Chapter 374 Investing in ByteDance, Li Zhenzhen reorganizes the peninsula forces
Zhang Ming, a native of Longyan, Fujian Province, graduated from Nankai University, the founder of Toutiao and ByteDance, currently Toutiao is in the news market, it can be said It is a unique existence.
Chen Xing still has an impression of this future Internet tycoon.
“I have long admired Mr. Chen’s name.”
Zhang Ming took the initiative to extend his hand to show his goodwill.
Since it was Rebus who acted as the intermediary to introduce him, even if he didn’t know Zhang Ming’s identity, as a friend of a friend, Chen Xing would still give him enough respect, smile and shake hands with him and say, “Mr. Zhang, nice to meet you, both of you. Please take a seat."
As the three of them sat down, Rebus on the side of the sofa looked at Chen Xing and said slightly teasingly: "Zhang Ming, I have known him for a long time. Hardworking and very motivated, to be honest, this is the first time he asked me to introduce him to someone, and he went to the Northeast to find me in person, which shows how much he wants to get to know you, Mr. Chen."
Since Zhang Ming is present. , he still calls Chen Xing the CEO of the company.
After Rebus started, Zhang Ming rubbed his hands nervously, his eyes were a little uneasy, and he continued: "The main reason is that the name Chen Xing is in the current Longguo science and technology circle. It’s so impressive that people can’t help but make friends with him.”
“It’s funny, I really admire Mr. Zhang for being selected into Forbes at the age of thirty and starting his own business several times.”
Chen Xing smiled calmly.
He did not mean the slightest bit of flattery in his words. Zhang Ming’s entrepreneurial trajectory can be said to be a template that all entrepreneurs need to learn from. His entrepreneurial process was much more bumpy than Rebus’s.
Although he was from the same 985 school, he did not perform too well during his school years. Unlike Rebus, he was already praised for being able to write code into poetry.
After graduation, the road to entrepreneurship was even more bumpy. A collaborative office software developed with great effort was announced to have stopped operating at a loss in less than half a year.
Afterwards, seeing that it was difficult to grab tickets, we developed a software for grabbing tickets. It was smooth sailing in the early stage, but due to the expansion of the business, the pace was too big, and it was announced that it was closed down two years later.
After being disheartened, he went to work at Microsoft, and then came back. He happened to catch up with the real estate trend, which allowed him to save enough capital, get in touch with the top entrepreneurial circles, and get to know his idols. Rebus.
Rebus was very optimistic about Zhang Ming, who also started from scratch and had no family background, and was willing to make friends with ambitious people.
As expected, Zhang Ming, who had accumulated wealth, not only founded Bytedance and completed three rounds of financing, but also launched Toutiao, seizing a large share of the news market.
Hearing Chen Xing’s story, Zhang Ming’s eyes flashed with surprise, and he wondered: “Is it possible that Mr. Chen has known me?”
“Of course.”
Chen Xing picked up the teapot that had been brewed, poured tea for Rebus and Zhang Ming respectively, poured another cup for himself, and continued:
"We are both born in the 1980s, and at this age, Longguo Enterprise I can count them all even with my eyes closed."
Picking up the tea cup, he changed the topic and said: "Thunder. What short video project are you always talking about? Can you answer it for me?”
He is now giving advice and asking questions with answers.
The moment he asked the question, as expected, Zhang Ming seemed to have found a common topic, and his voice rose a bit.
“Mr. Chen, now that the Internet is gradually emerging, users’ demand for mobile entertainment is also getting higher and higher.”
“Like games, there are Honor of Kings and Fantasy Westward Journey. The novels include Douluo Dalu and Perfect World, and the videos also include various variety shows."
After a half-second pause, he took a breath and continued: "But I found that whether it is games, novels, variety shows, or movies. , it takes too long to get happiness.”
