He was familiar with it, and he wouldn't just pretend to be Robin Li outside, so he really went to the bear factory to say hello before he came.
Yang Luyu and Zhu Jun were even more surprised now.
In addition to the Facebook they just mentioned, there are other major companies that have extended an olive branch to them, but Xiong Factory seems to be the farthest one, and it cannot be connected with short videos no matter how you look at it.
But since Lin Yi said this, we can only take it seriously, and if we think about it carefully, it seems that Xiong Factory is not completely impossible.
We have money, people, and technology.
Musically did not seriously consider Lin Yi as a potential acquisition target at first, and was willing to meet just to show respect for him.
After taking out the Xiong Factory card, Lin Yi finally got the ticket.
However, Musically's acquisition negotiations have been going on for a long time and involve many aspects. It cannot be settled in one or two meetings. Lin Yi does not expect to win it on the spot in one go.
At least, he already knew who his opponent was after entering the game.
It is true that Musically received an offer from Facebook, but the other party’s offer was an all-cash acquisition. If the deal was concluded, Yang Luyu, Zhu Jun and even their team would be out of the game.
Moreover, Facebook was the first to bid, and its internal attitude toward music short videos seemed to have changed. After a long delay, it was not so determined to win this target.
So the two companies Musically is currently talking about are both domestic short video companies.
Among them, the major shareholder of Kuaishou is the famous Goose Factory. It is said that their participation in the bidding for Musically was authorized by Xiao Ma himself.
The other family was not an outsider either. They were barely friends with Lin Yi, and they made an appointment with him as soon as they learned the news.
Zhang Yiming, looks like the same as last time.
Lin Yi and this person are not social experts. They have not seen each other again since the dinner in Wuzhen arranged by Wang Xing.
However, the outside world often refers to them together in the name of "BMW", and there are also inexplicable marketing claims that they have "a very close personal relationship."
This time Zhang Yiming did not come to Lin Yi to chat or reminisce about old times. He acted in a business-like manner and introduced another companion he had brought with him.
"Liu Zhen, Byte's senior vice president, she is responsible for the acquisition of Musically. You should not be strangers to each other."
People named Liu are really everywhere.
This is Liu Qing’s cousin, the former head of regional strategy at Uber, who left shortly after the merger of Uber and Dudu.
When she left, Liu Qing had not yet lost control of Dudu, and was eventually forced to merge with Wanli Travel, otherwise he would have become Lin Yi's former subordinate.
"Boss Lin, I have long admired your name."
Lin Yi was quite curious about what she heard about her reputation, and I was afraid that it was probably not a good thing.
However, instead of hitting the smiling man, Lin Yi shook his hand decently.
Zhang Yiming didn't exchange much greetings. After getting to know each other, he said straight to the point:
"Lin Yi, you should know very well why we came to visit today. I don't understand why you want to get involved in Musically's affairs?"
Although his tone was not an accusation, it was still cold. If any outsiders saw it, they probably wouldn't think that he and Lin Yishui were good friends.
Lin Yi took his time and roughly recounted the reasons he had explained to Yang Luyu and Zhu Jun.
Zhang Yiming frowned more and more as he listened.
There is an information asymmetry here in that Zhang Yiming does not understand what happened between Lin Yi and his senior sister, so this reason sounds a bit childish to him.
So he concluded that Lin Yi was either teasing him or had some other ulterior secret.
Liu Zhen on the side spoke at the right time, saying things for Zhang Yiming that it was not convenient for him to say directly.
"Lin Yi, with all due respect, I think you have a biased view of the music short video industry, or at least Music itself."
"Musically is valuable to us, but it doesn't mean that anyone can play this value after taking over."
"It has a high number of users in the United States and looks promising, but why is it seeking to sell?"
"Because Musically's growth in the United States has hit a bottleneck, there has been little progress or even some losses in the past year."
"And it has lagged far behind us and similar products owned by Block Shou in China. There is at least a hundred times the gap in the number of users."
"Not to mention that you have no experience in this aspect after traveling thousands of miles. Even with the addition of the Bear Factory, I don't see what you have the ability to reverse this situation."
Of course Lin Yi knew all these things. He asked: "If this is the case, then why are you so determined to acquire it?"
Zhang Yiming answered him personally: "Byte has no competitors in China, and its next goal will be to go overseas, and the acquisition of Musically can greatly accelerate this process."
"However, I must emphasize that it is not necessary for him."
Pretty crazy.
If it weren't for his experience in his previous life, Lin Yi would have been frightened by his tone, but he didn't intend to recognize him just like that.
"You said that Byte has no rivals in China. Others may have different views on this, such as Li Robin from Xiong Factory."
How did Lin Yi trick Robin Li into the acquisition of Musically?
Just to cause trouble for Zhang Yiming.
Xiong Factory has suffered greatly in the past two years. If spending a little money can hinder the development of Byte, Robin Li will definitely be happy to see the results.
Of course, this matter can be easily entrusted to Lin Yi because Xiong Factory's investment in Wanli Travel has brought unprecedented returns.
Zhang Yiming really found it difficult. If Xiong Chang was determined to get involved, and Lin Yi was just an agent, then the matter might not be easy to resolve.
To this end he came up with a plan.
"Lin Yi, I heard that you and your partner just cashed out a sum of money. If you want to find an investment outlet for yourself, I can give it to you."
"Whether it's Byte itself, or we separately open up a part of the equity to you after acquiring Musically, it's no problem."
"To be honest, I'm not worried about the threat Musically will pose to me if it comes into your hands. I just don't want such a good product to be wasted."
"If you quit, everything I just said is valid."
This was a private occasion, so Zhang Yiming spoke very bluntly or without scruples, but Lin Yi did not follow his lead.
Lin Yi was indeed tempted a little when Zhang Yiming said that he could open up Byte's equity to him. This should be the easiest way to increase his wealth.
Leave Musically to him, do nothing, and just sit back and wait for the value to increase in the next few years.
But Lin Yi did not forget what his purpose was. Again, the increase in paper wealth was not his only goal.
"You just said that Musical would be ruined if it got into my hands. I'm afraid we have different views on this matter."
"As for who is right and who is wrong between the two of us, let time verify it."
Strictly speaking, Lin Yi did not intend to run Musically himself. This was something he prepared for his senior sister, but Zhang Yiming did not need to know those details.
All he needed to know was that Lin Yi rejected his kindness.
"In this case, I'm afraid we can't be friends anymore."