"Mr. Chen, let me ask you a question, what is your future positioning for Station B?" Zhang Yida asked seriously.
"position."
Chen Rui muttered this word and said after a moment: "Be the largest two-dimensional community in China."
"Now it is!" Zhang Yida shook his head and smiled: "I'm asking about the future."
"In the future, we will continue to focus on social networking, games, animation, comics and other aspects."
Zhang Yida sighed in his heart, he is really a Buddhist. No wonder Station B has few advertisements and slow commercialization.
Someone in the previous life analyzed that the two biggest trends that Station B missed were short videos and live broadcasts.
“Have you ever thought about becoming China’s Netflix or YouTube?”
Chen Rui smiled and shook his head, "Mr. Zhang, your goal is too ambitious. For the time being, we just want to do a good job in the two-dimensional community and maintain the content and community atmosphere."
"Station B's animations, comics, and games are pretty good, as well as Chinese style. Have you ever thought about exporting culture in reverse?"
Chen Rui didn't understand what Zhang Yida said and asked: "Mr. Zhang, do you mean to export culture to Japan in reverse?"
"It's not just Japan, it's South Korea, it's also possible in Southeast Asia! Let Bilibili go overseas and export Chinese animation, comics, and national culture to the world."
The company president Xu Yi couldn't help but said, "Mr. Zhang, this is too whimsical!
In games, we can’t compare to Korea. In anime, we can’t compare to Japan. How can we use reverse output?”
"I see that you have been investing in animation and comic companies in the past two years. In addition to upstream layout, you also have the intention of incubating these companies, right?"
"Yes, content will always be one of the ceilings that constrains the development of Station B."
Li Ni, the only female among the three founders, spoke. She is the company’s vice chairman and COO and has been responsible for the entire operation of Bilibili.
"Our country's animation is indeed not as good as foreign countries, but isn't it always trying to catch up?
China is a huge country, but its culture has been exported by small countries like Japan and South Korea.
It’s not that I’m an angry young man, but I was really sad to see it!”
Zhang Yida continued: "Novel, comics, animation, movies, and games can all be classified as culture.
I think Bilibili has a great opportunity to revive Chinese culture.
Although our country has become economically prosperous now, it has not yet become culturally rich.”
Li Ni wanted to laugh a little after hearing this, and said that she was not an angry youth. What is this if not an angry youth?
"Mr. Zhang, your idea is quite good, but we really don't have the ability to do this well at the moment."
Chen Rui is a very pragmatic person and will not get ahead of Zhang Yida after just a few words.
He used to be the product manager of Kingsoft Antivirus and served as Lei Jun’s right-hand man.
Later, he became the co-founder of Cheetah Mobile. After Cheetah went public, he left to join Bilibili.
Although he joined Station B halfway, he is a die-hard fan of Station B, one of the 20,000 seed users, and an angel investor of Station B.
This shows that he is really affectionate towards Station B.
"Why don't you have the ability?"
Zhang Yida frowned and said: "In the upstream fields of novels, comics, animation and other fields, Ruixiang can set up a special cultural investment fund to help Bilibili incubate.
My short video company Musical.ly has already entered North America, Europe and other regions, and will enter Southeast Asia next. It is very influential among young people in various regions.
If Station B wants to go overseas, Musical.ly can provide full assistance.”
Is it so good? Chen Rui doesn't believe that there is a free lunch in the world, and he guesses that Zhang Yida must have something up his sleeve.
So he said: "Mr. Zhang, if you have anything to say, just say it directly!"
“I want to acquire Station B!”
Zhang Yida picked up the tea cup on the table, took a sip and said calmly.
"Impossible! We will not sell Station B."
Xu Yi, a geek with glasses, was the first to jump out. He is the true founder of Bilibili, and Chen Rui came in later as an investor.
So the one who has the deepest affection for Station B is Xu Yi.
"Listen to me first, okay? I also like Bilibili very much. If I were to take the helm of Bilibili, in addition to bringing more overseas resources to Bilibili, I would also invest heavily in developing the company.
I have completed all the industrial chains of novels, comics, animation, games, film and television for Bilibili.
In the next 10 years, the cumulative investment in Bilibili will be no less than 50 billion!"
50 billion!
Chen Rui was also a little confused and asked: "Mr. Zhang, do you like Bilibili so much? Internet finance is your main development business?"
"Can't people still have some pursuits in life? Internet finance is my tool to make money! That's right!
At Station B, I want him to be a tool for me to spend money. Is the Lord of the Rings trilogy grand?
Can our Chinese company film it? The storyline can definitely reach it, or even far exceed it, but the special effects cannot.
It doesn't matter, we can hire a foreign special effects team.
It doesn’t matter if I can’t collect the box office, as long as I can promote Chinese culture around the world and make Chinese people feel proud, I’m willing to pretend to be B.”
"Film and television company, does this have anything to do with Station B?" Li Ni asked.
