Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 216 Winner Takes All: Strategic Crush of BAT!

Chapter 216 Winner Takes All: Strategic Crush of BAT! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Wang Junshan continued to advise Cui Qian: "Tell Chairman Zhang that if we don't sell, with the advent of the cloud computing era, Wanwang will face decline and elimination!"

"Only by embracing future technologies can we achieve unlimited development!"

"Okay, boss, I'll go talk to Chairman Zhang of Wanwang again tomorrow."

“Hmm.” Wang Junshan changed the subject: “As for Discuz (forum building system), although it can’t compare to Wanwang, it controls 70% of the entrances to small and medium-sized forums and has a terrifying traffic value. Let’s acquire it as well, for 1-1.2 million!”

While Discuz can't compare to Wanwang, it still boasts 150 million forums.

Although some of them are dead, there are still hundreds of thousands of active forums.

The number of users covered behind it exceeds tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions!

This kind of influence is terrifying.

Although it's a single forum, it doesn't get much traffic.

The problem is, there are 150 million forums built with Discuz!

This is terrifying.

Their combined influence is more terrifying than any one of the four major portal websites!
In the PC internet era, Discuz's 150 million forums were a base for top internet influencers.

It is second only to top platforms such as QQ and WeChat.

If Future Technology acquires Discuz, it will be equivalent to acquiring the entire "grassroots social organization" of the Chinese Internet!
That's equivalent to controlling the traffic entrances of 150 million forums!
And tens of millions of forum users!
Most importantly, it has strategic significance, preventing Discuz from being acquired by BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent).

In its previous life, Tencent spent 4 million RMB to acquire Discuz in 2010 in order to consolidate its absolute position in the PC era.

It has achieved a closed-loop traffic flow from "forum posting -> QQ sharing -> portal news".

Now that Wang Junshan has made the acquisition ahead of schedule, it only costs around 100 million yuan, directly saving 300 million yuan.

Not only could it hijack Discuz, but it could also effectively curb the development of QQ.

It can also fully integrate Discuz with WeChat and even Weibo to achieve resource integration and a perfect closed loop!
These forum users all have QQ numbers, but a significant proportion do not have WeChat accounts.

The acquisition of Discuz was used to drive traffic to WeChat, which led to a surge in WeChat's monthly active users and further narrowed the gap with QQ.

It can also provide in-depth content for Weibo!
The strategic significance of this is immeasurable.

"Okay, boss. Once I acquire Wanwang, I'll go talk to Comsenz about the acquisition."

Cui Qian had a plan.

Discuz is a product of Comsenz.

The next day, Cui Qian visited Wanwang's headquarters again and met with Chairman Zhang.

"President Cui, Wanwang is very willing to reach a comprehensive strategic cooperation with Future Technology. But Wanwang's value is definitely not just 4 million. Even 4.5 million is a serious undervaluation."

"But there's nothing we can do, given the current financial crisis."

“450 million it is, I’ll accept that. But if it’s lower than that, there’s really no room for negotiation.”

"Wanwang's assets, value, foundation as an internet infrastructure service provider, development prospects, and monopolistic position are all fully justified by this price!"

Zhang Weidong made his position clear from the outset.

If it weren't for Li Yingqiao's betrayal and his attempt to lower the price to 4.5 million, even if it were 5 million less, he wouldn't have agreed.

Cui Qian smiled faintly:
“Chairman Zhang, in the past, Wanwang was indeed worth 4.5 million.”

"But times have changed now."

"The era of cloud computing has arrived!"

"Wanwang's current IOE architecture is completely outdated. Its assets and future prospects have been greatly diminished."

"As for its current monopoly position, it has become a joke."

"With the advent of the cloud computing era, the entire industry will be reshuffled, and Wanwang's current advantages will vanish. Not to mention its monopoly position."

Zhang Weidong's expression turned very ugly.

He has a technical background and understands very well how dangerous cloud computing can be.

When that happens, it will be the replacement of feature phones by smartphones.

Wanwang's current IOE architecture will be completely replaced, and its future prospects will become bleak.

But he still said, "President Cui, cloud computing is indeed powerful and advanced, but it is also expensive. It simply cannot be implemented in a short period of time. So what you said is somewhat alarmist."

Cui Qian waved her hand: "That's not necessarily true."

"Amazon's AWS cloud computing has gradually matured and is now officially commercially available."

"In the past two years, Google and Microsoft have also entered the field one after another. Cloud computing is an inevitable trend."

Zhang Weidong shook his head: "Hehe, cloud computing is developing very quickly abroad, but that's only abroad. It's much more difficult in China. Mature cloud computing may not appear within ten years."

"And over the past decade, Wanwang has remained the leading internet service provider in China, and it remains irreplaceable!"

