Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 639 The Normandy Landings

How long has it been since he left Yanjing to report to headquarters?
In just a few weeks!

He originally thought that even if Lianxiang was no match, it could at least rely on Microsoft's support and its own foundation to fight for a while, giving him room to launch a counterattack.

He even hoped that Lianxiang could slightly deplete Momo's cash flow and energy.

But he never expected that Lianxiang would be so easily defeated.

It couldn't even be called a single blow; it was more like a sandcastle that crumbled at the slightest touch from the opponent.

Cheng Yi, without even using much technical expertise, easily spread the Moc-os system to every corner of China using only this barbaric, almost street-thug-like method of gang fighting.

"boom!"

Waters could no longer contain the rage surging in his chest and slammed his fist hard on the hard mahogany desk.

“Those incompetent idiots!” He paced back and forth in his office like a trapped, angry lion, his expensive Italian handmade leather shoes making a dull thud on the floor.

He knew very well what this 47% market share meant: it meant that nearly half of China's PC users would no longer have the familiar Windows logo on their boot screen, but instead that damned Moc-OS.

This means that massive amounts of user data, usage habits, and application ecosystems are shifting towards Momo.

This is no longer a simple price war or market competition; it's a war that is shaking the very foundations of Microsoft.

China has such a large population that it's terrifying to think that Momo Group could actually take over the Chinese operating system market.

With hundreds of millions of users, they can surpass Apple and become the world's second-largest operating system provider.

Moreover, once they are driven out of the Chinese market, it will be extremely difficult for them to re-enter.

The people of this country carry a kind of nationalistic sentiment that is difficult for others to understand.

The most problematic area is the campus.

Those college students are the main consumers of the future, early adopters of technology, and leaders of public opinion.

Momo Group has already accustomed its employees to Moc-os through free computer labs, so they will naturally be more inclined to use products and services based on the Moc-os ecosystem when they enter the workforce.

This is digging into the roots of Microsoft's future.

Momo Group had already begun planning all of this as early as the beginning of 2002.

Looking back now, it seems that the young people at Momo Group were already planning to tackle the toughest challenge in the IT industry from the very beginning.

Waters stopped, took a few deep breaths, and forced himself to calm down.

Anger won't solve anything.

He is Microsoft's famous firefighter, and controlling his emotions is his greatest strength.

“Cheng Yi…” he repeated the name in a low voice, and said, “Do you think you’ve won? No, the game has only just begun.”

Waters crumpled up the report in his hand and threw it into the trash can.

He turned to his secretary and said, "Tomorrow morning, inform the administrative department to stop all support and subsidies to Lianxiang Group. The funds previously disbursed should be recovered in installments according to the interest-free loan agreement."

"Yes!" the secretary nodded quickly.

Waters then asked, "Is the signboard I asked you to prepare before I left ready?"

The secretary said, "It's ready, it's in the conference room."

“Okay, take me to see it.” Waters nodded.

This is his trump card, and the reason why he dares to invest huge sums of money to burn it out for three months straight.

Waters and his secretary arrived at the group's conference room, which was located on one side, with a platform more than two meters high and five meters wide.

Upon seeing this stand, Waters's gaze was immediately fixed on the signboard.

The billboard was divided into several sections. At the very center, a bright red curve rose sharply like a steep mountain peak, finally settling on a chilling number: 83%.

Next to it is the classic butterfly icon of MSN Messenger, and below it is a smaller label that reads: China's instant messaging market share.

However, the price of this glorious achievement is also presented in a more concrete way below the curve.

Cumulative Marketing Investment: US$3107421589.37
[Major Expenditure Items]:
User subsidy: $2.21 Bn
Media advertising blitz: $0.58 Bn
Channel promotion and partner incentives: $0.32 Bn
It cost a total of 3.1 billion US dollars!
Waters stared at the number with his deep blue eyes, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the ironing crease of his trousers.

