As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 238 The Vitality Brought by VR

"After receiving the prototype, Tencent and Dami have no objection to the share transfer, and we can prepare to sign the contract."

"In addition, the transfer of shares involves a lot of people who need to be handled in the middle."

"This includes the lengthy negotiation process we had with Tencent and Dami, which involved the heads of various sectors of the three parties, including legal, financial, and technical departments."

"Later, Tencent and Dami found external institutions to estimate the market value of Kechuang Biotechnology, and the news has now spread to many people."

When a company of the same level as Ke Chuang Future transfers shares, news will inevitably spread.

As the number of negotiations increases, more and more people know about it, and the authenticity of the news increases sharply.

Even Ke Chuang Biotechnology has developed the next generation of brain-computer connection technology, and Ali got the news.

In an era of crazy expansion by Internet giants, Internet employees have a consensus that it is better to jump than to wait.

Waiting for a company to increase your salary is not as great as the increase you get by changing jobs.

Some people changed jobs several times a year. This phenomenon improved after 22 years. Programmers dared not change jobs casually because there were too many graduates.

What if I go from here to there and get "graduated" before completing my probation period?

Generally, large companies will give priority to new employees after they graduate because the termination compensation is less.

Then consider optimizing old programmers over 35 years old.

Because the personnel turnover between large factories is frequent and rapid, it is almost impossible to conceal secrets.

Especially companies like Ke Chuang Future that are the focus of attention.

In the past two years, thanks to the global popularity of brain-computer VR, the Internet market has seen a recovery.

The online ride-hailing ecosystem in Xi'erqi is gradually regaining its former glory.

They are not very good at underlying technology, but when it comes to innovation at the application layer, Chinese companies are no match for them.

More and more people can see that VR is the next explosive growth point.

"Ali and ByteDance both want to buy some shares of Kechuang Bio."

"Ali and ByteDance know that we have acquired 50 percent of the shares, and they hope to buy some shares from Tencent and Dami."

"Geely would definitely not sell it to ByteDance, so ByteDance wanted to buy it from Dami, and then Ali approached both Goose Factory and Dami at the same time."

Some time after the May Day holiday, the second-generation brain-computer connection VR samples provided by the R&D team in Singapore were sent to Tencent and Xiaomi.

Although Zheng Li is no longer in Singapore, it is still the main research and development base for brain-computer connection related products.

Zheng Li participates in Lion City's R&D work through remote guidance.

Previously, under Zheng Li's training, Li Wanqing was already able to stand on his own in the field of brain-computer connection.

Later, Kechuang Bio and Li Wanqing signed a new non-compete agreement, which was much stricter than the previous one.

After listening to Li Miaomiao's report, Zheng Li said, "If I remember correctly, doesn't ByteDance have a VR brand?"

“I remember their VR product was called Pico, and I played it at the time.”

Li Miaomiao glanced at the document in his hand and said, "Yes, ByteDance spent 2021 billion RMB to acquire Xiaoniao Kankan, the parent company of the Pico brand, in 90."

“Compared with other Internet giants in the same industry, ByteDance entered the market relatively late.

FB launched the VR social platform Facebook Horizon as early as 2019, and later launched a virtual reality conference network space. "

"As a domestic company that is comparable to FB, there have been rumors in the industry that ByteDance would acquire Xiaoniao."

"Before we entered the VR industry, ByteDance had a good time. Relying on its traffic portal second only to Tencent, Pico occupied 80% of the market share in China."

"Pico has been on a downward trend since Futureverse came out. Pico, priced at 2000 yuan, had hoped to make money from consumers through subsequent software business."

"Last year, thanks to the global popularity of brain-computer-connected VR, Pico's full-year sales increased slightly."

“But the annual average payment per customer after purchasing pico plummets.

According to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers last year, the annual per capita payment of VR brands around the world has shown a significant decline.

According to its analysts, due to the strength of brain-computer connection VR, these VRs have become more of a tool for users to watch VR live broadcasts.

The live streaming content includes not only brain-computer-connected VR game live streaming, but also ByteDance’s own VR version of Douyin and Douyin live streaming.”

Tencent has launched a dedicated live streaming software that uses three cameras to convert the host's entire body into VR images, which are then provided to its live streaming platforms.

ByteDance later launched a similar application, which allows VR live broadcasts to be displayed in 3D.

Welcomed by many LSPs.