"Ten years? That's not necessarily true."

Cui Qian smiled faintly: "Cloud computing in China will appear very soon. It won't take ten years, maybe even three."

"What?" Zhang Weidong was startled. "Could it be that future technology will focus on cloud computing?"

He knew that with the advent of the cloud computing era, Wanwang's model would become outdated.

If future technology involves cloud computing, then Wanwang's future is truly worrying.

Cui Qian nodded: "To be honest, the reason for acquiring Wanwang is to develop cloud computing."

"If Chairman Zhang is willing to sell, we can shorten the development time of our cloud computing in the future."

"It's like trading money for time."

"If Chairman Zhang is unwilling to sell, we can look at other companies, or start from scratch, that's fine too."

"We can wait that long."

"But the future of Wanwang is worrying; it might disappear in the wave of cloud computing!"

“This…” Zhang Weidong’s lips twitched. He was certain that Cui Qian wasn’t lying, and he felt even more uncertain.

If future technologies incorporate cloud computing, then Wanwang's future will be ruined.

We will truly be outmaneuvered by the future of cloud computing!
"Of course, Chairman Zhang can also actively transform the business, and Wanwang can also do cloud computing. That's also a way out!"

Zhang Weidong's expression turned even uglier, and he even wanted to curse.

Is it that Wanwang doesn't want to do cloud computing?

Does Wanwang not know the power of cloud computing?

Does Wanwang not know that cloud computing has a future?

We can't afford it!

Cloud computing is burning through money like crazy!
Even if you throw in 5 billion, it might not be enough!
Subsequent investments amounted to tens of billions.

The entire Wanwang network is worth only 450 million yuan even if it sells everything it owns. How can it possibly come up with 5 billion yuan?

Seeing Zhang Weidong's unpleasant expression, Cui Qian felt much better.

It's to help you see the situation clearly and recognize reality!

Then the tone changed:
"If Wanwang is sold to Future Technology, games like WeChat, Vipshop, and WeChat Farm will all be fully integrated into Wanwang, allowing Wanwang to develop even better!"

"Furthermore, Wanwang will become a pioneer in cloud computing for future technology. In the next five years, Future Technology will invest 10 billion yuan annually in cloud computing development, and Wanwang will be able to develop better as a result, continuing to lead the way in the new era!"

"Of course, as the founder of Wanwang, Chairman Zhang, you and your core team will be upgraded to the core senior management of cloud computing in the future."

"Not only can the benefits be improved across the board, but there will also be better career development opportunities."

"I can guarantee that after being acquired by Future Technology, your compensation will double."

"By then, Chairman Zhang will not only have achieved financial freedom after selling Wanwang, but he will also have a higher salary, better career development, and become a pioneer in cloud computing in China."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Weidong could hardly resist being tempted.

If Future Technology doesn't do cloud computing, that's fine. If Wanwang doesn't sell itself and survives the financial crisis, it can still develop.

But if Future Technology develops cloud computing, then Wanwang's future will be over.

It can still fetch 4 million now, but once cloud computing takes off in the future, it might be difficult to even reach 3 million.

This kind of devastating attack is simply impossible to resist. In comparison, selling oneself to future technology becomes the only way out.

"So, Chairman Zhang, do you want Wanwang's valuation to be halved and its complete decline under the future disruptive impact of cloud computing?"

"Or should I choose to sell to a future technology company, achieve financial freedom, gain fame and fortune, and go down in history?"

"Sigh!" Zhang Weidong sighed, "It seems I have no reason to refuse."

"Congratulations, you made a wise choice!" Cui Qian said with a smile.

Subsequently, both teams proceeded with the full acquisition.

Meanwhile, Cui Qian dialed Wang Junshan's number:
"Boss, you are awesome."

"Following your guidance, I successfully broke down Chairman Zhang's psychological defenses by focusing on cloud computing, and acquired Wanwang for 4 million yuan."

"We don't need to give stock options, but we promised the core senior management that all their compensation would be doubled."

“Great, double the pay, no problem at all,” Wang Junshan said with a smile.

Compared to giving future cloud computing shares, doubling the compensation is nothing.

It's important to understand that once cloud computing is fully developed, its future valuation won't be tens or hundreds of billions, but five hundred billion!
Once it goes public, it'll be worth at least a trillion!

Even 1% of the shares is worth 100 billion.

You really can't just randomly distribute shares.

There's no way around it. Take Alibaba Cloud Computing, for example. It has invested more than 200 billion yuan over the past ten years, so a valuation of 300 to 400 billion yuan is normal.

In the future, cloud computing has the potential to grow even larger and surpass Alibaba's Apsara, which would lead to a higher valuation.

Cloud computing is not like other businesses; it requires too much investment. If we can avoid giving out shares, then we shouldn't.

