Reborn: Billionaire in College

While waiting for Chen Pingjiang, Tian Hongrui took the four people around the company.

Of course, he was a little curious. He wondered what kind of magic these four people had that could attract Chen Pingjiang to rush back in the shortest time possible despite the hundreds of kilometers away.

Since Chen Pingjiang attaches so much importance to it, there is no reason for Tian Hongrui to neglect it.

"This is our Dungeon Fighter operation department. Upstairs is League of Legends. You can look around. I'll let Xiao Li take you." Tian Hongrui said, "Director Chen will probably be back in three hours. I'll take you to see him then."

Cai Haoyu and the others were somewhat flattered. They did not expect Chen Pingjiang to be so approachable. He actually chose to rush back immediately for the four of them. They could not help but feel a little excited.

The beauty named Xiao Li is also very good. If I have to describe her, I can say she has a baby face and big breasts.

This is really a blow to the miHoYo quartet.

However, these four are all technology geeks, and facing such a beauty, they are a little uncomfortable for a moment.

"This is our staff restaurant. I'll take you here for dinner later."

"This entire floor is our activity area, with a gym, board games, lounge, massage chair room, chess and card room, and downstairs is our indoor basketball court."

"This floor is our employee supermarket and water bar. We usually rest and have afternoon tea here."

"The 14th floor is the company's internal library and internet cafe. The books here are free for everyone to read. When you're tired after get off work, you can come here to play games together. Normally, this place is very popular."

"..."

Under Xiao Li's leadership, several people were dazzled.

Oh my god, is this the style of a big Internet company?
This doesn't look like a workplace at all. If I had a simple cot, I wouldn't have to leave the building for a month.

Whatever you want, we have it!

In comparison, several people can only stay in Dawei's dormitory now.

Jin Zhicheng sighed repeatedly: "It's a real pleasure to work here."

Cai Haoyu nodded, his eyes full of envy: "If our studio can grow in the future, we must also build a headquarters like this."

At noon, inside the restaurant of Renren Group, several people were eating with their mouths full of oil.

If I have to say, the cafeteria at Jiaotong University is not bad, but it is far from as rich in variety as the cafeteria at Renren.com, which has all kinds of cuisines and flavors.

After dinner, a few people were just about to find a place to take a nap when they saw Xiao Li receive a call from Tian Hongrui, who said to them, "Boss Chen is back. I will take you to meet Boss Tian now."

"It's finally here." Several people breathed a sigh of relief and looked forward to the upcoming meeting.

When a few people followed Tian Hongrui and took the elevator to the 26th floor, they found that this place was different from other floors.

If other office floors are bustling with activity, the 26th floor is particularly quiet.

The modern style decoration looks business-like.

Tian Hongrui introduced with a smile: "This floor is Mr. Chen's exclusive space. In addition to his office, only his secretary and assistant work here. There is a conference room, which is also the largest conference room in the group. It is used to hold the highest-level board meetings and senior management meetings. The rest of the area is Mr. Chen's tea room, gym and other places."

Several people looked at her with confused eyes as if she was Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, and were extremely envious.

After pushing open the heavy door, Cai Haoyu and his three companions finally saw the legendary Chen Pingjiang.

Chen Pingjiang smiled at the still somewhat immature four-member team of MiHoYo and waved, "Don't stand, find a place to sit, don't be restrained."

The God of Wealth has arrived, so shouldn’t we serve him better?
After everyone introduced themselves, Chen Pingjiang turned his attention to the less important Jin Zhicheng.

Jin Zhicheng looked at Chen Pingjiang smiling at him, and smiled awkwardly without knowing why.

What a pity, Chen Pingjiang thought.

When talking about miHoYo in the past, apart from Cai Haoyu’s name, the next one that we heard most was Jin Zhicheng.

He left the team in March 2012 because he got an offer from Cisco. When he left miHoYo, he transferred 3% of the shares to Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao at a price of 1. Later, some people estimated that if the market value of miHoYo was 3 billion, then 13% would be about 2000 billion. Many people said that he had lost a lot.

This is not just a huge loss, it's a huge loss.

