Chapter 808: Names and Tree Shadows (Two in One)

As the Spring Festival approaches, penguins are already on vacation one after another.

However, as Fang Zhuo flew to the capital, Penguin held a temporary and urgent high-level meeting and let some executives return to work.

On the morning of February 11, the old team of the "Penguin Five" and the new senior management headed by Liu Chiping all attended the meeting and had an intense and serious discussion.

Originally, the competition with Friends Network was not of such high standard.

Originally, Friends.com’s contrarian software development alone would not have been of such high standard.

However, these plus a person's name must be paid more attention to.

In the past two years, Penguin has been almost unstoppable with its traffic tactics. The traffic of communication software is its basic base. Any external challenges in this field must be guarded against!

What's more, this challenge may come from Mr. Fang.

Friends.com’s desire to reverse software based on the number of users is definitely a “wonderful idea” in a double sense!

it looks bold bold bold and it's also it's it's it's it's it's it's it's going to be it's going to be it's going to be like to be.

Communication software on the Internet has long been dominated by Penguin. There will no longer be similar competing products on the PC side. Even if they appear, they will not receive large-scale investment and good development. This is almost the industry consensus.

However, this consensus was broken today.

Regardless of whether the "Friend Communication Software" was created by Mr. Fang, looking at Mr. Fang alone, is he the same as a normal person who would never consider investing in PC communication?

For a person like Mr. Fang, it’s hard to say whether there is a “consensus” in his mind!

"If I were Fang Zhuo, any executive who proposed to me to build communication software should be fired. How is this possible? Well, Friends.com, right? As of today, it has a top 30 million registered users, and What about our Penguins? The number of registered users is approaching 700 million, and the number of people online at the same time is about to exceed 30 million. This is not a magnitude at all!”

Zeng Liqing, as one of the "Penguin Five" and in charge of the competition between Dating.com and Friends.com, gave his own opinion directly.

When he heard the news, he felt confused, surprised, and amused. Friends.com couldn't even compete with Dating.com, so how could it leapfrog up and attack?

Xu Chenye is also one of the five tigers. The good old man who usually smiles does not show off today, but is very solemn: "Let's first explore whether this possibility really exists, and then talk about this kind of competition at different levels."

Zhang Zhidong, who is at the same level, expressed his opinion slowly: "One thing worth noting is that Friends.com has always adhered to the real-name system. Its user group is correspondingly more sticky, which is different from our Penguin."

Chen Yidan, currently serving as the chief administrative officer and one of the Five Tigers, observed the expressions of his colleagues and said in a more relaxed tone: "This move by Friends.com is quite unexpected. We can discuss it, but don't go too far."

Four of the "Penguin Five" all spoke up, but Ma Huateng had no intention of speaking and just listened silently.

Zheng Zhihao, who is in charge of QQ Space, expressed his opinion: "I was shocked to hear such news, but after the shock, I thought it was a delusion. Mr. Zhang just said that our users have different tones. I agree, but I It is believed that QQ is an inclusive state for users of Friends Network. QQ can not only add strangers, but also classmates, friends, and relatives. Friends Network cannot compete with Dating Network. This may be just a futile struggle for it. "

Ren Yuxi, the person in charge of the interactive entertainment business, agrees with this statement: "Yes, it is difficult for Friends.com to make a comeback when the number of users is falling behind. Regardless of its farms and parking spaces, it is not enough to make a comeback. This is not so much a Friends.com A futile struggle, rather than an intimidation by Mr. Fang.”

When the senior executives in the conference room heard the word "intimidation", their expressions changed slightly. Some were thinking, some frowning, and some nodded frequently.

At this time, CEO Liu Chiping repeated the word: "Intimidation."

His expression was calm, and he couldn't tell what he meant.

"It doesn't matter whether he is intimidated or not. The most important thing is whether this person can realize what he said, even if it is only a part of it. I believe this is what no one wants to see." Liu Chengmin, another executive in charge of the wireless business, said clearly Said, "If it were anyone else, I would agree with Mr. Ren's words, but if it were Mr. Fang, I have to say that I admire him in my heart."

Liu Chengmin ignored the looks of some colleagues and continued: "I say it's a fantastic idea, but in fact, a few years ago, others thought that we penguins also had fantastic ideas. Closer to home, when others saw Mr. Fang going to work on that ice core, I'm afraid It’s also a fantastic idea. Looking closer, is it a fantastic idea to short Lehman?”

"If you regard Mr. Fang's whims as threats, you can't say it's unreasonable, but you still have to give him the necessary respect."

Ren Yuxi spread his hands helplessly: "Yes, I'm about to board the plane for vacation. I rushed back as soon as I heard the call. It's not that I don't respect Mr. Fang, I respect him too much!"

There was a burst of laughter in the conference room, which happened a lot.

Liu Chengmin nodded: "So, Mr. Fang cannot be judged by common sense. I would like to say that Mr. Fang is not a normal person."

