Chapter 545: Buying Tencent for One Million
Some people die in a blaze of glory, but more people come and go without a trace, dying quietly, like an inconspicuous splash of water in the ocean.
Joe Bert's death did not cause any ripples.
Lu Yiming, who was in Zhonghai, did not realize that one of his so-called competitors had disappeared from this world.
What attracted his attention was the news about another "competitor".
The newspaper reported that Wang Xiujie had been arrested, and the reason for the arrest stated in the news was financial fraud.
In response to this, Lu Yiming smiled slightly.
This is a really good reason, even more effective than any other reason.
Seeing Lu Yiming's malicious smile, Li Yiwen, who was lying in the yard with Lu Yiming in the sun, frowned slightly and asked, "Why are you smiling so voluptuous? Did you report it?"
Lu Yiming sneered and said, "Do you think I have so much free time? He is my right-hand man, how could I possibly report him?"
Of course, Lu Yiming couldn't possibly be distracted to deal with such a small fry, let alone resort to such a despicable method as reporting him.
Even Lu Yiming felt very sorry.
One less person who can talk nonsense.
Li Yiwen lay back down and said, "This guy is also a god. He brags about being the stock god of China Ocean, but his main source of income is teaching classes. Not to mention the sky-high fees, the things he teaches are nonsense, causing many people who paid to attend the class and followed his guidance to speculate in stocks to lose everything. It would be strange if he wasn't reported."
Lu Yiming commented, "To be honest, these people are a bit dishonest. They believed someone who sincerely tried to deceive them. How can they report it? Anyone with a little bit of brains should know that there is no free lunch in the world. If I knew how to make a lot of money, I would have done it myself a long time ago. Why would I open a class or teach a lesson? Whoever believes it is a sucker. You can't blame others for this IQ."
While Lu Yiming was complaining, Li Yiwen suddenly became excited. He held the newspaper in his right hand and clapped his left hand. He said hurriedly, "Just watch. Hey. Jin Mai from Maigu Fund has also been arrested. The charges are suspected of manipulating the stock market, insider trading, and illegal fundraising. If he is sentenced, won't he be sentenced to ten or eight years in prison?"
Then, he looked at Lu Yiming with a serious face: "I remember that Jin Mai also had a problem with you, right? Now two of them are gone, and they are all your enemies. Are you sure you didn't do anything secretly in this?"
Lu Yiming sneered, "If I want to do something, do I need to be sneaky? It's not difficult for me to trample them to death openly. I said, don't offend anyone but gamblers. People who lose money are capable of anything. They are not afraid of jumping off buildings or lying on the railway tracks, so what's the big deal about reporting a few people?"
Li Yiwen said: "That's right."
At this moment, Lu Yiming's cell phone on the coffee table rang. Lu Yiming picked it up and pressed the answer button. He put it to his ear and said happily, "Hello?"
On the other end of the phone, a somewhat low voice said, "Is this Mr. Lu? I'm Ma Teng."
Lu Yiming raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Oh, it turns out to be Brother Xiao Ma. You called me at this time, is there something wrong?"
Ma Teng hesitated for two seconds, sighed, and said, "I'm in Zhonghai, I want to treat you to lunch, do you have time today at noon?"
My goodness, when did Brother Xiao Ma become so humble?
Lu Yiming complained in his heart, and then said: "Okay, tell me when you choose a place."
"Thank you, Mr. Lu."
"You're welcome."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yiming said to Li Yiwen: "Ma Teng came to Zhonghai and said he wanted to treat me to a meal."
When Li Yiwen heard this, he immediately smiled: "It seems like I'm going to have a good meal at noon today."
On the other side, Xiao Ma Ge and Zhang Zhidong had just walked out of Zhonghai Airport and took a bus to the city.
Zhang Zhidong looked at Xiao Ma with a tangled face, and said reluctantly: "Have you decided? Tencent's development is actually quite good now. The number of users is increasing every day. In April, the number of registered users reached 5 million. In May, the number of people online at the same time exceeded 100,000 for the first time. It can be said that the situation is very good."
Ma Teng shook his head, thinking of the days when he dressed in women's clothes to chat with people in order to attract users to register, and said helplessly: "You are right. The only problem is that Penguin is still losing money and gaining publicity. There is no profit model at all."
They had been thinking about making the data look better, and then going to Nasdaq for an IPO, and then they would have everything.
Although it may sound funny to ordinary people, the capital market is actually so magical. For the capital market, this idea is really wonderful, and it was even quite reliable in February. Many American investors are also paying attention to the development of Penguin.
But unfortunately, just when Tencent seemed to be on the right track and was about to be listed on NASDAQ, a cold wave of the Internet came, and it was an extremely deep cold wave.
Now one-third of domestic Internet companies have gone bankrupt, and the rest are struggling. The most painful thing is that no one can see where the way out or hope lies.
With no money and no hope, what’s the point of this?
So Ma Teng backed out.
Zhang Zhidong sighed and said, "Besides selling the company, is there no other way? After all, we have worked so hard to build this up."
Ma Teng said helplessly: "I can't do anything about it. You know the current situation of Tencent. We are burning money every minute and every second, but it's a long way to go to make money."