Although miHoYo received investment from Sky Network, it still did not have a smooth journey. On one hand, there was the uncertain future of the entrepreneurial dream, and on the other hand, there was the temptation of international companies. No matter which side you choose, it seems difficult.

When talking about miHoYo, we have to mention Sky Network.

Liu Wei participated in the entrepreneurship competition in his junior year and won the third place. After receiving an interest-free loan and free office space, he also met Song Tao, the boss of Sky Network.

宋涛用100万置换米哈游15%的股权。如果按米哈游2000亿的估值，15%，就是300亿。

What is this concept?
你把这笔钱拿去存1年银行定期，2%利率，300亿*2%/365，每天167万利息进账。

Later, according to the recollections of several founders, this angel investment was their only external investment.

As for Sky Network, perhaps many people have not heard of it, but it was somewhat famous in those days, and it was engaged in content distribution in the mobile application market. It was listed on NASDAQ in 2010 and was known as the first stock of China's mobile Internet.

But in Chen Pingjiang's eyes, they are all little Karami.

Chen Pingjiang was a little troubled for a moment.

It is a good time to invest in miHoYo now, because Sky Network has not yet entered the market, so Chen Pingjiang can get a bargain for free. But unfortunately, Jin Zhicheng is also not out.

Among them, Liu Wei, who frequently participated in entrepreneurial competitions, was the main speaker, and Cai Haoyu served as the assistant.

After sitting down, he took out a bunch of award certificates and plans.

"Mr. Chen, we are MiHoYo Game Studio. We mainly produce mobile games. We have developed [Flash-based plug-in online game platform], the game "Posuo Story", the Misato game engine, "Bubble Heroes" and the recently launched "Fly Me 2 The Moon". We have won the gold medal of the Second Technology Innovation Competition of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as..."

Liu Wei wanted to continue speaking, but was interrupted by Chen Pingjiang with a smile.

"There's no need to treat me like one of those venture capital firms or investors you've met before. Let's just treat it as a meeting between friends, talking about life, ideals, and the future, and also talking about your plans."

Liu Wei was suddenly confused by Chen Pingjiang's unexpected attitude.

Why doesn't this person play by the rules?

"Why do you want to make mobile games?" Chen Pingjiang asked a question.

Cai Haoyu thought for a moment and said, "It is obvious that mobile data traffic will exceed PC traffic in the future. Last year, the Orange S1 and iPhone 4 were released one after another, and your company's WeChat and Weibo were also born one after another, as well as Zhihu and Toutiao. The world is undergoing earth-shaking changes, so we decided to go all in on the mobile Internet game track."

Chen Pingjiang nodded with emotion.

To some extent, miHoYo’s success is not accidental, or even more boldly speaking, it is inevitable.

These four people held the same beliefs, the same interests and hobbies, and after experiencing many setbacks, they finally achieved success.

MiHoYo Studio was founded in 2009, and until the release of Honkai Impact 2016 in 3, it had a revenue of 11 billion in one year, which can only be considered a small-scale success.

"Genshin Impact" was launched in 2020, which allowed miHoYo to rank among the advanced game companies.

Before that, they had experienced one big gamble after another.

Honkai Impact 1st was a complete disaster. It was a one-time purchase game and the price was only 6 yuan.

Honkai Impact 2rd did make 1 million, but the majority of the revenue was used to develop Honkai Impact 3rd.

Honkai Impact 3rd earned 11 billion, and then 7 million was taken away to develop Genshin Impact.

Every time you try, you are fighting for survival at the limit. If you fail once, you lose everything.

The second question Chen Mingjiang asked at this time was: "Why did you come to me?"

Liu Wei said: "It's mainly a funding issue, but funding is not the only issue. It's nice to be under a big tree. What we lack now is mainly channels and promotion. This is our weakness. It's very likely that we can make the game, but it won't sell because there is no channel to promote it."

Chen Pingjiang smiled and asked, "How much money do you need?"

Several people looked at each other and hesitated for a while. Finally, Cai Haoyu held up a finger and said, "One million is enough." Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Tian Hongrui and Chen Pingjiang looked at each other and laughed.

In the end, it was Tian Hongrui who explained: "One million is too little, right? What if a game is not done well? What should we do then? Raise funds again?"

