Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 522 Third-Party Payment

The situation in Europe is basically just a lot of finger-pointing and bickering.

In fact, for the world's media giants, having an additional distribution channel is not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, Universal Vision has promised to broadcast their television channels to every corner of the world.

Adding another TV channel to the World Vision program has absolutely no impact on their interests.

But now that Microsoft controls the internet media sector, these media giants have to give Microsoft some face and are hesitant to publicly acknowledge the existence of Universal Vision.

However, they also know that, whether they admit it or not, it will be difficult to shake the foundation of Universal Vision.

Microsoft has a lot of influence in Europe and America, but it is not so strong in countries outside of Europe and America.

Especially in Middle Eastern and African countries, television is not even common, let alone computers.
In areas without computers, who knows what Microsoft is?
Meanwhile, in Europe, the winds of change have subtly shifted, thanks to the appeals of Lei Jun, an anti-Microsoft fighter.

Cheng Yi didn't take these things too seriously. Microsoft's dealings with Enze Capital were nothing more than a tit-for-tat exchange; the two sides hadn't really reached a life-or-death situation.

The domestic preliminary rounds are in full swing, and the progress of the global satellite dish project is accelerating. Cable information network groups in various provinces and cities have undergone tremendous changes, from resistance to cooperation.

Meanwhile, the TV stations are also happy to see the number of users of the Universal Satellite Dish increase, because the more users there are, the larger their TV station's audience will be, and the more advertising revenue they can collect.

Considering that Momo Group went to great lengths to create a compliant television channel by investing heavily in a satellite television platform, these television stations were speechless except for their admiration.

This is equivalent to opening a pig farm just to have a bite of pork.

In 2004, a special era when television was all the rage, the development of satellite dishes both domestically and internationally progressed very rapidly. Due to differences in conditions and implementation rules in different countries, the prices of satellite dishes also varied.

The only thing they have in common is their needs; they both need a stable satellite dish. Once their needs are aligned, the rest is up to them to negotiate.

However, many things are completely different in reality than what you imagine or what you actually do.

Now Cheng Yi truly understands what it means to spend money like water.

He originally estimated that he only needed to invest $20 billion to get everything done.

In reality, $20 billion is far from enough.

Installing satellite dishes is practically a bottomless pit.

The Rothschild family spent most of the $5 million they received immediately. To solve the funding problem, Enze Capital changed the dividend period of Momo Group from six months to three months.

Even so, it still couldn't withstand the terrifying rate of energy consumption.

Left with no other option, Enze Capital had to allocate 15% of its shares for a private equity financing round in Europe.

We have to make money.

Cheng Yi sat in his office and began to think about making money.

Whether it's Momo Group or Enze Capital, what they need most right now is money.

Momo Group's revenue is now stabilizing. Although it has captured the national internet cafe market, its revenue has not increased much.

Firstly, in order to quickly seize the market, they offered many preferential conditions to internet cafes that were not affiliated with Momo.

Secondly, many games are still in their free-to-play period, such as JX Online, which does not require a 30% service fee.

With the continuous investment in the Momo Technology Industrial Park, Momo Group's monthly net profit has now stabilized at 5 million yuan.

5 million is really too little.

He has to find a way to make money.

Cheng Yi picked up a pen and scribbled randomly in his sketchbook.

The cigarette between his fingers had burned down to almost nothing, and a long pile of ash had accumulated, but he was completely unaware of it.

The financial statements spread out on the table weighed on his mind like a boulder.

The bright red numbers on it were shocking.

The funds raised by Enze Capital in its latest round of private equity financing for a 15% stake have been poured into a bottomless pit, as the satellite dish project's frenzied global expansion is consuming cash flow at an alarming rate.

"Two billion US dollars seems far from enough. No wonder a World Cup costs billions of US dollars," Cheng Yi muttered to himself.

The envisioned blueprint is beautiful, but the actual framework requires real money to build.

Moreover, the skeleton was a hundred times larger and more complex than he had imagined.

The costs of landing in each country, the construction of production lines, public relations lobbying, event organization, and event promotion are all exceeding the limits of the initial budget.

He stubbed out his cigarette in the crystal ashtray, his gaze sweeping over the net profit figure on the report: 552427545, and his brows furrowed even more.