Zhang Zhidong thought for a moment and said, "How about we talk to Mr. Lu about this while we're having dinner? Let him invest some money?"
Ma Teng said, "I'm embarrassed to ask, how about you go?"
Zhang Zhidong also laughed bitterly: "Alas, I can't bring myself to do this."
Of course, this is just an excuse. Who in the Internet industry has any shame? Those who do have shame would have been killed by their peers long ago. The main reason is that neither of them thinks that Lu Yiming will continue to invest in Tencent. After all, Lu Yiming has invested such a large sum of money in Tencent, and it has only been a short time? There was no splash, and it disappeared directly.
Instead of getting rejected right away, it’s better to have a meal happily first and then talk about other things.
Neither of them is sure where Tencent's future lies.
Even if they continued to burn money, neither of them knew how long it would take or whether they would be able to succeed.
The most important thing is that the two of them don’t even have enough confidence in finding a buyer.
After looking around, Lu Yiming seems to be the richest person, but the key is whether Lu Yiming is willing to take on this hot potato?
Although the Internet cold wave occurred in the United States, in fact, Xiaguo was the place that was most severely affected. After all, there are very few wealthy people in the country who are willing to invest in the Internet, and most of them are foreign capital.
Now that America is already struggling to take care of itself, how could it possibly come to Xia Country to spend money?
Zhang Zhidong asked, "We can't even attract investment. If we sell the company to Mr. Lu, will he be willing to take it?"
Ma Teng was also troubled by this: "Let's give it a try. After all, Mr. Lu is the largest shareholder of Penguin. If we sell our shares at a lower price, he should consider it, right?"
The two entered the city and began looking for a place to treat Lu Yiming to dinner.
Of course, it is impossible to go to a high-end hotel. A meal costs one or two thousand yuan, and they feel painful to eat it now.
Of course, a roadside stall is not an option. After all, Lu Yiming is the richest man, so he has to maintain the most basic appearance.
After much deliberation, the two found a restaurant that looked decent on the surface but whose dishes were not outrageously expensive.
At the hotel entrance, the two met Lu Yiming.
Facing Lu Yiming, both of them were very nervous, feeling as if they had done something wrong.
It was Lu Yiming who spoke first: "Boss Ma, Boss Zhang, long time no see."
"Mr. Lu."
"Mr. Lu, long time no see."
"Mr. Li is here too."
"Please come in, both of you."
The four of them entered the box, and Lu Yiming said with a relaxed look: "Boss Ma, Boss Zhang, how come you have time to come to Zhonghai to play today?"
Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong looked at each other, and Ma Teng mustered up the courage to say, "Boss Lu, let us tell you the truth. We came to Zhonghai just to find you."
"Looking for me?"
Lu Yiming was familiar with the development history of Tencent and knew that it was now on the verge of bankruptcy. Therefore, after a little thought, he basically understood the purpose of the two people coming here today.
His expression was serious and his tone became stiff: "What do you want from me?"
His seriousness immediately frightened Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong, and they dared not even mention Lu Yiming's investment.
Ma Teng said hesitantly: "We want to sell Tencent to you."
After listening to this, Lu Yiming pretended to be very unhappy and said, "I have never asked about Tencent's affairs. Every time you came to ask for money, I didn't say anything. What do you mean now?"
In fact, Lu Yiming was very happy to hear this. Although he now has Miaomiao, he still lacks a national software that dominates the computer desktop. In addition, Tencent QQ has its own halo, so of course he wants to get it.
The initial investment is also paving the way for this matter.
If Tencent could make a breakthrough on its own with that investment, then it would not be a loss to hold so many original shares. Now Tencent has not made a breakthrough on its own and has taken the initiative to ask for acquisition, so the initiative is completely in Lu Yiming's hands.
Ma Teng felt ashamed when asked by Lu Yiming, while Zhang Zhidong quickly explained: "Geely is developing very well now. The number of registered users has exceeded 6 million this month, and the number of online users has reached 150,000. Our user stickiness is very high, and the future prospects are unlimited. Mr. Lu, you won't lose money if you buy it."
The two had thought it through very clearly before they came. Given Penguin's current business situation, they didn't know if they could survive until the New Year. In any case, they couldn't get any investment.
If he continued to seek financing from Lu Yiming, his shares would still be diluted, which would be no different from selling the company.
What's more, Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong had actually looked for other buyers in private. Pengcheng Telecommunications Bureau offered a price of 600,000 yuan and did not accept bargaining.
How do you sell this?
That’s why they came to Lu Yiming to be the “sucker”. After all, he is the richest man, so he should have some vision, right?
Ma Teng is a tech geek and not good at speaking. It was basically Zhang Zhidong who did all the talking while Lu Yiming listened. When he was almost talking dry, Lu Yiming finally nodded and said, "Okay, how much do you plan to sell your shares for?"
Finally, they came to the last topic. Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong had discussed that Tencent must sell for one million yuan to make it a round number, so Ma Teng said cautiously: "One million!"
Lu Yiming: “…”
Lu Yiming was stunned by the price!
Tencent only sells it for one million!