"Mr. Chen, I think 100 million is enough for us for now. Maybe we can make the next game?" Cai Haoyu said.

Chen Mingjiang nodded, thinking that you guys could make a ghost that looks just like the one in Honkai Impact 1...

However, Chen Pingjiang did not persuade him because there was no need.

These people are young and stubborn. They definitely want to make games according to their own ideas. They can only grow by experiencing failure, and Chen Pingjiang is not going to force them to grow.

On the other hand, if you persuade them too much, they will become more conflicted.

These people have a natural obsession with shares. Of course, it may also be because game companies like theirs are not short of money.

"So how much shares do you plan to give me?"

"15%!"

After these words were spoken, several people stared at Chen Pingjiang, trying to observe the micro-expressions on his face.

Unexpectedly, Chen Pingjiang did not hesitate at all: "One million yuan for a 15% stake is no problem, but this is just giving money, not involving resources."

"Uh, why?" Liu Wei was puzzled.

"I'll do the math and you'll see how unreasonable your demands are." Chen Pingjiang said with a smile, "100 million yuan for a 15% stake means your company's overall valuation is 666 million yuan. Can you tell me why your company is worth so much money? You don't have your own patented technology, you don't have a formal office space, you don't have any games to show, and you don't have your own fans or channels. Are you worth 666 million yuan just because of you guys?"

With every word Chen Pingjiang said, the four-member team from miHoYo blushed a little.

Indeed, they thought it was too simple.

Now that Chen Pingjiang has settled the accounts with them, the fig leaf has been torn off.

"But even so, I still agree to your overall valuation of 666 million. However, you still want to use Renren's publicity and Orange Mobile's channels. These resources are the most valuable. Think about it, how much can I sell these things to other companies?"

"You probably don't know, but let me give you a number. One advertisement on Renren.com may cost tens of millions. This doesn't even include the channels of the Orange App Store. In today's society, money is nothing. The key is resources, which are the most valuable things."

"With Renren's publicity and Orange's channels, I can promote any game I want. If that's the case, why should I invest in miHoYo? If all these things are converted into cash, this part may be as high as tens of millions."

Chen Pingjiang made several comments in a row that left everyone stunned.

How could they think of so much?

The reason I dared to come to Renren before was purely because of my confidence in my own and other people's skills and my enthusiasm, but now all these have been ruthlessly exposed.

Several people were silent and lowered their heads. No one knew what they were thinking about. The office was in silence.

You can't push others too much, otherwise the duck in your mouth will fly away.

Chen Pingjiang pondered and said, "Let me give you a choice. First, in order not to damage your entrepreneurial enthusiasm, I will not seek to control the company. The four of you will still be the major shareholders and have absolute control. If you are worried about the subsequent introduction of other external capital or the establishment of an option pool, which will lead to the dilution of shares, then I suggest that you introduce the AB share system. In this way, even if the shares fall below 40%, you can still control the company. Second, I will give you all the resource channels you want. At the same time, our 22nd floor is still vacant and can be given to you for use. You can also go to the Qingshan Lake base of Orange Technology's headquarters, which is more convenient because there are dormitories. Third, I can help you recruit employees in the name of Renren and Orange Technology, whether it is game planning or development, this is definitely better than a little-known small company like you recruiting people yourself."

"I've given you so much. I only ask for 30% of the equity and need to sign a full ratchet clause in the anti-dilution clause. At the same time, I need to agree that if any of you founders want to transfer shares in the future, I have the right of first refusal."

Cai Haoyu and others were somewhat moved by the scenario outlined by Chen Pingjiang.

Having money, a venue, and the ability to help recruit people was very friendly to them. More importantly, Chen Pingjiang did not seek to control the company, but only wanted 30% of the shares.

Without even thinking about it, Cai Haoyu said, "Everything else is fine, but what does this full ratchet clause mean?"

Tian Hongrui smiled and took over the conversation: "I am not from a financial background so I can't explain the details, but basically, this 30% stake will never be diluted."

"Okay, I'm fine."

"Then that's okay with me."

"..."

What are they thinking? They originally thought they might have to pay 40%, but now they don’t expect it to be done with 30%.

