Chapter 811: Don’t Let Each Other Down (Two in One)

1.55 billion.

This was the final price negotiated by Friends.com.

Compared with the huge differences between 600 million and 2 billion at the initial meeting, this price is still more in line with the expectations of friends.com. Compared with the 1.1 billion given by Facebook, 1.55 billion seems to be much better.

Fang Zhuo notified all shareholders of Friends Network as soon as possible late at night.

Then the next morning, everyone gathered together for a final expression.

There are six main shareholders of Friends.com, IDG, Goldman Sachs, Sina, Yike Investment, Shenxin Technology and Wangxing.

The earlier shares of the founder team had already left the market during the financing, but this departure was actually the result of IDG lending money to Wang Xing, allowing him to repurchase most of the shares, and then proceed with the financing.

Five investment institutions have invested in three rounds in nearly a year, with RMB 2,000+6,000+100 million, totaling RMB 180 million.

If fierce competition in the market continues, the scale of the next round of financing will be further expanded.

Now in exchange for Penguin's wholly-owned acquisition, it can be considered a stable landing.

But Xiong Xiaoge still expressed regret: "There is still hope for this project to be launched."

Wang Fengyi was very calm: "It's just that the business model is not easy to find."

Xiong Xiaoge continued to regret: "The profits will be much greater after the listing."

Wang Fengyi raised the difficulty: "I don't know when. It also depends on the competitiveness of Penguin."

Xiong Xiaoge frowned and said: "As long as it can be put on the market, the necessary time and cost are acceptable."

Wang Fengyi laughed inexplicably: "Yes, that's what I thought when I voted for Penguin."

Xiong Xiaoge's face darkened.

Seeing that these two were about to have a good argument in the conference room, Fang Zhuo put down his tea cup: "Okay, you guys are celebrating the New Year, you still have to fight."

He glanced at the other people watching the excitement, then glanced at Wang Xing, who had a complicated expression, and said simply: "Last night, everyone and I talked on the phone one by one. The highest price I can get from Penguin is this number. ”

"Considering the intensity of Penguin's strategy this time, I have to say that everyone, including me, Mr. Wang and all the investors, have a deep understanding of the power of Penguin traffic."

"Next time you do or invest in a project, you have to think about this seriously. I think the penguin wants to kill everyone at the card table."

Everyone in the conference room was thoughtful. This time the competition on the Friends Network was both urgent and fierce. They were happy that the campus had successfully upgraded to the workplace, they were excited after the farm game was well received, and they were helpless that Penguin would soon follow suit. …

"But no matter what, 1.55 billion is enough for everyone. It happened to be finalized before the year, and it can be regarded as a big red envelope during the New Year."

Fang Zhuo glanced around: "Let's prepare to meet Penguin's people later. Mr. Wang will stay here for a while."

The investors in the conference room left, leaving only Fang Zhuo and Wang Xing.

"Mr. Wang, this time..." Fang Zhuo pondered.

In fact, he and Wang Xing have communicated many times and everything that needs to be said has been said.

Wang Xing waved his hand and said: "Mr. Fang, I understand. I don't blame you. It's a crime other than war. Penguin's ability to learn is too strong."

Whether it is the team supported by Sina, the games released for internal testing, or the capital investment from the owners, this is strong support. Without these, Friends.com would have failed long ago.

What makes Wang Xing most angry is that Penguin learned too quickly and too well.

Otherwise, according to the popularity of farm games, Friends Network will definitely gain far more than the current harvest.

"Actually, you blame me." Fang Zhuo said sincerely, "Without my participation, Penguin's strategic importance in this area may not be so high, and Friends.com may be able to gain a lot of development space and time."

Eastern Facebook was proposed by me, and Penguin took it seriously at that time. Soon, Zeng Liqing from the "Penguin Five Tigers" took charge, and Xu Chenye, the second tiger, provided resources and assistance.

When Wang Xing heard this, he also felt that it made sense. Fang always had a good reputation.

Just like this time, if it weren't for Mr. Fang's name, even if Friends.com shouted the slogan of entering the communications field, Penguin would not have raised the acquisition price so easily.

But to blame Mr. Fang for this is to put the cart before the horse.

The matter has come to this, and it is useless to say more.

Wang Xing sighed and said sincerely: "Mr. Fang, I am already very grateful to you. Really, the past year has been like a dream. I have learned things that I have not learned in the past twenty years."

Fang Zhuo said with emotion: "Entrepreneurship is like this, it is always difficult. Even now, I want to make a mobile phone, but I often toss and turn over it while sleeping at night. However, you can't give up. You still have a long way to go. This time It can be regarded as a financial gain, and you will have more freedom in your future choices.”

After successive rounds of financing, Wang Xing still retains 15% of the shares, which means he can get 232.5 million.

Last year, Wang Xing invested money from his family into the company, and this year he achieved financial freedom.

Wang Xing nodded silently, and finally thanked: "Thank you, Mr. Fang. I know that without you, Friends.com would not be where it is today."

He got up and prepared to return to the CEO's office, waiting for the meeting with Penguin in the morning.

Fang Zhuo looked at Wang Xing's back, considering his cooperation with Sina's assistance team, and the praise in Sina's executive Wang Gaofei's report, and suddenly said: "Mr. Wang, you also know that Sina is preparing a social project. If nothing else happens, it will be online soon after the new year. If you are willing, you can come to Sina.”

Wang Xing stopped, turned around and forced a smile, but did not respond to the invitation.

After a while, he arrived at the president's office and sat on a chair, feeling extremely depressed.

It felt terrible to sell the company in person, and it had to be sold to a competitor.

Apart from financial freedom, he became penniless.

Wang Xing was silent for a long time, but he was still unwilling to lose like this.

He turned his head and looked at the wall in the office, suddenly stood up, stepped on the chair, took down a piece of calligraphy on it and opened it.

Wang Xing looked at the "Let's do Penguin" handwritten by Mr. Fang for a while, thinking about his invitation in the conference room just now, and carefully folded the words and put them in a file bag.

If you keep thinking about it, there will be a response.

…

The acquisition price has been determined, and there is no obstacle to the negotiation between Penguin and Friends.com.

Both parties are willing to quickly finalize this acquisition to avoid more trouble.

Thus, under the efforts of common will, Penguin and Friends.com will draft a contract within two days, then sign an agreement within a week and agree to complete the transaction within 5 working days after signing.

Finally, within 5 working days after the delivery date, Penguin will pay the transaction price in one lump sum.

On February 17, there was only one day left before the Spring Festival.

When the morning meeting ended, both sides breathed a sigh of relief, and it was basically a last-minute acquisition before the Spring Festival.

Fang Zhuo's flight back to Shanghai was at 3 pm, and everyone sat down to eat at noon.

This lunch had all kinds of dishes from all over the world.

However, there was a little episode in the middle.

As the person in charge of Penguin's social strategy, Zeng Liqing led the competition between Dating.com and Friends.com in the past year. At this time, after discussing the acquisition and drinking three glasses of wine, he thought about his plan to leave Penguin with his chest held high if he won, and said with a sigh.

"Finally I won."

Wang Xing was sitting next to him. He felt threatened when he heard this, so he replied calmly: "If you don't follow the farm's style, it's not certain who will win."

Penguin learned the farm game. First, QQ Space left without authorization, and then Dating Network and QQ Space announced that their data was connected. It was also because of this fuse that Zeng Liqing's emotions for a period of time were ignited, and he had a plan to leave if he won.

But he naturally would not expose the internal disputes at this time, just smiled and said: "Boss Wang, winning is winning, what are we talking about 'assumptions and ifs' in our market competition?"

Wang Xing picked up the wine glass, touched Zeng Liqing's glass directly, drank it first, and then asked: "Boss Zeng is right, I just like to daydream. During the meeting, I thought that Boss Zeng is very capable. If Boss Zeng sat in my position, maybe Friends.com would still win."

Zeng Liqing said with a smile: "Boss Wang, do you want me to sit in your position, or do you want you to come to our Penguin? Since it is an acquisition, it is not incomprehensible that Boss Wang has such an idea, and Penguin is not impossible to consider it."

Anyway, it is acquired after all, even if the price is relatively high.

Wang Xing's face changed several times.

The two people's voices were not loud to begin with, and they reached normal volume as they talked, and the atmosphere at the dinner table stagnated.

At this time, Fang Zhuo said leisurely: "What Mr. Zeng and Mr. Wang said reminded me of the time when I just started my business. I was simple-minded at that time and always trusted others easily. I was taught that business competition is so cruel."

"Market competition is normal with success and failure."

"Mr. Zeng will surely make the dating website better in the future. Mr. Wang is now like me when I just started my business. He is more courageous and has unlimited potential."

Fang Zhuo said this, and then said with emotion: "Time flies. I remember drinking with Pony in Beijing once. At that time, it seemed that everyone was not very rich. Unexpectedly, Pony sent us a big red envelope of more than 1 billion for the New Year."

Ma Huateng laughed and said: "It was the time when Zhang Chaoyang was not allowed to drink."

He remembered that he drank with NetEase Ding, Sohu Zhang, Baidu Li, and Ali Ma in Beijing once, and Zhang Chaoyang was rejected.

At that time, Penguin and Baidu had not yet gone public, and Ali was far less powerful than it is now.

"Well, he still drank half a cup." Fang Zhuo recalled.

Ma Huateng laughed.

At the right time, roasted lamb was served on the table.

Fang Zhuo picked up a piece of lamb with a fork and said with a smile: "Today's lamb is good, well, this piece of lamb is fat and big, come, Pony, eat it."

Ma Huateng took it with a smile.

Fang Zhuo picked up a piece of lamb of similar size: "I'll eat the piece next to it, come on, everyone try it, it tastes very good."

The episode did not continue to brew.

A lunch that ended the acquisition ended smoothly.

The top management finalized it, and the rest of the things were handed over to the lower level.

The holiday is coming, and the Penguin people also have to catch the afternoon flight back.

"If there is any regret on this trip, it is that I didn't get to take the Qingzi train of President Fang." Ma Huateng made a joke before getting on the car.

Fang Zhuo corrected him seriously: "The plane is called 'A Little Expensive'. My reputation was ruined by you. If Qingzi heard it, he would hit me with the official seal. Um, Qing, no, 'A Little Expensive' is doing interior decoration. I will take you to sit next time."

"It's a deal, Mr. Fang, may all your wishes come true in the New Year." Ma Huateng finally wished him a happy new year.

"Okay, Pony, safe landings and a big increase in stock prices next year." Fang Zhuo waved his hand and watched the Penguin executives leave in the car.

Ma Huateng sat in the car, feeling inexplicably relieved. Through the rearview mirror, he saw Mr. Fang and Wang Xing next to him talking about something.

It's finalized, finally finalized.

It's a little overpriced, but it's okay.

Penguin will continue to move towards the goal of building the Facebook of the East.

...

"Xiao Liu, the plane will be postponed until the evening."

After Penguin left, Fang Zhuo postponed his afternoon flight back to Shen. He originally planned to go back quickly, but Wang Xing unexpectedly expressed his intention to participate in Sina's new project, which slightly changed the plan.

Wang Xing is a newly-minted billionaire.

In addition, selling a startup company and reuniting with family members during the Chinese New Year, it stands to reason that even if there is an idea, it will be after the Chinese New Year.

Could it be that Zeng Liqing stimulated him during the meal?

Fang Zhuo hesitated for a moment, and then asked IDG, Goldman Sachs, and Shenxin Technology Innovation, whether they wanted to listen to Sina's new social project together.

Xiong Xiaoge was a little surprised: "Mr. Fang invited us, this is..."

Sina is a listed company, why should it invite investment institutions for internal business?

He didn't believe that Mr. Fang needed to listen to his opinions on the project.

Unless... unless this is to set up a subsidiary for relatively independent operation.

What does relatively independent operation require?

Money, money, money.

Fang Zhuo and Lao Xiong looked at each other and said only three words: "Let's talk."

Xu Kaiwei of Goldman Sachs also keenly felt the elements.

As for Wang Fengyi of Shenxin Kechuang, he didn't think much and got into the car first.

Xiong Xiaoge thought about the money he would receive after reaching an acquisition agreement with Penguin, and was stunned for several seconds, and said tactfully: "Mr. Fang, it's the New Year, at least wait to warm up the money, right?"

"Didn't I say let's talk, what nonsense, I'm waiting to go home, hurry up and talk and see, I still have to take a plane." Fang Zhuo was a little irritable.

Xiong Xiaoge "Pooh" a mouthful, eight lifetimes of bad luck!

Making money is not making money anywhere, right?

Do you have to earn money by being bullied here with Fang?

Xiong Xiaoge cursed in his heart and got on Sina's business car.

At 1:30 pm, all the former shareholders of Pengyou.com, who had eaten and drunk well, arrived at Sina headquarters.

Sina President Wang Yan had been waiting in the conference room for a while.

"Mr. Fang, Mr. Xiong, Mr. Wang, Mr. Xu, Mr. Wang." Wang Yan greeted them one by one, "Thank you for your hard work. To make a long story short, social networks in China have flourished in the past year, and the competition among acquaintances in Pengyou.com and Jiaoyou.com is very fierce."

"Last year we went to the United States for an inspection. There was a new project called Twitter there, which gave us a lot of inspiration. It just so happened that Sina itself has a huge blog business."

"We thought about whether we could make a simple social platform that can share more instantly and has more communication and interaction."

"Because it is a successor to blogs, we named it 'Weibo'."

Wang Yan talked freely and proposed a new social product Weibo.

Xiong Xiaoge, Xu Kaiwei, Wang Fengyi, and Wang Xing all listened attentively to the introduction of Sina's president.

Because there is a product called Pengyou.com in the past, such a product directly targeting the social networking of all people has a strong contrast.

Is it a thrilling jump from campus and workplace to all people?

Then we don’t jump, can we just walk from the back?

Real-name system has natural difficulties in the current domestic network environment?

Then can we not use real-name system?

Interest, entertainment, life, sharing, interaction, can we?

Wang Xing knew that Sina was researching a social product before, but now he saw it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears, and his mood was still very complicated.

After Wang Yan finished his introduction as concisely as possible, he first asked the original founder of Pengyou.com for his opinion: "Mr. Wang, do you think there is soil for the development of such a social media platform?"

Wang Xing was silent for a long time and said: "I don't know if there is, but I think I can give it a try."

He opened the file bag he had been carrying and took out the inscription he had folded before.

Everyone could tell at a glance that this was Mr. Fang's calligraphy, which was posted in the president's office of Friends Network: "This..."

Wang Xing continued: "Penguin wants to be a dating network, a social network for acquaintances, and an Oriental Facebook. I want to see their reaction when they know that Sina has a new social product. Will they continue to invest in the dating network or turn around and follow the new social network."

Fang Zhuo looked at the calligraphy that surprised him and smiled: "Mr. Wang, you have a stubborn look on your face."

Wang Xing's expression was quite stubborn: "Mr. Fang doesn't mind, I am willing to participate in the construction of Weibo platform."

"Of course I don't mind, Sina welcomes you, Weibo welcomes you." Fang Zhuo smiled.

Wang Xing has been fighting with Penguin on social networks for a year, and he can access it almost seamlessly, and he is also familiar with Wang Gaofei and other teams.

Fang Zhuo shook hands with Wang Xing and turned his eyes to the investors and brothers.

On the New Year's Day, he worked hard to help his brothers fight for the high price of Penguin.

I won't let you down.

Can you let me down?

Xiong Xiaoge and Xu Kaiwei looked at each other in surprise under Mr. Fang's gaze. It seemed that this Weibo was not a small investment.

"This is basically a product. Let's celebrate the New Year first and talk about it in detail after the New Year." Fang Zhuo was not anxious. He smiled and said New Year's greetings, "Old Xiong, Mr. Xu, Brother Wang, congratulations on your prosperity."

The expressions on the faces of the three people were different, calm, numb, and hesitant.

It's the New Year.

Congratulations on your prosperity, give me the red envelope.