Even for someone like him, a seasoned firefighter who has handled countless multi-billion dollar acquisitions, the sheer volume of cash poured into marketing in a single country market within just three months still caused him a near-physiological discomfort.

It feels like trying to fill the sea with diamonds.

He could clearly recall the increasingly cautiously worded inquiry emails sent by members of the finance committee at Redmond headquarters every time a huge grant application was approved.

He could even imagine the mocking expression on Cheng Yi's face when he saw Microsoft burning through money like crazy in Jingzhou.

Indeed, the reason they burned through so much money was thanks to the promotional assistance from Momo Group.

Momo Group's strategy of encouraging users to take advantage of promotional offers did indeed consume their funds at an astonishing rate, but it also helped MSN complete its initial user base accumulation.

“Cheng Yi…” Waters murmured the name, his voice unusually clear in the empty, quiet office: “You want to use the unique characteristics of the Chinese market to wear us down with this kind of war of attrition? Do you think Microsoft’s cash flow can’t withstand this kind of bleeding?”

He shook his head slightly, a complex smile on his face, a mixture of heartache and pride.

He walked up to the signboard and stroked the contents. It felt smooth to the touch, just like the female celebrities he had touched in South Korea.

“You underestimate the terrifying cash flow generated by Windows’ global monopoly. $31 billion is indeed enough to bankrupt any ordinary company ten times over.” He spoke to the air as if talking to someone in the void: “But for Microsoft, this is just a broken finger, far from crippling it. This money is worth it to buy the ticket to the desktops of hundreds of millions of users in China.”

His gaze returned to the data dashboard, this time focusing on the user behavior analysis report.

The report's cold, hard data reveals a burning truth.

MSN's explosive growth was not primarily driven by any revolutionary improvements in the product's user experience; its interface still retained that lingering Microsoft-style cumbersome feel.

The real driving force is those two irresistible temptations: the ease of enterprise office work with seamless integration with Office 365 and the nationwide frenzy of simply and brutally redeeming game time cards.

The latter, in particular.

The report shows that over 85% of MSN's new user growth came directly from online game players.

For them, MSN was no longer just a simple chat tool, but a software that allowed them to earn real money while lying down. The secretary, standing beside them, was also somewhat excited.

Every time he looks at this signboard, he feels a chill run down his spine.

They actually used so much money for a small social networking market.

“The social networking portal is just a facade; the voice channel is our true strategic objective.” Waters’ eyes flashed with the cold glint unique to an old hunter.

By controlling players' voices, one controls the nerve center of game social interaction, which is equivalent to planting a time bomb in Momo's most solid gaming empire.

Although Momo Group controlled offline access through internet cafes.

But now, they have seized control of the online world.

He walked steadily toward the other side of the billboard, where there was another huge billboard covered by a deep purple velvet curtain.

The contents of this document are definitely at the level of basic confidentiality.

Waters, as if preparing for an important ceremony, suddenly grabbed the curtain's drawstring.

"Wow!"

As the velvet curtain slid down.

Under the lights, what is displayed is not a simple data chart, but an extremely magnificent strategic map of the stars.

At the center of the image is the MSN butterfly icon, but it is designed to resemble a blazing star, radiating brilliance.

From this star radiates countless thin, bright rays of light, like lines of gravity, precisely connecting the dozen or so planets of different colors orbiting around it.

Each planet is a meticulously rendered game logo.

Casual competitive tracks: NEXON's "KartRider" and JoyCity's "Street Basketball" from South Korea.

Main MMORPG lineup: ESTSoft's *Cabal Online* (Korea), Guangyu Huaxia's *Ask Tao*, TURBINE's *Dungeons & Dragons Online* (USA), Tianqing Digital's *Eudemons Online*, CCP's *EVE Online* (Iceland), Giant Interactive's *Zhengtu*, Sony Online's *EverQuest II*...

In addition, there are some smaller but promising game icons, as well as a few empty spaces marked with question marks, indicating that Microsoft's gaming universe is still expanding.

Below each game icon is not a simple name, but a precise label like a military briefing.