The reason why Chen Pingjiang did not ask for 40% was that he did not want to be so drastic as to avoid offending others, as this was only the first round.

Although Chen Pingjiang knew that MiHoYo had only raised one round of financing, Cai Haoyu’s people didn’t know it at the moment.

Moreover, this 30% equity plus the 20% of the future option pool already accounts for 50% of miHoYo’s total share capital, and the founders only have 50% left.

At the same time, if Jin Zhicheng still transfers his 2012% stake in Mihoyo in March 3 as originally planned, Chen Pingjiang will have the right of first refusal.

That’s 41% altogether.

Chen Pingjiang was not worried at all. Would Jin Zhicheng still go to Cisco as originally planned?
Because if there was no Chen Pingjiang's guidance in Honkai Impact 1, the data would not be good.

When the time comes, give some resources, not too much, and it will become an iron servant of Honkai Impact 1.

There is no need for Chen Pingjiang to force things to happen. He should let them figure out how to make a good game step by step. The key is to make a commercial game that is recognized by the market.

After the intention was finalized, Chen Pingjiang called in Renren's legal department to draft the agreement.

The agreement stipulates that of the 30% shares obtained, 28% belong to Chen Pingjiang personally and 2% belong to Renren.

After all, public is public and private is private. Renren has other shareholders. If Renren is not given this 2%, Renren will have to charge for promoting "Genshin Impact" in the future. Chen Pingjiang did this because he did not want his other shareholders to have opinions, and Renren is now a listed company, and its finances must be compliant and transparent.

As for Orange Technology, he has the final say.

After finalizing all this, Chen Pingjiang was in a good mood.

How can I not be in a good mood after picking up hundreds of billions for free?

"Let's go, come with me for dinner tonight." Chen Pingjiang smiled and patted Cai Haoyu's shoulder.

The people are of similar age and there is no generation gap.

Even though Chen Pingjiang is not a 2D boy, he can still call out Hatsune Miku.

During dinner in the evening, Cai Haoyu unexpectedly brought Chen Pingjiang a surprise.

The crowd stopped talking about the two-dimensional EVA and instead turned the topic to brain-computer interfaces, space rockets, and artificial suns.

Chen Pingjiang then remembered that it seemed that in the future, Cai Haoyu resigned as the legal representative and chairman of Mihoyo, handing over the position to Liu Wei, and even withdrew from the board of directors.

Talking about the personnel changes, miHoYo officials responded to the investment community: "In order to adapt to the company's future development needs, miHoYo founder Cai Haoyu will invest more energy in the research and application of cutting-edge technologies, the development of new projects, and the connection of domestic and overseas R&D resources."

Sure enough, in the eyes of otakus, only technology can save the world.

MiHoYo started out as a two-dimensional game company and later developed the globally popular game “Genshin Impact”. With a steady stream of cash flow, MiHoYo began to appear frequently in the VC circle.

Even nuclear fusion has been invested!
With Genshin Impact as a money printing machine and no plans for other projects, I have too much money to spend.

Why not invest?
In the field of cutting-edge technology, even if you replace Chen Pingjiang, he wouldn't dare to play with brain-computer interfaces and nuclear fusion.

Almost no VC dares to touch it.

But in China, there are many people like Cai Haoyu who put aside their daily affairs to pursue the vast ocean of cutting-edge technology.

For example, Zhang Yiming also resigned as CEO of ByteDance. At that time, he mentioned in a letter his interest in emerging technology fields such as virtual reality, life sciences, and scientific computing, and said that to seize this opportunity, innovators need to break through the inertia of the business to explore - he even emotionally talked about devoting himself to it for a period of ten years.

Wang Xing and Wang Huiwen of Meituan also went to work on big AI models - light years away.

Less than a year after Kuaishou went public, Su Hua, the head of Kuaishou, announced his resignation as CEO. He retreated behind the scenes and frequently looked after various projects, including controlled nuclear fusion.

Looking back, the behind-the-scenes transformation of the bigwigs is always full of romance. After achieving financial freedom, they begin to look for technologies that are expected to change the world, support more entrepreneurs through investment, and bet on the future they believe in.

Perhaps this is the poetry and distant future of the new generation of Chinese founders. (End of this chapter)