Chapter 244: Rural areas surround cities
Xia Wei thought for a while and said: "Mr. Xu, based on the development during this period, I think the general direction does not need to be adjusted.
Rural areas surround cities. Strategies, and the 'Search Monopoly' game have the best results."
The so-called strategy of surrounding cities in rural areas is to provide free search services to large and small portals, e-commerce websites, and community websites in Europe.
Let’s surround Google, which cooperates with Yahoo.
Although these small and medium-sized websites have limited influence individually, when they are united, their influence is no worse than Yahoo, and even stronger in some countries.
This strategy is not his attention, it is entirely the experience accumulated by the company in long-term marketing and promotion.
This is also something he is happy to see.
As the company grows, one person’s power is limited, and everyone needs to work together.
By cooperating with these websites, Bing search can quickly expand.
Be known by more and more people.
The 'Search Monopoly' was the idea of Qu Guangyun of Hongmeng Xiangjiang Company, and it has been promoted to all subsidiaries in recent years.
The gameplay is very simple.
After registering a Bing account, you can play the game listed on the Bing homepage.
Users only need to answer five questions and can use the Bing search engine to find answers.
If you answer correctly within five minutes, you can participate in the lottery.
With such relaxed conditions, anyone with a normal IQ can answer it correctly.
So almost everyone participates in the lottery and will win every time.
Prizes range from big to small. The big prize can be a car or even an apartment; the lowest is one hundred game coins.
The game currency can only be used to play Hongmeng’s games, so searching for Monopoly also promoted Hongmeng’s games, killing two birds with one stone.
In addition, in order to increase the influence of ‘Search Monopoly’.
Every time such a grand prize is won, the video will be recorded live and then broadcast on the TV station to expand the influence.
In this way, it not only expands the influence, but also cultivates the search habits of users.
In just three months, Bing’s user base has grown from zero to 12 million, and it’s still growing rapidly.
Of course, whether it is the strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside or the subsequent search for Monopoly, the whole process will cost money.
But Xu Liang is not afraid of burning money.
We have just raised US$560 million. Excluding the half left in East and Southeast Asia, there are still more than US$200 million left to burn.
“In addition to the two major promotion strategies we formulated at the beginning, I will try other things such as buying the team’s chest advertisements or temporarily staying at the game.
I found that the effect is not very satisfactory. The main reason is that the utilization rate of funds is not high.
More than half of the people who watch football do not care about the chest advertisements of their favorite teams.
In comparison, in our Monopoly game, even the lowest reward is 100 game coins.
Not only does it promote our games and complete the secondary utilization of funds, it also creates revenue for us.
In the past three months, with the rapid growth of Bing's registered users, we have successfully integrated "Legend of Legend", "Bubble Hall", "Bubble Show", Games such as "Red Moon" and "Millennium" were promoted.
Currently, it has 7 million registered users and 250,000 are online at the same time.
Last month it generated revenue of 12 million euros.
Although it did not offset our expenses, it also saved us 60% of expenses.
And as Bing’s registered users continue to grow, game users will continue to grow, and our revenue will increase.
According to the current development trend, our revenue will be able to balance our expenses in another seven months.
Therefore, we should use resources on the two main promotion methods of surrounding cities in rural areas and searching for Monopoly. When their effects are no longer obvious, we can then consider other promotion methods. ”
Xu Liang thought about it for a while and then agreed.
Xia Wei is the first person in charge of Hongmeng European Company, and he has a clearer feel about the market here than himself.
There is no need to give blind orders.
“Is there anything else?”
Xia Wei nodded, “Mr. Xu, I would like to apply to set up branches in Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal to fully enter the country. European markets except the UK.”
Xu Liang did not reject it immediately.
"Tell me your reasons?"
"Italy, France, Germany, Russia, and Spain are the major economies in Europe and are crucial to the development of our Hongmeng. There must be a branch to coordinate Hongmeng's local operations. development.
Although Portugal is ordinary, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.
As long as we can occupy the mainstream in these markets, the European market will be stable.
Moreover, Europe is a whole. If we cannot consider this market as a whole, it will be difficult to compete with Google, which already has a certain market share and has the help of Yahoo!
Mr. Xu, you said that the Internet is winner-take-all, and we cannot admit defeat from the beginning. ”
Xia Wei’s words shocked Xu’s conscience, and suddenly he realized the shortcomings brought by his past life memory.
This memory rooted the power of Google in his heart .
So when considering Bing’s development strategy, they will subconsciously put themselves in a weak position.
In fact, Google still has not turned a profit, although it dominates the English market. It has achieved a dominant position, but its development in the international market is not as good as Bing's early start.
Whether it is technology or financial strength, Bing is not inferior to Google, which is still in its infancy.
There is no reason to be afraid of them.
This is also the reason why Xia Wei wants to change.
He didn’t know Google’s future. He only regarded it as a strong competitor, but he was not afraid of it.