5 million is an astronomical figure in China, but compared to the money-devouring behemoth that is the global satellite dish, it's barely enough to fill a tooth gap.

"We have to make quick money!" Cheng Yi's eyes sharpened.

He can no longer passively wait for the long-term benefits brought by the satellite dish; that's too late to solve his immediate problem.

Momo Group's most powerful revenue generator is still gaming.

He picked up the internal phone, dialed Li Weiwei's number, and said, "Notify Kong Feng, Lin Qingyin, and Huang Wenrong to come to my office immediately."

Half an hour later, Kong Feng and the other two arrived at Cheng Yi's office.

Cheng Yi didn't bother with pleasantries and directly pushed the financial report in front of them.

"The situation is more severe than expected. The satellite dish project is under tremendous financial pressure, and Enze is also on the verge of collapse." Cheng Yi got straight to the point, tapping his finger heavily on the funding gap, and said, "Relying on the meager profits from the domestic market to provide financial support is too slow."

His gaze swept over the three of them, finally settling on Kong Feng and Lin Qingyin, and he said, "The overseas version of 'The Legend of the Primordial Era' must be launched immediately!"

Kong Feng perked up, but then looked troubled and said, "President Cheng, everything else is settled. We've also conducted the first round of testing with Chen Zhi. But there are two issues that haven't been completely resolved yet."

"Tell me about it," Cheng Yi said, looking at Kong Feng.

Kong Feng said, "One issue is the multi-country version problem. Normally, game companies would hand over the source code to a distributor, who would then be responsible for translation and maintenance. But now we are the ones handling the operation and translation, which is quite a lot of work."

“We must keep the server and source code in our hands,” Cheng Yi said. “Only in this way can we control the overall situation. The agent’s task is just to promote it. They don’t need to worry about anything else, nor do they need to set up any technical teams.”

The method Cheng Yi used is the mobile game agency model that emerged after 2018.

The game company is responsible for maintenance, updates, and operation, while the agent is responsible for promotion, new user acquisition, and maintaining order in the game servers.

This collaborative model not only prevents the risk of source code leaks seen in the past, but also allows game companies to maintain absolute control over the game. Both revenue and other aspects show a stepped growth pattern.

Cheng Yi said, "What languages ​​do you need? Give me a list, and I'll find you 50 translators for each language. Is that enough?"

"That's enough!" Kong Feng immediately became excited and said, "The English, Korean, Japanese, and Russian versions are now ready, but the less common languages ​​are a bit complicated."

"Okay, you can make the list." Cheng Yi nodded.

Global Vision has now recruited a large number of translators. After all, Global TV's channels in every country around the world need to speak that country's language. It's the same content, but it needs to be broadcast in dozens of languages ​​on Global TV channels in hundreds of countries.

These translators are currently on probation, so they're being used to help translate the Honghuang Zhanji server.

"Also, since we are managing it uniformly, there is no need to separate servers for each country," Cheng Yi said.

"What do you mean?" Kong Feng didn't understand.

Cheng Yi said, "It's enough to have 20 main languages ​​for the same client. Users can choose the language interface that suits them before entering the game, but once they enter the game, they must fight monsters, PK, and do quests on the same server."

"A multilingual client?" Kong Feng was taken aback and said, "Then won't the game also need real-time translation? If different languages ​​are displayed on the same screen, they won't be able to communicate with each other, right?"

“No need for that in the game,” Cheng Yi laughed. “Everyone can just speak their own language; that’s how you feel immersed.”

“That’s not difficult. The 2002 version of Klose had this function. I can just copy the function directly from their source code.” Kong Feng nodded and then said, “There’s also the payment issue. If we manage it uniformly, it would be better to make payments online as much as possible.”

Huang Wenrong also said, "Yes, Mr. Kong and I have discussed this issue in detail. The payment environment in Southeast Asia is complex, with cash cards, convenience store top-ups, and local online banking being very chaotic. The flow and security of funds are of paramount importance."

“Fund security…” Cheng Yi frowned and said, “Enze Capital can provide the necessary offshore channel support, but offline payments are still fraught with problems.”

“We can open an overseas game website and recharge through online transactions.” At this moment, Lin Qingyin, who had been listening quietly, spoke up: “PayPal and Skrill both support currency payments from more than 200 countries and regions.”

