Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 464 Financing and Listing

The gaming business has a bright future, but at present it can only be considered an embellishment.

Masato Takeshita has been focusing more on the network business sector of Xinghai Group.

"Miho, notify the presidents of six companies—Qiandu, Google, Xinghai E-commerce, Online Marketplace, Xinghai Communications, and Xinghai Email—to come to headquarters for a meeting at 3 PM this afternoon."

"Yes, President!"

After receiving the order, Secretary-General Miho Uchida immediately called several companies to inform them of the chairman's latest instructions.

Soon it was three o'clock in the afternoon, and Masato Takeshita leisurely entered the small conference room.

He then sat in the main seat, looking at everyone with a smile.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. I just want to know your latest situation."

"Okay, let's start with Tanaka-san. Tell me about the company first."

The young man disliked being long-winded and immediately named Tanaka Aoki.

"Yes, President!"

Tanaka Aoki, the president of Chidu, was already used to his chairman's meeting style and liked his chairman's habit of not being long-winded in meetings. He earnestly explained the situation of Chidu in detail.

"QTex focuses on the Asian market. After more than two years of development, it is now the world's second largest and Asia's largest search company."

"In Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, we are the number one search company, with a market share generally exceeding 50%, and in some cases even reaching 70%."

"In China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and other places, we are the second largest internet search company in terms of market share, which is generally between 25% and 40%."

After discussing market share, Tanaka Aoki began to talk about the company's user base.

"In terms of users, we currently have over 4500 million users worldwide using our search, including in Japan..."

After patiently listening to the entire report, Masato Takeshita clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"Excellent data. No wonder Tanaka-san is known as the one who understands the internet best."

"President, you flatter me. This title should belong to you."

Tanaka Aoki was embarrassed because he didn't think he was as good as the chairman in the internet field.

Even compared to the heads of the other five internet companies in the group, he did not have a clear advantage.

This claim is completely untrue.

"There's no need to be modest; this is a term of endearment used by netizens to refer to you."

Baidu Search holds the number one market share in Japan's search market, and Aoki Tanaka has a rather flamboyant personality and enjoys giving media interviews.

Therefore, compared to the other heads of Xinghai Group's internet sector, his fame was much higher, which eventually led to this affectionate nickname.

In fact, Masato Takeshita, who understands the internet best, did not feel offended.

Since he doesn't like to be in the public eye anyway, he might as well let his subordinates accept this honor.

"President, I'm not being modest, I really think I'm about the same as Ikeda-san, but far inferior to you, President."

Tanaka Aoki gave a wry smile. In an effort to strengthen his persuasiveness, he even brought in the president of his rival, Google.

"No, I'm still not as good as Tanaka-san. But I think what Tanaka-san said later is very true. President, you really are the person who understands the internet the most."

Daiji Ikeda looked earnest and sincere, and felt that the title should be placed on his own chairman's head.

Subsequently, the heads of companies such as Xinghai E-commerce and online marketplaces echoed this sentiment, all agreeing that young people are the ones who understand the internet best.

"Alright, everyone, stop praising me. Continue, continue. Ikeda, you tell us about Google."

Faced with the adoration and respect he received from everyone, Masato Takeshita found it difficult to refuse.

But he didn't want to admit it, so he simply put the matter aside and continued with today's meeting.

"Yes, President!"

Daichi Ikeda bowed respectfully and then reported on the situation at Google.

Google is slightly inferior to Baidu overall, but the difference is not significant.

In countries and regions where Baidu holds the top market share, Google ranks second. Conversely, in regions where Baidu is second, Google is first.

It can be said that Baidu and Google have monopolized the internet search market in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Even a giant like Yahoo! can only be a marginal player in East and Southeast Asia.

Masato Takeshita was naturally very satisfied with this, and he also praised Daichi Ikeda and Google extensively.

Xinghai Group is very strong in the search field, and the same is true in the e-commerce field.

However, compared to Baidu and Google's dominance in Asia, Xinghai Group's e-commerce business is significantly weaker.

Whether it's Xinghai E-commerce or online marketplaces, they can only operate within the Japanese domestic market.

Seeing their disappointed expressions, Masato Takeshita quickly offered words of comfort.