“For example, I only have ten minutes. If I play a game, it is definitely not enough to last me, and reading a novel is not enough to get me started. That kind of reading state is the same as for movies, so I was thinking about whether the fragmented time in users’ daily life can be consumed in a shorter and more intuitive way.”
"You have to know that if one person takes ten minutes, there are hundreds of millions of Internet users in Longguo. Even if it takes 100 million, one person will take ten minutes, and 100 million people will be one billion minutes. In my opinion, this is a huge and untapped blue ocean market."
"That's right."
As soon as Zhang Ming finished speaking, Rebus echoed: "I also think this market has great potential. It seems to be called short video, right?"
“Yes, short video.”
Zhang Ming nodded.
Chen Xing took a leisurely sip of tea, put down the cup leisurely, and continued to guide deliberately:
“Ten minutes for 100 million people, in the final analysis, it is still ten minutes. It cannot be added up because of the increase in the number of people. What value can your short video create in these short ten minutes? "
"It can be added up"
Zhang Ming shook his head and retorted.
“Tell me about it.”
Chen Xing showed some interest.
Rebus winked at Zhang Ming. He had been dealing with Chen Xing for so long, and he knew very well that he should pursue the victory at this time.
Interest means that you have the idea of investing. If the other party's performance is mediocre, even if you say nothing, it will have no effect.
Zhang Ming also seemed to understand what Rebus meant, and reorganized the language and said: "Our short videos can be pushed according to user preferences. From the user's perspective, it is ten minutes, and from our operator's perspective, it is one billion. Minutes, because one billion minutes can be consumed with different content.”
“For example, if someone likes to watch beauties, we will push them videos of beauties, and if someone likes to watch delicious food, we will push them delicious food. Scenery, we push scenery to him. During the time our users use it, it is in a superimposed state."
Seeing that Zhang Ming's words were a bit complicated, Rebus stood up and said, "Actually, to put it bluntly. Yes, different content is pushed to different user groups. The more users there are, the more time they will use it. "
"How to make money?"
Chen Xing Continue to guide inquiries.
The purpose of doing business is to make money. Except for public welfare projects, no one wants to invest on their own, and end up feeling lonely.
“For now, it should be advertising.”
Zhang Ming responded quickly.
"What about in the future?"
"You can charge targeted fees."
"Consider a live broadcast platform?"
"I have thought about this. But for now, we are still focusing on short video creation, and we must first increase the daily traffic of the software.”
“That’s a good idea.” Chen Xing nodded slightly, and then asked, “Then come here this time. , and called Mr. Lei, it shouldn’t be to attract investment, right?”
With Toutiao in hand, Zhang Ming himself is not short of money.
In the eyes of ordinary people, he is already a successful entrepreneur. After all, he is still young and is in charge of a tens of billions company at the age of thirty-two.
As long as this kind of top entrepreneurial talent spreads the word that he wants to raise funds, many venture capital institutions are willing to give him money to start a business.
To put it bluntly, social wealth has always been gathering upwards.
What's the meaning?
To put it simply, the more people who are short of money, the less money they have, but the people who are not short of money, the less they are short of money, and social wealth will automatically accumulate towards the rich.
For example, Warren Buffett, the stock god, earned 90% of his wealth after the age of 60. Why is this happening?
The reason is very simple. He did not become a rich man before the age of 60 and did not complete the accumulation of wealth.
The most intuitive example is that if you have 100 million and deposit it in the bank, with 3% deposit interest, 8219 Longguo currency will arrive in your account when you wake up every day.
Eat a simple breakfast pastry for 200 yuan, then go to the gym to work out until noon, then spend 2,000 yuan on a high-end steak, and then spend 500 yuan on a simple meal in the evening, the total cost is less than 3,000 Yuan, even if you spend 5,000 yuan on nightlife to invite your sister to open a table in a bar, after the fun, on a new day, 8,219 yuan will arrive in your account.
This is the accumulation of wealth, this is the automatic gathering of wealth.
The same goes for entrepreneurship.
There was no money in the early stage, and basically no one invested.
