Chapter 199: Technology in the middle, poison pill plan finally launched!
Monday, May 16th.
As the saying goes: Some people are happy and some are sad.
Renyu's depression turned into worries about happiness when it came to Zhang Shuo. He did not expect that Zhao Xiaohu's excavator drove so smoothly that he almost hollowed out the Tenda WeChat project team.
Qinghe Technology added so many developers at once, making senior brother Wang Yan's situation even more embarrassing.
Many of the people who came were the backbone developers of the WeChat project.
There are even two industry giants.
"How about, Senior Brother, come to Sprout Holdings and serve as the director of the technology center, responsible for the preparation of the Sprout Technology Center?" Zhang Shuo suggested with a smile.
He didn't do it on a whim.
With the rapid expansion of Qingcheng Technology in the past few months, coupled with the complex and changing external environment faced by Qingcheng Technology, the shortcomings of Qingcheng Technology's own weak technological development capabilities have become increasingly exposed.
After all, it is a new company that has only been separated for less than half a year.
Moreover, Qingcheng Retail itself is not a “parent company” that is strong in development.
There are two solutions.
The first is to make up for the technical shortcomings of Qingcheng Technology and equip it with a stronger development team.
The second is to activate the sprout holding technology center so that it can truly play the supporting role of the holding company's technology center and provide comprehensive technical services to Qingcheng Technology, Qinghe Technology, Qingyun Data and other subsidiaries.
Zhang Shuo obviously chose the latter.
Because with the rapid expansion of the scale of the budding department, the establishment of a technical middle office is a step that must be taken sooner or later. Just as Wang Yan is facing job adjustments, the technical middle office has a suitable helmsman.
Wang Yan cannot be transferred to Qingcheng Technology.
Of course, Zhang Shuo did not say that he would directly promote Wang Yan to the position of chief technology officer of Germination Holdings.
Even Zhao Mingchuan is only the operations director.
With the establishment of Maili Technology, Sprout is no longer a pure Internet company. Its technology spans two different fields: the Internet and manufacturing. It is difficult to set up a chief technology officer position.
No one can be proficient in technology development in multiple fields at the same time.
Even within Qinghe Technology, when Zhao Mingchuan was promoted to general manager, the position of chief operating officer was abolished and replaced by the director of operations.
In terms of organizational structure, it should be as level as possible with other subsidiaries.
Same reason.
If Wang Yan raises the position of Germination Holdings this time, Qinghe Technology will no longer have a chief technology officer position and will replace it with a technical director position.
"Can."
Wang Yan agreed readily. Although some outsiders called him the father of Wei Xin, Wang Yan knew very well in his heart that Zhang Shuo was the soul of Wei Xin.
The title of Wei Xin's father will only make Wang Yan's face get hot.
Therefore, Wang Yan did not have much regret about no longer leading the development of Weixin. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked forward to making more achievements in new fields.
Moreover, the position of Director of the Technology Center of Sprout Holdings is also very tempting.
At least I got a promotion.
"In addition to providing technical support to the subsidiaries of Germination, the technology center also has a very important responsibility, which is to serve as an incubator for new projects. The development tasks are actually no easier than at Qinghe Technology, so you have to be mentally prepared.
"Zhang Shuo reminded with a smile.
"Project incubator?"
This was the first time Wang Yan heard of such a thing.
"Look at this."
Zhang Shuo didn't explain much and directly handed over a planning document.
It contains the three main software that he expected to use to implement the poison pill plan, namely Panda Live, Motu Xiuxiu and Frog Browser. The development difficulty is not low.
Once the software is developed, it can be handed over to an independent subsidiary for operation.
After the operation reaches a certain scale and a certain market share is obtained, venture capital can be introduced, or it can be simply packaged and sold to giants such as Qiandu and Ali.
It can not only relieve the external pressure of sprouting, but also bring very considerable financial returns to sprouting.
Why not?
"You are trying to make me a software dealer." After reading the plan, Wang Yan's scalp went numb.
Isn't this just not easy?
It’s basically killing him, okay?!
"Then do you want to do it or not? Each project has its own project bonus, and it is very rich." Zhang Shuo is simply a devil, directly attacking Wang Yan's weakness.
"Dry!"
Wang Yan was stunned instantly.
Who told him that he still owed Zhang Shuo five million in "mortgage"? In addition, his wife was pregnant, and the family was about to have a gold-eating beast. He had no choice but to give in for five buckets of rice.
For the prize, I will work hard no matter what.
"But I also have a condition. I want to transfer some developers from Qinghe Technology to join the technology center." With such a heavy development task, Wang Yan must have a development team that can be used smoothly.
"no problem."
Zhang Shuo readily agreed, "You can even transfer some of the developers who switched jobs from Tenda this time to the technology center to enrich the talent pool of the technology center."
In order to make room for Zhao Xiaohu, Zhang Shuo transferred the two giants Zhao Mingchuan and Wang Yan away from Qinghe Technology one after another. They were already worthy of Zhao Xiaohu, and now there are a large number of direct descendants of Zhao Xiaohu.
You really can't help but be careful.
