How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 279 The Gift Isn't Quite Right (10,000-word Update, Please Subscribe)
"What market share will WP7 capture in China in the future?" Carroll squinted.

“Currently known partners include mid-to-low-end manufacturers such as Xiawei, Huaxing, and Changxiang. For the high-end, there is a new brand called Leshi. If Nokia’s new models are launched next year, I estimate that it will have at least a 30% market share.” Wang Yao pondered for a moment.

“Yahoo’s search and other product businesses in Japan have a 40% market share. If we include the Chinese and Japanese markets, we would have at least 3 million users. The potential of the East Asian and Asian markets in the future is also huge, which is certainly not certain.” Carol was calculating another set of figures.

“If Yahoo joins, it can directly leverage the mature ‘KT+’ ecosystem to quickly seize the mobile search business in Korea,” Deng Wendi suggested another direction.

Korea's search market has been monopolized by the local platform Naver for many years, and Yahoo and Google have almost withdrawn from it. However, Korea's market share is still quite valuable.

Carroll previously agreed to invest in Sogou in order to maintain a better global search market share and continue to make promises to investors at the end of the year.

"Can it account for 10%?" Carol asked with interest.

“Naver doesn’t have a mobile browser yet, and Yahoo’s early move to develop the mobile business could even allow them to overtake Naver.” Deng Wendi shook her head.

"Oh?" Carol pondered for a moment, then looked at Yang Zhiyuan: "Shouldn't we have cut the mobile phone business?"

"It's definitely not right, but there's no other way. We don't have the technological expertise or enough capital to invest in building a factory," Yang Zhiyuan said with a smile and a shake of his head.

“Actually, if you’re making mid-to-low-end phones, you could consider having them manufactured in China. Apple and Samsung are already preparing for manufacturing in China, and Nokia has had a well-established production line for a long time,” Wang Yao said.

"The assembly business is not of practical significance to Yahoo; we should still invest in research and development," Yang Zhiyuan shook his head.

What's the point of those meager profits in manufacturing? You need a story like Apple's to create a bubble.

Otherwise, with that kind of energy, it would be better to invest in two new internet companies.

“I heard that Motorola’s mobile phone division has been spun off, and Google is preparing to negotiate an acquisition. Their Android phone sales have been pretty good this year. If Yahoo is really planning to restructure its mobile terminal industry, we could consider acquiring them,” Wang Yao said.

Mora's mobile phone business has been losing money since 07, with losses approaching $100 billion over three years. This year, thanks to the rise of Android smartphones, it finally started to stop losing money in the first three quarters. However, due to the high debt, which affected the overall market value, it was decided to split into two companies: a mobile company and an operating system company.

After the split, Mora Systems can maintain a market value of tens of billions thanks to the high revenue and gross profit of its communications business, while Motor Mobility, although unprofitable, has a promising future and can also be listed independently.

Motorola Mobility's most valuable assets are not just its products and businesses, but its patents. As the manufacturer of the world's first mobile phone and a telecommunications giant, Motorola currently owns 1.7 mobile communication patents, all of which are packaged into Motorola Mobility to support its valuation.

"It should be valued at least in the tens of billions, right? A few years ago, Ya Hu still had that kind of strength, but now it really doesn't have the ability to achieve it." Yang Zhiyuan glanced at Wang Yao.

This young man is overestimating Ya Hu's strength.

“If Ya Hu is willing to take the lead, Ms and KT are both interested in participating,” Wang Yao said seriously.

"The media group is also willing to see Yahoo and Ms deeply integrated and cooperate, which is a guarantee for both parties," Deng Wendi said with a smile.

"This?" Yang Zhiyuan's mind raced.

The terminal manufacturing industry is a huge market worth trillions of dollars. More importantly, there are enough stories to tell. If Mora were to be acquired directly, a large amount of upfront technology investment costs could be eliminated, and the first product could be launched within six months.

Combined with the Microsoft ecosystem, it can achieve hardware + software bundling to seize the mobile search and social media market, which is just another "Little Apple". It may even replicate the glory days when Yahoo was first founded.

Although Ya Hu doesn't have much capital, he has his own foundation.

I must say, young people these days are really clever; they integrate resources very skillfully.

Just by leveraging the influence of Yahoo and Ms in Asia, this phone can save tens of millions of dollars in marketing and promotion costs every year.

Yang Zhiyuan suddenly felt the urge to start another business.

"All the software from 'YaHu+' is pre-installed on the phone?" Carol was already dreaming.

If she sells 1 million units, wouldn't that be equivalent to capturing a market of 1 million users? In that case, she could truly revive Yahoo and become the greatest female CEO in the history of business worldwide!
Yahoo currently has cash reserves of around $40 billion. It originally intended to use a quarter of that to buy back shares to boost its stock price, but now the acquisition of Ms can achieve the same effect.