But if you have succeeded, people who want to invest in you can line up from Shenzhen City all the way to Jerusalem.
Now that Zhang Ming has successfully started his own business, Chen Xing asserts that he is not here to attract investment and must have other intentions.
As expected, after Chen Xing asked, "It shouldn't be about investment," Zhang Ming quickly nodded and replied:
"It's indeed not about investment. I heard that Mr. Chen and others are engaged in big data. , There is still a high demand for short videos in this area. After all, there is push content for users, so I want to see if we can reach cooperation."
"This is no problem, cooperation is definitely possible, but. Algorithm wise?" Chen Xing looked expectant.
The popularity of Douyin short videos in the previous life was largely due to the user algorithm.
It can accurately control each user's preferences and push content that may be of interest. This is one of the reasons why Douyin is so popular.
In the past life, the United States wanted to get the overseas version of Douyin, which is the core algorithm of TikTok, for many times. For this reason, it did not hesitate to publicly pull off the old face and wanted to forcibly acquire it.
When Zhang Ming saw Chen Xing asking about the algorithm, he quickly took out a mobile hard drive and said: "The algorithm has been written. This is the internal beta version of the short video. How about I demonstrate it to Mr. Chen?"
“Okay.”
Chen Xing nodded.
As the saying goes, it's all about acting. Although he knows the value of Douyin short videos, he won't show it.
People who cannot hide facial emotions often do not achieve much, because opponents only need to observe facial expressions to know what you are thinking, which is a taboo at the negotiation table.
Zhang Ming also came prepared. He directly picked up the briefcase placed on the ground and took out the laptop inside.
After turning on the computer, he inserted the mobile hard drive and then downloaded and installed Douyin for internal testing.
“In the current internal beta version, we have produced a total of 500 short videos for internal testing of the algorithm. Mr. Chen can like or watch according to the direction you are interested in later, and even forward comments. We Look at the result."
"Okay."
Chen Xing took the mouse.
Although it is a closed beta version, the required pages are basically there.
The first video pushed was of a foreign beauty wearing a bikini, with three-dimensional facial features and fair skin. In the video, she was dancing on the beach, with her breasts jumping up and down along with the dance steps.
Is Chen Xing interested?
As a man, I am definitely interested.
But since Rebus and Zhang Ming were present, he was embarrassed to give a thumbs up.
If you don’t pay attention, the 15-second video clip has ended and it will automatically play for the second time. Chen Xing slides the mouse to switch videos.
The second video is about mukbang. Chen Xing is not interested in the big eater.
It was rowed away in less than three seconds.
The third video is about scenery. The location is Wugong Mountain in western Jiangxi. Above the sea of clouds, it looks like a fairyland.
Unconsciously, Chen Xing watched it twice. The algorithm gradually understood the user's preferences, and the video showed accurate pushed content.
Feedback videos will be reduced, and landscape videos and beauty videos will be pushed more.
Seeing this, Zhang Ming explained: "Our algorithm is to draw user portraits based on length of stay, likes, reposts, and comments. Like Mr. Chen, you love landscape videos and beauty videos. , if you continue to scroll down, the algorithm will automatically push related videos. "
"When the algorithm is improved in the future, we can also push it for beauty types, such as lolita, royal sisters, young women, and the same scenery, grassland. , mountains, snow, as long as the user stays for a long time and likes, comments and forwards more, his portrait will be clearer and the video will be pushed more accurately.”
"Very good."
Chen Xing let go of the hand holding the mouse.
No wonder ByteDance can become bigger and stronger. Their algorithms are so powerful that they have even thought of subdivisions.
"This project can be invested." After Chen Xing finished speaking, he quickly added: "But I have two conditions."
"What conditions?"
Zhang Ming felt happy and asked quickly.
If it can get the support of Longxing Group and rely on a huge user base, wouldn’t Douyin short video easily win hundreds of millions of users?