Xu Chenye smiled and said: "Then I want to say something derogatory, Mr. Fang is indeed not normal. Can't you celebrate the New Year well? We have to work overtime temporarily."

This sentence made half of the people sigh. Mr. Ma even gave out red envelopes, but still couldn't take a vacation.

Once the resentment of working overtime was aroused, the discussion atmosphere in the conference room became much more relaxed.

Everyone also brainstormed about Mr. Fang and his friend network.

And, by the way, I followed the current hot spots and talked about shorting Lehman, Yike’s market value, mobile phone projects, and technical adjustment shock waves.

Seeing that there were more and more topics, and it was about to become a tea party in the conference room, Xu Chenye picked up the topics.

"Do you think Friends.com is talking to Facebook? Raise your hand if you agree."

He wanted to vote to see the overall opinion.

Most of the people in the conference room raised their hands. They entered the market by acquiring large-scale domestic companies. Amazon did this, eBay did this, and it’s not surprising that Facebook is interested.

Xu Chenye nodded slightly and asked, "Do you think Mr. Fang really wants to promote communication software through friends.com or Sina blog?"

This is the topic of today's discussion, and it is also very serious.

Everyone raised their hands very cautiously, and there were occasional small discussions among the neighbors.

In the end, what surprised Xu Chenye was that the proportion of hands raised and those not raised were almost the same.

He looked at Ma Huateng, who had never spoken, and Liu Chiping, who had spoken briefly, and asked, "Pony, Martin, what do you two think?"

Ma Huateng still said nothing and only looked at Liu Chiping.

Liu Chiping was actually a little unsure. He said slowly: "The impression I have of Fang is always a person with courage, executive ability, and resources. Just like what Liu Chengmin and Mr. Liu said, if it had been someone else, in fact, There’s no need for us to discuss it here.”

"Because today's communication software is not the environment of Penguin. Now we have to spend a lot of money to even have a chance to do it."

"Unfortunately, Mr. Fang not only has money himself, but he also has a group of investors who trust him. He is not like the King of Friends. He dares to spend money and is good at spending money. This is very troublesome."

He changed his perspective: "The market value of Yike is continuing to decline. Its competitors have launched mobile phones with integrated music players. If Yike's mobile phone fails, Fang will not work hard to promote Yike to share a product in the Internet field." New story? Maybe Friends.com won’t sell it to Facebook, but directly to Yike?”

"The business logic of communication software has already been worked out. Mr. Fang had already asked the company to deal with operators when he was at Sina. He has no shortcomings in all aspects."

"Taking this matter into consideration, if I were Mr. Fang, I would consider communication software as a development plan, not necessarily to replace QQ, but maybe just a new tool that takes into account social networking and communication."

Liu Chiping gave a complete expression.

All the eyes in the conference room turned to Ma Huateng after the president finished speaking.

Ma Huateng pondered for a long time and said, "How about I call Mr. Fang and ask?"

Everyone: "..."

Okay, it's not an idea.

Seeing that no one objected, Ma Huateng took out his cell phone and dialed a number he had not contacted for a long time.

It was the Spring Festival, and he happened to chat a few words about the festival.

Then, Ma Huateng asked directly without beating around the bush: "Mr. Fang, I heard that you want to use Friends.com to make a chat software? The success of this is not high, right?"

"Big or small, I'll fuck you like a penguin, okay?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Ma Huateng wanted to hear the truth: "Really, Mr. Fang, no joke, is this a rumor or did someone really mention it to you?"

"I won't tell you, what the hell?" Fang Zhuo still smiled.

Ma Huateng was helpless: "I was shocked when I heard the news. Isn't Yike making mobile phones? It's not easy to make communication software on the computer."

"It's really not easy. I like to do things that are not easy, right?" Fang Zhuo said indifferently.

Ma Huateng was convinced: "Mr. Fang, happy New Year. Let's meet and chat when you have time."

"Happy, happy, happy HSBC, happy Lehman, happy Penguin, let's chat when we have time." Fang Zhuo ended the call with a joke.

There was silence in the conference room.

We all know that Mr. Ma and Mr. Fang are very familiar with each other, but do they actually communicate in this way?

Ma Huateng glanced at the senior executives and asked, "What do you think?"

Most of the senior executives still had a sentence in their minds from Mr. Fang: "How about it?"

Liu Chiping took a sip of water and said in deep thought: "I'm afraid there are various plans before Mr. Fang. He has to make decisions based on the situation. Friends.com is not Yike after all, and it also depends on the opinions of Wang Xing and investors. Pony just said If you want to meet and chat, I would say it’s better to meet on a different day. Let’s chat in person before the Spring Festival.”

Liu Chiping, who was born in Goldman Sachs, paused and continued: "I heard that Goldman Sachs also invested in Friends.com. If possible, if Friends.com has the option of selling to Facebook, instead of having more international competitors come in, it would be better for us to acquire it."

"In this way, there will be no shortcuts to Fb and Mr. Fang will be spared from making trouble."

Ma Huateng thought for a while, discussed it with several senior executives, and said, "Martin, you are familiar with Goldman Sachs. Let's see if you can say hello first and let's sit down and talk."