"This is normal; e-commerce needs a sufficient number of personal computer users. And in Asia, apart from Japan, most internet users are in internet cafes."

"It will be a few more years before you two really get the chance to shine."

The internet industry is still in its infancy. Apart from Japan, the rest of Asia lacks the conditions for e-commerce development.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. Neither Hikaru Nakayama, president of Xinghai E-commerce, nor Seiichi Yamaguchi, president of an online marketplace, wanted to expand into overseas markets, but they had nowhere to begin.

Of course, they could try to enter the US e-commerce market. However, Xinghai Group currently has limited funds, making it difficult to participate in the fierce competition among US e-commerce platforms.

"Yes, I understand!"

Kageaki Nakayama and Seiichi Yamaguchi responded in unison, then returned to normal.

This made the young man think to himself, "Good heavens, they were just trying to shut him up and prevent him from being blamed."

It doesn't matter, as long as an employee can generate profits for the company, they are a good employee.

Following e-commerce, Xinghai Group's internet sector now focuses on email and instant messaging.

“Oshima-san, please tell me about the situation with Hoshimi’s mailbox.”

"Yes, President!"

Shigeru Oshima bowed slightly respectfully, and then began to explain the basic information about the Starry Sea Mailbox.

"Under the guidance of the president, Xinghai Mail has developed over the years and is now the email service with the most users in the world."

"Total users exceed 3200 million, including those in the United States..."

The development speed of Xinghai Mail far surpasses that of the first free email provider in its previous life.

On the one hand, Xinghai Mailbox was launched earlier and had the help of the behemoth Xinghai Group to promote it, which naturally gave it a significant advantage over smaller businesses.

On the other hand, thanks to the emergence of the Xinghai Internet Cafe Alliance, the number of internet users worldwide has increased significantly.

Without Xinghai Internet Cafe, even with the backing of Xinghai Group, it would be difficult to exceed 2000 million users.

"However, we also face very strong competition."

"Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Mail are also developing rapidly, and they are trending towards taking a third of the email market from us."

Email is not inherently a strong monopoly.

Since emails can be freely sent and received between various email providers, there is naturally no need to switch platforms.

"That's normal. Yahoo and Microsoft are both giants, and they're American companies. It's already quite impressive that Mr. Oshima has managed to maintain his number one position."

"I am satisfied, and I don't need to belittle or belittle myself too much."

Even if Xinghai Mail were to become number three, let alone remain number one, the younger generation wouldn't complain. In the relatively untapped email market, Xinghai Mail, as a Japanese product, faces a significant challenge in competing with American giants.

"Yes……"

"Alright, that's settled then. Shimada-san, tell me about QQ."

Masato Takeshita decisively interrupted Shigeru Oshima's impending flattery and steered the conversation toward Yoshinori Shimada.

"Thanks to the chairman's design and planning, QQ has developed very smoothly. Currently, we have more than 3 million registered accounts and more than 7000 million real users worldwide."

"In terms of market share, we also have a market share as high as 87%, with no competitors..."

When talking about QQ, Yoshinobu Shimada, president of Xinghai Communications, was filled with pride.

Because QQ currently represents instant messaging.

Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft could surpass QQ in this field.

This is also a characteristic of the instant messaging industry, which has a very strong monopolistic ability.

When people around you use it, others will also choose the same product.

Since instant messaging doesn't allow users to chat directly with each other, people naturally tend to aggregate onto one messaging app.

"Excellent, we will strive to achieve a market share of over 90% as soon as possible."

83% is a number that easily sparks people's thoughts.

QQ needs to be improved to the point that every company that wants to join it will despair when they see it.

"Yes, President!"

Yoshinobu Shimada shared the same idea; he wanted QQ to capture over 90% of the global market.

Major countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, China, and Western Europe are pursuing a market share of over 95%.

In fact, QQ's powerful monopoly ability is also related to Xinghai Internet Cafe.

Furthermore, Xinghai Internet Cafe's contribution to QQ's success far exceeded that of Xinghai Mail.

This is related to the positioning of the two products.

QQ is primarily a chat application, so it's frequently used in internet cafes.

Email is mainly used for office work, while only a small number of people go to internet cafes for office work.

