The headquarters of Byte Slider is in Beijing. Zuo Hao, the head of Phoenix Fund, came to visit in the morning of May 19.
Different bosses have different management styles and work and rest schedules. For example, Dong Ge from JD.com has breakfast with the senior executives at eight o'clock every morning and holds morning meetings. For example, Steve Jobs is used to taking a day off on Sundays.
, invite the senior executives out to play ball and talk about things.
Zhang Yimin was able to spare an hour on Saturday morning, so Zuo Hao took the initiative to come over for a visit. He recently took charge of the Phoenix Fund and worked very hard.
“Mr. Zuo, please sit down!” Zhang Yimin, wearing glasses and not tall, asked Zuo Hao to take a seat in the reception area of the office. The assistant brought in two cups of coffee.
He came from a technical background, so he went straight to the topic without exchanging pleasantries with Zuo Hao, "Mr. Zuo, I understand your purpose of coming. But we don't want to accept investment from Phoenix Group at the moment. In fact, we still have enough money to burn.
We just received a $1 billion financing in April."
Zuo Hao did not expect to encounter setbacks at the beginning. He smiled slightly and waited for Zhang Yimin's next words. After all, there was always a reason why Zhang Yimin was willing to see him.
Zhang Yimin took a sip of coffee and said seriously: "Mr. Zuo, I have great respect for Mr. Jing of your group. I have no intention of becoming an enemy of the Phoenix Group. Toutiao is first and foremost a news and information distribution platform. His social media and public opinion
The platform attributes are relatively weak.”
He met with Zuo Hao, the head of the Phoenix Fund, today, and he knew a lot about the Phoenix Group. For example, he knew an inside story about the "Orange Takeaway" that has been making a lot of noise recently.
Meituan’s headquarters is also in Beijing. Although he is only 35 years old this year, he has worked in the Internet industry for many years. Before founding Toutiao in 2012, he worked at Kuxun and Jiujiu.com, and briefly joined Microsoft.
It is normal for him to know some inside information.
It is said that Phoenix Fund once visited Meituan and wanted to invest some money in Meituan to ensure that its Phoenix Pay can be used in Meituan’s App. But it was rejected by Meituan Wang Xin. So Phoenix Group immediately made a strong acquisition
Baidu Takeout enters the takeout field.
Therefore, although he did not want Phoenix's investment, he still met with Zuo Hao, the head of Phoenix Fund, to explain his ideas.
He has already collapsed with Baidu and does not want to face the squeeze of another Internet giant. As for the friction with Tencent, it is still in the early stages. Tencent has invested in Kuaishou, the leading software in the short video field. But he has confidence in Douy
.
Zuo Hao's communication skills are pretty good. He smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, I will pass your words on to Mr. Jing. So, can we participate in Toutiao's next round of financing?"
Zhang Yimin hesitated for a moment and remained silent.
He has no way of knowing the specific reason why Wang Xin rejected Phoenix. But one thing is probably related to his rejection of Phoenix at this time.
When a company reaches their level, with a valuation of about US$20 billion, there is really no shortage of investment institutions to be optimistic about it. When they get money now, they not only look at the attributes of the capital, whether they side with "Alibaba" or "Tencent", but also look at the ability of the capital.
What does it bring to the development of the company?
Phoenix started out as a "shared travel" company, and they simply cannot bring greater help to the company's development.
He respects Jing Gao and does not want to offend Fenghuang, but this does not mean that he has to accept Fenghuang’s invalid investment. What’s more, Fenghuang and Ali are still hostile!
Zuo Hao smiled, put down the coffee cup in his hand, and pressed: "Mr. Zhang, Toutiao occupies the largest market share of today's news platforms. Your Toutiao account is enough to grow to compete with the meager social media.
Although Mr. Jing only spent US$2.2 billion to acquire Sina last year, the meager market value was relatively high, exceeding US$10 billion. Even though the valuation of Twitter, the same foreign software, dropped from more than US$30 billion to just over US$100,
100 million.
Even though social media has been hit by short videos, it has not been optimistic for a long time. But, Mr. Zhang, you can’t deny that this is a good business!”
Who dares to say that a company with a market capitalization of US$10 billion is not a good business? Does Toutiao really have no desire or need to expand in social media and public opinion platforms?
Not necessarily?
Zhang Yimin smiled bitterly in his heart. No one is a simple person! Zuo Hao still has two skills to be able to take charge of the Phoenix Fund. He sees the problem very accurately.
"Mr. Zuo, let me be blunt. Phoenix cannot bring more help to Byte Slide. Phoenix's main business is shared travel. If you really want to invest in Byte Slide, you will need to pay a high premium. This
I'm afraid it may not be accepted by you. In addition, your relationship with Ali is very bad, which is something I have to consider. So..."
Zuo Hao understood, stood up and shook hands with Zhang Yimin, "Mr. Zhang, thank you for taking the time to meet. Thank you!"
Zhang Yimin nodded and sent Zuo Hao out. At the end of the day, he shook his head and sighed. He didn't know how Jing Gao would react. However, facing the idea of Phoenix becoming a shareholder, he had to make his attitude clear!
That is: refuse.
…
…
Zuo Hao walked out of the headquarters of Byte Slide and was also filled with emotion. Mr. An chatted with him and asked to come and contact Byte Slide to talk about the possibility. He got the final result today.
Hi!
But at the same time, he could clearly feel Bytedance's respect for him and Phoenix Group, and even a little bit of fear. This was probably when his "rival" Han Wenguang went to Meituan to negotiate not long ago when he was in charge of Phoenix Fund.
It didn’t happen at that time, right?
It is said that Wang Xin rejected him very lightly at that time.
Today’s Phoenix Group is different from the past. After streamlining its structure and splitting its businesses, taking President Jing’s talk released by the President’s Office as the time node, Phoenix Group has become a giant in the Internet industry!
His experience today is a reflection of the brand name of the Internet giant.
He has to get busy with investing in Pinduoduo next.
…
…
Zuo Hao reported the contact situation to An Zhiwen. When Jing Gao received the call from An Zhiwen, he was drinking and chatting with Tan Qin and Wang Yuke in a private room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai.
Wang Yu is the boss of "Shengshi", and he runs Shengshi nightclub, KTV, and clubs under his name. He seems to be unassuming, and his business is a bit eccentric, but his net worth is four to five billion.
The reason for this little drink was that An Yi had a fight with a kid from the Yao family in Beijing at the Shengshi Club in Beijing, and the manager of the club got into a fight.
With Tan Qin's "mediation", Wang Yuke fired the manager and went to Beijing to apologize to Jinggao face to face and treat him to dinner. They were drinking and talking.
Jing Gao came to the capital this time mainly to treat Tan Qin to dinner. Tan Qin helped him "mediate" so that he could earn a lot of face. Of course he wanted to reciprocate. At the same time, he also wanted to make friends.
Jing Gao met Tan Qin last year. Tan Qin was very influential in Shanghai and the surrounding areas and had extensive contacts. His late fathers were once active in the political arena. The Chuxia Group he founded is valued at about 4 to 5
Ten billion.
He holds a financial salon every Wednesday in his villa, which is regarded by some in the industry as a benchmark for investment.
Human communication is like this. After being in contact with each other for a period of time, when the heat is up, the relationship will naturally deepen.
And Tan Qin called Wang Yuke over and brought two beauties to warm up the show. How long can two men chat if they don't talk about business while drinking? It's still interesting to have beauties to accompany them. It's not about drinking flower wine.
, normal communication is enough.
At their status, what kind of woman has never seen her so anxious that she would touch her while drinking? If you have any ideas, you can chat privately!
Wang Yuke's business is a little side-line, and he has a lot of beautiful women in his hands. He is also very reliable. Tan Qin is willing to support him on such occasions.
That’s right, it’s “support”.
With Jing Gao's identity, status, and power, Wang Yu might be able to get on his path, and the road would be broadened! For example, if Wang Yuke's "Shengshi Entertainment" wants to enter the nightclub market in Jinling, I guess Jing Gao would like to say hello.
can.
Both beauties are young. One has a slender figure, a timid and charming temperament, and is about 24 or 25 years old. When Wang Yuke introduced her, he laughed and said that she was an oiran in the social circle of Shanghai. The other was petite, fresh and sweet, and was ten years old.
Nine years old, studying at a prestigious university. She has fair skin and wears tight-fitting black leggings. Her legs are perky and there is no gap between her beautiful legs. You can tell she is a junior at first glance.
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The dining room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel is luxuriously decorated and has an excellent view. You can see the night view of the Huangpu River, as well as the landscape near the river, with bright lights.