It is precisely because Chen Xing has big data and a large number of mobile phone users that he is willing to lower his profile and come to ask for cooperation.
“The first condition is that we, Longxing Group, want to invest in ByteDance, accounting for no less than 30% of the shares. We can sign a non-interference agreement with the company’s operations, and you can independently control the direction of the company’s operations.”
"The second condition is to develop an overseas version."
After saying the conditions, without waiting for Zhang Ming to respond, Chen Xing said again: "In return, Longxing Group will invest 1 billion as the start-up capital for the short video, and install the APP on the factory motherboard of the mobile phone. , and at the same time, the platform application store will promote it.”
Now Zhang Ming needs Chen Xing’s users, and Chen Xing also needs the application ecosystem.
Why are mobile phones so fun?
It’s not just because of the wide variety of applications.
For example, Weibo can be used to eat melons, follow celebrities and obtain news information, and Taowu.com and Wangdong can be used for shopping. There are also Honor of Kings and Fantasy Westward Journey, where you can experience the thrill of gaming. As for Penguin Music and iQiyi, needless to say, they are all forms of entertainment.
The summary is that the fun thing is not the mobile phone, but the applications on the mobile phone.
Longxing Group currently has a large number of mobile phone users. By investing in building an application ecosystem, it is actually nurturing mobile phones in return.
“Ahem.”
Rebus coughed twice.
Seeing Zhang Ming's hesitation, he quickly acted as a lobbyist and said: "Buying 30% of the shares means that Mr. Chen is very interested in your ByteDance and entering the Longxing ecological chain. That is something that many companies can't ask for. The most important thing is that ..."
After a half-second pause, Rebus continued: "Longxing Group has opened up the markets of Mao Xiong, Japan and South Korea. In the future, mobile phone users will be all over the world, and it will invest 1 billion, Zhang You have to think clearly.”
His words are very obvious, which means that if software applications want to develop, they must be inseparable from the mobile device platform.
Now that Longxing Group has such a big platform and still hesitates in front of it, it is more or less a bit ungrateful.
Even though the market value of Longxing Group is still in the hundreds of billions range, who in the industry treats it as a regular enterprise?
It is no exaggeration to say that Longxing Group is underestimated with a market value of one trillion!
“Okay.”
Zhang Ming finally let go.
Giving up 30% of the equity in exchange for Longxing Group’s financial and technical support, as well as the promotion of the mobile device platform, it is worthwhile to add up.
Although he may have to transfer part of his equity and not achieve absolute control, Chen Xing also said that he can sign a non-interference agreement with the company's operations, which is equivalent to sealing up this part of the equity and only use it for dividends from the company's business.
Seeing Zhang Ming relent, Rebus, as the intermediary, smiled, raised his teacup and said, "Then let's have tea instead of wine to celebrate Mr. Chen's investment in ByteDance."
"How polite."
Chen Xing smiled.
Although Zhang Ming is not the youngest, the market value of the company is the lowest. He also understands his position and is the first to raise his glass: "Mr. Chen, Mr. Lei, I will do it first."< br>
“It’s done.”
“You can’t raise fish.”
The three drank it all in one gulp.
One cup or two cups of tea is just for children.
After the few people pursued the sense of ceremony, they asked the lawyers of both parties to draft the contract and confirm the details of the terms and the responsibilities of Party A and Party B.
Looking at Zhang Ming who carefully studied the terms of the contract, Chen Xing was already happy. The future richest man in the Dragon Kingdom came to visit him personally. How could he not invest?
Moreover, the most important thing is that Douyin and TikTok are really going to be very popular in the future.
Let’s talk about Douyin first. Not only is it popular among men, women, old and young, but data in 2024 shows that its daily activity has reached an astonishing 800 million.
What is the concept?
1.4 billion people, 800 million use Douyin every day.
For an application app of this size, Chen Xing would definitely not let it go.