Although the two parties have signed a strict non-competition agreement, Zhang Shuo does not want Qinghe Technology to become an independent kingdom where Zhao Xiaohu has the final say.
That's never a good thing.
"Okay!"
Wang Yan is also a smart person, he knows everything at once.
"Then it's settled."
There was no need to be polite with my senior brother Zhang Shuo, they settled the matter in a few moments.
…………
Just when Zhang Shuo was adjusting the personnel of Qinghe Technology, good news came one after another from the beautiful country.
First, Cao Yanhua announced the good news.
He has finalized the main contract terms with EPIC and is expected to complete the signing within a week.
Major internal cooperation includes:
Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment invested US$65 million to purchase 10.5% of EPIC’s issued share capital, and also enjoys priority in subsequent purchases of share capital, as long as it does not touch the 50% red line.
Original time and space.
In July 2012, Tenda acquired 48.4% of the issued share capital of EPIC for US$330 million.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The acquisition cost is almost the same.
The acquisition cost of Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment was slightly lower at US$5 to 6 million, also due to the different timing.
With the involvement of Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment in EPIC, it will be exponentially more difficult for Tenda to invest in EPIC. In addition, Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment enjoys priority investment rights.
It basically means announcing that Tengda is destined to miss EPIC in this life.
It can also be regarded as a kind of revenge for Tenda’s previous interference with Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment’s purchase of Riot Games’ mobile game image license.
Come out and hang out.
Sooner or later you will have to pay it back!
At the same time, Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment will invest another US$5 million to jointly establish a subsidiary in Binhai City with EPIC, with each party holding 50% of the shares and jointly responsible for developing the Chinese market.
The subsidiary will also cooperate with Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment on the development of the "Black Myth" engine.
It can be said.
Cao Yanhua's trip basically achieved all the goals he set before.
The price paid is that all of Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment’s estimated profits of more than 400 million in May will be invested in this investment, and basically no profit returns will be brought to the holding company.
Maybe it will cost another 10 to 20 million.
As the level of entrepreneurship increases, the system's algorithm for experience value becomes more and more intelligent. There is no need for Zhang Shuo to play the trick of "subsidiaries hand over profits to the holding company, and then the holding company allocates funds".
For example, if the funds invested in EPIC this time are directly allocated from Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment's account, and the profits generated by Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment that month are used, the system will automatically calculate double the experience value of "profit expenditure".
Zhang Shuo will not suffer a loss.
At this point, Jade Bird Interactive Entertainment has become the first independent first-level subsidiary of Sprout to invest in foreign countries.
This is also a step that must be taken sooner or later.
Although it is said that Sprout Holdings has established an investment and mergers and acquisitions department, as the business lines of subsidiaries continue to expand, it is impossible to say that all investment and acquisitions must be handled by the holding company itself.
Like Qingcheng Technology’s previous acquisition of a local group buying website, the investment and M&A department only played a supporting role.
Sooner or later, each subsidiary will develop independently.
…………
On the other side, with Lu Kai taking control of Beautiful Country, negotiations with the Thieves Group have also made breakthrough progress.
The two parties have signed a cooperation framework agreement.
The rest is a piece-by-piece negotiation of the cooperation details and contract details.
According to the framework agreement, the international investment bank headed by Pirates Group will lead the Series A financing of WiChat, a subsidiary of Jiaoyang Holdings located in the beautiful country, investing US$450 million to obtain 55% of WiChat's shares.
First round of financing.
Jiaoyang Holdings surrendered its controlling stake in WiChat.
The reward is that the newly founded WiChat company not only skipped the angel round of investment, but also was valued at US$800 million during the Series A round of financing.
It can be said to be a record.
The international investment bank headed by Pirates Group can be so generous not only because Jiaoyang Holdings has given up enough shares, but also because Weixin has gained market recognition in China.
This has raised WiChat’s valuation in disguised form.
There is no need to go through rounds of financing like many startups.
if things go well.
WiChat will basically be ready to go public after one or two rounds of financing.
so.
From the perspective of the Thief Saint Group, this is also a very cost-effective investment.
At the same time, the cooperation framework also specifically stipulated that of the US$400 million received by WiChat Company in its Series A financing, US$200 million will be used to acquire the WiChat products from Qinghe Technology.
The remaining US$250 million is the company's subsequent operating expenses.
It's equivalent to saying.
No matter how much return Jiaoyang Holdings can get from WiChat in the future, at least as soon as the cooperation comes into effect, Sprout will earn a net profit of US$200 million.
It's enough.
In order to persuade the Pirate Saint Group to speed up the negotiation process, after getting Zhang Shuo's approval, Lu Kai even made concessions on the nomination of the company's CEO.
Willing to accept someone from the Pirate Saint Group to be the CEO of WiChat.
Don't do it this way.
It is also difficult to gain the trust of these international capital giants in a very short period of time.
After this magical operation, Jiaoyang Holdings will transform from WiChat's parent company to one of WiChat's investment companies.
Basically, I will no longer interfere with the daily operations of WiChat Company, and just wait for the listing to make profits from now on.