Liu Chiping certainly has no problem.

Soon, he found someone from Goldman Sachs and wanted to talk about Friends Network.

The conference room continued to discuss Friends.com, Yike, Mr. Fang, HSBC... The temporary overtime work was rather rambling.

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond.

After lunch, in the afternoon, Goldman Sachs, on behalf of the management of Friends.com, gave an attitude that they could talk about it.

Liu Chiping also made a request: We need to talk to Mr. Fang.

In the evening, the friend network agreed, which meant that Mr. Fang probably agreed.

Talking about acquisition, from the perspective of dating.com, this means a staged victory, but the greater goal of this acquisition is to avoid the war from spreading to the base camp.

In order to show sincerity and respect for the other party, Penguin's founding five tigers plus President Liu Chiping all went out and took the evening flight to Beijing.

Only on the morning of the next day, the two sides quickly met.

"Pony, you really came? Are you so sensitive about communication software?" Fang Zhuo appeared in the meeting room of Friend.com as an investor, but he obviously has greater decision-making power.

Ma Huateng smiled and shook hands, and said very frankly: "We are actually worried that Mr. Fang wants to blackmail us, but after thinking about it, it shouldn't be the case, right?"

Fang Zhuo laughed and greeted the executives of Penguin.

Both parties sat down.

Except for Wang Xing, the investors were basically around the Friend.com, and Penguin was the absolute senior executive.

Wang Xing's expression was a bit complicated. Although he had communicated in advance, the speed from communication to meeting the opponent was really too fast. It was simply a super fast communication version.

He talked about the good development of Friends.com, the future prospects, and the competition with Dating.com.

Wang Xing was a little indignant as he spoke, thinking that the pseudo-real name after Dating.com introduced Penguin traffic was not a good way to develop.

Xu Chenye responded in this regard: "Mr. Wang, there is no reason to tie your hands and compete with you in commercial competition. You think this is not a suitable way to develop, that's because Friends.com can't get so much traffic. We think the development of Dating.com is very good, otherwise, we wouldn't be here today."

"Today, I don't want to talk about traffic. What I want to say is that the community atmosphere is an extremely critical thing, and it may even... forget it." Wang Xing looked at the smiling Xu Chenye, and suddenly lost the interest in continuing to criticize and evaluate.

What else is there to say now?

The defeated general talked about the victorious army?

Wang Xing sighed slightly. He didn't blame Mr. Fang and Mr. Xiong. He just regretted that Penguin's traffic might not be compatible with Friends.com. Even if Friends.com was sold to an enterprise, it might still be dead.

Liu Chiping looked at Mr. Fang: "Mr. Fang, we all recognize the value of Friends.com and admire its strength in competing with Dating.com. We came here today with great sincerity to discuss the acquisition. Anyway, it's selling to Facebook, so why not give it to us?"

Fang Zhuo nodded: "Mr. Liu is right. Facebook is offering 2 billion. How much will you offer?"

Liu Chiping almost choked on his breath. He discussed the acquisition price on the way here. He felt that 500-700 million was a good price. He didn't expect Mr. Fang to ask for such a high price!

Facebook will definitely not invest 2 billion!

He said a little unhappily: "Mr. Fang, I came from Goldman Sachs, don't bluff me with the price."

Fang Zhuo shook his head: "Mr. Liu, you are no longer sensitive to the price, Mr. Xu, tell me."

Xu Kaiwei from Goldman Sachs was also called over today. He smiled and said: "We negotiated with Facebook for the acquisition in US dollars. Although Friends.com is indeed not as good as Dating.com, it still has the prospect of going public. You can't force it with the current price. Mr. Ma, Mr. Liu, I won't use my background to deceive you."

Ma Huateng frowned.

Liu Chiping suddenly hesitated. Did he land or become slow?

"How much do you want to pay?" Fang Zhuo asked.

Liu Chiping picked a middle psychological price: "600 million, this price is appropriate."

Fang Zhuo shook his head again: "Let's do this first, the difference is too big, let's digest it."

He stood up and smiled: "Let's go, let's not talk anymore, let's have a meal first."

Ma Huateng didn't stand up, and smiled: "Mr. Fang, don't be anxious, you come with sincerity, you can't not pay a little price, right? How can this be reasonable."

"Let me calculate the reason for you." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "The current situation of Friends.com is worth 1 billion, the prospect of listing is worth 300 million, Facebook's acquisition intention is worth 300 million, and the hard work of investors is worth 200 million."

Liu Chiping frowned and said: "This is only 1.8 billion."

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly: "You asked me to talk here, am I Fang Zhuo not worth 200 million?"

Liu Chiping was speechless, make up, just make up!

Ma Hua stood up and laughed: "Okay, let's eat first, eat first, only after a full meal can we have the energy to continue talking."

Black, too black, Mr. Fang is too black, no wonder others call him Fang Heizi.

They are treating us penguins like fat sheep and slaughtering them!