Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 421 Shengda's Strategy

Zhou Haibin sighed, "Yes, and I haven't even counted those small private servers with only a few dozen people. In the six months since the source code was leaked, there have been at least five hundred private servers. Now, many internet cafe owners in districts and counties are also getting restless and seem to be thinking about opening a private server."

"How can this be allowed?" Chen Tianqiao exclaimed in surprise.

Internet cafes are their base of operations. If all the internet cafe owners start running private servers, they'll be left with nothing.
At this moment, Chen Tianqiao had already forgotten about those few wealthy players quitting the game.

Even if a wealthy player spends a lot of money, it's just the cost of a game card, right?
The rest of the money was earned by the players in the game. The only thing that's heartbreaking is that the departure of a wealthy player takes away many ordinary players.

Because these ordinary players all rely on this rich player for their livelihood.

Wherever wealthy players go, they will follow.

Private servers are different; they've crossed Shengda's bottom line.

If private servers were to erupt, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Chen Tianqiao said in a deep voice, "We can't use conventional methods anymore."

"Not using conventional methods?" Zhou Haibin still didn't understand what Chen Tianqiao meant.

Chen Tianqiao slowly said, "Go and issue a notice saying that we are willing to cultivate a second, third, and fourth Momo Legend. As long as they have experience in opening servers and understand Legend, they can apply for Legend agency rights. We will waive all agency fees for the first year. Let them actively apply. The application form must clearly state their experience in opening servers."

Upon hearing Chen Tianqiao's words, Zhou Haibin exclaimed in surprise, "Chairman, isn't this like drinking poison to quench thirst? Even if we grant authorization, it won't solve the private server problem at all."

Chen Tianqiao sneered, "I had no intention of giving them authorization."

Zhou Haibin exclaimed in surprise, "You want to use this as a bait to expose those private server owners hiding behind the scenes?"

Chen Tianqiao nodded slowly and said, "That's right. Instead of looking for them one by one, we should let them come out on their own."

Zhou Haibin's expression was full of shock, and he was at a loss for words.

This method is too ruthless.

It's like making those private server owners willingly walk into a trap.

No one can resist becoming the second, third, or fourth Momo Legend. Momo Legend essentially sets a seemingly achievable goal for private server owners, and every private server owner feels that they can become a Momo Legend.

"That's how it is." In Cheng Yi's office, Du Yusheng was reporting to Cheng Yi.

As the chairman of the group, Du Yusheng is informed of all matters within the group as soon as possible, and then Du Yusheng selects important matters to report to Cheng Yi.

And this matter is very important now.

Shengda Group is publicly recruiting legendary agents, intending to create the second and third Momo Legend.

This announcement immediately caused a huge uproar in the gaming industry, and even alarmed the Korean side, who sent people to order Shengda to stop this crazy decision.

However, Shengda ignored the South Korean representative and ended up parting on bad terms with him.

Not only that, they also publicly announced their withdrawal from the new expansion pack and their decision not to follow the Korean update path, which undoubtedly demonstrates Shengda's determination.

What kind of operation is this? Cheng Yi couldn't figure out what Shengda was up to either.

Shengda's open licensing program is supposed to be 10 years from now, right? It's only early 2003, why are we taking this step already?

Once this step is taken, it's tantamount to abandoning the legendary cash cow and transforming from a centralized government into a system of independent warlords.

Logically speaking, Chen Tianqiao shouldn't be so short-sighted.

Even if Cheng Yi put himself in Chen Tianqiao's shoes, he still couldn't understand what Chen Tianqiao's intention was.

"Boss, is he planning to take us all down with him?" Du Yusheng asked worriedly. "We've poached so many of their players. Almost all the players in these 274 Momo Internet Cafes outside the province are veteran Legend players. I think he's going to fight us to the death."

Cheng Yi took a sip of tea, frowned, and said, "It shouldn't be that bad. He's not trying to fight us; he's planning to slit his own throat."

"If many more Momo Legends emerge, won't that affect us?" Du Yusheng asked.

Cheng Yi shook his head and smiled, saying, "Private servers are just private servers after all. How can they compete with us? The only ones that are qualified to compete with us are the real Legend of Mir when they get serious."

"Oh," Du Yusheng said with a sudden realization, "That's good then."

Cheng Yi took another sip of tea, and his hand, which was holding the teacup, suddenly froze.

