Chapter 114: Baidu was forced into a corner
While Xu Liang and the others were celebrating, the top management of Baidu at Peking University Resource Hotel were having a tense meeting.
All the Seven Poison Swordsmen have arrived.
“Now everyone knows that Bing search is coming fiercely, how should we respond?” Li Yanhong said seriously.
Everyone was silent for a moment, and Chief Technology Officer Liu Jianguo spoke first.
"Although I have never been to Bing, I understand the technical capabilities and talent status of domestic search engines. Bing's search technology is by no means what can be obtained in China now. They must have external forces that we don't know about."
< br>Baitu Technical Director Guo Pei also nodded in agreement.
“What we should pay most attention to now is not Bing’s technology source, but our response strategies.” Xu Yong reminded.
So what if you know the source?
Can it interrupt Bing’s development?
Everyone looked at each other, of course they knew how to deal with it.
But when technology and capital are inferior to humans, it is not easy to defeat stronger local opponents.
“I think we should do a good job in two aspects.”
Operation Director Wang Xiao’s words attracted everyone’s attention.
“First, now that we have successfully raised US$10 million, we are no longer short of money. We should seize the time to recruit programmers and improve our technology.
Second, the other party's search engine has just been launched on the market, and the market lacks trust. It will take a certain amount of time to win customers.
On the contrary, we have already won the domestic search business of Sohu and Tom and established a good market reputation. We should pursue the victory and gain an overwhelming advantage before the enemy catches up. ”
Baidu is now a search engine service provider, providing search solutions for corporate users, and is not an independent search engine company.
The difference between the two is whether there is an independent search Page and search box
Yes, it is an independent search engine.
No, it’s just a search engine service provider.
Obviously, Baidu does not have it now.
Do they want to have one? Of course I want to, but my strength doesn’t allow it.
Independent search engines have higher requirements for indexing databases and indexing technology, and must also purchase a large number of servers.
In the original history, it was not until September 2001 that Baidu began to conduct independent searches after it established an unbreakable dominance in the enterprise market.
As a result, investors objected, and Li Yanhong slammed the table and forcefully passed.
Of course it is different now.
Baidu has just won a few major portals, and it is still far away from dominating the enterprise market, let alone an independent search engine company.
But they miscalculated about Bing’s business.
Xu Liang had already given orders to Xie Wen and Xu Jun. Except for a few influential portals, Bing should abandon the enterprise market and only become an independent search engine company.
He knows the general trend very well. The enterprise-level market can only support a few hundred million in revenue, while independent search is facing a commercial advertising market worth hundreds of billions.
The whole world is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
This is the real blue ocean.
“I agree with Lao Wang’s strategy.” Lei Ming said.
“I agree too.” Guo Pei agreed.
Then Liu Jianguo also nodded.
Soon everyone’s attention was focused on Li Yanhong. After all, he was the general manager of the company and the real decision-maker.
The latter frowned and stared at Bing's simple search box on his computer.
Slowly.
“Can we also do independent searches?”
"I'm afraid not." Liu Jianguo said immediately.
"First, our technology is not as good as the other's. Once launched, it is easy to leave a bad experience for users. If we want to restore it in the future, we will have to spend several times or more than ten times the energy and money. The gain outweighs the loss."
“Second, once we put more effort into independent search, we will inevitably weaken our focus on the enterprise market, which is likely to lead to a lose-lose situation in the end. Moreover, using each other’s shortcomings to attack the enemy’s strong points , Wise men do not do this. "
"Thirdly, Bing is backed by Hongmeng Company, and their "Legend: Overlord War" is currently the most popular game in China.
According to the latest data, The number of people online at the same time has reached 250,000, and although the revenue cannot be determined, it must exceed 10 million per month
Moreover, the other party also has Hongmeng website as a revenue tool, which can be said to be rich in funds.
Although we have raised US$10 million, we are still not as good as the other party. We must save money and focus our ammunition in one main direction, which is the enterprise market where we have laid the foundation.
Only when we have an advantage in the enterprise market and have revenue support, can we have the capital to compete with Bing in the independent search engine market. ”
What he said was well-founded and won the recognition of the others.
Although Li Yanhong was unwilling to give in, she also knew that Liu Jianguo’s words were sincere words and were currently the most suitable for the development of Baidu. Strategy.
"Recruit people immediately. The technical department and marketing department will recruit people together. I will check them personally."
Li Yanhong said loudly.
There was an urgency in his tone.
As soon as I finished speaking, there was a quick knock on the door of the conference room.
The person who opened the door and came in was Ruan Wenwei, the company's marketing director.
"Mr. Li, Sina just informed us that they have canceled the contract with us."
"What?"
The faces of everyone in the room changed drastically.
Sina.com, as the most powerful portal website in China, is their most valued partner and has greatly supported Baidu's brand and business.
So, they talked for a month before finally initialing the agreement.
Now that they have suddenly changed their mind, no wonder they are anxious.
"Why? Why do they do this?" Liu Jianguo couldn't help but ask.
“They replied to us that the search service of Bing Search is...free.” Ruan Wenwei said in a serious voice.
Free? !
The two simple words made everyone freeze on the spot.
"Yanhong, we must also be free, otherwise the market will soon be taken away by Bing." Lei Ming said hurriedly.
Li Yanhong felt bitter in her mouth, of course he knew it was free.
The key is that even if Bing doesn’t make money, they still have Hongmeng with huge revenue, so they can live a comfortable life for free.
But Baidu is a pure search company. If it is all free, how long will it take to raise US$10 million in financing?