"Lao An, wait a minute." Jing Gao stood up with the phone and said apologetically to Tan Qin: "Mr. Tan, I'm going out to take a call." He walked to the corridor outside the restaurant and listened to An Zhiwen sliding the byte over there.
After describing the situation again, I couldn't help but feel happy, "Lao An, I think this person's ideas are a bit childish!"
An Zhiwen laughed and said, "Mr. Jing, I respect you very much." He joked with Jing Gao.
In the "war" between Internet giants, where is the element of warmth and personal subjective will? There is no such thing as "surrender and lose half". What is pursued in this forest is winner-take-all.
Since Byte Slide has the largest domestic market share of news client software: Toutiao, and has entered the field of social media, it has substantial competition with Weibo. So, this is Zhang Yimin saying he respects Jing Gao, and he can
To prevent the Phoenix Group from squeezing his living space?
Similarly, when Toutiao exceeds the meager figure, will he show mercy to Weibo? Do you really think that a business of US$10 billion is not a piece of fat?
So, Byte Slide can either accept investment with some constraints. For example, if Tencent invests in the short video software "Kuaishou", Kuaishou promises not to engage in social networking. Or it can accept war. This is an ironclad rule of business.
Jing Gao smiled and said: "Okay. I won't say anymore. Let Weibo enter the news field and strive to provide users with high-quality news. We can also study the byte sliding algorithm model. Baidu does not have this user base.
We don’t have this flaw.”
Baidu’s mobile traffic has been stolen by Toutiao. If Baidu and Toutiao start a war, they will have to enter the news field. But does Baidu have an App with very high user stickiness? No!
A killer app is not easy to cultivate. Therefore, there is a high probability that Baidu will not be able to suppress Toutiao!
However, the meager basic user base is very large. It is currently booming, surpassing the highest market value in history, reaching more than 11 billion U.S. dollars. It has already surpassed Twitter, which was the benchmark in the past.
Since Jing Gao pays attention to this area, of course he has read relevant information and analysis. The Taichu Think Tank under his name does this. The assistants summarize the reports and various collected information, and submit a piece of information full of useful information to
he.
At present, social media such as Twitter are facing a huge dilemma: their prospects are worrying. Twitter is facing competition from Facebook in the social field, and its product Instagram defeated Twitter.
And Weibo is currently developing well and taking off for the second time, but all analysis reports point out that it is facing competition in the short video field.
This business model is easy to understand. Social media such as Weibo and Twitter retain users. If the number of daily active users is very high, then there will be advertisers to advertise, and the revenue of social media will rise sharply.
If all users play short videos, the revenue from social media such as Weibo and Twitter will plummet.
Twitter is still in civil strife and has no future plans. After the acquisition by Phoenix Group, Weibo continued the strategy set by the previous management team, moving from social media platforms to vertical subdivisions and deeply cultivating content.
The segmented fields are: food, e-commerce, education, variety shows, regional bloggers, sports, humor, emotions, and TV series.
In fact, to sum it up, there are three words to evaluate the meager strategy: entertainment!
The current internal strategy of Weibo is to continue its entertainment strategy and incubate its own short video business.
Their news business is actually provided by Sina's mobile app. If Weibo gets involved in the news field, it will actually be conflicting. It's hard to say among the board of directors and the team. But Jing Gao has no such worries. He has already completed the review of Sina
Take control and become a major shareholder.
If you are not convinced, hold it in and stop talking!
He is not concerned about the survival of portal websites with a market capitalization of less than 5 billion US dollars. Sina App accounts for a very low proportion of news clients. If Sina and Weibo compete, they will compete! This is not a bad thing.
Obviously, meagerness is the battleground. It will be an important starting point for Phoenix Group to attack the first position on the Internet.
“Okay, Mr. Jing.”
Jing Gao hung up the phone and returned to the private room in the restaurant.
Jing Gao didn’t know that he had inadvertently made a good move. The value of making a news client is actually far more meager than a social platform with the current business model of Twitter.
Toutiao completed its Series F financing on October 20, 2018. The valuation given by the capital was US$75 billion.
After the civil unrest ended, Twitter immediately transformed, weakening the nature of its social platform and focusing on providing users with news. Their label in the Apple store changed from "Social" to "News". As of September 6, 2019,
Twitter’s market capitalization returns to peak!
From the current market value of US$11 billion in 2017, the market value has soared three times to US$35.029 billion.
The market value of Weibo, which will focus on entertainment in the future, was only US$10.028 billion on December 28, 2020.