Assuming the acquisition of Mora Mobility requires $100 billion, Yahoo can acquire a 25% stake without affecting the company's debt.

"Let's have an internal meeting to discuss this," Yang Zhiyuan said, ending the conversation.

"Let's get back to the valuation of Ms." Carroll also snapped out of his reverie.

"20 billion, with a maximum financing of 30% of the shares," Deng Wendi said with a smile.

The media group holds 65% of MS Group's shares, which will be diluted to 45.5% after financing, but it will still be the largest shareholder. However, the value of the shares is as high as 9 million. The group has already recovered the losses from the previous acquisition with interest and is just waiting to cash out after MS goes public.

"Of the 6 million yuan, 5 million yuan can be used to support the acquisition of Mora's business," Wang Yao then stated.

"Playing this big?" Yang Zhiyuan was taken aback.

"I have full confidence in Tooth Tiger," Wang Yao said with a slight smile.

"Did you buy any shares of Tooth Tiger?" Carol joked.

“Of course, I bought it after meeting Ms. Carol. I believe that under your leadership, Fanghu will regain its former glory,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Sweet-talking young man," Carol said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I heard that the Le's family in China is also a company invested in by President Wang? Are they also in the WP7 camp?" Yang Zhiyuan received the latest news from the think tank.

"Le's claims to be a self-developed system, but it is still based on the WCE framework. In the future, it can be adapted to WP7 and seamlessly integrated into the 'Yahu+' ecosystem, so it can be considered part of the Microsoft camp." Wang Yao nodded.

"Bill will probably be ecstatic to hear that you're a member of the alliance," Yang Zhiyuan said with a smile.

“The Le family can also participate in the acquisition of Mora,” Wang Yao reiterated.

Yang Zhiyuan was completely relieved. If Wang Yao hadn't invested real money, he would have suspected that he was instigating Ya Hu to be cannon fodder. But since Wang Yao had heavily invested in mobile terminals, it was clear that he was sincere.

"Furthermore, I will also raise some funds in my personal capacity to invest," Wang Yao reiterated.

“This is no small sum of money,” Carroll said, somewhat surprised.

“If you have high hopes for something, you should naturally bet heavily on it,” Wang Yao said with a warm smile.

“I appreciate decisive collaborators. Please allow us three days to discuss this.” Yang Zhiyuan nodded solemnly.

"Looking forward to cooperation." Wang Yao stood up and shook hands with the two.

After seeing Wang Yao and Deng Wendi off, Yang Zhiyuan and Carol returned to the conference room and looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Weren’t we mainly talking about MS investment? Why did we switch from software applications to hardware investment?” Carroll asked with a smile.

“Good cooperation is two-way. If it’s just one-way support, it’s not very meaningful. Wang Yao is a young man with a lot of ideas,” Yang Zhiyuan said seriously.

“He’s a very capable young man, at least another Zuckerberg,” Carroll commented.

“No, Wang Yao’s upbringing was a hellish start.” Yang Zhiyuan shook his head, looking thoughtfully at the photo of Terry Semel on the PPT.

What kind of company is Yahoo?
"Why do we have to make things so complicated? Wouldn't it be better to just focus on the lightweight software platform business?" Deng Wendi asked, somewhat puzzled, after getting into the car.

Although Wang Yao had spoken to her beforehand and explained the pros and cons, she hesitated now that she saw Yang Zhiyuan actually being persuaded.

Ms. is indeed doing very well now, but it's not stable. After all, a topic like the "socialite fall" can't happen every month. The competition in the social media field will be a real battle with money to burn.

She really couldn't understand why they would take 6 million of the 5 million raised to heavily invest in an unrelated side industry; wasn't that putting the cart before the horse?

"Do you remember what I told you before, that a general doesn't chase wild rabbits when traveling?" Wang Yao asked in return.

“Of course, I just feel like you’re chasing after wild rabbits right now.” Deng Wendi nodded.

"What is Ms's core revenue stream?" Wang Yao asked.

“Traffic ads, e-commerce commissions,” Deng Wendi answered instinctively.

"No, it depends on users. Who knows how many monetization models there will be in the future? But the core revenue comes from capturing users. Software expansion can rely on marketing events, but the cost will only increase."

If there's built-in hardware support, the customer acquisition cost will only see diminishing marginal returns. Based on the current pricing of pre-installed apps from major mobile phone manufacturers, it's roughly $5 per device, meaning 5 million can acquire 1 million users.
"So as long as Yahoo! + mobile phones sell more than 1 million units, our investment will be recouped. If the mobile phones are profitable, that's extra income. So theoretically, investing in hardware is the key to getting things moving, while marketing is just the rabbit," Wang Yao explained.