“Wanwang has reached an agreement. Now I’m off to acquire Discuz!” Cui Qian said with a smile.

"Keep it up." Wang Junshan smiled.

By first hijacking Alibaba's Wanwang, the future of Alibaba Cloud Computing is now uncertain.

If Tencent preempts it by acquiring Discuz, Tencent's development will be hindered.

With Wanwang and Discuz, two powerful internet tools, in hand, it dominates the PC internet and community forums.

It will be difficult for any technology company in the future not to grow big.

Winner takes all, strategically crushing BAT!

Acquisition negotiations for several other businesses are also progressing steadily.

Whether it's a music platform or a video platform, they are currently facing difficulties and going public, so they are naturally willing to be acquired by Future Technology.

The only problem is the negotiation over price.

In response, Future Technology has formulated a series of policies.

For example, smoke bombs, or the "one peach kills four warriors" strategy...

Tang Zhi intended to acquire Tiantian Dongting, but he first went to Qianqian Jingting, then Kuwo, Kugou, and finally Tiantian Dongting.

This made Tian Tian Dong Ting very nervous.

After all, Qianqian Music has 300 million users, which is six times the 50 million users of Tiantian Music!
Tiantian Dongting was worried that its price was too high, but Wang Junshan directly acquired Qianqian Jingting, leaving them with nowhere to cry.

In the end, they only quoted 1.2 million, which was not far from their target price of 8000 million.

There were also video platforms; we contacted several at once, but ultimately only acquired one.

This has made PPS, PPTV, Youku, and Tudou very nervous.

They didn't dare to offer high prices, for fear of scaring away Future Technology and having it acquire a competitor.

Then, not only will they not be able to sell their own products, but they will also be unable to sell them.

Furthermore, due to the acquisition of competitors, which, with the support of Future Technology and WeChat, can rapidly expand and aggressively seize market share and users from their acquired rivals.

That would make things even worse.

That evening, the results of all the negotiations were relayed back:
The acquisition price for Qianqian Jingting was negotiated to be 1.8 million.

Kuwo Music has 2.5 million users.

Kugou Music has 3 million downloads.

1.2 million views on Tiantian Dongting

Youku.com has 6 million views.

Tudou.com has 7 million users.

PPS 3.5 million.

PPTV 4 million.

Seeing this, Wang Junshan was in a good mood and quickly issued a reply:
[Abandon Kugou and focus negotiations on Qianqian Jingting, Kuwo, and Tiantian Dongting.]

Shen Huaijin placed the peeled fruit next to Wang Junshan.

Reaching out, he massaged Wang Junshan's shoulders and neck, saying:

"Qianqian Music has 3 million users, and its price is only 5000 million more expensive than Tiantian Music, which has 6000 million users. Should we acquire Qianqian Music?"

Wang Junshan shook his head: "That's not how you do it."

"Although Qianqian Music Player has a large user base, it is mainly PC-based, primarily featuring pirated music. It also has low technical content; it's just a pirated music player. Even if we acquire it, we'll still have to redevelop a mobile app. We might as well develop our own."

"While Tiantian Dongting has fewer users, they are all mobile users, making it the dominant player in the mobile market. Furthermore, it has a strong copyright portfolio, having partnered with many music companies and acquired numerous copyrights."

In 2008, the exclusive rights to Jay Chou's Capricorn album were bought by Tiantian Music for 200 million yuan.

That's right, in an era rife with piracy, exclusive copyrights were that cheap.

"Moreover, the founder of Tiantian Dongting is a mobile technology genius who developed Viper Audio, which has achieved sound quality optimization. It has a very promising future."

To be able to create a mobile app with powerful decoding capabilities and Viper audio effects in this day and age is truly impressive.

As a result, three years later, Tiantian Dongting reached 200 million mobile users.

If it hadn't been acquired by Alibaba and hadn't clashed with Alibaba's other music platform, Xiami Music, Tiantian Dongting would definitely be QQ Music and NetEase Cloud Music's biggest rival, without exception.

But unfortunately...

However, being acquired by Wang Junshan could completely revitalize the business.

From the very beginning, Wang Junshan decided to acquire Tiantian Dongting.

As for Qianqian Jingting, Kuwo, and Kugou, they are all smokescreens used to pressure Tiantian Dongting to lower its prices!

"I see, I've learned something." Shen Huaijin nodded, picked up a grape from the table, and put it into Wang Junshan's mouth.

But Wang Junshan grabbed her wrist.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Shen Huaijin scolded, but Wang Junshan pulled her into his arms.

He then kissed her directly.

I gave you a chance before, but you didn't take it.

Now, even if you want to run, you can't.

Shen Huaijin was stunned and couldn't help but close his eyes.