Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1454 Recipe Network

For Sony, the timing of the weekly bug is just right.

Because in February this year, Sony announced a major business system reform project, which will fundamentally restructure the company's two core businesses and integrate two major groups, the "Networked Products and Services Group" and the "Consumer Products Group".

It is expected that Sony can enhance profitability and competitiveness in the global economic crisis.

After more than 4 months of business adjustment and business line reorganization, these two business groups have been strategically formed, and Sony is also accelerating the development of innovative network products and services under the leadership of Howard Stringer.

The appearance of Ziwei Star is exactly in line with the strategic adjustment direction of Sony Group.

It was an absolute hit!
Compared with this group-level event, the copyright of "Spider-Man" is not that important.

However, Howard Stringer did not directly agree.

Zhou Buqi is not in a hurry, he has completed the work of this trip, and he has no stakes, and he believes that the other party will make the choice that best suits his own interests.For the cooperation, more details should be done by the mixed teams of many companies in Ziwei Galaxy.

The next day, he was ready to leave.

But before leaving, he went to the branch headquarters first. Tang Binchen said that there was a big case worth 5000 million US dollars, and he hoped he could go there and evaluate it.

After passing by, I found out that it was a recipe website called cookpad.

"menu?"

"Yes, a website dedicated to cooking."

"Isn't this too small?"

Zhou Buqi was surprised and felt that this business direction was a bit ridiculous.It’s not impossible to create a recipe website. There is indeed such a demand in the market, but why do you need to spend 5000 million US dollars?
Then Tang Binchen said even more exaggeratedly, "This website is planning to go public, with a strategic investment of 5000 million US dollars, you can get 10% of the shares."

"10%?" Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide in disbelief, "A recipe website worth 5 million dollars?"

Tang Binchen said: "This is just the most conservative estimate. According to the market assessment given by the investment bank, the market value of this company after listing may exceed 10 billion US dollars. Originally, it was going to be listed this month. Because Ziwei Star participated, they set the listing time Pushed to September."

Zhou Buqi felt that his cognition had been challenged.

It’s only been 09, how can a mere recipe website be so valuable?Ziweixing's cloud computing business is so big that the market can't give a valuation of 10 billion US dollars!

Tang Binchen is very confident now, and has a sense of grasping the Japanese market. He said with a smile: "I think the opportunity is very good. What the recipe website needs most is traffic and users. We have YikYak, which can carry out comprehensive cooperation with the recipe website. Cooperation. Now invest 5000 million US dollars, and wait a few months for the cookpad to go on the market, and you may be able to earn a 100% return.”

"and many more!"

Zhou Buqi stopped him.

On the surface, if you go to make a strategic investment in cookpad now, you can buy 5000% of the shares for $10 million.As long as the other party is listed, tens of millions of dollars can be easily earned in a few months, which is a very cost-effective deal.

But here comes the problem, this is a strategic investment!
Strategic investment is not financial investment, and it is difficult to exit.Even if they can quit, it will take many years.

After many years, the day lily is cold!

Zhou Buqi frowned and criticized: "Your thinking is wrong. When I was negotiating with Sony, I took advantage of Howard Stringer's weakness as a manager to discuss short-term cooperation with him. What's going on with you? You are the boss of Ziweixing, not a professional manager! Why do you pay attention to this kind of short-term performance? In order to get rewards for your performance at the end of the year?"

Tang Binchen didn't expect a big hat to fall down, and he was stunned, "How is it possible? I never thought about it!"

Zhou Buqi said: "Ziweixing is not an investment company. It wants to make a long-term strategic direction and business design. What's the deal with cooperating with Recipe.com? Just to wait for the other party to go public and make tens of millions of dollars on the book? If it can be cashed out Come out, I definitely support it!"

"You don't support Recipe Network?"

"This direction is too niche to support such a large market value."

"Ahem." Tang Binchen felt that he should educate the big boss, "The social environment here in Japan is different from that in China. Recipes... this is not really a niche market."

"Ok?"

"In domestic middle-class families, both husband and wife work together, and there are very few housewives. But Japan is different. 80% of the families are housewives. Men work outside, and women take care of the family, responsible for children's education, transportation, and food And life. 90% of cookpad users are women, all housewives.”

"Well, logically it is established."

Zhou Buqi nodded, his face looked much better.

Cookpad's user structure can indeed promote the strategic cooperation between the two parties.

The vast majority of cookpad users are housewives who are proficient in using the Internet and cannot afford a nanny. This shows that these users are careful in their lives and their income is not too high.

This can be targeted marketing.

For example, Jingtao e-commerce!

Also in the Japanese market for more than a year, Ziweixing has achieved great success and can be called a giant in the Japanese Internet industry.