“In this case, can our funds support it?” Xu Liang said slowly.
"Our game revenue is growing. I will soon let Bing start bidding ranking and advertising alliance business. Together with Hongmeng Music, we can support it for at least a year, or even longer. And we can also raise funds.
One year later, the impact of the Nasdaq crisis has been basically eliminated
We can raise more money to support the company’s development. ”
Xu Liang nodded, "I agree with your plan."
"Thank you, Mr. Xu."
Xia Wei said happily.
“Don’t thank me in a hurry. I agreed to all your requests, but I want to see the results in the year-end report.”
“Don’t worry, I promise to wait until the end of this year. Bing’s registered users will definitely be no less than 40 million.”
“Then I’ll be waiting.”
Xia Wei nodded, "Also, Mr. Xu, I hope that the company will officially launch the English version of Bing. Although I know that we do not have an advantage in English Internet searches and cannot compare with Google in the United States, but as a global company It is impossible for an Internet company to have an English version of its website.”
Xu Liang nodded slowly.
English is the number one business language in the world and cannot be left out.
"I will let the headquarters develop an English version of the website."
Xia Wei nodded.
"Lao Xia, you are an old man in the company, and you know the company's strategy very well. The market in Europe is too big. If you want Hongmeng to truly gain a foothold here, refined management is necessary."
Xia Wei understood. Of course he was very aware of Hongmeng's 'subsidiary strategy'.
"Mr. Xu, I suggest that the German subsidiary be formally established next year. The company has not yet cultivated talents suitable to lead the German subsidiary, and the business volume is too small. If we launch the company rashly, it may be difficult to meet our requirements. ”
The German-speaking area of Europe includes Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano in Italy, with a combined population of more than 100 million.
With its developed economy, it is a big market that you absolutely cannot miss.
Patted him on the shoulder, "I trust your judgment as to when to set up a subsidiary. The headquarters respects your opinion. In terms of personnel, in addition to finance, personnel, security, etc., we also respect your proposal."
"Thank you for your trust." Xia Wei said excitedly.
"Haha, you are my entrepreneurial partner. If I don't trust you, who else can I trust?"
After the two chatted for a while, Xu Liang let him leave.
When the office became quiet, Xu Liang, who was sitting on the sofa, felt a little emotional.
Now he realizes more and more clearly the meaning of this sentence when manpower is limited.
As Hongmeng Company develops faster and faster, it becomes bigger and bigger.
It is no longer possible for him to manage everything, and even in some major decisions, he must listen to the opinions of key managers.
Fortunately, the people he chose are very capable.
Even if your ability is slightly mediocre, the experience accumulated by the head office is enough to cope with most situations.
"From now on, I will be responsible for strategic planning and supervision, and I will completely let go of the daily management of the company."
Ring, ring, ring...
The ringtone of the cell phone in his pocket broke Xu Liang's thoughts.
Took it out and looked at it, and quickly pressed the answer button.
“Mr. Xu, it’s me, Sun Zhenping.”
"Has Enron's stock price changed?"
"Mr. Xu, I don't know why, but suddenly a lot of good news for Enron came out in the U.S. market. Now its stock price has bottomed out at $45 and started to rise. . ”
Sun Zhenping’s tone was filled with resentment.
Xu Liang understood what he was thinking. When Enron's stock price dropped to 50 US dollars, Sun Zhenping persuaded him to close his position, but Xu Liang refused.
Although he did not intend to make the last pot of gold from Enron's bankruptcy, he was certain that 9/11 would definitely cause Enron's stock price to fall even lower, and that would be the best opportunity to close the position at that time.
"What is Enron's stock price now?"
"47 US dollars. Mr. Xu, although I don't know who is behind Enron's market support, it must be a powerful Wall Street predator. This is not something we can compete with. , we should close our positions as soon as possible.”
“Lao Sun, do you think Enron’s stock price can return to above US$81?” Xu Liang asked.
“It’s unlikely.”
Although a lot of good news has come out of Enron now, the bad news from the previous time is not gone.
Moreover, U.S. stocks are different from domestic ones. Most of them are institutional investors and there are not many retail investors.
The investors in these institutions are not all fools. When Enron's performance is confusing, most of them will choose to wait and see.
So, Enron’s stock price will definitely be able to rise, but it will definitely not be able to return to the high of $81.
"Then what are we worried about?"
Xu Liang smiled.
Hongyan shorted Enron twice, with the average price of its position being $81.5 per share.
As long as the average price of the position does not exceed, they will not lose money.
“Boss, this will make us make a lot less money.”
“Don’t rush to conclusions, wait and see.”
After explaining a few words, Xu Liang Hang up the phone.
I looked at the date on my phone.
“Today is September 3rd.”
After spending three days at Hongmeng’s European headquarters and gaining a detailed understanding of Hongmeng’s development in Europe, I decided to go to Hongmeng on September 7th. On the same day, I took a plane to New York.
(End of this chapter)