Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3094 Old Comfort

This is a big issue. After WeChat took the lead in the competition and gradually approached a monopoly, it has been constantly debated in China.

After all, this is the consistent strategy of the Internet.

They start by expanding the market with free services and killing their competitors. When most of their competitors are dead and they have completed their control of the market, they start charging and making money. Just like Youku, iQiyi, QQ Music, and Weidian Music. Even Taobao has launched a membership service that requires payment.

Will the same happen with WeChat?

The public is not clear about the underlying logic of free and paid, so it is not surprising that there are such misunderstandings.

After Boss Zhou raised this question, although Zhao Limuge and Zhang Zetian were the smartest among the new secretaries and the ones with the most hope, they were unable to react for a while.

Zhou Buqi waved his hand, "Okay, you two, think about it carefully, and tell me when you've made up your mind! I have something else to do!"

He is going to meet Yang Zhiyuan.

At this board meeting, Yang Zhiyuan resigned from his position as director.

This is actually not a glorious thing.

Zhou Buqi wanted to talk to him alone, at least to prevent him from speaking nonsense outside and saying things that would be detrimental to the unity of the company just because he left the board of directors of Ziweixing International.

At this time, Yang Zhiyuan was in the office of Yahoo CEO Thompson.

The mood is not too high.

After Zhou Buqi came over, he extended both hands to shake hands with him, somewhat apologetically, and said in a feigned cheerful tone: "Old Yang, Yahoo's development has been very encouraging recently! The brand value of Yahoo has at least tripled in the past two years!"

Although Yang Zhiyuan was unhappy, he would not quarrel with him and forced a smile. "Indeed, we all saw it. It was you who brought Yahoo back to life. This is a fact we all know."

"The United States is a sports powerhouse. Next, Yahoo will focus on promoting Yahoo Sports." Zhou Buqi pulled him to sit on the sofa. The two spoke in Chinese. "The biggest brand in the United States now is Google. Google Chrome, Google Mail, Google Drive, Google Docs, etc. are all very popular. Yahoo can be said to be ranked second. Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Entertainment, etc. are amazing!"

Yang Zhiyuan said: "The Ever brand is doing very well, especially the EverDrive cloud storage business, which is really an incredible achievement. Kurian's ability to build this brand is enough to prove that he is capable of leading this company."

"Yes." Zhou Buqi nodded, then sighed, "Old Yang, Ziweixing International can't do without you!"

"Ok?"

Yang Zhiyuan looked at him suspiciously.

  What does this mean?

You can't live without me, so you kick me out of the board of directors?

He doesn't want to leave at all!

The reason why he resigned was because he saw the signs that the boss Zhou next to him didn't want to see him on the board of directors. This made him unwilling to accept the humiliation and he chose to resign voluntarily.

Zhou Buqi hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Old Yang, the situation is very complicated now, and you should have sensed it. We need a more diverse structure on our board of directors. We have too many Asian faces, which is not conducive to the company's roots and long-term development in the United States."

"So Tang Binchen and Xu Liangjie both withdrew?"

Yang Zhiyuan basically guessed that this would be the result.

Zhou Buqi said with a sigh: "Things are different now. For many things, we can only look forward. However, if the situation improves in the future, I might invite you back to serve as a director again!"

"Forget it!"

After this experience, Yang Zhiyuan was somewhat disheartened.

He is not short of money either.

After this time, I plan to return to the fields and live a low-key retirement life.

Zhou Buqi said frankly: "Yahoo is a vital business in Ziweixing International!"

Yang Zhiyuan said confidently: "Social business, cloud computing business, and Yahoo, these will be the three most profitable businesses of Ziweixing International in the next ten years."

"But it's more than that."

Zhou Buqi could also see his decadence and felt somewhat reluctant.

"Hmm?" Yang Zhiyuan glanced at him, "What else?"

Zhou Buqi said: "In the next three or four years, I have three big plans."

"Is it convenient to talk about it?"

Yang Zhiyuan was very curious.

