Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2983: Stop LinkedIn from Coming to China

The working pace in the United States is quite different from that in China.

In the United States, December is the end of the year and is often the busiest period, with many year-end summaries and annual settlements to be done. In January, the new year begins and life becomes a little more relaxed. Therefore, many people will take advantage of the New Year's Day to take a long vacation or annual leave, and travel to tropical areas for vacation.

It’s different in China.

December is not the end of the year.

January is the end of the year.

Most domestic companies use the Lunar New Year as the year beginning. After the busy year end, everyone takes a long Spring Festival holiday.

Zhou Buqi wanted to invite Reid Hoffman to meet and discuss the merger of the two companies. Unexpectedly, Hoffman had already gone to New Zealand for vacation with his family and was already in the southern hemisphere.

Then we can only communicate on the phone.

Hoffman suggested a video call using Apple's FaceTime.

Zhou Buqi was in his office, and the fat man Hoffman seemed to be by the swimming pool, with a holiday villa and white clouds and blue sky as the background. He was wearing big sunglasses and looked very comfortable and relaxed, and seemed very casual.

This is also the habit of people in Silicon Valley.

Excessive freedom always leads to a bit of indulgence and laxity.

Zhou Buqi said: "Reed, I have decided to accept your suggestion! As you said, after my evaluation, I think the merger of the two companies is the best solution for both of us."

"Ah?" Hoffman was surprised. He took off his sunglasses and sat up from lying on his back. "So fast?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Quick decision-making and decisive execution are my winning magic weapons in business."

Hoffman took a deep breath and said, "This is too fast!"

Zhou Buqi asked, "Why, is there a problem on your side?"

Hoffman was a little embarrassed and explained, "The merger of the two companies is just my personal idea. I haven't communicated with the board of directors and management yet. I thought I would discuss it with the company after I returned from vacation, but I didn't expect you to respond so quickly."

Zhou Buqi was sitting in the office, video chatting with him using a Mac.

The camera on the Mac is terrible.

It is not as clear as the other party’s iPhone, and the pictures taken look like mosaics.

Zhou Buqi said, "Then you must make a decision as soon as possible. I am already preparing to set up a team to be responsible for this case. I don't like to procrastinate when doing things. Things that I approve of are usually executed as quickly as possible."

"It's launched right away?" Hoffman was very surprised. "Isn't it going to be listed?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It doesn't affect us. Our initial plan is to complete the IPO in late May or early June. There are still a few months left, and it may be difficult to complete the acquisition of LinkedIn. It's too hasty. My plan is to wait until July or August, when the listing process is complete and the stock price is stable, and then both parties will complete the transaction."

LinkedIn is now valued at over $100 billion.

Including the acquisition premium of the potential company, the total cost of the acquisition may exceed 120 billion US dollars. Such a large transaction cannot be a cash transaction, it must be exchanged by Ziweixing International issuing a part of its shares.

It will be listed in early June, and the stock price will be very stable after one or two months.

Now you can officially promote the transaction.

You have to act fast.

Zhou Buqi didn't want to delay.

Microsoft cannot be given a chance to breathe.

In fact, as early as 2011, Microsoft intended to invest $5 million to acquire LinkedIn and almost succeeded.

Later, Reid Hoffman and his team evaluated and thought that it would be too much of a loss to sell the company now, and they should go the route of going public. Then, they gave up the plan to sell and chose to continue financing. In this round of financing, Zhou Buqi also successfully participated in the entry and obtained less than 2% of the shares.

Later, LinkedIn went public smoothly.

Microsoft has long been interested in LinkedIn.

If Microsoft is allowed to recover from the change of CEO and Nadella has time to recover, there is a great possibility that he will rush in to join the competition, which would be troublesome.

"If that's the case..." Hoffman took a deep breath. "Well, I think this idea is feasible. But you have to show up. You must attend LinkedIn's board meeting next month."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, I will be there to explain my acquisition plan to the directors."

Hoffman said, "We can discuss the acquisition plan slowly, but there is a very difficult matter that you need to step forward quickly." "What is it?"

"Last time I asked you, do you agree to let LinkedIn expand the market in your country?"

"I don't agree!" Zhou Buqi responded without hesitation, "Let alone you, even I would be very cautious when developing our country's market. Look at my Ucgram, Snapchat, Yahoo, and products like Spotify and Pinterest. They are developing so well, but they all avoid that market. This is a road that is doomed to fail. Don't try it."

Hoffman said: "I don't agree with this plan either, but the board of directors and management have reached a consensus that we should focus on overseas strategy. In overseas strategy, the most important thing now is to open up the Chinese market."

