Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 518 New and Old Giants

On September 9, Fang Zhuo, the chairman of the medical department, held successive meetings at Jinmao 10 to discuss the company's future development direction, intending to directly get involved in e-commerce without an agent.

At the same time, Taobao, the main player in the e-commerce market, is also studying market development.

At the beginning of the year, Ali received US$1.02 million in financing led by Softbank, and began to vigorously develop its C2C business. Now in September, Ma Dian is talking with Softbank about the company's fourth round of financing.

On this day, he held a meeting in Lin'an, mainly to boost morale.

"Last year, our Taobao transaction volume was 2200 million. By the end of this year, we are expected to exceed 10 billion!"

"Facts have proved that our C2C model is the best solution in China."

"eBay is doomed!"

Ma Dian's speech received unanimous applause from everyone.

From last year's 2200 million to this year's expected breakthrough of 10 billion, this is how many times the increase!

45 times!
How can this rate of growth not be exciting?
End of the meeting.

Ma Dian and Cai Chongxin stayed in the conference room.

Different from the impassionedness at the meeting, Ma Dian's expression in private was quite dignified, and the money was running out.

The reason why Taobao can achieve such a large increase is that the funds behind it are quite wild. The US$1.02 million raised at the beginning of the year is the driving force behind Taobao’s development.

Since its establishment in 03, Ma Dian has shouted the slogan of "no profit for three years".

Thanks to this, on the one hand, it has the support of Alibaba, and on the other hand, it has blood transfusions from external financing. Taobao, which does not try to make profits, has indeed developed rapidly, but it also has a great thirst for funds.

"I'll go to Tokyo again on Saturday." Cai Chongxin said in a deep voice, "Softbank should be fine."

Ma Dian nodded, Softbank is now the biggest financial backer, and it is precisely because of eBay's failure in the Japanese market that Sun Zhengyi firmly believes that eBay is also unlikely to achieve localized success in China.

Although there is no specific data yet, Ma Dian believes that the market share of e-commerce has been greatly reversed this year.

He is confident that Taobao's C2C will be able to completely order the domestic market next year—as long as the capital chain can continue to operate.

Cai Chongxin pondered for a while, and felt that even if he could get another investment from Softbank at the end of the year, the problem might not be completely solved.

He suggested: "How about, Mr. Ma, let's see the situation at the end of the year, and we can talk to Mr. Fang?"

Cai Chongxin has a good impression of Yike Fangzhuo. He had an exchange at the Internet Industry Development Conference in Shanghai last year, and felt that introducing his power might be a matter of mutual benefit.

Moreover, I also heard that Yike is very interested in e-commerce, but the investment in Dangdang.com was not settled a while ago.

Ma Dian showed hesitation: "He is not a good person to deal with. Wait a little longer, get money from Softbank at the end of the year, and kill eBay first. Even if we find Yike, we will have more bargaining chips."

Cai Chongxin also agrees with this assessment.

If the company wants to introduce other forces, it has to consider its behavior. In particular, whether the other party agrees with Taobao's current strategy is something that has to be taken seriously.

But he also felt that Mr. Fang was not someone who couldn't communicate.

"Okay, if there is no better choice next year, I will talk to Mr. Fang first, so there is room for maneuver." Cai Chongxin said.

Ma Den nodded and said nothing more, but some thoughts in his heart were still turning.

……

On the afternoon of September 9, Penguin's team arrived in Xiangjiang, where the company will announce its listing three days later.

Ma Huateng stood in the hotel next to the Victoria Harbour, looking at the bustling cityscape, but what he thought of was the surging e-commerce competition in the Mainland.

"Dangdang is doing it, Amazon is doing it, Taobao is doing it, eBay is doing it, e-commerce is an era not to be missed."

Ma Huateng said emotionally to the vice president next to him: "I heard that Mr. Fang of Yike wanted to enter the e-commerce market a while ago, but unfortunately he was blocked. He has always had a keen sense of the development of the Internet, and we can't lag behind."

The vice president said steadily: "Next year, our blog will be launched for internal testing, and our C2C website will also be launched. With so many users, we will definitely be successful."

Ma Huateng nodded: "I also have the confidence."

The company is sitting on a huge amount of traffic, how to effectively convert these traffic has always been a key issue, solve one part, Penguin can go public, solve many parts, Penguin can rule the roost.

Now that other domestic companies are exploring first, then Penguin can naturally learn valuable advancement experience by virtue of traffic.

Blogs are an example.

E-commerce is another example.

There will be many more cases in the future.

……

On the night of September 9th, Baidu's capital headquarters.

Li Yanhong welcomed the Goldman Sachs team and discussed with them the company's listing prospects.

This year's time is a bit tight, and he also wants to use his annual performance to get a better stock price, so both parties are inclined to go public next year.

But preparations can already be made in advance.

"We can start a road show in December, from Xiangjiang to Singapore, then to Chicago and New York." Chen Huiyao, vice president of Goldman Sachs in China, said with a smile, "This route is similar to that of Yike's listing. I was in charge at the time. They The effect is very good."

Li Yanhong nodded and asked, "Mr. Chen, which one do you think has a higher market value, ours or Yike's?"

Chen Huiyao pondered for a while: "Eco's new models released in the United States are very well received, but Baidu's market feels bigger, so it's hard to say."

Li Yanhong smiled: "It seems that Yike's stock will rise again?"

"It should be. It has been hovering around the issue price for a long time." Chen Huiyao said, "Eco's pricing is very good, and Baidu's roadshow pricing can be further studied."

Li Yanhong nodded.

In comparison, he actually pays more attention to Google, which was successfully listed last month. Its listing price is not as high as expected, but the price-earnings ratio of 80 times and the stock price of 230 billion US dollars are also very happy for Baidu.

When Baidu goes public in the future, it must benchmark against similar companies, and Google has already given a demonstration to investors.

However, now that Google has shown a strong interest in the Chinese market, this is a problem that Baidu has to solve, and it is also a battle that Baidu has to fight.

……

September 9, at midnight.

Sohu's Zhang Chaoyang is sweaty from dancing. He came to a friend's party today and had a great time.

He even took the stage and sang a song.

Zhang Chaoyang drank two glasses of wine to quench his thirst, and waved at the person who looked at him: "Oh, keep singing and dancing."

The music is loud and the dancing is charming.

Zhang Chaoyang was filled with joy and a great wish.

Sohu can also set foot in the entertainment industry, sign artists, package them, and release albums and records for them.

What is this called?
This is to make full use of the powerful interactive communication characteristics of the Internet, and create a different entertainment model at multiple levels through self-creation and cooperation.

(End of this chapter)