"Wen Wei, tell all portals that all our poisons are free." Li Yanhong said.
Ruan Wenwei said worriedly: "Mr. Li, I'm afraid other Internet companies will have objections to this."
Don't worry about the shortage but the inequality.
"Mr. Li, it can't be free, otherwise all our previous achievements will be in vain." Guo Yuan said hurriedly.
“If it is not free, the market will also be taken away by Bing.” Lei Ming said.
The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became depressing.
Bai Du was forced into a corner. No matter what you do, it's hard to survive.
In the end, everyone’s eyes were focused on Li Yanhong. He was the founder of the company, and he was the only one who could make the decision at the critical moment.
Li Yanhong was also in a dilemma.
Because no matter whether you go forward or backward, you will die.
After hesitating for a long time, he gritted his teeth and said.
“Not free, cancellation is free.”
Once free, all previous results will be invalid.
If it is not free, it is slow death.
Chronic death still has the chance to survive.
Liu Jianguo opened his mouth, and finally sighed in his heart.
He also understands Li Yanhong's difficulties, but conservative decisions cannot solve Baidu's current predicament at all.
At this moment.
A young woman wearing a women's suit hurriedly came to the conference room.
Feeling the depressing atmosphere inside, he looked a little uneasy.
But still fast.
"Mr. Li, Mr. Xiong from IDG just called and wants to meet with you."
Everyone's expressions suddenly changed.
Obviously, investment institutions have also noticed their plight.
Li Yanhong took a deep breath, "The meeting is over, I'm going to see Xiong Xiaoge."
After saying that, he strode out.
It’s just that the pace is a little frivolous.
——
Bing’s bidding ads will be officially launched on October 2.
The revenue on the first day was 42 yuan.
The next day’s revenue was 89 yuan.
On the third day, the revenue was 157 yuan.
On the fourth day, revenue reached 358 yuan.
One week later, it officially exceeded 1,000.
As word of mouth spread, with the support of Hongmeng Website Directory, a platform with more than 20 million users, bidding advertising revenue exceeded 10,000 yuan after half a month.
Much more successful than Bai Du in history.
After all, Baidu at that time did not have as much financial support as Bing does now, nor did it have the traffic support of Hongmeng website directory.
"Mr. Xu, this is the revenue data for the first month after "Red Moon" was officially launched."
Wu Xifan walked into the office with a report.
“2.2 million registrations, 90,000 online peers, 3.4 million revenue, looks pretty good.”
"Red Moon" is a game that has been officially launched in South Korea. Because of its rough graphics and simple gameplay, its performance in South Korea has been average.
But currently China is not South Korea, which has been developing online games for many years.
Chinese game fans who came into contact with online games for the first time felt very novel about all online games.
Especially "Red Moon" is a rare science fiction online game on the market.
So after the official operation, although it is not as popular as "Legend: Overlord War", it can still be said to be a success.
With the addition of "Red Moon", Hongmeng Games' monthly revenue officially exceeded 20 million, reaching 20.36 million.
After putting down the report, Xu Liang asked: "How is the negotiation with Beijing Mobile?"
"Generally, the negotiation has been completed. All those who play games in our game hall through mobile phones For users, China Mobile will share the money for recharging traffic with us at a ratio of 15:85, with us taking the majority share.”
China Mobile has just separated from China Telecom and is lacking in business. In order to win over SP Telecom value-added service providers to support Mobile Dream. Net, the share given is very favorable.
Hundreds of SP service providers have made a fortune relying on Monternet, including Tencent, NetEase, Sina, TOM and so on.
"Let the people in the marketing department work hard and go to mobile companies in other provinces to sign contracts."
Although China Mobile has been established, business needs to be negotiated province by province.
This was the case for Tencent at the beginning. In order to seize the only profit opportunity, Zeng Liqing took the company's salesmen and carried the company's servers across the country to install QQ on mobile servers in various provinces.
In March 2001 alone, the total number of mobile phone short messages sent reached 30 million, accounting for more than half of the business volume since the implementation of the entire "Monternet Plan".
By 2003, Tencent's net profit had reached 338 million yuan, and these profits mainly came from mobile value-added services.
Note that this is pure profit. In terms of revenue, Tencent's revenue in 2003 was at least 800 million, or even more.
This is just the penguin family.
Portals such as Sina, Sohu, NetEase, TOM, and China.com all make a lot of money.
This is also the reason why Xu Liang is so greedy and makes arrangements early in advance.
The cake is too big.
I would be sorry for myself if I didn't go in and take a bite.
"By the way, has the source code of "Millennium" been sent over from South Korea?" Xu Liang asked next.
“It has been sent over.”
“Lao Liang is leading people to focus on localization and strive to be listed together with South Korea.”
“Keep an eye on it. Don’t make mistakes.”
"Understood."
Xu Liang didn't speak again. Xie Wen understood and stood up.
"Mr. Xu, if it's okay, I'll leave first?"
"Go."
Wu Xifan turned around and walked out.
"When "Millennium" is officially launched, the company will have three large-scale online games."
Xu Liang was a little excited.
It doesn’t matter how great the performance of “Millennium” is. As long as it can generate 5 million in revenue, Hongmeng Games’ revenue next year will exceed 300 million.
And Hongmeng South Korea and Hongmeng China have more than three games combined.
In addition, Hongmeng Game Hall is almost profitable, coupled with the tens of millions of revenue from the Hongmeng website and Bing’s advertising revenue.
It can be predicted that Hongmeng China will not be short of money.
(End of this chapter)