"This is my successor Ryan, who previously served as senior director of operations at Facebook."
Ma Jun introduced the blond and blue-eyed white man in his thirties to Zhang Yida.
Zhang Yida shook hands with Ryan and said with a smile: "Thank you for the shooting team you sent over. It helped me a lot."
Rui En also smiled and said, "If I knew there was a big dinner to be had, I would come over and have a meal too."
After several people sat down in the office, Zhang Yida asked Ma Jun: "Have you considered it? Are you really going to Europe?"
Ma Jun nodded and said: "Musical.ly has more than 20 million registered users, which basically accounts for 6% of the U.S. population.
Growth is already very slow. It’s time to move to Europe.”
"I originally wanted to transfer you back to China." Zhang Yida sighed and added: "Since you have made the decision to go to Europe, I also support you. Good men have ambitions all over the world!"
"Ma, I support you too. You will definitely be able to achieve great results in Europe."
Zhang Yida glanced at Rui En and thought, of course you support him. If he doesn't leave, who will make room for you?
However, it is always a good thing for Ma Jun to explore the European market.
“Are the main users of Musical.ly still teenagers?”
Faced with Zhang Yida's question, Rui En nodded and said: "It is mainly teenagers aged 12-18 years old. There are also users of other age groups, but the proportion is much lower."
Zhang Yida frowned, Musical.ly cannot be tagged. Otherwise it will be difficult to change the key later.
How many teenagers are there? The ratio is too small, and the business liquidity is also poor.
“Have you ever thought of some ways to reach other age groups?”
Ryan replied: "I have thought about it, but the results are not ideal."
"However, recently some famous celebrities have also joined our Musical.ly." Ryan added.
"This is pretty good. However, our focus is still on discovering grassroots celebrities." Zhang Yida knows that the so-called star effect is just that, and the focus of short videos is to create "Internet celebrities".
"I know this. We already have several celebrities with millions of fans on our platform, including 16-year-old Baby Ariel, 15-year-old Jacob Sartorius, and 13-year-old boy Sartorius.
Beckham’s son, 12-year-old Cruz, is also a loyal fan of our platform, and even asked his father to shoot a short video with him a few days ago.”
When Zhang Yida heard about these ages, his head was also very big. You teenagers are having a lot of fun, but it's not easy for me to make money.
"Have you ever thought about adding a live broadcast function to the platform?" Zhang Yida asked.
"I have thought about it, but there are already many live streaming platforms in the United States, and we don't have much advantage."
After Zhang Yida heard what Ryan said, he turned his attention to Ma Jun, who said: "I think this function can be launched to improve our user retention time."
“The longer the user retention time, the easier it is to monetize the business.
However, unlike China, the United States basically does not receive large rewards for live broadcasts of putting on makeup or the like.
Americans like to see people who are more capable, perform acrobatics, and seek death. They are very popular.
We can’t focus on monetizing live broadcast rewards, other things like selling goods and advertising are fine.”
Ma Jun has stayed in the United States for such a long time, and obviously has some understanding of the American live broadcast entertainment market, so he analyzed it for Zhang Yida.
"Then let's add a live broadcast function! It doesn't matter if you reward or not, the main thing is to see if it can reach other age groups."
Seeing that Zhang Yida had already spoken, Rui Rui expressed his stance: "Okay, let's start research and development next."
"By the way, the content scale must be strictly reviewed. Especially since most of our customers are teenagers, anything that seeks death or sex must be blocked."
Zhang Yida is very aware of how musical.ly and Tiktok were made things difficult by various governments in his previous life. One was about privacy and the other was about sex.
After finishing the conversation and returning to the hotel, Zhang Yida met with Ma Jun alone. He said to the latter: "What support do you need for your trip to Europe this time?"
"Well... let's transfer a team of people from China! In addition, we need to provide some funds."
Zhang Yida nodded and said, "Okay, all of this is no problem."
"Where is the first stop?" Zhang Yida asked again.
"Britain! If the political situation is stable, we won't dare to go to France." Ma Jun said with a smile.
Zhang Yida also knew that France was not peaceful, so he smiled and said, "Okay! Please pay more attention to your own safety."
"Come on! I see all your efforts, options are not a problem." Zhang Yida patted Ma Jun on the shoulder and said.
Ma Jun also smiled knowingly. Although he lost money selling Musical.ly, he still had a chance to obtain options.
In particular, domestic TikTok has begun to gain momentum and has now surpassed the number of overseas users.
He would cling to this big tree no matter what.
…
Yeoksam-dong, JN-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Blue Hole Studio.
Zhang Yida was talking to Irishman Braden. Zhang Yida said: "I have great trust in your ability, Mr. Braden. I hope that under your leadership, Blue Hole will make a game that will shock the world."
"It may not be able to shock the world, but it is definitely above the level. This game will definitely be my most satisfying work."
Braden still has a very arrogant personality. Even though he knows that Zhang Yida is the boss behind Blue Hole, he still looks arrogant.
