Giant of the times

At present, "World of Warcraft" has achieved success in China, and Ma Huateng is getting closer and closer to the position of president of Tencent Technology (China) Company.

China has a population of 1.3 billion, while the United States has only 300 million. The total population of Europe is 700 million, and the combined population of Europe and the United States is only 1 billion.

With the recovery and development of China's economy, the Chinese market is even more important than the US market.

Tmall's "Double 11" single-day transaction volume exceeded 168.2 billion yuan, but Amazon's website is absolutely unable to do so. During the Prime Shopping Festival held by Amazon, the highest sales day was only "2 billion U.S. dollars," converted into RMB. It’s only over 10 billion yuan. There is a huge difference between the two!

In addition, China is the core hub of Asia's economy, culture, and politics, and it is easier for Chinese companies to gain a foothold in Asian countries.

As we all know, Asia has a large population, of which 7 countries have a population of over 100 million: China with over 1.3 billion, India with over 1.1 billion, Indonesia with over 250 million, Pakistan with over 180 million, Bangladesh with over 150 million, and Japan and the Philippines both with over 100 million. Get ahead. Although the population of some other countries does not exceed 100 million, they still have a very large population. For example, Vietnam has a population of 90 million.

The Asian market is so huge!

On July 30, Ma Huateng received a personnel appointment letter.

He opened it and almost screamed with excitement.

“I want to be the CEO of Tencent Technology (China)!!!”

"Congratulations, Mr. Ma!"

"Congratulations, Mr. Ma!"

Tencent Technology (China) executives expressed their congratulations one after another.

Li Zetian and Li Youran also sent emails to congratulate him.

The next day, when the news came out, all major Chinese media outlets sent reporters to interview Ma Huateng. Ma Huateng was so proud of his spring breeze that his horse's hooves were so bad that he was full of energy, as if he had a second spring!

…

On the morning of July 20, Chen Tianqiao announced that Shanda Group had launched its corporate listing process and chose to list and raise funds on NASDAQ in the United States. In fact, Shanda Group has long wanted to go public and has been preparing for it for a long time. The relevant application documents prepared by sponsors and other intermediaries have already been sent to the US Securities Regulatory Commission for review.

Judging from the current profitability of Shanda Group, there should be no problem in passing the review. It is expected that Shanda Group will be listed on Nasdaq in a few months.

As soon as the news that Shanda Group was preparing to go public came out, the Chinese gaming industry was shocked, and other gaming companies were also thinking about going public to raise funds.

Li Zetian was not surprised after hearing the news.

If Shanda Group is listed, it will be listed. China's Internet landscape has been formed, and Shanda Group will not be able to make any big waves in the end.

In addition, Shanda Group is almost a family-owned enterprise, and many of the company's top executives are relatives of Chen Tianqiao. It is conceivable that such a family business can develop? The Shanda Group in the previous life has disappeared from the public!

In early October 2004, Shanda Group was successfully listed on Nasdaq and raised US$180 million!

Of course you have to spend it if you have money.

Shanda Group’s first step is to take control of upstream content provider Actoz Co., Ltd. Shanda Group invested a total of US$106 million in cash premium to purchase 38% of the shares held by Actoz's major shareholders and control Actoz. Because the copyright of "Legend" is jointly owned by Actoz and its joint stock company WEMADE.

This massive merger and acquisition caused a sensation in China and South Korea.

However, the news reached Li Zetian's ears, and Li Zetian smiled.

Selena asked doubtfully: "Mr. Li, Shanda Group has acquired Actoz, aren't you worried?"

Li Zetian curled his lips and sneered: "What's there to worry about? Shanda Group spent huge sums of money to control Actoz, which is definitely a big failure!"

"A failure?"

"That's right, it's a failure!"

There was an obvious look of ridicule on Li Zetian's face. He knew very well why Shanda Group wanted to acquire Actoz. Its original intention was to solve the copyright problem, but it was too short-sighted. The assets purchased by Shanda Group actually have no strategic significance!

In the venture capital world, venture capitalists have an iron rule of investment: "The essence of buying a high-tech company is to buy the hearts and minds of the core entrepreneurial team!"

Shanda Group controls Actoz, but WEDADE, Actoz's joint-stock company, is the real controller of game R\u0026D capabilities. WEDADE founder Park Hao and his team, who have a technical R\u0026D background, are Shanda's assets that should be acquired and have the most strategic significance. On the contrary, Actoz, which cannot produce successful new products, only has the copyright of "Legend", and Actoz technology developers, who are described as "geniuses" by a senior executive of Shanda, are not strategic and most valuable companies that Shanda Group should acquire. asset.

Without the core team that masters technology research and development capabilities, the controlling shares of high-tech companies have no meaning at all.

Li Zetian told Selina his opinion, and Selina suddenly understood.

However, Shanda Group is still complacent.

After Shanda Group acquired Actoz, Chen Tianqiao's confidence greatly increased and he was ready to implement the "big plan" he had always had in mind. However, before this "big plan" could be implemented, he had to acquire Sina!

Acquiring Sina Company will cost money, Chen Tianqiao thought, where will the money come from?

Soon, Chen Tianqiao thought of a way: issue bonds!