"Well, that's all we can do for now." Cheng Yi nodded slowly and said, "Let's use Skrill."

“Actually, PayPal is more comprehensive,” Lin Qingyin said. “It also has a higher level of security.”

Cheng Yi shook his head and said, "We can't just look at the safety factor from a technical perspective. Sometimes we also have to consider the place of origin."

“You should set up the official website first, and then talk to Skrill about the transaction fees,” Cheng Yi said. “In my estimation, these cross-border payment platforms all have very high transaction fees.”

"They're mostly around five points," Kong Feng nodded.

"Five points," Cheng Yi said with some pain. "We need to have our own payment tool. If our overseas version's turnover exceeds 10 billion, this percentage alone is painful."

"Qingyin, you'll be in charge of the official website. From now on, you'll be the sole administrator of the website's backend." Cheng Yi looked at Lin Qingyin.

"Okay." Lin Qingyin nodded immediately.

"Alright, Mr. Kong and Qingyin, you can go ahead and get busy. Mr. Huang, please stay behind."

After Kong Feng and Lin Qingyin left, Cheng Yi looked at Huang Wenrong, whose eyes were bloodshot, and smiled, "Old Huang, have you been too stressed lately?"

Huang Wenrong gave a wry smile and said, "A little."

Cheng Yi patted Huang Wenrong on the shoulder and laughed, "Relax, don't think it's a big deal. We've got nothing to lose anyway, there's no need to worry about it."

Huang Wenrong simply forced a smile.

As a seasoned finance professional, he was all too aware of the devastating consequences of a broken cash flow.

When Cheng Yi first proposed investing 10 billion yuan to create the Blizzard Cup, Huang Wenrong jumped out and strongly opposed it.

Because finance professionals don't understand ideals or romance; their minds are filled only with cold, hard data and analysis.

Even with the most basic analysis, Huang Wenrong knew that 10 billion yuan simply couldn't achieve the effect Cheng Yi had described.

Let alone 10 billion, even 30 billion would be difficult to achieve that level.

Countless companies have discovered that a project is a bottomless pit because the initial audit was too vague.

But having already invested so much in the early stages, we had no choice but to grit our teeth and keep pushing forward.

By the time you reach the very center, you're basically lost.

Retreating back would leave us heavily indebted.

Charge forward, bearing countless responsibilities.

It's like someone swimming to the very center of a river, only to find themselves completely exhausted, with no way forward or backward leading to certain death.

Now, Huang Wenrong has noticed this trend, and he has indeed been having trouble sleeping lately.

Most importantly, in order to strengthen the backing of Momo Group, they borrowed 10 billion yuan from various banks, with the main idea being to distribute the benefits evenly.

If the funding chain breaks, the consequences are unimaginable.

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "You don't need to worry about the funding problem. If we have a third-party payment fund pool to provide 15-day guarantee services for Shi Lei's equipment guarantee trading platform and Jiang Yuxi's TV shopping platform, wouldn't the funding problem be easily solved?"

Huang Wenrong felt that Cheng Yi was talking nonsense.

A distant source of water cannot quench an immediate thirst.

Building a third-party payment platform will take at least a year.

If we had started preparing a year ago, there would still be hope now.

That's practically impossible right now.

Investing manpower, resources, and money to build a third-party payment platform now will only make our already impoverished lives worse.

Huang Wenrong sighed, "I think the safest thing for us right now is to continue taking out loans from the bank. The bank doesn't know that the Blizzard Cup was organized by us, nor does it know our true relationship with Enze Capital."

Cheng Yi smiled, took out a plane ticket from his pocket, handed it to Huang Wenrong and said, "Someone else has already set up this third-party payment platform for us. Come on, I'll show you around."

At this moment, in a residential building in Lin'an City, Zhejiang Province, Ma Yun was excitedly leading a group of young people in a rally to pledge their commitment.

After nearly two years of research and development and six months of testing, their secretly developed Alipay was finally a success.

Looking back on this arduous journey, Ma Yun feels it was all worth it.

With this fund pool, they no longer need to worry about funding. Not only do they not need to worry, they can even use a portion of the funds in the pool for investment, completely getting rid of Momo Group's damn 30% platform fee.

I'm getting a little excited just thinking about it.

(End of this chapter)