"Boss, what's wrong?" Du Yusheng asked curiously.

“No, no, no.” Cheng Yi murmured, “No, no, no.”

"What's wrong?" Du Yusheng wondered if Cheng Yi had gone mad.

Cheng Yi said, "This Chen Tianqiao wouldn't be planning to..."

"Probably not." Cheng Yi shook his head, dispelling the idea that even he found unbelievable.

Even someone like him, one of the top ten villains on the internet, probably wouldn't do something like this.

Chen Tianqiao is, after all, someone who is about to become the richest man in China.

"Boss, what exactly is it that you can't do?" Du Yusheng was completely confused.

"It's nothing." Cheng Yi put down his teacup, smiled, and asked, "Has the company set the holiday schedule?"

"It's settled," Du Yusheng said. "I discussed it with the HR department, and the group plans to start the holiday on January 28th, letting everyone go home two days earlier. We've set up a shift system at Momo Internet Cafe, so it can't close during the Spring Festival."

Cheng Yi asked, "How is the overtime pay set up?"

"The salary is five times the normal rate on the day of the Spring Festival, and three times the normal rate from the first to the sixth day of the Lunar New Year," Du Yusheng said. "It has all been implemented."

"Yes." Cheng Yi smiled and said, "If you want the oxen to work hard, you can't skimp on the fodder."

Du Yusheng said with some regret, "Boss, it's such a pity that this year's annual meeting has been cancelled."

According to the group's original plan, a grand group annual meeting was to be held this year, and Du Yusheng had even prepared his speech in advance.

After careful consideration, Cheng Yi decided to cancel this year's annual meeting.

Firstly, the group is currently in a period of rapid development, and it is not appropriate to continue playing music and dancing.

Secondly, the new group building is about to be completed, so it would be more appropriate to hold the second anniversary celebration when it is completed.

Thirdly, the connection with the Internet TV station went very smoothly. Shinan District sold its district TV station to Momo Group for 2100 million yuan. Under Du Yusheng's management, the renaming of the Internet TV station also went smoothly.

Since district and county-level TV stations can't access satellite channels anyway, let them do whatever they want. Although the internet TV station has been renamed, it will still need at least six months of promotion and setup before it can truly be launched and operated.

At that time, Momo Group's second anniversary celebration can also generate some buzz for the internet TV station.

After considering all factors, Cheng Yi ultimately decided to cancel this year's annual meeting.

The group's development is now becoming more stable, and the expansion of Momo Internet Cafes outside the province is also progressing very smoothly.

The policy of allowing only one internet cafe per prefecture-level city did not cause any objection from local internet cafe owners.

Of course, the internet cafe owners' resistance was not taken seriously by Momo Group.

The greatest skill these internet cafe owners possess is nothing more than smashing things to vent their frustrations.

Is this a big deal?

In the face of powerful capital, they are not even ants.

Even if the local manager is injured, even seriously injured, they can receive a large sum of compensation from Momo Group.

As for those internet cafe owners who committed offenses, they should be sentenced, or even executed.

How could they possibly stop the relentless march of capital?

Although it is cruel, this is the reality.

Who can guarantee a peaceful and safe life throughout their entire life?

Even drinking cold water can cause choking, and the regional managers of Momo Internet Cafes are aware of this.

As long as Momo Internet Cafe remains stable, Honghuang Zhanji will also remain stable.

Now, Momo Internet Cafe and Honghuang Zhanji have become one, coexisting and achieving a truly dreamlike collaboration.

The only downside is the school's intranet.

Starting from campuses, Xiaonei.com has grown at an extremely fast pace. According to data from a month ago, if it were to be valued on the capital market, it would be worth at least 15 billion yuan.

However, the problems that Renren.com is facing now are the same problems that Wang Xing faced back then.

Its usual valuation is 15 billion, but it drops to zero during holidays.

The campus network is now deserted, with fewer active users than it was a month ago.

During this period, apart from stirring up trouble between 8L and Chen Zhi in the game "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Cheng Yi spent the rest of his time pondering the problems with Renren.com.

The original Xiaonei.com was eventually transformed into Renren.com and opened to the public, but the results were not ideal, and were even worse than the original Xiaonei.com.

Ultimately, it boils down to the loss of core competitiveness.

Renren's core competitiveness lies in campus social networking, and they are unrivaled in this field.