It’s so fucking magical!
For this price, Lu Yiming didn't even have the interest to bargain. He immediately took out his checkbook, signed one million, and pushed it in front of Ma Teng: "Okay, I'll buy it at this price!"
"Come, let's drink to our wonderful friendship."
"cheers."
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the seemingly gentle Ma Teng was drunk. When he walked out of the hotel, he was sobered by the cool breeze.
"Adong, I regret it, hiccup..."
He said anxiously: "Do you think my choice was wrong? If I had persisted for another year or two, maybe the company would have made some progress."
Zhang Zhidong sighed and said helplessly, "We've already sold it, why are we still thinking about this? QQ burns too much money, we can't afford it. Only Mr. Lu, the richest man in China, is willing to take it over. Otherwise, I'm afraid it would be difficult for us to get out of it unscathed. Think about the bright side, we at least sold it for an extra 400,000."
The two of them checked into a hotel nearby. After they had finished packing, they lay down on the bed. Zhang Zhidong asked, "What are you going to do next?"
Of course, Ma Teng didn't want to withdraw from the business immediately with the one million yuan, so he said, "I want to continue to start a business."
“Do you still want to work in the Internet field?”
"Um."
Zhang Zhidong did not stop this idea because he also felt that the future of the Internet was bright.
"Yes, the current cold wave will eventually pass, but for now, just wait and see. Don't be impatient."
With the little money they have, if they act blindly, they won't be able to last a day.
On the other hand, Lu Yiming, who acquired Tencent for one million yuan, was so excited on his way home.
May 27, 2016 was Tencent's highlight moment. On that day, Tencent's stock price climbed all the way, and finally closed up 4.52% to HK$171.2 per share, reaching its highest level since its listing. Based on the closing price, Tencent's market value on that day was HK$1610.4 billion.
Anyone would be excited to buy a company with a future market value of 1.6 trillion yuan for one million yuan.
Moreover, the magic of Tencent does not lie in its market value, but in its 20% operating profit margin!
Operating profit margin is an indicator to measure the operating efficiency of an enterprise, reflecting the ability of enterprise managers to obtain profits through operations without considering non-operating costs.
A company's revenue minus costs and expenses is called operating profit. The amount of operating profit represents the real ability of a company to make money.
The higher the operating profit margin, the higher the ratio at which the company converts operating income into operating profit, which means the stronger the company's operating profitability.
In comparison, Alibaba's operating profit margin is only 10%, which is half of Tencent's level .
The most important thing is that Tencent will be a cash cow in the future, holding huge amounts of money in its hands, like a nuclear-powered money printing machine.
Seeing Lu Yiming twisting and turning in the car, Li Yiwen immediately said with disdain, "What are you doing? You spent one million to buy such a thing. Look how proud you are. If someone doesn't know you, they would think you brought back a mountain of gold."
Lu Yiming laughed and said, "This thing is much more valuable than a gold mine!"
Li Yiwen rolled his eyes at him and said, "Do you know how much the gold mine is worth?"
Lu Yiming said proudly, "I really know. Many gold mines in China are medium-sized now. The maximum output is only 20 tons. It is not known how many years it will take to mine. I don't even count the management costs of mining itself and various unpredictable accident risks. Let me calculate for you. 20 tons of gold ore is only worth a little over 8 billion. Do you know how much penguins are worth to me? At least 200 gold mines!"
Li Yiwen said: "It seems that you really drank a lot tonight. Young people who don't know how to drink should not drink."
After returning home, Lu Yiming took a shower and went to bed. He tossed and turned in bed until midnight but couldn't fall asleep.
Although Tencent has been acquired, everything has changed and it is impossible to follow the original track. Although the company's basic framework has been laid, it must be operated well to usher in a bright future.
Although Lu Yiming had a full set of calculations in his mind, he still planned to find a helmsman for Tencent.
After much thought, Lu Yiming still thought of Zhang Xiaolong, who had a deep relationship with Tencent.
When I called, I found out that Zhang Xiaolong was still awake.
"Brother Long, what are you doing? I want to discuss something with you."
Zhang Xiaolong, who was typing code in front of the computer, said meticulously: "What's the matter?"
Lu Yiming said: "QQ was acquired by me, and I plan to merge it into Yixun Technology."
Zhang Xiaolong was no stranger to QQ. He was surprised that Lu Yiming bought QQ because the functions of QQ were the same as MM.
"Do you want to merge QQ and MM?"
Lu Yiming said: "It is enough to connect the accounts. There is no need to merge them. And the two products should be kept as independent as possible from each other."
The software MM was developed by Lu Yiming himself. It is targeted at WeChat. Although it is also a social software, its focus is completely different from that of QQ.
MM is a real-name social networking service, in which each user's account is bound to their mobile phone number and ID number, while QQ is more inclined towards virtual social networking, which is the opposite of the real-name system, and corresponds to user groups with different social needs.
In the era of mainframe computers, it would definitely be better to develop QQ. After all, mobile phones these days are not smartphones, so developing wireless terminals is a dead end.
But the wireless side must be planned in advance.
Only children make choices. As an adult, of course I would choose to have them all.
