Ma Jun was a little aggrieved. When he first heard the news, he almost exploded with anger.
Although I feel a little calmer now, I still want to spread the Americans' ashes.
Zhang Yida was sitting on the boss's chair in the office, smoking and silent.
The difficulties Toutiao suffered in his previous life did not disappear because of his appearance.
Just a few months after Xiao Mazi made the harsh words, his words came true. Musical.ly also encountered the same problem. Xiao Mazi must be snickering at this moment.
Zhang Yida put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray and asked, "What did the legal affairs department say?"
Ma Jun shook his head, "The reason given by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and market regulators is that Musical.ly illegally collected the names, email addresses and other information of minors under the age of 13 without obtaining parental consent, infringing the U.S.
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
This is an unfounded accusation!
In the United States, not only games, but also online social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter do not have express regulations that do not allow children to play.
However, our openness to American children turned out to be evidence of "illegality" under double standards.
Oh, by the way, the legal affairs department in the United States said that this kind of thing can only be solved with money."
Zhang Yida looked at the globe on the table, and the United States' territory of 9.37 million square kilometers was very conspicuous.
Musical.ly currently has 30 million monthly active users in the United States, accounting for approximately one-tenth of the total population of 330 million in the United States.
Among them, teenage users aged 16-24 account for 60% of the total users of Musical.ly.
At the same time, 70% of Musical.ly’s revenue is contributed by the US market. Although it is not much, it is nearly 10 million US dollars per month, and it is still growing rapidly.
Musical.ly is still losing money until now. It has entered more than 100 countries and regions around the world and has built a local operation and review team of tens of thousands of people.
In addition to employee salaries, there are also server fees. Hundreds of millions of short videos are played every day, which is also a very scary expense.
In addition, Musical.ly also runs ads to attract new users.
The $5.7 million fine is not much, but it is the first fine that Musical.ly has encountered.
At the same time, it also sent a signal that the Americans started to attack Musical.ly.
I estimate that I will face a lot of difficulties in the future!
This is what really makes Zhang Yida frustrated and even worried.
ZTE and Huawei have both been sanctioned by the Americans, so it is normal for Musical.ly to encounter them.
Will everything be fine after paying the fine? Almost impossible.
How to solve this problem?
Zhang Yida had been thinking there, and Ma Jun was sitting beside him, not daring to disturb him.
"Inform the directors to hold a meeting!"
Zhang Yida decided to brainstorm ideas and consult with shareholders such as Goldman Sachs.
…
Domestic netizens are quite aggrieved for Musical.ly. In their view, a company that can be sanctioned by the United States must be an excellent company.
Americans will not be afraid of mediocre companies, nor will they find ways to create obstacles.
Musical.ly is by far the most successful overseas Internet product in China.
It conquered the US market, Facebook and Sarab copied it in various ways, but still couldn’t catch up.
This is a successful reverse export in the 20-year history of Copy America in the Chinese Internet industry.
Although it is not as hard-core as Huawei, it is still a respectable Internet application.
The whole internet is cheering for Musical.ly.
At the same time, a remote meeting was also taking place in Ruixiang's large conference room.
“Robert, I think you’ve heard what happened to Musical.ly in the United States, right?”
Zhang Yida looked at the shiny bald head projected onto the 4-meter by 4-meter large screen in the conference room and asked.
Robert touched his Bezos-style hair style, with a look of confusion and helplessness on his face.
"Mr. Zhang, I am very sympathetic to what happened to Musical.ly. Goldman Sachs also immediately found a lobbying company and prepared to lobby the government to withdraw the penalty decision.
But unfortunately, the Trump administration is determined to launch Musical.ly this time.”
Robert sighed and cursed: "This damn ideology!"
Zhang Yida nodded and thanked Goldman Sachs for its help.
"What I'm most worried about now is that we may continue to encounter such things in the future. Do you, Goldman Sachs, have any good suggestions?"
Robert pondered for a moment and said: "There is a way, which is to spin off Musical.ly and become a Silicon Valley technology company to serve the global market outside of China, just like Facebook."
Zhang Yida shook his head, "Robert, you know, stripped like that, it is just a salad cloth, and even the advertising revenue is weaker than that of a salad cloth.
Staying in the Ruixiang system is very beneficial to improving the valuation concept when Ruixiang goes public.
Like Penguin and Ali, there has never been an application that has become so popular around the world.
Without Musical.ly, Ruixiang is just a mediocre Chinese technology company, lacking many bright spots."
Robert nodded, "I admit that what you said, Mr. Zhang, is very reasonable, and we don't want to see Musical.ly being split up.
But you have to think about it, no Chinese technology company has ever invaded the United States.
In the past, technology could not do it, but now it can be done, but it has caught up with the geopolitical crisis.
The ideal is beautiful, but the reality is very cruel."
Zhang Yida smiled and said, "Okay, I will carefully consider Goldman Sachs' proposal.
By the way, we plan to set up an expert group to study and assess the national situation.
Do you have any recommendations for suitable candidates?"
"Wow, we want to set up such a department?"
Robert was also a little surprised, he finally saw Ruixiang's ambition.
None of the companies that have established such a department are small companies. Many energy giants and technology giants have such a functional department, with different names.
"Yes, we must have such a think tank with an international perspective to advise our group, analyze and judge the international situation, and avoid various political risks and economic losses."
Zhang Yida had such an idea a long time ago, but the company was still too small and the scale of its international business was not large.
Now Ruixiang is just waiting to be listed among the top ten Internet giants in the world.
There is a need and qualification to establish such a high-level functional department.
"That's no problem. If you go to Goldman Sachs, you're asking the right person."
Robert said confidently, "Goldman Sachs has a specialty called the U.S. Treasury Secretary.
In addition, many other senior federal government officials have also appeared.
Don't worry, we will take care of this matter. We can definitely find a few think tanks who are familiar with various American rules.
It’s just that the salary is quite expensive.”
Zhang Yida smiled and said, "Salary is no problem. As long as you have the corresponding talent, you will have a salary that matches your talent."
"Okay, that's it. Goodbye Mr. Zhang!"
Robert waved to Zhang Yida, and the screen went black.
Zhang Yida glanced at the investors and directors present and said, "Do you have any good ideas?"
"When it comes to nothing, splitting up is the best way to recover certain losses."
Shen Beipeng looked at Zhang Yida, smiled and comforted: "You and the team have done a good job, and the remaining non-individual and corporate forces can promote it.
Even if Musical.ly is split off, it will not affect the influence of you and Ruixiang in the global Internet industry."
Xu Xiaoming also said: "Yeah, who would have thought that Ruixiang could develop to be so powerful today? Even the U.S. federal government has begun to be afraid of it, and even resorted to petty tactics.
Not only what will happen in the future, Ruixiang has already left a mark in the history of China’s Internet development.”
Other investors also spoke out one after another, saying similar things to Shen and Xu.
Investors are already very satisfied with the current sharp direction.
Of course, they would be happier if they could become a top giant with a market capitalization of trillions of dollars.
But following the examples of ZTE and Huawei, they feel that they should be more realistic.
Otherwise, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment!