Chapter 785: Go Ahead

Fang Zhuo concluded his friendly visit to Dangdang as soon as he arrived in the capital.

After arriving in the capital, we gathered a table at night.

Wang Yan from Sina, Lao Xiong from IDG, Wang Xing from the school, and Qingzi from Dangdang all sent text messages.

It's a pity that Qingzi doesn't want to come.

Xiong Xiaoge only found out about Mr. Fang’s goal of coming to Beijing after chatting for a while about short-selling Lehman. When he heard that he had the nerve to send a text message to Li Guoqing, he felt ashamed and said: "You are really good at it, Mr. Li." You must be furious about the shares, you can really send text messages..."

"Public is public, private is private. I don't hold grudges. It's just a meal." Fang Zhuo said nonchalantly, "If he is willing to come, it will be a good time to finalize the day's affairs. Oh, Qingzi may not want to come out, but His face was scratched by his wife, so he must know that there are many people here. "

Xiong Xiaoge: "..."

Wang Yan: "..."

Wang Xing: "..."

Originally, Mr. Fang just gave a straightforward two-sentence description of a share repurchase to fulfill a bet, but with the words "He was scratched on the face by his wife", the flavor of grudges and hatred came out.

Xiong Xiaoge has always understood Mr. Fang’s style of doing things, but he was obsessed with the Lehman scandal. He reacted to this and sighed without even asking: "Co-authoring is not a serious discussion. Is it a debt collection? Are the couple together?" It’s not easy to run a business, so don’t mix up couples..."

Fang Zhuo was about to speak, but suddenly fell silent. The direction of the relationship between the couple cannot be determined by themselves.

He took a sip of wine, shook his head and said, "I'm not good at door-to-door things. I've always been door-kicked before. If Dangdang hadn't suddenly chosen the right opportunity to grab the land that Tesco had negotiated with, I would have been a little angry. I'm too lazy to look for Qingzi. This time I came to the capital mainly to check out the situation on Sina and the school."

Xiong Xiaoge didn't mind being led by Mr. Fang, she smiled and raised her glass: "Come, let's drink to Mr. Fang's dragon slayer who finally became a dragon, oh, no, let's drink to Mr. Fang's becoming a more ferocious dragon. "

He drank a glass of wine jokingly.

Wang Xing poured wine for everyone and refilled it. After sitting down, he was thinking about things in his own school.

Wang Yan asked at this time: "Can the couple buy it back at a premium? The premium is quite a lot."

To be fair, considering the current situation of Dangdang and the development prospects of e-commerce, it should be reliable to sell 18% of the shares from the initial US$11 million to the current US$30 million+.

A slight premium, perhaps US$40 million would be fine.

But at $66 million, the premium is a bit serious.

Fang Zhuo took a bite of the food, looked at Xiong Xiaoge, and asked, "Old Xiong, what do you think?"

Xiong Xiaoge said without hesitation: "I will definitely buy it."

He explained the reason in the questioning eyes of the other two: "Although Dangdang is a mom-and-pop shop, although Mr. Li is... constrained by Mr. Yu from time to time, it may not be appropriate to say this, but that's what I mean, but in general, Among the two, Mr. Li is still the one who decides on Dangdang’s development strategy.”

"Mr. Li, or rather, the two of them, do great things without sacrificing their own lives. When Mr. Fang wanted to push them to move forward quickly, they were suspicious and unwilling."

"Now that I see that Tesco can really develop rapidly in B2C, it has quickly accelerated its pace. Not to mention Tongzhou, I heard that Wuxi is also spending huge sums of money to build a logistics base. It is hard to explain in words."

IDG is also a shareholder of Dangdang, earlier than Yike Investment, but its shareholding is not very large.

Wang Xing asked: "Mr. Xiong, won't IDG's shares be sold?"

"Even if there are many problems, I think Dangdang can still go public. I just regret that Dangdang could have gone to two levels." Xiong Xiaoge said regretfully, "Dangdang wanted to compete with Amazon at first. Later, I It turns out that he is only targeting Amazon China.”

