Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2950 The Wanderer Returns Home

According to the plan, Ziweixing International will complete its IPO in May, June or July next year.

There is no doubt that this will be another super IPO.

You have to arrange the time.

Because Alibaba has already decided that it will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange next year.

These two cases must be handled in different time periods and with different capitals.

Alibaba chose to list on the New York Stock Exchange, while Ziweixing International chose Nasdaq for its listing.

These two super IPOs are too large in scale. Even with the size of the U.S. financial market, it can only handle two IPOs of this size a year, and each exchange can only handle one.

Normally, when a company is about to go public, it should try to do as little as possible.

Keep your finances clean.

Get ready early.

However, this stage is also a good stage to "activate" in the market.

Because the company is going to IPO, everyone is watching.

In such a capital feast, all parties want to participate and get a piece of the pie.

  But what if there is no chance to participate?

The best way is to exchange interests.

In the period before the IPO, there will be an unprecedentedly lively capital collision period... Many institutions and practitioners want to actively participate. For example, if Alibaba wants to acquire Youku now, the process will be as smooth as possible.

Because Alibaba is about to go public.

It is a rare opportunity to exchange our own stocks for Alibaba's stocks now. We would rather make concessions on the asking price and give in on various terms to push for the completion of this transaction.

It’s similar here at Ziweixing International.

Zheng Xiaoli has already said that Yahoo CEO Thompson intends to acquire a local search company to rebuild Yahoo Search. This case will be very easy to carry out, saving time, effort and effort to complete the acquisition.

Who doesn’t want to participate in Ziweixing International’s capital feast?

In addition to Thompson, Lu Qi also took action.

Zhou Buqi originally wanted to pay attention to the situation at Facebook, but on Ziweixing International's side, it seemed that no one cared about the competitors.

"Let's talk about Facebook later. I have a case that you need to pay attention to!"

Lu Qi finally got the chance to be summoned by the big boss.

Zhou Buqi asked: "What case?"

Lu Qi smiled and said, "It's a website similar to the secret circle in the friend network. It is said that it has a great connection with you."

“Which website?”

“Reddit.”

"Oh!"

Zhou Buqi did not forget.

At the beginning, he came to the capital to attend university and started his entrepreneurial career. He had little money, so he used the little money he earned from selling mobile phone cards to buy hundreds of domain names, most of which were fake domain names, but also included many classic domain names like Facebook and YouTube that could be sold at high prices.

This includes Reddit.

I sold the Reddit domain name for $15, which converted into Chinese currency is a total of 123 million yuan!

With this money, Zhou Buqi solved the financial difficulties in his business, and it also allowed him to buy a house outside the school, giving him the opportunity to live with Teacher Wen.

Lu Qi said: "There are too many forum websites in the United States. Reddit does not have the most users or traffic. However, the product features are very distinct. This is actually the American version of Secret Circle."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, “Many people say Reddit is the Baidu Tieba of the United States.”

"That's different." Lu Qi shook his head. "There are so many forums like Baidu Tieba in the United States. There is no scarcity. The most distinctive feature of Reddit is actually anonymous comments. Because of the anonymous attribute, many people can share many secrets here. It's actually more like a secret circle."

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, the Secret Circle was created after Liang Ruobo became the CEO of Friends.com. He integrated the Secret Circle and Douban Group into it, and merged it with the main business of Friends.com into the 'three circles' model, Secret Circle, Interest Circle and Friends Circle."

Lu Qi said, "Interest circles are developing very well now, and Moments has taken off because it is integrated with WeChat. Only Secret Circles have been restricted because many people anonymously share a lot of content that the authorities don't like to see." Zhou Buqi nodded and sighed, "Yes, the country is now vigorously promoting the real-name system for Internet access, and supervision must be strengthened, and netizens are not allowed to hide their identities on the Internet. Such requirements are inconsistent with the product positioning of Secret Circles. Many domestic products similar to Secret Circles have basically declined. Secret Circles is backed by Ziweixing, so it can barely survive, but... I guess it won't last much longer, and it will have to be closed sooner or later."

Speaking of this, I feel very sad.

During the period from 08 to 12, Secret Circle was very popular and almost the most popular circle on the Friends Network, even more popular than the Friends Circle. People could anonymously share some secrets that they had never shared with anyone, which was a rare opportunity for many people to confide.

Everyone has secrets, especially some secrets that cannot be seen in the light. When they are hidden deep in the heart, the pressure to bear is too great.