However, once this core competitiveness is abandoned and the focus shifts to the general public, it becomes a competition with social networking sites across the country. At that point, it will be discovered that all of Renren's advantages have vanished, leaving it as just an ordinary social networking site.

Cheng Yi didn't want to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors. He had to make Renren.com a perennial website, a must-follow website for every college student after enrollment, ideally without exception.

Ah, if only we could access the internet via 3G.

Cheng Yi poured Du Yusheng another cup of tea and sighed inwardly.

Countries like Japan and South Korea had already achieved 3G internet access by 2001, but due to technological limitations, China only managed to achieve 3G internet access in some areas by 2008, lagging behind by a full seven years.

If 3G networks become more widespread, it would be entirely possible to design an affordable laptop with built-in 3G connectivity.

But for now, this is just wishful thinking.

"What's the status of the satellite dish now?" Cheng Yi asked.

Du Yusheng said, "I have collected several satellite dishes on the market. Starcom's technical department is studying them, and there should be news after the New Year."

"Yes, this is very important, and you must take charge of it personally," Cheng Yi said. "You can use the group's funds as you see fit. What I need is market share and speed, not profits. Do you understand?"

Du Yusheng nodded quickly and said, "Understood."

"Our goal for 2003 was to have 10 billion in debt," Cheng Yi said with a smile to Du Yusheng.

After Du Yusheng left, Cheng Yi returned to his desk and reviewed the annual financial statements submitted by each subsidiary.

Momo Internet Cafe remains number one, with an average monthly profit of 4.17 million yuan. Currently, Momo Internet Cafe has a total of 617600 computers, and its daily operating income is around 1667 million yuan. After deducting the salaries of 60,000 employees, internet cafe maintenance costs, electricity fees, and other operating costs, the daily profit is about 10 million yuan. In addition, there are recharge revenue shares from Momo Games, Sohu, Xinlang, Lianzhong, etc., which amount to about 100 million yuan per month.

The second-ranked company is Momo Games, with an average monthly profit of 2.25 million yuan. Currently, Momo Games has 120 million paying players, with a peak concurrent user count of over 60, and the upward trend is very obvious. Last month, its revenue from prepaid cards alone reached 3.2 million yuan. Momo Games has a very clear advantage, with a tax rate of only 8%, which is much lower than the 37% of internet cafes. Its biggest expense is the recharge dividends contributed to Momo Internet Cafes.

The third-ranked company is ByteDance (parent company of TikTok), with monthly revenue of 2.1 million yuan. Its main revenue comes from its subsidiary Momo TV Shopping Co., Ltd. and internet advertising revenue throughout Handong.

Fourth on the list is Xiaoneiwang Technology. With its three main pillars – Xiaoneiwang Industrial Company, Momo self-operated platform, and merchant ground promotion – Xiaoneiwang Technology's earning power is no weaker than that of Toutiao Co., Ltd. However, due to the inherent disadvantage of university holidays, its overall profitability is not as good as Toutiao's.

The revenues of Black Panther Security, Honor Computer, and Momo Guarantee Network were all similar, with tens of millions of yuan in revenue each month, but the net profit was not very good. Black Panther Security, in particular, had a net profit of only a few million yuan each month due to the large number of employees and frequent staff injuries.

"Right now, the main focus is still on Momo Games," Cheng Yi thought to himself. "Let's see what Shengda is planning first."

In the days that followed, Shengda's announcement caused a phenomenal reaction in the gaming industry, with countless people gathering downstairs at the Shengda Group building, hoping to be one of the few to succeed.

"Hello, this is my resume." In the agency review office of Shengda Group, a young man placed a resume on the table with a look of eagerness.

The interviewer looked up at the young man and asked, "Do you know anything about games?"

"I know a little," the young man replied immediately.

The interviewer then asked, "Tell me about your experience in the gaming industry."

The young man said excitedly, "I've run Legend servers before, I know Legend games very well, and I have operational experience. If you can give me the agency rights, I believe I can do just as well as Momo Legend."

The young man took some photos out of the file bag and said, "This is some data from my server; you can take a look."

"This is a screenshot of my server's peak concurrent users. As you can see, the peak concurrent users were 3761, and the number of registered users was 56771."

"These are some of the settings in my game. My idea is to make the game fun for players. Warriors can have all the skills of Taoists and Mages. You get a Dragon Slayer sword as a free gift when you log in..." The young man introduced the game at length.

(End of this chapter)