“But buying 1 million copies is probably going to be very difficult.” Deng Wendi blinked.

“The cost of acquiring a new Facebook user is $10-$15 per person,” Wang Yao added.

"Then maybe selling 1 million phones would actually be more cost-effective." Deng Wendi's lips twitched.

"Moreover, the advantage of a pre-installed app is that it's not easy to delete, and new users who use it for the first time will develop a dependency on it, resulting in higher user loyalty," Wang Yao smiled.

“Okay, you know what’s going on anyway. Elizabeth has arranged to meet Patrick King and asked when you’re free.” Deng Wendi changed the subject.

Patrick King is the writer of "2 Broke Girls" and "Remake Lady," and he is good at sitcoms and female-centric themes. He can take advantage of Paris Hilton's popularity to produce this hit show and then translate the script back into Chinese.

"Tomorrow, it's a bit late today. Let's just meet at the movie theater and shoot a short commercial for '22' while we're at it." Wang Yao looked at the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Are you in a hurry to go with your girlfriends?" Deng Wendi teased. "Don't talk nonsense, we're just ordinary colleagues," Wang Yao waved his hand.

Back at the manor, Wang Yao lay on the sofa watching Kim Ji-won and Nana playing in the indoor pool, finally discovering a touch of decadent pleasure.

After reviewing the details of the negotiations this afternoon, I think there's a high probability that it will go through. As long as Yahu takes the lead, the possibility of acquiring Mora is not low.

But the price will definitely not be cheap; ten billion dollars probably won't be enough. Wang Yao has other uses for his money, so he can't possibly put it all into promoting this matter. However, the value of Mora Mobility's patents is indeed very important.

Wang Yao first called the person who was most interested in this matter.

"Mr. Wang?" Yu Chengdong answered the phone quickly.

"Mr. Yu, I apologize for disturbing you. You haven't rested yet, have you?" Wang Yao said with a smile.

"You're not off work yet, what's up?" Yu Chengdong said with a smile.

"I was talking to Yahu about a collaboration in Silicon Valley, and we mentioned the idea of ​​acquiring Mora Mobility's business. I wonder if Xia Wei would be interested," Wang Yao said.

"Mora Mobility?" Yu Chengdong's voice became more serious: "Have they successfully separated completely?"

"Google is also in talks to acquire it. I heard that Mora wants to monetize its mobile business, abandon its mobile phone business, and focus on communications," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“If we’re talking about all mobile phone businesses, there are quite a few patents that we need right now. I just disrupted their wireless network business in the first half of the year, and the CDMA and LTE patents had a huge impact on our business. It would be great if we could acquire them,” Yu Chengdong said seriously.

"With Ya Hu leading the charge, the chances of an acquisition are quite high, but the amount involved might be rather large," Wang Yao stated truthfully.

“As long as the budget is reasonable, it’s not a problem. However, Xia Wei can’t publicly invest, as it will attract a lot of attention. This money may need to be used in other ways. I’ll have to trouble Mr. Wang to handle it,” Yu Chengdong said in a deep voice.

"That's easy to say, as long as President Yu trusts us. However, we're not entirely sure about the exact amount of the funding gap yet. We're just asking for your thoughts," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"If this works out, I'll consider it a favor I owe to President Wang," Yu Chengdong said seriously.

"Mr. Yu, you're too kind. Just give me more advertising opportunities in the future," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“That’s no problem, but Xia Wei’s advertising budget is all overseas, so there’s not much left in China,” Yu Chengdong said with a smile.

"I just took over the business of the overseas version of MS, which will provide distribution channels across the global internet," Wang Yao said.

"Ms? I've heard about her recently. She's quite popular overseas. I think she's a celebrity who fell on the red carpet, right?" Yu Chengdong was taken aback.

“Yes, the one who fell is the overseas star we just signed,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Oh, I understand." Yu Chengdong understood, and the two exchanged pleasantries for a while before hanging up the phone.

Wang Yao then called Ma Yun.

"What a rare guest! Mr. Wang actually had time to call me." Ma Yun finally answered the phone after it was dialed twice.

"Mr. Ma, you're still awake?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

"If you were worried I was asleep, you wouldn't have called twice," Ma Yun scoffed.

"The situation is urgent, so we've come to Mr. Ma to ask for donations," Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

"Begging for alms? You? Need money?" Ma Yun asked three questions in a row after a moment of surprise.

The news of Skyfire's $10 billion acquisition of AMC is still being talked about in China.

“Sure, sell Mulan Street to me, you name the price,” Ma Yun said with a smile.

