Top of the Great Era

From morning to afternoon, Zhou Buqi felt that his back was a little sore, and that old guy Ballmer was still full of energy. This kind of entrepreneurial spirit really needs a bit of hard work and hard work.

Fortunately, the initial intention was really achieved.

Zhou Buqi has done Ballmer a big favor.

Not only agreed to sell Yammer to Microsoft, but also sold the core assets of UC Group to Microsoft, except for two domestic products.

One is UC Mobile Assistant and the other is UC Reader.

UC Mobile Assistant was originally renamed from 91 Mobile Assistant, and it is currently the most popular mobile assistant app in China.According to the latest data, the number of users has exceeded 8000 million.

Various data and major policies have shown that this year will be a big year for the outbreak of smartphones in China.

With the explosion of smartphones, the number of users of various top-tier apps will also increase.

UC Reader is an app for reading novels on mobile phones.

There are a large number of pirated resources in it, which integrates almost all online novels in China, and the resources are very rich.This has become the most popular novel reader in China.

But this kind of product has no way out.

With the strengthening of domestic intellectual property protection, the survival of such products will become more and more difficult.

It is better to sell than to keep it in your hand.

Baidu is also actively deploying the field of online literature recently, so why not sell it to them as well.

Zhou Buqi did not make such a decision to deceive others, at least not to deceive Baidu.

If you want to cheat, you also want to cheat Microsoft.

Although in Zhou Buqi's view, UC Mobile Assistant and UC Reader are two products with no future, they are still very important to Baidu.

Baidu's layout on the mobile terminal is already very backward. The core product, the mobile phone Baidu App, has not even entered the top 50 in China.

The most urgent thing is not to look at the future.

Grab the present first!

If there is no "now", how can we talk about "future"?
In any case, both UC Mobile Assistant and UC Reader have a huge mobile phone user base. After Baidu bought it, it took a certain amount of time to change the name to Baidu Mobile Assistant and Baidu Reader.

It is equivalent to the drainage of users.

Introduced so many mobile phone users into Baidu's product system.

Ballmer agreed to split UC Mobile Assistant and UC Reader from UC Group and sell them to Baidu without any opinion.

But there was one thing he insisted on.

He wants to get all the brands of "UC".

This is a bit difficult.

Because of the products bearing the UC name, the most popular in the world is not UC browser, but Ucgram.Although one is "UC" and the other is "Uc", there is a case distinction, but the relevance of the product is still obvious.

Originally, according to Zhou Buqi's plan, after selling it, he asked the other party to change his name.

For example, if you sell UC Mobile Assistant to Baidu, you need to give Baidu a buffer period of two years, and then change the name of this product to Baidu Mobile Assistant.

Microsoft too, wants them to replace UC with their own brand too.

But Ballmer disagreed.

The company has been bought, but the brand cannot be bought. How can there be such a reason?
This is a bit troublesome.

In the evening, Ballmer took a private plane back to Seattle, and went back to the board meeting to discuss the next heavyweight merger and acquisition.

Zhou Buqi was a little tired, so he left Lu Qi in the office.

Discuss what to do about it.

Lu Qi said succinctly, "If you really want to sell UC Group to Microsoft, there are actually two options for Ucgram. One is to keep your name unchanged, and the other is to change it."

Zhou Buqi said without hesitation: "It can't change! Either they change, or we change!"

Although selling UC to Microsoft is not in the category of foresight, he has already foreseen it.

UC is in the hands of Microsoft, and it will definitely get worse and worse.

What Ballmer is most optimistic about is actually UC Browser, which is second only to Google Chrome on mobile phones in the world.

But how could this thing have a way out?

The days of browsers are long gone.

Even if there is still a little market left, it is the world of Google Chrome.

It also means that the UC brand will become weaker and weaker in the hands of Microsoft, and its reputation will become worse and worse... What if Ucgram is involved?
Even if the involvement is small, Ucgram will be an increasingly successful product.With the success of this product, the UC brand will also be established.

Isn't this advertising for Microsoft for free?

This will not work!

Either Microsoft abandons UC, or Ziweixing abandons UC.

Lu Qi was in a bit of a dilemma, "If Ucgram changes its name, how should it be changed? The popularity and usage habits cultivated in the past three years will be lost."

Zhou Buqi felt a headache, "That's right, if you don't stop, you will suffer from it."

"what?"

Lu Qi was a little surprised.

Zhou Buqi said: "At the beginning, I wanted to change it, and I thought that there would be some troubles in the brand of UC, but the product has already been launched, so I didn't make up my mind."

Ucgram is actually Instagram.

When this product was launched that year, it was completely a "coincidence".

Tang Binchen was in charge of Ziweixing Japan at the time.

There is a photo editing software in China called "Weimei Xiutu", which failed in the competition with "Meitu Xiutu", and the project team is about to be disbanded.