"Yes!" Zhang Yida said with a smile, "After pretending, the box office will not be returned, so the cultural output effect must be achieved!
Isn’t Bilibili a community? It’s okay to build a Chinese-style community overseas!”
"Is this interesting? Going in such a big circle and spending so much money just to promote Chinese culture?"
Chen Rui thinks Zhang Yida's brain circuit is too strange!
"In addition to making money, what effects do you think the Marvel series of films have achieved?" Zhang Yida asked Chen Rui.
"Brainwash the world? Americans save the world?"
Zhang Yida nodded, "Yes! If our country wants to expand its influence in the world, cultural soft power must keep up."
Chen Rui somewhat understands Zhang Yida's thinking. The upstream is the fairy tales and martial arts novels that promote Chinese culture, and then the Chinese style animations and comics, and then these IPs are made into games and movies and spread all over the world.
To promote these things, the short video platform is a good carrier, and Station B will follow suit to build a national culture community.
However, in order to do this well, there is great resistance from all aspects. If nothing else, it is feared that European and American countries will be the first to jump out and cause trouble.
There are also movies, even if they are made and shot very well, it does not mean that they can be released all over the world just because they want to be released.
"To be honest, Mr. Zhang, I don't see any hope of success in the short term with your idea."
Chen Rui's evaluation was still very objective, and Zhang Yida didn't take it seriously, and continued: "It is very difficult, but we can't give up!
In what year was Station B established? 2009.
How long did it take to get to where we are today? Seven years.
I am still young, only 21 years old. If I live long enough, I can still work hard for this cause for 70 years.
This is all too far away. Let’s start analyzing from some small places!
Musical.ly has tens of millions of teenage users overseas, and this number was reached in just one year.
In the future, reaching hundreds of millions of users should be a matter of course.
Relying on Musical.ly, Station B can promote Chinese novels, comics, animations, or short films.
To do things, do it step by step!
Chinese comics and animations are not very good right now, haven’t they been working hard? I think there will definitely be a chance to reach the top level in the world in the future.
China currently lacks a kind of cultural self-confidence, and all its hopes are pinned on Bilibili.”
"Mr. Zhang, do you really want to invest 50 billion in the next 10 years?" Xu Yi, an otaku, thinks Zhang Yida's imagination is very interesting. The reverse export of culture is exciting to think about.
"That's right! If Ruixiang, Pinduoduo, and Doushi's series of companies develop well enough, I think we might invest more."
"Mr. Zhang, I understand that you have a "big entertainment" ambition, but Station B also has its own development direction.
As one of the few video platforms in China where corporate management rights and voice are still in the hands of the management team, we also have our persistence."
Chen Rui continued: "We don't want to be kidnapped by capital, which will destroy Station B and ruin the current community atmosphere."
"After Ruixiang acquires Station B, we can continue to hand over the management rights to you, and we will not interfere in the specific operations."
Zhang Yida’s own big entertainment strategy is not indispensable for Bilibili. Companies such as novel websites, game companies, and film and television companies can build and buy them by themselves.
The main reason is that Zhang Yida wants to see what kind of effect the community atmosphere like Station B will have if it is taken abroad?
"Mr. Zhang, what is your valuation of station B?" Chen Rui asked.
"One billion dollars!"
Ruixiang is also a shareholder of Station B. He has a clear understanding of Station B’s financial situation, various operating data, and valuation.
Chen Rui is quite satisfied with the valuation of unicorns, which is similar to the valuation of their upcoming Series C financing.
But Chen Rui was hesitant to sell the company.
Although he joined Bilibili halfway, he regards it as his lifelong career and strives for it.
In both Kingsoft and Cheetah Mobile, he is only a co-founder and has little authority.
But at Bilibili, he really held the power. After selling the company, although he could cash out hundreds of millions of dollars, he changed from a leader to a worker.
Zhang Yida saw his hesitation and added: "Doushi has completed a US$1 billion Series A financing, with a valuation of more than US$7 billion.
In my mind, DouYu and Bilibili are both subsidiaries of the Great Entertainment Group.
The goal of the big entertainment group is to have a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars, and the person at the helm will be selected from the management of Bilibili or DouYu."
Chen Rui had heard about Dou Vision’s financing, but Dou Vision was very low-key and the information was strictly blocked. Only then did he learn that it had raised US$1 billion.
This is Series A financing. This amount of financing is rare in the world.
Chen Rui glanced at Xu Yi, who was a little moved, and Li Ni, who was expressionless, and said to Zhang Yida:
"Mr. Zhang, this matter is too big! We need to negotiate internally, and we will give you an answer as soon as possible."
"Can."
Zhang Yida said almost everything he needed to say, whether it was about feelings, money, or the power of a giant company in the future.
If Station B is still unwilling to be acquired, then Zhang Yida will not continue to force it.
Zhang Yida and Lan Lan shook hands with the three founders one by one before leaving Bilibili Company.