“It’s not that we lack money, it’s that we lack business. After being targeted by Baidu and Tencent last time, I switched to Ms., and now we’re in a bundled relationship. Ms.’s overseas business has been expanding well recently, especially in the e-commerce sector. Mr. Ma, you can consider cooperating with us on your cross-border business,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Ms.? Media Group?" Ma Yun reacted quickly and then smiled, "President Wang isn't here to beg for money, he's here to support Alibaba's cross-border business. But is this little bit of business worth our time?"

“Mr. Ma is incredibly insightful. Today, I accompanied Mr. Deng to YaHu to discuss investment. YaHu is very likely to get involved in the mobile phone business and is preparing to acquire Mora Mobility’s division,” Wang Yao said in a deep voice.

"Hmm?" Ma Yun's tone hardened: "Who did you meet?"

“Yang Zhiyuan and Carol,” Wang Yao said.

"That's interesting. Is Ya Hu going for a last-ditch effort? Surely not, or is there another reason? This acquisition amount is probably not small, probably in the tens of billions." Ma Yun clicked her tongue.

“I don’t think Ya Hu has that much money. He’ll probably pledge some of his shares or look for other financing channels. If Yang Zhiyuan comes to you, you can consider it,” Wang Yao said.

"What are you considering? Alibaba doesn't do manufacturing; it's completely unrelated," Ma Yun asked, puzzled.

"Mr. Ma probably wants to buy back the shares held by Ya Hu," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“It’s difficult. Unless Ya Hu faces a major crisis, it’s impossible to sell,” Ma Yun said.

"Have you ever thought about a reverse takeover of YaHu?" Wang Yao asked casually.

"Huh?" Ma Yun was stunned.

"Please, let me put my clothes on." Nana was submerged in the pool, only daring to stick her head out, which she covered with a floating table.

Because Wang Yao was watching them intently from outside the glass window.

Originally, it was just because of the hot weather that I wanted to play in the water with Kim Ji-won, but I didn't expect Wang Yao to suddenly come back.

"What's there to be shy about? It's not like you're not wearing anything." Kim Ji-won sat on the shore with a smile, her eyes full of amusement.

“I wouldn’t be shy at the beach, but this is indoors. It’s practically the same as not wearing anything at all.” Nana rolled her eyes.

"Then don't wear it." Kim Ji-won pretended to pull at her strap.

"Ah! She's gone mad!" Nana exclaimed.

"Hehe, how's your thinking about what I told you?" Kim Ji-won asked with a sweet smile.

Nana's body stiffened.

"Think it over carefully. Opportunities don't come around all the time." Kim Ji-won blinked, took all the towels and went back to the house, leaving Nana all alone soaking in the water.

She watched helplessly as Kim Ji-won straddled Wang Yao, the two of them whispering to each other, though she could vaguely sense Wang Yao's gaze sweeping over her.

Even though she was soaking in the cool water, Nana felt like she was in a sauna, her mind uncontrollably conjuring up all sorts of conversations the two of them might be having.

Just as Nana felt like she was turning the pool into a hot spring, she saw Wang Yao pick up Kim Ji-won with one hand and carry her into the inner room.

What are they going to do?!

It's so hard to guess.

But Mr. Wang is surprisingly strong, even though he looks quite thin.

Before she could dwell on the thoughts, Nana quickly climbed out of the pool, slipped into the bathroom to find a towel to cover herself with. With the towel on, she finally felt safe and tiptoed downstairs to return to her room.

But as I passed the stairs, I accidentally heard a sound that made me blush.

Even though they were still some distance from the inner room, Kim Ji-won's voice is usually as soft as a kitten's, so she must have been doing it on purpose.

Nana gritted her teeth and hurriedly went downstairs to escape back to her room. She locked herself in the bathroom and took a good shower. When she came out, she found Kim Ji-won sitting on the edge of the bed like a ghost, which startled her.

"So fast?" Nana exclaimed softly.

Kim Ji-won stood up, grabbed Nana's wrist, and without answering her, pushed her directly into the closet, leaning down with a strange smile: "Shh~ don't make a sound."

Nana stared wide-eyed as Kim Ji-won closed the wardrobe door, her mind blank.

I briefly lost all ability to think, and could only feel a sharp pain in my chest as if my heart was about to jump out of my chest.

Her reason was being consumed by Kim Ji-won's demonic screams outside.

"Wait a minute, brother, put this on." Kim Ji-won slipped out of Wang Yao's embrace like a snake and picked up the eye mask from the bedside table.

"Tsk? You've been watching too much Lust, Caution?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling a bit interrupted.

"Give it a try~ I'll give you a surprise," Kim Ji-won said coquettishly.

Wang Yao chuckled and did not refuse.

But soon, it was realized that the gift seemed to be the wrong size.

(End of this chapter)