to Singapore, then to Chicago and New York." Chen Huiyao, vice president of Goldman Sachs in China, said with a smile, "This route is similar to the route of Yike's listing. I was in charge of it at the time. They The effect is very good.”

Li Yanhong nodded and asked: "Mr. Chen, which one do you think has a higher market value, ours or Yike's?"

Chen Huiyao pondered for a while: "The new models released by Yike in the United States have been well received, but Baidu's market feels bigger, so it's hard to say."

Li Yanhong smiled: "It seems that Yike's stock will continue to rise?"

"It should be that it has been hovering around the issue price for a long time." Chen Huiyao said, "Yike's pricing is very good, and Baidu's road show pricing can be studied again."

Li Yanhong nodded.

In comparison, he is actually more concerned about Google, which was successfully listed last month. Its listing price was not as high as expected, but its price-to-earnings ratio of 80 times and its stock price of US$23 billion also made Baidu happy.

When Baidu goes public in the future, it must benchmark itself against similar companies, and Google has already given examples to investors.

However, now that Google has shown a strong interest in the Chinese market, this is a problem that Baidu has to solve and a battle that it has to fight.

…

September 10, midnight.

Sohu's Zhang Chaoyang was sweating all over from dancing. He attended a friend's party today and had a great time.

He even went on stage to sing a song.

Zhang Chaoyang drank two glasses of wine to quench his thirst, and waved to the people looking at him: "Oh, keep singing and dancing."

The music is loud and the dancing is captivating.

Zhang Chaoyang was filled with joy and great wishes.

Sohu can also get involved in the entertainment industry. It can sign artists, package them, and release albums and records for them.

What is this called?

This is called making full use of the powerful interactive communication characteristics of the Internet, and creating an entertainment model that is different from the past at multiple levels through both self-creation and cooperation.