Wall Street Legend

Chapter 131 Good News and Bad News (221)

Ye Dongqing is not an expert in the company's strategic layout, but by looking back at Apple after its success, it is easy to find some deficiencies by checking for deficiencies.

Leaving aside other things, he obviously cannot be satisfied with the appearance design of Apple products. Compared with other companies of this era, it is good, but it is not perfect yet.

I finished the visit solemnly, keeping some thoughts deep in my heart and not speaking out.

Considering the size of the funds in my hands now, it is better to let Apple continue to be confused for the time being. Anyway, there are no strong competitors. It doesn't matter if I give development suggestions later. It will be more cost-effective to wait until the shareholding ratio increases, otherwise it is just Let Apple's other shareholders make money for nothing.

Ye Dongqing unexpectedly received a call from a headhunting company, saying that he wanted to discuss something with him in person. Thinking that he had found a clue, Ye Dongqing immediately ended the visit, said goodbye, asked for specific directions, and drove to ManpowerGroup. Silicon Valley Division.

As one of the largest headhunting companies in the United States, the previous recruitment expansion plan of Freshwater Fund was just realized through ManpowerGroup, and the service quality is very guaranteed.

It was about three kilometers away from Apple's headquarters. Because Ye Dongqing didn't know the way, it took him more than ten minutes to find it. He parked the rented Ferrari downstairs, took the keys and went upstairs.

Mr. Alfred was also there. When he saw Ye Dongqing, his face looked a little ugly and he said first, I have good news and bad news. Boss, which one do you want to hear?

...Bad news.

Someone has already developed an online calling program that is said to be great and will be put into use in the near future.

What about the good news?

The good news is that those people are not strong enough. Estonians, if you are willing to spend money, you may be able to buy it directly, or develop a similar product first. Considering the development cycle, its scale should not be very large by then. Big,” Mr. Alfred said.

Ye Dongqing looked away from him and asked another black man in the office, Is the news accurate?

We can be sure because colleagues over there in Europe told me that someone is selling this program, which has aroused the vigilance of several communication companies, and they don't want their business to be disrupted.

The middle-aged black man stretched out his hand to Ye Dongqing and introduced himself: Call me Jaden. I just talked to you on the phone. If you think it is necessary, I can ask my colleagues to help you contact those Estonians, but they almost don't. He may come to New York because he once developed an online sharing tool called KaZaA, and he will face prosecution if he comes to the United States.

Ye Dongqing only knew the name of this tool, but he had never used it before. He said with a headache: You'd better ask for me. If you are willing to sell it, I will pay for their team and technology, but the asking price must not be too high.

Okay, I will contact them as you wish, but if the negotiation is successful, the fee will be higher than previously agreed, OK?

Of course, just tell me the fee standards in advance...

Having a ready-made company in front of him is good news for Ye Dongqing. This can save development time and eliminate uncertainty in the development process. The only problem that worries him is that it costs money. Recently, Money is tight.

After asking, he learned that, as expected, the name of the program was Skype, which was a program he was very familiar with. In order to avoid being monitored by agencies such as the CIA or the National Security Agency, Ye Dongqing used it a lot in the past to talk. Business is very familiar.

After Skype came out for a while, young people no longer used traditional calling methods with high phone charges. So much so that the chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission said: When I downloaded Skype, I realized that the era of traditional communication is over. People can use it to communicate with anyone. The era of traditional communications where one person can talk for free and with excellent call quality is coming to an end and the world will inevitably change.

There are more than one or two traditional industries that have been impacted by the Internet, such as typewriters, greeting card companies, retailers, etc., but while the changes have also created huge job opportunities, European communication companies have become vigilant because of this product. It didn't surprise Ye Dongqing, after all, no one wanted to see their interests diminished.

As long as those communication service providers show even a little bit of interest, it means that Ye Dongqing's acquisition price will increase. Those communication service providers in the previous life who did not contact Europe may be because of his arrival. changed the trajectory of development.

Try to contact them first. If you think it is not cost-effective, then find someone to develop it yourself slowly. Anyway, there is no rush.

Seeing that Ye Dongqing was thinking, Mr. Alfred came over and whispered: Our company added 140,000 registered users yesterday! The news we just received this morning almost paralyzed the temporary server. There were 100,000 more registered users. About a dozen new messages!”

So many? Ye Dongqing raised his eyebrows. This number is really good.

Yes, mainly because there are several forums that have launched our ads and attracted many new users. The effect of advertising is indeed different. If this trend continues, we will soon change to a more advanced server. Yes. Mr. Alfred continued in a low voice: I will personally go to Oracle to urge you later.