It happened to be discovered by Tang Binchen.

Afterwards, the WIMI Xiutu was moderately revised and released in Japan, and it became popular in no time... This product is UC Beauty.

After developing in Japan, Tang Binchen added some social functions to the product, allowing you to share pictures with friends, and launched an English version to the European and American markets, called UCgram.

The whole thing was completely out of Zhou Buqi's control, and then it became popular all over the world.

It's too late to change the name.

It has been delayed until now, and it is almost impossible to change the name.

UC Mobile Assistant can be renamed as Baidu Mobile Assistant, because the brand value of "Baidu" is greater than that of "UC", and it will be more appealing.Changing Ucgram to Instagram doesn't work, what the hell is "insta"?Unattractive, users are used to the playfulness of "UC".

This is a photo-sharing social product, and the most important selling point is to share beautiful photos for others to see.

It just so happens that "uc" is the homonym of "you_see" in English, which means "you see".

The name is so consistent with the positioning of this product!

In terms of the fun and aftertaste of the name alone, ucgram will leave a deeper impression on people than instagram, and it will be easier for people to remember and spread more easily.

However, changing the name of the product is a business-level matter. Even if Zhou Buqi is the big boss, it is not good to directly interfere with other people's products.

Lu Qi didn't quite agree with the name change, so he circled around, "Why don't you ask Tang Binchen?"

Zhou Buqi was very helpless, "Okay, call him."

Lu Qi called Tang Binchen.

Not surprisingly.

Tang Binchen resolutely refuses to change his name!
Zhou Buqi was very helpless.

Tang Binchen said: "As the old saying goes, if you are poor, you don't change your family, and if you are rich, you don't move your grave. Ucgram is doing so well now, and there is no real competitor in the market...Facebook has also launched a similar product, and there is no competition at all. Then why do you want to change the name? What if the name is changed and the good momentum stops?"

Ok!

The reason is strong.

Tang Binchen went on to say: "How much is the UC Group? Selling at the top, can it sell for 30 billion US dollars? But the potential value of Ucgram is full of imagination. We can't lose the big because of small things. Besides, didn't we change the name, from uppercase to lowercase?" gone."

It's not easy for Zhou Buqi to say anything to him.

Hang up.

Zhou Buqi sighed, but out of the corner of his eyes, he found Lu Qi heaving a long sigh of relief, feeling relieved.

Depend on!
He also disagrees!

Zhou Buqi was very helpless, and asked instead: "When will Helo's circle of friends function be launched?"

"It's expected to be in April, and it's still in testing." Lu Qi smiled, "Once the function of Moments is launched, it will form great competition with Facebook. This will be a stronger social network for acquaintances."

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "By the way, are Helo's circle of friends and WeChat's circle of friends a structure?"

Lu Qi said: "Yes, it's the same thing. They are all developed domestically, and foreign countries should make appropriate adjustments."

Zhou Buqi said: "WeChat's circle of friends will also be launched in April, right?"

"Correct."

"Why don't Helo wait here first?"

"Ok?"

Lu Qi raised his eyebrows.

Zhou Buqi said: "Ziweixing's domestic situation is very good, WeChat has firmly seized the territory, we can let WeChat go online first, and try it first. Let's wait until June, when the WeChat experiment is completed, put some The common problems have been fixed, and Helo will launch the circle of friends, and the product can be more mature.”

Lu Qi hesitated, "Will it be too late? Tang Binchen also said just now that Facebook is already challenging us. They have imitated Ucgram and launched a similar product for socializing with pictures. We will not take any action. ?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Don't worry, the stability of the product is more important. The overseas market will be more complicated when facing so many countries. Especially the most important point is that in China, Moments is the continuation of Moments. User habits make it easier to promote. Overseas is not enough. In overseas markets, the social network of acquaintances is dominated by Facebook. If Helo’s circle of friends is not mature enough, it will be easy to compare with Facebook.”

Lu Qi nodded, "Okay, then delay the release for two months."

"It should be."

Zhou Buqi actually has another consideration.

After a series of adjustments, Facebook's IPO plan has been confirmed and will be listed in May.During the IPO process, Ziweixing International will sell a large number of stocks, thereby reducing the influence of Ziweixing International on Facebook.

Both sides are now rivals with a sharp knife, and it would be inappropriate to have some deep-seated equity disputes.

At least the stake should be reduced to below 5%.

Zhou Buqi is also happy to see the success.

Cash out a wave of stocks to relieve the current cash flow pressure of Ziweixing International.

Therefore, if the two sides want to go to war, it is best to wait until Zhou Buqi has cashed out all the stocks.If you beat Facebook too badly, causing the stock price to plummet, your own interests will also be damaged...

Zhou Buqi even has a plan, why not take this opportunity to completely sell out all Facebook stocks!

Sold out, get the money, go buy Yahoo!