Therefore, no one buys Pico's paid apps anymore. Instead of spending money to buy the gaming experience, it is better to just watch others play.

Games played in VR with brain-computer connection are much more enjoyable to watch.

"Affected by this, there was even a rumor this year that ByteDance wanted to sell Pico."

“But VR is undoubtedly a very important ecosystem. ByteDance hopes to make early arrangements for VR and they hope to participate in the future of science and technology innovation.

In addition, ByteDance also contacted me and expressed its willingness to sell Pico to Kechuang Future as a low-end VR brand under Kechuang Future to form a product matrix. "

There are certain similarities between the VR industry and the mobile phone industry.

Domestic and foreign mobile phone manufacturers, even Apple, need different products to cater to users with different purchasing power.

But Apple’s minimum threshold is not low.

Not to mention other mobile phone manufacturers, which have increased the price from 1000 to 10000.

I'm talking about Huawei, a Porsche collaboration with a low-end price of over one thousand and a high-end price of over ten thousand.

Li Miaomiao continued: “In my opinion, ByteDance wanted to sell Pico, but after they sold Pico, they didn’t have much layout in the VR field.

Therefore, they want to take the opportunity to invest in Kechuang Future.”

“As for Ali, they wanted to cooperate with us a long time ago. They brought it up again this time because VR shopping is becoming increasingly popular and they are facing an awkward situation in the field of VR shopping.”

“In the field of VR shopping, JD.com is almost dominating Ali.”

JD.com started to develop the VR shopping field a long time ago. As early as 2019, JD.com joined forces with more than 30 upstream and downstream companies including Intel, HTC, NVIDIA, and Baofeng Magic Mirror to establish the first VR/AR industry alliance in the e-commerce field.

Of course, Ali is faster and has an earlier buy+ plan in the VR field.

When Kechuang Bio announced its entry into the VR field, JD.com almost simultaneously started developing a VR home improvement APP.

You should know that whether it is JD.com or Ali, the technical route for home improvement shopping has always been AR.

When JD.com executives learned that Ke Chuang Bio was going to develop VR, their first reaction was to apply brain-computer connection technology to the VR platform.

They realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so they were willing to give up the technology route that they had invested in research and development for many years.

JD launched the JD VR Home Improvement APP at the beginning of this year, which has both VR and mobile versions.

The mobile version uploads basic data and enters residential images according to the app requirements.

Then a 3D image of the user’s home will be generated on the VR side, and the user can play around with it.

JD.com has also signed contracts with more than 3,000 online VR interior designers to provide paid home decoration services to users.

It is equivalent to that users can freely add furniture to their homes in VR, and if they are satisfied, they can place an order in real time. At the same time, if it is a rough house or they want to redecorate it, they can pay an interior designer to design it and then change the decoration with one click.

After the renovation, everything can be purchased directly on JD.com with one click, including the cost of the decoration team.

JD.com has integrated all home furnishings, decoration, electrical appliances, etc. into the home improvement APP.

With the help of this product, JD.com has made Ali Group lose its way in the field of VR shopping.

Ali is still at the stage of 3D modeling, but JD.com has already created integrated home improvement shopping.

JD.com has captured 20 percent of the market share in related fields.

The problem is that if Ali wants to develop such an app now, it will take at least half a year.

It also involves signing a contract with an interior designer, contacting the decoration team, etc., which also takes time.

Unlike JD.com, which has always operated its own logistics and has rich experience in offline operations, Ali has always been resistant to heavy assets.

The relationship between Hema and Taobao is average.

Although JD.com also graduated, JD.com is still more honest than Ali.

JD.com’s couriers all sign contracts directly with JD.com, and Hema’s front-line employees, except for management, all sign labor dispatch contracts with outsourcing companies.

Back to the topic, Ali was beaten badly in the field of VR shopping.

Ali is already mobilizing resources to develop software similar to JD.com’s VR home improvement app, but it will take time.

They are afraid that even if they develop it, they will still be unable to beat JD.com, which has a head-mover advantage of nearly a year.

For Ali, it’s not just JD.com, ByteDance and Pinduoduo are also developing similar apps.

Faced with wolves in front and tigers behind, they pin their hopes on investing in Ke Chuang Future.

Ali has had a hard time these years.

The sudden rise of Douyin shopping has put a lot of pressure on them.

The competitive pressure from Pinduoduo, JD.com and Douyin Shopping has made Ali busy.

For products in certain areas, VR shopping is a more intuitive and effective way of promotion than short video shopping.

