I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 805 History has come to the 2017 mark again. What should ByteDance do?
After the lively Spring Festival, everyone went back to work, but it wasn't until after the Lantern Festival that people's minds finally settled down.

As expected, the Jinghai Municipal Government quickly organized a delegation of well-known local enterprises to form the "Jinghai-Tianhan Pairing Assistance and Investment Promotion Delegation" to conduct poverty alleviation inspections in Tianhan City. Fang Qingye's name was also on the list.

The plan is to depart from Jinghai on March 1st and spend a week there, conducting on-site research, industry matchmaking, and project negotiations to promote in-depth cooperation between Jinghai and Tianhan in areas such as specialty agriculture, e-commerce, and cultural tourism, explore new paths for East-West cooperation, and inject new momentum into Tianhan's economic and social development and poverty alleviation.

However, Fang Qingye did not go with the inspection team. Instead, he asked for leave and left early. He was going to Yanjing to attend a very important signing ceremony with ByteDance.

It turns out that at the end of last year, ByteDance negotiated with the American company Flipagram and decided to acquire it in its entirety.

Flipagram is an American mobile short video company founded in 2013. Its core function is to allow users to create and share short videos ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute by adding music to their mobile phone photos and videos. It boasts a vast music copyright library (in partnership with music giants such as Universal, Sony, and Warner) and over 2 million user-generated content content.

This deal is an important step in ByteDance's internationalization strategy, marking the beginning of ByteDance's full-scale foray into overseas markets.

Although Fang Qingye, as the chairman, was not specifically involved in the negotiations with Flipagram, he paid close attention to the entire process. CEO Zhang Yimin reported to him, and of course, he had to attend the final signing of the contract.

Of course, it's not just about signing contracts. At this crucial moment in ByteDance's development, it's essential to have thorough communication with Zhang Yimin's team.

Fang Qingye drove Yue Kai to Shanghai, and from there they took the Fuxing bullet train to Beijing.

The train sped across the North China Plain.

After passing through the water towns of the south, we entered the boundless North China Plain.

Outside the car window, everything was still a yellowish-brown. The trees were still bare, the poplar branches pointing straight to the sky. The distant village was shrouded in a thin mist, the outlines of the red brick houses appearing somewhat blurred.

Large tracts of fields were bare, yet a layer of light green could already be seen—the wheat seedlings turning green again.

spring is coming.

ByteDance's spring has finally arrived.

After several years of development, ByteDance has now mounted a galloping warhorse and is far ahead in the short video arena.

Of course, difficulties and challenges also followed. Especially after entering 2020, the influence of geopolitics and the continued suppression by the United States have repeatedly put TikTok to the brink of life and death.

Now history has brought us back to 2017. What should we do?
Fang Qingye sat in the business class carriage, gazing at the scenery rushing past the window, lost in thought.

The train arrived at Yanjing South Station at 4 p.m., where Wang Yu, CFO of ByteDance, was waiting to pick it up.

Wang Yu was also sent by Topway Technology to ByteDance as a director and CFO. In fact, he is also a Topway Technology employee. However, he is now married and his home is in Yanjing.

He smiled and took the suitcase from Fang Qingye, saying, "The hotel is already booked. Mr. Zhang originally prepared a banquet to welcome you, but you declined."

"We're all on the same side, so there's no need for all that fancy stuff," Fang Qingye said. "You know I can't hold my liquor. How will I attend the signing ceremony tomorrow if I get drunk?"

As they talked, Yue Kai got into an Audi A6L and drove towards the city.

ByteDance's headquarters are currently located in the AVIC Building near Zhichun Road in Haidian District. Fang Qingye is staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Zhongguancun. The signing ceremony tomorrow will be held in the AVIC Building. "Wang Yu, have all the company's senior executives returned?" Fang Qingye asked Wang Yu in the passenger seat from the back seat.

“Everyone’s here, even Zhou Kaiwen, the president of the international affairs department who was in the United States negotiating business, rushed back today,” Wang Yu replied immediately.

This was requested by Fang Qingye.

He insisted on meeting with all of ByteDance's top executives during his visit to Yanjing!
Many people thought it was to attend the signing ceremony to make it look more grand, but Wang Yu, who knew Fang Qingye better, knew that his senior was not a man who cared a lot about rituals and wouldn't do things for the sake of face.

"Chairman Fang, is it time to hold a meeting? Is there something important to discuss?" Wang Yu asked tentatively.

“Yes, ByteDance is like a big ship about to set sail. This is land we are familiar with, but we may encounter all sorts of unexpected problems in overseas markets. We must unify our thinking.” Qingye looked out the window at the endless stream of cars, her tone calm.

The next morning at nine o'clock, in the conference room at ByteDance headquarters in Beijing.

Although it is early spring and the air outside is still chilly, it is warm and cozy inside.

On one side of the long conference table sat Fang Qingye, founder and chairman of ByteDance, CEO Zhang Yimin, and their core team, all dressed in business casual attire and looking relaxed.

On the other side was the Flipagram team from the United States. Several people dressed in suits could not hide the complex emotions of selling their "children".

Farhad Mohit, co-founder and CEO of the company, looked at Fang Qingye, who was sitting in the middle, with some curiosity.

During negotiations with Zhang Yimin's team, he learned that Zhang Yimin was only the company's CEO and the actual operator, and that there was a mysterious figure behind him who controlled ByteDance's strategic focus.

This is the first time I've met him today, and I never expected him to be so young!
According to the information, he is actually younger than Zhang Yimin.

The whole team is full of energetic post-80s generation.

After a few polite greetings, the signing process began. Fang Qingye picked up a pen and quickly signed his name on the contract. His assistant, standing nearby, noticed that Chairman Fang was signing faster today than he had ever done for any previous acquisition.

“Congratulations, Mr. Fang,” Farhad Mohit said in slightly accented Chinese, extending his hand after signing. “I hope Flipagram can be reborn at ByteDance.”

Fang Qingye grasped the other person's hand, smiling but speaking calmly: "We will maximize the value of Flipagram."

The reporters, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately raised their cameras, and the sound of shutters clicking filled the air.
A financial reporter preemptively asked, "Mr. Fang, this is ByteDance's first acquisition of an overseas short video platform. How do you view the strategic significance of this acquisition?"

Fang Qingye leaned forward slightly, closer to the microphone: "Flipagram possesses mature music copyright resources, which will provide crucial support for our ongoing global short video strategy."

His gaze swept across the room as he continued, "More importantly, this acquisition will help us build connections with content creators worldwide."

Farhad Mohit added, "Our team is very impressed with ByteDance's algorithm technology. We believe that under Mr. Fang's leadership, Flipagram users will have a better creative experience."

At this point, a foreign journalist pointedly asked, "There are reports that ByteDance is secretly developing a brand new international short video product. Is this acquisition paving the way for this new product?"

(End of this chapter)