[Target Games]: Momo's "Primordial Era", Tencent's "Sweet Home", NetEase's "Fantasy Westward Journey", Blizzard's "World of Warcraft"...

[Core Competitive Advantages]: Free-to-play, item-based monetization, robust PvP, community-driven, Microsoft technical support, global servers...

[Attack Nodes]: Public beta launch date, MSN exclusive benefits, joint promotion plan...

This is not just a strategic map, but more like a battle map of an upcoming Normandy landing across multiple sub-battlefields.

Waters stared at the core blueprint he had personally conceived and polished for nearly half a year. The anger and frustration that had accumulated in his chest due to Lianxiang's failure were gradually replaced by the excitement of a conqueror.

"Momo has built an unbreakable offline barrier by using internet cafes."

"Then I'll use MSN's social engagement and top-tier gaming content from around the world to build an equally indestructible online barrier!"

"This is where Microsoft's true strength lies!"

He opened his palms with a touch of ecstasy, closed his eyes, as if he had already grasped the entire strategic map in his hands.

He knew perfectly well how much support these game companies received after joining Microsoft's global partnership program.

From DirectX optimization at the Windows system level, to global server deployment and flexible scaling support, and global distribution resource contracts through Xbox and MSN channels...

All of this is far beyond what Momo Group can currently provide.

Many games are already ready, even polished to perfection, just waiting for his command to unleash a barrage of attacks and besiege the city.

"RPG, casual, turn-based, hardcore sci-fi... we cover all genres without any blind spots." Waters's gaze swept over each game icon like a hawk's, and he smiled happily.

No matter how successful World of Warcraft is, it can't satisfy all the needs of all players, and MSN's 83% active users are their best source of manpower.

He could almost see these games being quickly delivered to every Chinese player via MSN one-click login, seamless import of friend lists, seamless integration of TeamSpeak voice chat, and then through social networks.

Then, the game point card subsidies were switched from Momo's games to Microsoft's games, thus achieving a complete online traffic acquisition loop.

Waters’ eyes flashed with the calmness of a top predator as he thought to himself: Cheng Yi, when I gather the world’s best game developers under the city walls of Momo Group, when users in every niche market face the temptation of similar products, can the moats you have set up still hold?
He glanced at his secretary, who immediately straightened her back instinctively.

Waters sneered, "Notify all VPs and above in the Game Division, MSN Division, Marketing Department, and Legal Department to have a meeting here at 9 a.m. tomorrow."

"Yes!"

The next morning at nine o'clock sharp.

The heads of almost all of Microsoft's core business lines in China and even Asia sat around the conference table, each with an open laptop in front of them, their expressions solemn.

At the front of the conference room, the strategic billboard for the 'Normandy Landings', now completely unmasked, came into everyone's view.

When Waters pushed open the heavy solid wood door and walked in, all eyes were instantly focused on him.

Waters wore a perfectly tailored dark gray suit, walked with a steady gait, and showed no emotion on his face.

He walked in, but did not sit down immediately. Instead, he went straight to the strategic display board, just like a general walking towards his sand table.

"You've all seen this billboard, right?" Waters didn't use a microphone, but his voice was loud and clear, reaching everyone's ears: "What are your thoughts after seeing this billboard? Don't you think our victories on the MSN battlefield over the past three months are incredibly impressive?"

He turned slightly to the side and pointed to the 83% share and $31 billion figures on the signboard.

A tacit whisper rippled through the conference room.

$31 billion is indeed outrageously high.

That's enough to buy 30 Tencent companies.

“31 billion US dollars is indeed a lot, but it depends on what we’re buying.” Waters’s gaze swept across the room as he said, word by word, “It’s buying the desktop access point for tens of millions of active users in China, MSN Voice’s near-monopoly in the online gaming and communication field, and the best springboard for us to launch a full-scale online attack on Momo Group.”

"It's also an entry ticket to the Chinese online gaming market, worth tens of billions of US dollars!"

(End of this chapter)