There is no need to go into detail about what Amazon China is like, it is completely incomparable to Amazon.

Xiong Xiaoge clinked the cup with Wang Xing and said with a smile: "66 million U.S. dollars, more or less, only 500 million Huaxia coins, whether they are looking for other investment institutions or using their own equity to bank Pledge, money can be made, but it may be a little nervous. ”

"With the prospect of going public, I'm afraid Mr. Li and Mr. Yu have long been annoyed by the other's shareholding. In addition, there is a substantial failure of the bet. This premium can be eaten or not. Gotta eat.”

Fang Zhuo listened to Lao Xiong's eloquent words and praised: "Look, with just a few words, he is worthy of being the best investor in the country. His agility is unmatched by many people. Investment In the end, it’s about investing in people, and you don’t understand how people invest.”

Xiong Xiaoge said modestly: "It's all hard work. It's not easy to make a little money."

The two clinked their glasses. Excellent investors and excellent entrepreneurs sharpen each other.

Wang Yan put down the cell phone on which he had just replied to a text message and said with a smile: "If this matter is spread today, I don't know how it will be gossiped about again in the future."

"The office door was closed when I came. Mr. Lei from Jinshan was also here. He probably wouldn't spread the rumors." Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly and looked at the people at the table. "I think Mr. Wang is depressed." He didn't say anything, and Brother Wang was only thinking about Sina."

When he saw Old Bear, he was suddenly startled: "Old Bear, huh? Old Bear, what's in your eyes?"

Xiong Xiaoge put away her eyes. When it comes to being smart, who can be smarter than Mr. Fang? I just thought about whether there could be any questions about Dangdang betting on Zhihu.

"Don't be such a big mouth. It's just business between Qingzi and me. There's no personal grudge." Fang Zhuo emphasized.

Xiong Xiaoge nodded. If there are related questions on Zhihu, then who is not business?

It's not gossip, just talking about the shareholdings between competitors.

The few people drank two more rounds and talked about Lehman and Yiguo.

The final topic finally turned to Xiaonei.

Wang Yan took Sina executives and Mr. Fang to Silicon Valley for a tour. After looking at the user ecology of American social networks and looking back at the situation in China, he realized something and vaguely unified his cognition.

The real-name system is very important for the social ecology of acquaintances such as Xiaonei. It is the basis for the latter to maintain its vitality and development.

But the real-name system may not be suitable for the current development of the Internet in China. It can become a clear stream, but it is difficult to become a torrent that sweeps the Internet.

This judgment was discussed several times after Sina executives returned to China, and they felt that social networks should still develop in line with the trend.

If the potential of acquaintance social networking is 40 points, then the potential of stranger social networking is 80 points. The former can certainly tinker with Internet-based products, but the latter can create a new world.

Especially, there is a traffic giant next to it, eyeing it covetously.

However, Sina's senior management has not yet shared this consideration with Wang Xing. Judgment is judgment, and reality is reality. We can still see how the battle goes and learn more and draw lessons from it.

When Wang Xing talked about the competition between Xiaonei.com and QQ Alumni, he was no longer silent, but became talkative.

He talked about the changes from Penguin that everyone was paying attention to, that is, when Lehman Brothers spoke out to short Yike a few days ago, QQ Alumni began to import Penguin traffic.

"QQ alumni import traffic, weakening the real-name verification level, which actually has an impact on the atmosphere of the website."

"Whether it is QQ alumni or campus network, the future development must be a larger pool, not just limited to the campus."

"Since QQ alumni choose to import the huge traffic of Penguin, they are still lingering in the small pool of campus. I think they may also be observing, not only observing the adaptation of QQ alumni, but also watching how we will go next."

Fang Zhuo drank wine and heard what Wang Xing meant, and smiled: "Penguin is not sure, so even if there is a big killer of traffic, it would rather wander around in the campus ecosystem, and then see how competitors move forward, and finally follow micro-innovation?"

Wang Xing pondered and said: "Maybe I am a villain."

They may have their own strategic deployment, how could they not have the courage to take a step forward first?