As for the overseas version of TikTok, it is even more powerful. It also allows 60% of netizens in the United States to use TikTok every day, and 80% of the remaining 40% have downloaded or have downloaded TikTok. This is For an application that is more popular than YouTube, it’s not too much to say “electronic opium”.
Longxing Group and ByteDance join forces to expand overseas markets, which is definitely a win-win situation. The two are complementary.
......
While Chen Xing and Zhang Ming were signing the contract, Li Zhenzhen, who was far away in Seoul, came to the branch building of Longxing Group.
This is a 22-story office building located in the central business district. Renting it requires not only connections, but also a large amount of capital.
However!
This is the peninsula!
A place where Li Zhenzhen works deeply.
Don’t think that since she has been working for the Korean Star Group for so long, she would have had a way out if she hadn’t secretly cultivated her power.
This office building was her escape route in case she failed to seize power.
Now that she has returned on behalf of Longxing Group, this office building has also been transformed into the Peninsula Branch of Longxing Group.
Top floor office.
Li Zhenzhen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, directly opposite the Korean Star Group.
I saw her pick up her mobile phone, make a call, and say a few words briefly, and "chaos" broke out within the Korean Star Group.
One after another senior executives resigned, and the executives in the human resources department were immediately confused.
What's going on?
What happened?
Dozens of executives leave their jobs in one day?
Who is poaching the Korean Star Group and risking his life?
You must know that in the peninsula, chaebols and politicians are kings, and chaebols are still above politicians, playing the role of BOSS behind the scenes.
If you offend politicians, you may go to jail, but if you offend plutocrats, you will 100% lose your job and starve to death.
Why is this happening?
Because here, 99% of the jobs are provided by chaebols.
The remaining 1% can only be said to be positions within the national system. It is still unclear whether you can get into it. Even if you get in, your immediate boss may be a talent trained by the chaebol.
It is precisely because of the monopoly on jobs that the chaebols can control the people of the peninsula.
And at the same time.
Lee Jae-yong has received the news.
"西八!!!"
He cursed angrily, stopped the vehicle, quickly put it into gear and turned around, heading straight for the central business district in the opposite direction.
Originally, he thought about lobbying the respected seniors in the family to let them act as intermediaries to persuade Li Zhenzhen not to be his enemy, which would destroy the Korean Star Group.
But Li Zaiyong never expected that Li Zhenzhen’s revenge would come so quickly.
Just after returning to the peninsula, a large number of senior executives within the Korean Star Group resigned, and they were also senior executives on the mobile phone business and chip sides.
How can such a large company continue to operate without these senior executives?
The most outrageous thing is that not only senior executives, but also grassroots employees are leaving, and there are also many chip engineers.
In Li Zaiyong’s view, Li Zhenzhen returned to the peninsula this time not to run the Longxing Group, but to seek revenge from him.
The bosses of peninsula conglomerates such as LG Group, SK Hynix, and Lotte Group have all received the news, and everyone looked like they were watching a good show.
The quarrel between Lee Zhenzhen and Lee Jae-yong may bring the Korean Star Group to its knees and redistribute market share.
"Squeak——"
The car stopped directly.
With a gloomy face, Lee Jae-yong walked directly to the Longxing Group Peninsula Branch Building and met many Korean Star Group employees who had just resigned.
"Meet...President."
"President..."
The resigned employee lowered his head.
They still have respect for Lee Jae-yong.
Lee Jae-yong didn’t even look at them. He asked the floor of Li Zhenzhen’s office, went straight to the elevator, and pressed the top button. No one in the company dared to stop him.
They did not dare to interfere too much in the fight between the Li brothers and sisters.
The reason why they changed jobs was not only because they were promoted by Li Zhenzhen, but also because they saw the development prospects of Longxing Group.
Korean Star Group has reached a bottleneck, but the potential of Longxing Group, a multinational giant, is far from being fully developed.
The most important thing is that Li Zhenzhen is still in charge of the Peninsula Division.