He nodded and said nothing.

Facebook had just started, and Ye Dongqing was worried that word would spread to Jaden's ears. In the Internet industry, ideas were the most valuable, and there was no guarantee that they would not be copied. The small company still needed time to develop and operate, and even if it took the initiative for one more day, it would be good.

So far, development, site, staff expenses, etc. have cost Ye Dongqing more than two million U.S. dollars. Now the average monthly salary of the more than 50 employees is as high as more than 5,100 U.S. dollars, which means that he spends nearly Three hundred thousand dollars, not counting medical insurance, social security, etc. The salary of software engineers is generally higher. Otherwise, if the bubble collapses, the labor costs will be even higher.

The bulk of the expenses are the relatively advanced server and the data management system developed by Oracle. The other part is the money that will be spent during this advertising period. As long as users can be retained and Facebook can develop, these expenses will be worth it.

Speaking of American bosses, since the government has a set of mandatory social security plans and adopts a pay-as-you-go payment method, active employees and employers each pay a payroll tax of 6.2% to maintain pension operations. , so the pressure is quite high.

Every company saves money when it can, and I like the kind of employees who can support several people the most. In terms of medical insurance, the company and employees each pay a proportion of it. Ye Dongqing provides good benefits to employees, and pays almost 7%. 10% of medical insurance, even so, the employees' life is still very hard.

Take a seemingly prosperous senior programmer, for example, with an annual salary of almost 100,000 U.S. dollars, a monthly salary of about 9,000 U.S. dollars, a monthly income tax withholding of more than 2,000 U.S. dollars, and medical insurance of more than 100 U.S. dollars. If he owns a house, he also has to pay two dollars for the mortgage. About a thousand dollars, plus real estate taxes, home insurance, utility bills, gas bills, car insurance, other expenses, etc., it is almost impossible to save money.

If you have children, you also need to add school bus fees, interest classes, private study tuition, etc. This is the so-called American middle class. The dollars earned are valuable, but the expenses are also huge.

Ye Dongqing is expected to spend a lot of money on advertising this time. Fortunately, the number of users has exploded and the money has not been wasted. It is not yet clear whether he can retain people, but since he can develop according to this model in his previous life, in this life There is no reason that it won't work in Ye Dongqing's hands.

Compared with Xiao Zha, Ye Dongqing can invest more funds in the early stage and use the money to purchase promotion channels, thus increasing the number of new users.

They were just about to leave when they heard an argument coming from outside. A tall young woman was yelling something and saying she wanted the money back.

Alfred asked with interest: What's going on?

To ruin the company's image, Mr. Jarden sounded slightly embarrassed and replied: It's okay. This beautiful woman wants to find a job through us, but the requirements are quite demanding. She must get a million dollars as soon as she gets to work. In fact, Nan The degree from the University of California is not bad, but you also know, who would be willing to spend a million dollars for no reason?

There is a modeling company that is willing, but the other party has made some unreasonable demands. Now she is planning to sue the other party for sexual harassment. As far as I know, her boss just asked a few questions and did not really do anything. Our company is also now Bad luck follows.

With his back to Ye Dongqing all the time, he hasn't seen what he looks like yet, but since he can be spotted by a model agency, his appearance should not be much different.

It was none of their business. After signing the commission agreement, when he walked out of Mr. Jaden's office, he looked at this woman curiously. She was still very young, and her profile was very good, a bit like the Hollywood actress Angelique. Na Jolie, no wonder someone is willing to pay a million dollars to get her, and she can be packaged casually and sent to become a star.

Unfortunately, this temper seemed to be a bit hot. Ye Dongqing patted Mr. Alfred and told the old pervert who had just stolen something to stop looking, and they went out together in his car to leave.

I ordered three cars through the bank some time ago, but so far none of them have been delivered to Ye Dongqing. People who have no money think that this kind of sports car is very valuable, but in the eyes of the rich, it is more like a cool big toy.

The driving was uncomfortable, and with Alfred showing the way, they went to Oracle to inquire about the server. This kind of small business was no longer qualified for the famous Silicon Valley playboy Mr. Larry Ellison to personally come to receive him. It takes as long as it takes to finish. It is estimated that it will take about one and a half months to get the server and supporting software.

That night, Ye Dongqing walked to a bar, planning to have another two drinks before going to bed.

It was really not intentional. The girl he met at the headhunting company during the day happened to sit next to him.