Speaking it out means letting go of the pressure.

Secret circles provide such a platform.

For many young people today who are under tremendous pressure from work, family and interpersonal relationships, this is a good place to express their feelings and release stress.

Not anymore.

The overall environment does not allow it.

It is estimated that Ziweixing will not be able to hold on for a few years, and will completely abandon the Secret Circle product.

Lu Qi certainly felt it was a pity. "When I talked to my colleagues in China, they all expressed such regret. Liang Ruobo once told me that since it couldn't be done in China, why not create a similar anonymous community abroad? This was originally the major mission of the spin-off of Ziweixing International from Ziweixing. Since it is not allowed in China, we can continue our product ideals overseas. I immediately thought of Reddit."

Zhou Buqi had actually been paying attention to Reddit for a long time. After all, he got the domain name from him. He was very surprised and said, "Didn't Reddit get acquired by a big company?"

Lu Qi smiled and said, "It's a traditional media company. They can't do well in the Internet industry, so they have to subsidize millions of dollars every year. After a few years, they couldn't afford it anymore, so they split Reddit a year ago and let them be self-reliant. Now Reddit is having a hard time. The interim CEO Altman is looking for ways and connections to seek Series B financing."

"Round B?"

Zhou Buqi was slightly surprised.

  Reddit was founded in 06, right? After so many years, it has only just completed its Series B financing?

It seems that the development is indeed not very good.

If it weren't for the connection between Reddit and Mr. Zhou, as well as its product attributes similar to "Secret Circle", Luqi probably wouldn't have paid attention to such an inconspicuous and small Internet project.

Lu Qi explained: "Yes, just completed the B round. After the A round of financing, it was acquired by a large company. After the split, without the support of the parent company, it can only return to the venture capital market for help."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Do you mean to acquire Reddit?"

Lu Qi said: "Yes, I have been quite touched recently. The acquisition of Reddit can be regarded as satisfying the emotional transfer of my domestic colleagues, as well as some of their pursuits in product concepts. The secret circle has developed so well, it is everyone's child. It is not allowed in China, and everyone hopes to place this sustenance abroad."

"Well, you should!"

Zhou Buqi felt that this reason was very powerful.

Regardless of whether Reddit can do well, cater to the minds of those friends in China, heal the inner trauma of the secret circle being doomed to be banned, and create a new secret circle overseas. As the most well-known anonymous forum, Reddit can indeed be a good substitute.

Lu Qi smiled and said, "Of course, for Ziweixing International, the acquisition of Reddit can further enrich and strengthen our product matrix. In the real-name forum, we have Quora, which has the most professional and excellent content sharing; we also have Yahoo Answers and Yahoo Blogs. The acquisition of Reddit can make up for our lack of anonymous forum products, thereby forming a highly competitive matrix product in the overall situation, thereby maximizing traffic conversion."

Zhou Buqi cleared his throat and said seriously: "It can more conveniently complete the conversion from target traffic to unexpected traffic."

"Ah?" It was the first time that Lu Qi heard this concept. He quickly understood what he meant and said in awe, "Well, this is a very complete product concept. It is the important significance of the product matrix. This is indeed the idea!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "This is the third book I am going to write. When it is published, you can write a preface for it."

"Sure! It's my honor!"

Lu Qi was very happy and felt that this was a great honor.

Boss Zhou rarely writes books.

His two previous books, "From Traffic to Traffic Pool" and "Platform Economy", are regarded as bibles by industry peers.

  It can be said that the current Internet world is operating according to the traffic and platform ideas mentioned in his previous two books. This third book seems to be discussing products from the perspective of traffic. I am really looking forward to it!

Zhou Buqi waved his hand and asked, "How much would it cost to acquire Reddit?"

Lu Qi said: "It won't be too expensive, I estimate 2-3 million US dollars will be about right. Ziweixing International will be listed on the IPO soon. If we make an offer, they will definitely be more anxious than us and hope to reach a deal as soon as possible."

Zhou Buqi said: "Okay, let's get it done as soon as possible and finalize it as soon as possible, so as not to delay our IPO."

Lu Qi smiled and said, "If you want to complete the deal as quickly as possible, it's actually very simple. All you have to do is come forward."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Okay, I'll show up when you need me. After all... just like you said, Reddit and I do have a lot of connections. I was the one who sold the domain name to them. Now that Reddit has returned to the embrace of Ziweixing, it can be considered a wanderer returning home."