His wealth was previously in Yahoo shares. After selling Yahoo to Ziweixing International, all of it was converted into Ziweixing International shares. He was a director of the company before, so it was naturally inconvenient for him to cash out on a large scale. Now that he has resigned, there is no such restriction. If expectations are not met, he is likely to cash out on a large scale. Zhou Buqi does not want him to cash out on a large scale.

This will have a very negative impact on the market.

Thompson had left, leaving the office space to the two of them.

Zhou Buqi said bluntly: "First, I plan to give up the position of CEO."

"Is it Kurian?"

Yang Zhiyuan nodded. This was almost an open secret. Not only within the company, but also outside the company, there were many speculations. Since it was reported that Kurian would replace Tang Binchen as the company's executive director, many financial media had launched a wide range of discussions.

Zhou Buqi said, "You also said that his work performance is outstanding. There is also the threat from Microsoft. Microsoft's Nadella is deliberately targeting him. I need to promote Kurian's position so that he can face the challenge head-on."

Yang Zhiyuan smiled and said, "It's a good strategy. You stand behind the scenes and let Kurian stand in the front. This strategy is better than Lu Qi or Tang Binchen standing in the front."

Zhou Buqi went on to say: "The second thing is that I will reuse Yahoo's brand assets."

"Hmm?" Yang Zhiyuan found it hard to guess what he was thinking. "How to reuse him?"

Zhou Buqi hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the truth, "In the next few years, the company may change its name."

"Change your name?"

Yang Zhiyuan was shocked.

Zhou Buqi said: "It may be changed from 'Purple Star International' to 'Yahoo'."

Yang Zhiyuan took a deep breath and found it hard to understand, "Why is it like this? If this is the case, we should have done this two years ago! I made similar suggestions at that time!"

The company name "Ziweixing International" is really a bit out of place.

Especially now that Ziweixing and Ziweixing International are both listed on NASDAQ, the overly similar names have caused many investors to buy the wrong stocks, which has caused great inconvenience to the market.

In fact, when the two companies were trading two years ago, Yang Zhiyuan had raised this kind of question. He even proposed a reverse merger, in which Yahoo would acquire Ziweixing International, so that the name of the new company could be "Yahoo".

This is very complicated.

Because Yahoo was in danger at the time and was about to be eliminated by the market.

Zhou Buqi was not sure whether he could save Yahoo.

If he fails to be saved, wouldn’t that mean leading Ziweixing International into a muddy abyss?

In addition, Zhou Buqi could not tolerate Yahoo's acquisition of him. He was the leader of the acquisition and he had to hold the power. Now Ziweixing International has completed the internal integration and rectification of Yahoo, and the transformation has been a great success. The assets of "Yahoo" are firmly in its hands.

The left hand is "Purple Star International" and the right hand is "Yahoo", so naturally there is no closeness or distance between them, and any name can be used.

There is a more important reason.

That is, Ziweixing International was spun off from Ziweixing. To spin off a company rooted in the United States from Ziweixing, domestic approval is required, so Ziweixing also retains a 30% controlling stake in Ziweixing International.

This requires great caution.

If you sell Ziweixing International directly to Yahoo, it will easily cause controversy. Some old people will think that you, Comrade Zhou, are playing tricks on asset transfer and doing something fishy through capital operations.

It's different now.

Ziweixing International has already taken firm roots and has grown strong wings.

It is normal for a company to change its name, and it has nothing to do with capital operations.

However, Zhou Buqi was not in a position to say these words, so he waved his hand and said, "Anyway, this is just an intention. Whether it will be implemented or not is still uncertain."

Yang Zhiyuan was very excited, "We must do it! 'Yahoo' is the real more recognized brand! To be frank, 'Ziweixing International' has no brand at all in the European and American markets. Such a name lacks symbolic value of existence, and even has negative value."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "You seem to be looking forward to it?"

"Of course!"

Yang Zhiyuan had been disheartened, but now he was encouraged again. Yahoo was the company he founded. If Ziweixing International was really renamed Yahoo, he would have gone a long way and returned to the center of the Internet stage.

Even if it is only a symbolic lack of real power, it is enough to comfort the old man.

(End of this chapter)