"You are not a gentleman. You will know if you take a step forward." Fang Zhuo smiled slightly, "It is time to expand the social network to the office."

This is the originally planned step, to go out of the campus, enter the office, and then further socialize the whole people. The last step is the most difficult because there is the adaptation of the real-name system. Relatively speaking, the narrow space of campus + office is conducive to the use of the real-name system.

Wang Xing nodded silently, not knowing whether it was his illusion, thinking that Mr. Fang seemed to have the intention of supervising the battle in Beijing this time.

He didn't mind that Xiaonei.com fought a proxy war with a giant. If it weren't for Yike and Sina, Xiaonei.com would probably have been sold to Qian Oak Group long ago, instead of sitting here thinking about Penguin's strategic direction.

Wang Yan said at this time: "It just so happens that we at Sina have developed a small game that can be used on social networks. You can try it out after you gather campus + office on the campus network."

Wang Xing asked: "What small game?"

Wang Yan poured wine: "Stealing vegetables."

Wang Xing: "Huh?"

Wang Yan shrugged: "It's a test product, or you can post it on the blog first, it's all right."

He revealed a piece of news: "We have started a new project internally at Sina, considering whether there can be another route for the development of social networks, and small games are just an accessory."

Wang Xing was somewhat shocked when he heard this. A sense of urgency rose, but he still smiled as usual: "Then let's give it to our campus network first. Oh, yes, campus network expands the user group, and it is not appropriate to still emphasize the name of the school. Mr. Fang, Mr. Wang, Mr. Xiong, you can give it a nice name."

Xiong Xiaoge took a bite of food and pressed the wine. Seeing that Mr. Fang and Mr. Wang did not intend to speak first, he pondered for a moment: "Social network, social network, isn't it just to make friends? Just call it Friends Network."

Fang Zhuo smiled: "Old Xiong's naming level is good, easy to remember and closely related to the theme."

Wang Yan also nodded.

Wang Xing chewed it several times in his heart and nodded: "Okay, I will discuss it with them when I get to the company tomorrow. Friends Network, Friends Network, it is really good."

The four of them clinked glasses and continued to talk about the ecology and development of social networks.

After the drinking party ended, Wang Xing left first, and Wang Yan also left by car after confirming that Mr. Fang would come to Sina for inspection tomorrow.

Xiong Xiaoge asked two more questions in private.

Although he followed the short-selling of Lehman, he was concerned about the US real estate market: "Mr. Fang, is the US subprime debt you mentioned that big of a problem? If Lehman had problems, wouldn't other companies also have problems?"

"I haven't done much research on other companies. Anyway, I don't think Lehman is doing well." Fang Zhuo said and then laughed, "The data is all there, and you're still asking me."

Xiong Xiaoge drank a lot tonight and was a little drunk: "It's because I studied some data that I feel there seem to be a lot of risks, but according to the regulation of the US market, can these risks be digested or not?"

Fang Zhuo spread his hands: "Do you think I'm an economist?"

Xiong Xiaoge nodded, and after a while suddenly asked again: "Do you think Dangdang can go public next year or in 2008?"

"I don't care whether he goes public or not, just give me the money I deserve." Fang Zhuo said calmly, "From now on, it's a pure competitive relationship."

Xiong Xiaoge didn't continue to think about it according to his own thoughts and Mr. Fang's style, but just sighed: "It's good that Yike Investment withdraws from Dangdang. Even if Mr. Li has committed many sins in his previous life, it should be over after you have tossed him around like this."

"I don't like to hear this, let's go back to the hotel." Fang Zhuo opened the car door and yawned, "Penguin is not like Dangdang, it's a bit difficult to deal with. It happens that I'm staying in Beijing for a while, call me for a drink."

Xiong Xiaoge nodded, just watching the car slowly start, suddenly remembered the things he received two days ago, and shouted: "Mr. Fang, thank you for your shopping card."

Fang Zhuo stretched out his hand from the car window and waved: "It should be, it should be."

Friends should help each other in times of difficulty.