Wind Rises 2005

Chapter 574 Blockbuster
  A shopping mall is like a battlefield, with intrigues and intrigues naturally inevitable.

The news of Facebook's acquisition of Twitter has really boosted their popularity, and the website's traffic and registered users have also increased a lot.

Regardless of whether the acquisition can really be completed, at least this wave of marketing is successful.

For Zuckerberg, it is enough to at least temporarily stabilize the decline and not be overtaken by Twitter so quickly.

And his real purpose is not to acquire Twitter.

Because the current situation is very clear, everyone knows that it is impossible for the four major Twitter companies to agree to Facebook's acquisition proposal in such a good situation.

The release of the big star Xiaoza not only strengthened Facebook's reputation, but also temporarily reversed the unfavorable situation.

At least with the completion of Series C financing, Facebook’s announced valuation is far higher than that of Twitter. Twitter’s Series B financing has not even started yet.

This makes the outside world believe that Facebook is much stronger and has enough capital to complete the acquisition of Twitter.

Before Evan Williams' response spread, the situation suddenly shifted to Zuckerberg's side.

This made him very happy and proud of his wise decision.

Since it was impossible to acquire Twitter, Xiaoza naturally turned to Zynga.

So he immediately rushed from Palo Alto to San Francisco to talk secretly with Mark Pincus.

Just as Zuckerberg was secretly dispatched, a closed-door meeting was also taking place in the large conference room of Twitter's corporate headquarters.

All four of Twitter’s Big Four were present, as were all members of Twitter’s board of directors. As CEO, Jack Dorsey is giving a status report to all directors.

"Everyone, thanks to the hard work of all our colleagues, Twitter has achieved amazing growth in the past six months.

Especially in the past three months, the company's revenue has doubled.

In the first quarter of 2008, Twitter had generated more than $5000 million in revenue. Especially in March, the revenue exceeded US$[-] million in a single month.

Among them, other advertising revenue only accounts for 30%, and Twitter's performance in this regard is indeed much worse than Facebook.

Most of the company's revenue is generated by two phenomenal games, "Farmville" and "Plants vs. Zombies," and this figure is still growing.

It is expected that by the end of next month, Twitter will completely turn a profit.

As for the entire operating income in 2008, it is conservatively estimated that it should exceed US$4 million.

If we add a series of plans to be launched in the second half of the year, it may even move towards US$5 million.

As for Facebook, Twitter’s biggest competitor, there is nothing to worry about. We don’t need to pay attention to their previous acquisition announcements.

After all, it is a certainty that Twitter will completely surpass Facebook.

So after careful discussion, we are preparing to launch Series B financing at the end of June. And before that, we will make a big move to build momentum for the next round of financing.

Therefore, I hope that all directors and shareholders can work together to attract more resources for Twitter’s Series B financing..."

Although Jack Dorsey didn't speak fast, his expression was very clear, and there wasn't a word of nonsense.

His narration made all the investors and shareholders present happy and excited.

After hearing such good news, it's too late for everyone to be happy. I really can't wait to see Twitter go to Nasdaq to ring the bell tomorrow.

Especially when they heard Jack Dorsey say that there will be a big move to be launched before the end of June, everyone became even more curious.

"Jack, please stop being so pretentious. What is this big move?" The person who couldn't wait to ask was Twitter's investor in Series A financing, Ron Conway.

The investment share he received in the last round was not large, so he was naturally eager to make another investment in the next round.

Therefore, Ron Conway is very concerned about Twitter's next big move, which will help him decide how much funds should be prepared to follow up.

If the news is hot enough, then the more follow-up investments in the next round, the better. He will not give in at that time. He must strive for the best interests for himself, otherwise it will be difficult for anyone to speak.

Faced with Ron Conway's inquiry, Jack Dorsey did not respond. Instead, he glanced at his partner Biz Stone. After all, the other party was responsible for the plan.

Biz Stone already had a tacit understanding, so he opened the laptop in front of him and started playing the PPT slides.

He demonstrated and explained at the same time.

“Everyone, what I am going to talk about next involves the most core secrets of Twitter. Please keep it secret and never leak it to the outside world.

Even when shouting for Twitter's next round of financing, one cannot leak any information in advance. "

"Hey, we are all veterans, do you still need to explain this? Just tell me quickly!"

Another investor, Navar Ravikant, also urged impatiently. He had exactly the same idea as Ron Conway.

Biz Stone looked around and checked everyone's eyes before continuing:

“Actually, we got in touch with Gang Leader Qiao more than half a year ago.

After multiple rounds of negotiations, we reached a cooperation agreement with Apple to simultaneously release Twitter’s mobile application on their latest generation smartphone, iPhone 3G.

By then, the iPhone 3G will have the Twitter APP installed directly in the phone in advance, eliminating the need for users to bother downloading it.

Therefore, we will be one of the first cooperative developers to have built-in APP for iPhone 3G. As far as I know, Facebook has not obtained this qualification.

Even their APP development plan was delayed due to the strong rise of Twitter.

So this time we will be significantly ahead of Facebook and seize the opportunity on the mobile side.

Apple's iPhone 3G will be officially released on June 6. At their new product launch conference, Twitter will also become one of the very important product demonstrations.

This is definitely great news, so we decided to launch the B-round financing plan as soon as possible after that..."

Biz Stone finally revealed the answer to the mystery, and also demonstrated several pictures of the Twitter mobile application on a PPT, which made the shareholders present even more excited.

"Haha, great, I knew there was a back-up plan!"

"With these two major good news, Twitter can be completely assured of its next round of financing!"

At this time, Gene Sabet, a partner at Spark Capital, and Fred Wilson, a partner at Union Investment, were both so happy that they couldn't help laughing.

After turning losses into profits and becoming a pre-installed app partner for iPhone 3G mobile phones, does Twitter still need to worry about Series B financing?

Throwing these two bombshells will definitely drive Silicon Valley capital into complete madness.

Although Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen was also very excited, he still gossiped out of curiosity: "Biz, Steve Jobs is not easy to deal with. How did you convince him to cooperate?"

"This is all thanks to our beautiful 'Million Girl' Jennifer, she is responsible for all this."

Before Biz Stone could speak, Evan Williams rushed to answer.

So everyone turned their attention to Jennifer again, waiting to see what explanation this beautiful CEO of Gale Capital would give.

Jennifer smoothed her hair, smiled, and responded calmly: "Everything I did was carried out under the instruction of Mr. Marlon, thanks to his foresight.

As for why Apple agreed to cooperate, it is actually very simple, because we made a stock investment commitment to Steve Jobs.

When Twitter launches Series B financing, Apple will give priority to allocating an investment quota of US$2 million.

I think no one will refuse this condition, hehehe..."

Seeing that all the investors present had their eyes widened and were speechless in shock, she was extremely proud and once again admired her boss Ma Liang's wisdom and prowess.

(End of this chapter)