Publicly and privately, they all chose to respond to Li Zhenzhen's call, resign and come to the Peninsula Branch of Longxing Group, intending to become "original stocks" and increase their status in the company.
Perhaps many people don’t know the importance of job-hopping. They only know how to work hard and act recklessly.
In fact, job-hopping is a skill. Many employees who can earn high wages do not get it through seniority, but through job-hopping.
To put it bluntly.
It’s just riding a donkey to find a horse.
For example, if you work at Penguin Company, you can apply for the same position at Wangyi Company in your free time, and you can write your Penguin Company experience on your resume.
Generally speaking, every time you successfully change jobs, your salary will increase by 15%, which is also a means of providing wages.
Penguin jumps to Wangyi, Wangyi jumps to Baidu, Baidu jumps to Alibaba, and employees who are qualified have their wages increased in this way.
“Ding——”
The elevator reaches the top floor.
Lee Jae-yong walked out of the elevator with a sullen face, followed the corridor, looking for Li Zhenzhen's office one by one.
A moment later.
He came to the door of the president's office.
As if he expected Li Zaiyong to come, the office door was not closed. Li Zhenzhen was sitting in the office area, drinking coffee leisurely.
“Are you really going to destroy the Korean Star Group?”
Lee Jae-yong walked into the office.
Li Zhenzhen blew on the coffee to dissipate the surface heat, took a sip slowly, and responded: "In normal business competition, what is the point of talking about whether it can be destroyed or not?"
"That's right. "
Before Li Zaiyong could speak, Li Zhenzhen continued: "According to my father's will, the Korean Star Group hotel business belongs to me. Within three days, I will send someone to take over again."
" Okay, okay!”
Lee Jae-yong gritted his teeth.
At this time, he had reached the edge of losing control. He had never expected that Li Zhenzhen would use the Longxing Group to come back, nor did he expect that Chen Xing would entrust her with an important task.
“Don’t just say yes.” Li Zhenzhen held a stirring spoon in his hand, stirring the coffee carelessly, and said in a calm tone: “You and Wall Street have embezzled my money, it’s time to spit it out.”
< br>The words fell.
She met Lee Jae-yong’s gaze head-on.
The two looked at each other, both wanting to put the other to death.
Lee Jae-yong felt guilty and withdrew his gaze and said coldly: "Don't talk nonsense without evidence, and don't think that you are certain to win. In Peninsula, Korean Star Group is the leader in the mobile phone market. As long as I am here, you can't get in." "
"Really?" Li Zhenzhen smiled playfully and said, "Let's wait and see who will kill who first."
Li Zhenzhen looked at Li Zhenzhen. There was a smile on the corner of his mouth, and his whole body clenched his fists, trembling a little, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He really wanted to find someone to get rid of this woman, but he also knew that since Li Zhenzhen was able to call on so many Korean star executives to resign, she must have been an informant within the group. If he did anything, the other party might be the first to do so. Time knows.
Now she represents Longxing Group, and Longxing Group represents Longguo. Her multiple overlapping identities make Lee Jae-yong afraid to act rashly.
“Bitch!”
Swearing secretly, he left the office.
Li Zhenzhen looked at the incompetent and furious, and then took Li Zaiyong, who she had no choice but to do, and said calmly: "Slowly leave without sending him away."
When Li Zaiyong's back completely disappeared, she put down her coffee cup.
Challenge the chaebol on the peninsula. If he were the president of another multinational group, his relatives would probably go to the Han River to retrieve the corpses the next day. Fortunately, Li Zhenzhen was born in a chaebol, and he has a lot of energy in the peninsula. , coupled with his status as the CEO of Longxing Group, he dared to challenge Lee Jae-yong publicly.
Now that Li Zaiyong wants to play, there is no reason for her not to accompany him. Moreover, Li Zhenzhen's return to the peninsula this time is to take back what belongs to her. If possible, she even wants to take down the entire Korean Star Group!
(End of this chapter)