Zhang Yida was not angry either. Maybe this was his daily expression. He said with a smile: "This game must be as perfect as possible. If there is no research and development funds, just ask for approval from the above."
"With all due respect, Mr. Zhang, it seems that you have never started a game business in China!"
Zhang Yida didn't know what he meant, but Braden continued: "What I mean is that after the game is developed, we want to enter the Chinese market. Do you have any ideas?"
"Penguin, he is one of the major shareholders of our company. At the same time, it is also the largest social software company in China."
Braden had heard of Penguin and nodded: "Penguin is indeed a good partner."
"Braden, don't worry. After the game is developed, I will naturally find resources to promote it.
What you need to worry about is developing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds as soon as possible.
Some time ago, I injected another 50 million US dollars into the company. You don’t have to worry about the funds, you just worry about how to make the game well!”
Zhang Yida also knows that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in his previous life had a lot of bugs and the map content was poor. So in this life, he has been trying his best to avoid the same problems again.
In addition to the US$250 million paid when acquiring Blue Hole, another US$50 million was injected some time ago.
Investing so much money, in addition to hoping to obtain excess returns, is also preparing content for DouYi.
After continuing to chat with Braden for a few more words, Braden invited Zhang Yida to come and experience the game that had not yet been developed.
Arriving at a room, Zhang Yida and He Qingxuan took the test mobile phones that Braden handed them and prepared to play a game of chicken.
In addition, Braden also found several company employees to serve as sparring partners for them.
Several Kimchi Country employees looked very respectful. "Shimida" said a lot, but Zhang Yida didn't understand a word of it.
The Korean translator next to him said to Zhang Yida: "They said they were very happy to play games with you, the president. Then they also said that the president is a famous young entrepreneurial hero and they admire you very much."
Zhang Yida looked at a few young men with small eyes and single eyelids who looked excited, and said to the translator: "Tell them, they are also very good, I hope they work hard, and if the company develops, we will not treat them badly."
Then the translator said a few words to several employees, and several Korean boys flushed with excitement.
They thought that if they could play a game with the young entrepreneurial heroes listed in Forbes, they would have the capital to brag in the future.
Looking at these young men, Zhang Yida also felt quite sad. There is a clear hierarchy in South Korea, and consortiums control the channels for upward mobility.
Many people stay in the middle class throughout their lives.
Maybe in their eyes, it is an extremely honorable thing to play a game with themselves as the president.
Entering the game, Zhang Yida looked at the familiar interface from his previous life and felt that this game should be almost ready, and the details might be better than those in his previous life.
Then, take a plane and skydive.
Zhang Yida controlled the characters on his mobile phone and began to enter various rooms to collect resources.
Since there were only a few people, Zhang Yida had been wandering around for more than ten minutes without meeting anyone.
As the poisonous circle slowly shrinks, Zhang Yida's game character then runs.
With a sudden "bang", Zhang Yida ended the game.
He was shot in the head with an AWM by an employee...
As for He Qingxuan, he was poisoned to death because he was not familiar with the operation and could not tell the direction when running the poison...
The Korean employee who shot Zhang Yida in the head was a little flustered and quickly stood up and bowed and apologized to Zhang Yida.
The translator next to him said: "Mr. Zhang, he said that he was very sorry and didn't know that the person just now was you."
Although Zhang Yida was very angry and died without firing a shot, he still pretended to be magnanimous, waved his hand and said to the translator: "Tell him that his gaming skills are very good, and I admire him very much."
Zhang Yida was a little unconvinced and asked them to play a few more games.
These are some improvements, and it took a few shots to kill him.
Zhang Yida threw the test phone aside and covered his forehead, hey, it's so difficult for me!
Forget it, no more playing.
However, He Qingxuan was very interested and started to play a few more games.
Zhang Yida also saw that this game should still be as popular as it was in its previous life, as popular among female compatriots.
Zhang Yida gave Brayden a thumbs up and said, "The game is great. I like it very much."
Seeing that Zhang Yida was so smart, Braden also praised: "Boss, your gaming skills are also pretty good."
There was nothing to talk about today, so Zhang Yida brought up other topics: "The picture quality is a bit blurry! Can it be more high-definition?"
"Okay! You have to pay more!" Braden was eager for this. In his opinion, these Korean guys were too stingy.
Then he pestered Zhang Yida for a long time, listing various professional terms.
Zhang Yida didn't understand a word, so he called over the Korean management and held a meeting together.
Zhang Yida asked the Korean executives for their opinions. Their original intention was to save costs. The picture quality was just a little bit worse, so it was not a big problem.
But Zhang Yida insisted on increasing investment, and they had no reason to object. Anyway, they only had some management options left in the company.
Since Zhang Yida doesn't care about money, let him do it! I'm too lazy to waste any more words.
So Zhang Yida decided to let them invest more money to improve the picture quality and clarity.
After the meeting, Braden gave Zhang Yida a thumbs up and said, "Boss, although you don't understand the game, you must be a good boss."