But Jingtao is much worse, and it has lost money for the 15th consecutive month.

It is not easy to do e-commerce in Japan.

Rakuten's influence is too great.

Cookpad is just a very good opportunity. These 90% housewife users are potential Jingtao consumer groups who are very likely to convert.

Tang Binchen said: "The technical difficulty of Recipe.com is very low, but Japanese users are too habitual. Even if we launch a new and better Recipe.com, it may be difficult to attract those users."

Zhou Buqi took a deep look at him, "The era of mobile Internet has come!"

Tang Binchen said with a smile: "I know, but as far as I know, cookpad has been profitable for many years, and the economic crisis is also profitable..."

"What's the profit model?" Zhou Buqi interrupted him.

Tang Binchen said: "Advertising + membership model. There will be some advertisements on the website, which is the main source of income. Secondly, ordinary members can enjoy the service for free, and premium members pay 3 dollars a month. Premium members can have a search function, that is, they can Autonomously search for recipes."

"Well, you go on."

"They are not short of money. Last year's profit reached 200 million US dollars. The reason why they want to go public this time is because they also feel the wave of mobile Internet. They want to raise a sum of money, and then lead the transformation of cookpad to mobile phone. This is Need to expand the team and hire more technical staff.”

"Humph!"

Zhou Buqi sneered twice.

Tang Binchen raised his eyebrows, "Is there something wrong?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Do you think any Internet company can keep up with the tide of the times? The Internet and traditional industries are two ways of thinking, but Japanese entrepreneurs use the thinking of traditional enterprises to develop the Internet. PC Internet and mobile The Internet is also two ways of thinking, and we need to go further. Japanese Internet companies are at least two levels behind the mobile Internet! Not to mention Japanese companies, 90% of the world’s Internet companies that are doing well in the PC era are in The tide of the new era will decline rapidly. Even a giant like Yahoo cannot withstand the crushing of the times.”

This angle of view is too big, and the grandeur is a bit mysterious.

Tang Binchen thought about it and said: "However, the habits of Japanese users are very strong. If cookpad launches a mobile terminal, they can dominate the recipe industry from PC to mobile terminal."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "You're starting from the details, just like a blind man touching an elephant. He can't see the whole picture of an elephant, so he thinks it's an elephant just by looking at its toes."

Tang Binchen was a little embarrassed, "Isn't it?"

Zhou Buqi glanced at him, "What beats the MP3 industry is not a better MP3, but a music phone. What beats a tank is not a more advanced tank, but a directional missile. No matter how good the cookpad is, it's just a recipe network. Mobile phone With such a large screen, it is impossible for users to download dozens or even hundreds of apps, and there may be only a dozen commonly used apps. This requires future mobile apps to be highly functionally centralized.”

"Integrate the recipe function with other information flow functions..."

Tang Binchen suddenly realized.

Zhou Buqi smiled, "It's not just information flow!"

Tang Binchen asked humbly, "Can you give me some inspiration?"

Zhou Buqi said: "The standard of 4G network has been determined, and it will not be long before it will be commercialized globally. The improvement of mobile phone performance will definitely follow Moore's Law and will develop rapidly. The current recipes are all text versions. Not necessarily after it can. As long as the mobile phone can shoot clear and stable video like a digital camera, and then upload it to the Internet.”

"hiss!"

Tang Binchen took a deep breath.

video!
This is a fatal blow to the text!
Video podcasts can demonstrate cooking by themselves while teaching others how to cook; recipe podcasts can only use text to clearly write down the process of each step.

But how can words clearly describe the method of making a dish?
In the past, video recording required the purchase of expensive digital cameras. Ordinary people did not have such capital, so there were not many online videos of self-media nature.

However, with the improvement of smartphone performance and enrichment of functions, the logic of the entire Internet has changed.

If you can't recognize this magnificent trend, you will die!
Zhou Buqi said: "Even if cookpads can transform and launch video recipes, they can't make video apps that meet user habits. In the era of mobile Internet, YouTube, a platform with rich content and high integration, can sweep all industries. Don't look at it now. Cookpad may have a market value of more than one billion U.S. dollars when it goes public, but it’s useless. There’s no way to cash out. After a few years, the scale of this recipe company will inevitably shrink significantly, or even go bankrupt.”

Tang Binchen took a deep breath, "Well, that's right."

Zhou Buqi said: "Investing in cookpad will definitely lead to losses, but you are right, strategic cooperation with cookpad is necessary. Only cooperation, no investment. Just like the introduction of Ameba users to YikYak last year, you can try to use cookpad's Housewives are attracted to Jingtao. Housewives need to buy ingredients and cooking equipment when cooking, and Jingtao can be the first choice.”

Tang Binchen breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile, "That's how I thought about it."

(End of this chapter)