Chen Tianqiao contacted Goldman Sachs, and Shanda Group issued bonds with the help of Goldman Sachs. Unexpectedly, in just one week, Shanda Group successfully raised US$200 million in funds, which once again made Chen Tianqiao full of confidence!

On December 4, Chen Tianqiao suddenly announced that Shanda Group spent a huge amount of US$230 million to purchase 19.5% of Sina's equity in the secondary market.

As soon as this news came out, it could be said that one stone caused thousands of waves! !

This not only caused waves in Nasdaq, but also shocked China's Internet industry. Major domestic websites and media published the news of "Shanda's acquisition of 19.5% of Sina's equity". Netizens started talking about it after seeing the news. .

"Since Shanda Group went public, it has become more powerful. It has acquired many companies one after another. This time, even Sina was not spared!"

"Damn it, Shanda Group is almost responsible for all the news in the second half of the year!"

"..."

At this time, a question that attracted everyone's attention was, why did Shanda want to acquire Sina?

People in the industry were unwilling to be left alone and expressed their opinions one after another.

Fang Dongxing, a senior commentator on the Internet in China, believes: "The acquisition of Sina by Shanda Group is a 'match made in heaven'! The two Internet companies, Sina and Shanda, have complementary advantages. It can be said to be a pair made in heaven and a pair made in earth." Sina is the recipient of The eye-catching global Chinese information platform has a great influence in China, and Shanda Group's profitability is also ranked high in China. Combining with each other is a game where 1+1 is far greater than 2. For each other's core competitiveness, both will be A huge improvement!”

Another critic, Mei Yongkang, said: "Chen Tianqiao's dream is to build a cross-media Disney-style entertainment empire, so he needs a portal, because the portal is the first gathering place for Internet influence. Now the two companies are alone The combined market value of the two companies is more than 3 billion US dollars. If merged, a world-class Internet giant of 5 billion US dollars, or even 10 billion US dollars will soon be born!"

On December 5, Chen Tianqiao said in an interview with reporters: "Actually... I just want to make a box!"

When the reporters heard this, they were all shocked, "Shanda Group acquired Sina just for a box? Damn it, what is going on?"

Everyone was puzzled and asked quickly.

Chen Tianqiao smiled lightly and said unhurriedly: "Shanda Group plans to develop a strategic product. I call this plan the 'Shanda Box Plan'.

Shanda will move users' entertainment center from PC to TV. We will solve these technical problems by providing 'boxes'. At the same time, the content provided on TV is not limited to online games, but also includes news, stocks, movies, Novels and more!

As we all know, every household now has a TV. In the future, as long as users purchase a Shanda box, they can watch TV, play games and surf the Internet in the living room. What you can do on your computer, you can do on your TV! You think, is this cool? "

When the reporters heard this, they were stunned.

On that day, news of the Shanda Box Project spread throughout the Internet. It was really more sensational than dropping an atomic bomb on a calm lake!

Some netizens commented: "Shanda Group is going to fly to the sky, so awesome!"

"The box plan is really admirable, it is definitely a first-class strategy!!!"

“Shanda Box is invincible and I’m very much looking forward to it!”

"..."

The industry, media, and even the financial world were shocked by Chen Tianqiao's box plan.

However, many people still question this plan, thinking that it is completely against the trend and is destined to fail!

In fact, not only do outsiders question it, there are also many people within Shanda Group who question it and even openly oppose it. But Chen Tianqiao insisted on going his own way and threatened to leave anyone who didn't do it.

Chen Tianqiao firmly believes that the Shanda Box plan will be successful. Shanda will use the box as the fulcrum to build online Disney. The acquisition of Sina shares is actually only part of the "family entertainment strategy" he has formulated since 2003. This strategy takes Shanda Box as the core. Involving nine aspects: personal computers, television, mobile phones, movies, music, games, advertising, prepaid and e-commerce.

I have to say that if Shanda Box is successful, Shanda Group will really become awesome!

In previous generations, Xiaomi network boxes, Huawei network boxes, Youku network boxes, etc. abounded. They were very popular and have gradually replaced traditional set-top boxes, saving users nearly a thousand yuan in TV bills every year.

The Xiaomi Internet Box is basically the same as the Shanda Box proposed by Chen Tianqiao!

Li Zetian was startled and murmured: "Shanda Group is following the old path of its previous life, but... the product is too advanced and it is easy to die. Shopping malls are like battlefields, one step ahead is a pioneer, two steps ahead is a martyr. The current Chinese Internet, network coverage The rate and network speed are not enough. In addition, Shanda Group itself is not strong enough and the resources it can use are limited, so it is difficult to support the development of Shanda Box! If I were to do it, maybe there is a possibility of success..."

However, Li Zetian obviously doesn’t want to develop the box yet. It's only 2004 now, which is really too early. In the previous life, it was 2016, when Internet TV boxes became popular.

"Haha, then watch it raise tall buildings, watch it entertain guests, watch it collapse!" Li Zetian walked to the window, looked outside, and chuckled.

PS: I'm not in good condition today, so I just coded two chapters. I'll look for opportunities to explode in the future. Please subscribe.