JD.com relies on its home furnishing app, while Douyin relies on VR live streaming to sell goods.

Douyin's market share in the apparel segment surpassed JD.com for the first time, but JD.com's market share in this segment has not decreased much.

Because Douyin is taking away market share from Ali and Pinduoduo.

“But Ali and Byte know that we hold 50% of the shares, so they will definitely not sell them.

So they went to find two other companies.

In comparison, Tencent is not short of money and probably will not agree.

It’s hard to say about rice. They may sell some shares to ease the pressure on cash flow.”

DaMi’s assets are too heavy. Whether it is the mobile phone business or the automobile business, the investment is large, the turnover is slow, and the financial pressure is very high.

Especially in recent years, under the environment of economic stagflation and downward trend, the mobile phone market is not only unable to maintain its previous high growth trend, but is even facing the embarrassing situation of shrinking.

As for Rice Auto, as a new entrant, it is determined to occupy the market even if it means losing money.

Although Rice Automobile is selling well, it has not yet achieved profitability.

Therefore, Li Miaomiao judged that in the face of cash flow pressure, Dami might sell part of its shares in Ke Chuang Future.

Zheng Li asked in return: "We bought 5% of the shares from Dami this time. According to the trillion-dollar valuation, is it still not enough after giving them cash?"

Zheng Lixiang recalled that Lei Jun used Vancl as an example and told him not to do too many businesses but to focus on his main business first.

However, rice is now developing into almost an entire industrial chain.

Li Miaomiao nodded and said, "Because the competition in the field of new energy vehicles has been too fierce in recent years."

“Dami Auto entered the market too late, and the government no longer provides subsidies for new energy vehicles.

This is equivalent to using DaMi’s own money to subsidize its customers, thus achieving the goal of exchanging funds for market share.”

"The most important emphasis in new energy vehicles in the past two years has been on autonomous driving technology, and 50 billion yuan can help improve Rice's cash flow."

“But if they get more cash, they can expand their investment in rice cars.”

According to the financial report, the total liabilities of Rice in 2021 were 243 billion Mio yuan.

By 2025, the debt has exceeded 300 billion Euros, and less than 80 billion Euros is indeed not enough.

Zheng Li: "I understand. We don't need to interfere in this matter."

"Ahri and Byte want to join the game. Let's see if they can impress Mythic+."

According to the 2021 financial report, Xiaomi's cash flow is around 140 billion yuan, and Tencent's cash flow is close to 400 billion yuan.

Tencent does not have any heavy assets, its cash flow is good, and its debt pressure is not as great as that of DaMi.

The two companies that particularly want to buy shares are his old rivals, and Tencent obviously will not sell.

Li Miaomiao continued: "Geely knew that ByteDance and Ali wanted to enter the market, so they thought it would be better to buy the shares that DaMi wanted to sell from them."

"Currently, companies such as Pinduoduo, JD.com, Qiandu, and Huawei are also interested."

“There is little overlap between Qiandu and our business, but Huawei has proposed a very promising and interesting direction.”

“Huawei hopes to cooperate with us in the field of VR to create industrial VR.”

The executives of Hua Weifang were talking to Li Miaomiao about the industrial metaverse, and Li Miaomiao almost rolled her eyes when she heard that.

However, he was very interested in the direction proposed by Hua Wei.

Because industrial VR itself is also the development direction of VR technology.

There have been companies working on industrial simulation VR for a long time, among which Microsoft is the most well-known.

Microsoft's industrial metaverse is relatively mature and has a certain number of customers. Microsoft calls itself the "Industrial Metaverse".

Industrial VR is just industrial VR, what's the hype?

Among them, Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan has its workshop workers wear Microsoft's HoloLens headset to assist in production, maintenance and supply chain management.

Previously, Heinz and Boeing were two other clients.

Microsoft entered the market relatively early.

Huawei has always wanted to make efforts in the field of smart industry. Their industrial business was originally aimed at coal mines. They were known as the Huawei Coal Mine Corps and applied the Hongmeng operating system to coal mine scenarios.

In the era of smart industry or Industry 4.0, industrial simulation VR is an unavoidable topic.

Huawei has been in contact with Kechuang Future, hoping to reach a cooperation.

However, the specific cooperation methods and scenarios have not yet been determined.

This time, Hua Wei’s proposal of industrial VR made Li Miaomiao feel that it was worth a try.

(End of this chapter)