“It’s right to enter overseas markets, but you must avoid the Chinese market.”

Zhou Buqi had already seen it.

Hoffman was defeated in the board of directors, and he had no other choice but to seek help from Boss Zhou. After all, he was the founder of the company, but he lost his voice, which was a bit hurtful to his self-esteem.

If we get Boss Zhou involved, there's a good chance we can turn defeat into victory!

Hoffman sighed and said, "I have lost some control over LinkedIn's board of directors, and your agent, Ms. Jenny, always abstains from voting. If you can step forward, I believe that with your prestige and influence, we can definitely turn the situation around together. Once I regain control of the board of directors, it will be easy to promote the merger plan between LinkedIn and Ziweixing International."

"Hmm?" Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, feeling a sense of crisis. "Reed, you are not looking for an excuse, but just want me to help you regain the support of the board of directors, right?"

"No! How could that be?" Hoffman smiled and said frankly, "In fact, I was worried a few years ago that LinkedIn's business scope was too narrow. It was only engaged in business social networking and would be easily defeated by social giants such as Facebook and Ziweixing International. I had such a plan a long time ago. If LinkedIn wants to survive in the long run, its own strength alone is not enough. This is an era where giants dominate. LinkedIn does not have the potential to become a super giant, so it must be merged into a super giant. This is the only way out."

Zhou Buqi said, "I agree. LinkedIn is still too small. If industry giants rush into the business social networking market, LinkedIn will probably be doomed. To be honest, when we were discussing internally, many executives opposed the acquisition. Two executives even signed a military order, saying that if they were given $10 billion, they would make a better business social networking product than LinkedIn. But I have already contacted you, and I will not say one thing in front of you and another behind your back. If Ziweixing International wants to do business social networking, acquiring LinkedIn will be its first choice."

Hoffman said: "I will do my best and use all my abilities to promote the merger of LinkedIn and Ziweixing International. But first, you have to attend the board meeting. You must come!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I will go, and you have to prepare quickly."

He would cooperate with Hoffman's actions no matter what.

This has to do with his personal interests.

If LinkedIn comes to China to develop, it will eventually fail, even if Zhou Buqi is in charge.

There is no such market for business social networking in China, not only because of the different social atmosphere, but also because of policy restrictions.

The users of business social networking are mainly working people. The reason why these people can fight and stand out from the 14 billion people and become white-collar workers, elites, and quasi-elites in the society is because they are educated, capable, thoughtful, experienced, and independent-minded.

This makes it difficult for official public opinion guidance to influence them. Unlike most social media platforms, a little guidance will not form a broad "public opinion" and a popular public opinion trend, which will be successful no matter who is praised or criticized.

The user base of business social platforms does not have such characteristics.

They have their own understanding of society and life experience. They do not live on the Internet or in TV dramas, but in the real workplace and business world. They are not easily fooled and have their own judgment, which leads them to often express opinions that differ from mainstream views.

This is a bit taboo.

If LinkedIn comes to China, the end result will be the same as Google.

Not to mention social platforms, even gaming platforms are the same.

Zhou Buqi refused to open a Chinese server for Steam, a gaming platform owned by Ziweixing International, and could only open a Hong Kong server at most. This is because Steam also has social functions, and there are many foreign players here, so you can communicate with foreigners here.

This is again a taboo, as it creates an uncontrollable dialogue space that will cause many patriotic young people to be corrupted by external ideas.

Therefore, it is difficult for such platforms to survive in the country.

To be isolated.

Steam has launched a Chinese server, but it is bound to be cleared out.

Instead of quitting in the future and having to pay a large amount of liquidated damages to employees, canceling the lease, subscription, and internet... and spending a lot of money to quit, it is better to make a decision early and not come.

Ziweixing International acquired LinkedIn, and if LinkedIn withdraws in the future, it will be Ziweixing’s own money that will be wasted.

In the short term, it also makes sense.

Zhou Buqi knew that LinkedIn's decision to come to China was a mistake, but Wall Street investors didn't know that and might even be excited. They heard that LinkedIn was expanding into the mainland market... With more than a billion potential users, they might be extremely optimistic about LinkedIn's future, which would lead to a sharp rise in LinkedIn's stock price.

Once LinkedIn's stock price rises sharply, Ziweixing International will have to spend more money to acquire LinkedIn.

So it must be stopped.

Preventing LinkedIn from coming to China can reduce Ziweixing International's acquisition costs for LinkedIn in the short term. In the long term, it can also save a lot of expenses that will inevitably lead to future troubles and withdrawal.