Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2975 Disheartened

After a brief moment of shock, Zhou Buqi quickly figured out the whole thing.

Reid Hoffman is the founder and chairman of LinkedIn. He holds great power, but he wants to give up such an excellent Internet company with great potential... Isn't this like sending his own son away?

It must have been a huge risk.

LinkedIn is a business networking site.

Now, Facebook has clearly entered this field. At the same time, Google has also been making efforts in the social field and intends to develop in this direction, especially the Google+ product, which has recently been rumored to be transformed into a business social network.

In fact, there is an even more threatening existence – Ziweixing International.

Ziweixing International has been slow to enter the business social networking market, but this does not mean that the company has no tendency to develop in this direction. Especially now that Ziweixing International is about to go public, once it is successfully listed, it will be able to raise at least 200 billion US dollars.

  Now that I have so much money, what should I do next?

Business social networking is definitely an area that cannot be avoided.

  LinkedIn is not an industry giant, but it is currently the industry leader in the business social field. This is based on the premise that other IT giants have not entered this sector. Once giants such as Facebook, Google, Ziweixing, and Microsoft enter the market, what will happen to LinkedIn's future?

Reid Hoffman is looking for a way out.

Coincidentally, Boss Zhou himself is a member of LinkedIn’s board of directors and one of its early investors. With such a connection, a merger between the two parties is the best solution.

Although Zhou Buqi is a director of LinkedIn, he has never attended any LinkedIn board meetings and was always represented by Senior Sister Zhen Yu.

He has little sense of responsibility for LinkedIn.

No attention either.

Reid Hoffman's proposal this time was something he had never considered before.

Seeing his surprise, Hoffman jokingly told him the truth, "After merging with LinkedIn, you no longer have to worry about finding opportunities in the business social networking field. As long as the transaction is completed, Ziweixing can become the leader in the global business social networking market overnight."

Zhou Buqi said: "I haven't really thought about it. If I want to do business networking, the first step must be to withdraw from LinkedIn's board of directors."

Hoffman said: "Even if you haven't thought about it now, what about half a year later, or a year later? When Ziweixing International is successfully listed, the capital market will also push you to expand into a larger market and find more growth points."

Zhou Buqi had no idea what to say.

Because he really lacks understanding of business social networking, because this market does not exist in China. Not only has he never experienced it in his previous life, but he also has no relevant experience in this life. If he really does business social networking, then Boss Zhou really can't help him at all. Not only can he not provide advice on business, but he can't point out the direction in strategy.

This means that this is bound to be an "out of control" project.

Whether you can succeed or not depends entirely on fate.

That's not interesting.

Now that he has gone public and has money, Mr. Zhou still has many areas to develop and expand, and he has no worries about finding new investment tracks. Recently, he has established two new directions: online education and generative AI big models, and Yahoo Search is in urgent need of restarting...

Hoffman didn't know the inside story, so he didn't believe that a social giant like Ziweixing would miss the huge business social market. He said frankly: "Recently, there have been some strategic differences within LinkedIn. My opinions are not consistent with those of the management."

“Because it’s for sale?”

Zhou Buqi frowned slightly.

Hoffman shook his head. "It's not a sale. These are just some thoughts I had after meeting you today. I haven't discussed this with anyone. The disagreement is about LinkedIn's next development plan. My opinion is to focus on the U.S. market, to fight Google and Facebook in the U.S. market, to ensure our leadership in the U.S. market, and to limit the development of their business social products. The management's opinion is completely the opposite. They are planning to enter the Chinese market."

"what?"

Zhou Buqi twitched the corner of his mouth.

  LinkedIn is coming to China for development?

This is a bit too absurd.

What era is this? A foreign Internet company still wants to develop in China. Do you have the competitiveness? Besides, there is no business social market in China. What's the point of coming? At most, it is just a small fight in a niche field. It is impossible to make money.

Hoffman sighed, "I don't agree with this plan, but more people are looking forward to finding opportunities in a huge market like China." "They didn't agree with you?"

Zhou Buqi basically guessed what was going on.

Reid Hoffman is a little discouraged.

LinkedIn is the company he founded.

Now that the company is listed, it is going against his will, as the investing directors and the CEO he appointed have stood together to oppose him.

In addition, Google and Facebook have recently entered the business social networking market, which has posed a huge threat...

At this time, Zhou Buqi remembered something that Senior Sister Zhen Yu had told him.

In June of this year, a major incident occurred at LinkedIn.

LinkedIn was hacked, resulting in the leakage of 650 million passwords. At the same time, 30 users' passwords were cracked, causing a serious social impact. It is estimated that it was under this situation that Google and Facebook saw an opportunity and launched their own business social products.

Given all these factors, it's no surprise that Hoffman wants to quit.

Hoffman asked, “Do you think LinkedIn should expand into China?”

Zhou Buqi spoke frankly, "It shouldn't be like that. Most of LinkedIn's features require payment. Such product design does not conform to the usage habits of Internet products in our country. Moreover, the social attribute itself has policy restrictions on foreign companies."

Hoffman laughed at himself. "Yes, but if you tell LinkedIn's board of directors this reason, they will think you are worried that LinkedIn will take over the market first. They just want to act quickly and occupy the business social networking market in China before Ziweixing does business social networking."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "I wouldn't resort to trickery for such a small matter, right?"

Hoffman shrugged and sighed, "Many people use their own standards to judge other people's choices, but they don't know that different people have different perspectives and moral standards. The reason why you are more successful than them is not because you are better at conspiracy than them, but because you have a bigger perspective and higher moral standards."

Zhou Buqi touched his nose and said modestly: "People are all the same, except for their slightly different luck."

"It's not just luck, it's vision." Hoffman seemed very confident. "I believe you can see the value of LinkedIn. LinkedIn now has 2 million users, 13% of whom are paying users. Although the proportion of paying users is not large, it is growing very fast. In the fourth quarter, the number of paying users increased by 33% year-on-year."

Such data should be kept confidential, but Zhou Buqi is a director and does not need to keep it confidential.

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Yes, very impressive data."

Hoffman said: "Ziweixing International has many excellent social products, and I have noticed them all. However, your social products have a weakness. Your products are basically free and rely on advertising to generate revenue. This business model is too single and also hides huge risks. Just like Netflix and YouTube, I would prefer Netflix's model. Paid members can be more loyal and have more stable income than 'free + advertising'. If Ziweixing International and LinkedIn merge, it can make your social business income more diversified and the income structure richer."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "This is a really big deal, but now all I can think about is the IPO."

Hoffman smiled and said, "Of course, I'll put forward an idea first, and we can all think about it carefully. In my opinion, a merger will benefit both of us. Maybe one day in the future, we will reach an agreement."

LinkedIn is a large company and a publicly traded company with a market cap of nearly $100 billion.

Even if such a large company were to merge, it would be impossible to complete it before Ziweixing International’s IPO.

We still need to take a long-term approach.

Zhou Buqi planned to go back and discuss it with the company's executives.

One thing is certain.

LinkedIn is a great company to acquire.

It would be a better company if it had not come to China.