Of course, in developing countries like China, the phenomenon of working in internet cafes still exists because computers are expensive.

But in just a few years, internet cafes will soon become the absolute battleground for entertainment.

Also, Xinghai Internet Cafe's interface has a QQ chat icon, but not a Xinghai email icon.

This change also has a significant impact on the development of both products.

After briefly learning about the basic information of the six companies, Masato Takeshita first praised and affirmed everyone, and then formally explained the purpose of calling the six people over today.

"I plan to take all six companies public next year, so this month we will be launching our first round of financing."

Masato Takeshita would naturally not miss such a great opportunity to make money during the Nasdaq bubble.

It's important to know that many companies that went public during this period in the past didn't catch up to their market capitalization again until after 2010.

This includes Microsoft and Amazon, which later became worth over a trillion dollars, as well as Oracle and other tech giants second only to the Seven Sisters of the US stock market.

If all the internet companies under Xinghai Group can successfully go public, it means they can obtain massive amounts of funds to develop freely after the stock market crash.

As for why they don't go public directly but instead raise funds first.

The reason is simple: they don't hoard profits; they share them with various groups.

This is a path of development that is always successful, and it is also a path that young people have always adhered to.

Is it finally going public?

Tanaka Aoki and the others were overjoyed, even somewhat ecstatic.

The company's listing means that the individuals' wealth and status will increase significantly.

"That's right, you can also help spread the word that our first round of financing is for a 30% stake."

If you're going to share the profits, then be generous. Being stingy will only annoy people.

"However, you should also tell the major investors."

“We will adopt the dual-class share structure, where one A share owned by Xinghai Group is equivalent to ten B shares held by investors.”

Early internet companies didn't have the concept of dual-class shares (A and B shares). As a result, many founders ultimately lost control of their companies.

The most famous example of this in China is probably Sina, whose founder was eventually ousted by capital.

Until Google rose to prominence in its previous life and forcefully implemented dual-class shares.

Since then, the dual-class share structure has become prevalent in the internet industry, and the number of internet company founders being ousted has decreased.

"This is wonderful."

Tanaka Aoki and the others' eyes lit up, and they immediately applauded their chairman's idea.

Now, even if they raise a lot of money, they don't have to worry about losing control of the company.

However, Yoshinobu Shimada suddenly realized that the Japanese stock market does not seem to support dual-class shares.

He couldn't help but hesitate and ask, "Is the chairman planning to list the company in the United States?"

"That's the idea, unless Japan changes its laws."

Masato Takeshita never considered listing in Japan first, because the most exciting part of this internet boom was the United States.

There is not only a large amount of domestic capital there, but also a huge amount of foreign capital, as well as international speculative capital groups that made a killing during the Asian financial crisis.

International speculative capital groups, in particular, need to find new places to increase their capital, and the hot Nasdaq is their best choice.

"I see. Won't that cause dissatisfaction among the Japanese public?"

Japan is also a nation-state, and its people are very sensitive to any changes in their own country.

By doing this, Xinghai Group is likely to provoke public resentment.

"Don't worry, it won't happen. We'll hire more people before and after the IPO, and people will only remember our good deeds."

Keyboard warriors are not yet the mainstream of public opinion, and Xinghai Group can suppress this kind of public opinion with just a little effort.

On the contrary, hiring more people can win more public favor.

Given the current environment in Japan, most companies that don't reduce hiring, let alone increase it, are considered good companies.

Unfortunately, the Asian financial crisis had a huge impact on Japan's financial industry, which in turn affected the entire economic sector.

Countless companies went bankrupt and closed down, leaving a large number of workers suffering from unemployment.

"The chairman is right. Recruiting is indeed better than anything else right now, and it is more welcomed by the government and the public."

The dire situation at home has left the Japanese government and people with no time to spare for anything else.

Let alone listing overseas, even if the company is acquired by a foreign company, as long as it can increase the recruitment of employees, then everything is fine.

Masato Takeshita echoed, "Yes, employment, employment is the key."

The young man also wanted to hire more employees, but as the chairman of a group, he couldn't do any more.

He has to be responsible for the company's employees and for the company itself.

(End of this chapter)