Chapter 700: Going to war to punish Jack Ma
The next day, Lu Yiming went to Yixun Technology.
Zhang Xiaolong was very surprised to see Lu Yiming appear, and asked, "Boss Lu, why are you here?"
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "I haven't been here for a long time, so I came to take a look. Is the recent product development progress going well?"
"Well, it's going according to plan."
After Zhang Xiaolong finished speaking, he remembered something and said, "Last night, Mr. Jiang from Junzi Interactive Entertainment called me and said that you had issued a task to embed a web game in the QQ client."
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "I told him that. It seems that Mr. Jiang is very concerned about this matter. Yesterday he even complained that my game was terrible."
Zhang Xiaolong said bluntly: "Actually, I also think this game sucks."
"... "
You people just don’t understand the charm of stealing vegetables!
Then, Zhang Xiaolong asked again: "Mr. Lu, are you here for this matter too?"
"no."
Lu Yiming sat on the sofa and started to boil water to make tea.
"I plan to separate the virtual mall and payment software and set up a dedicated e-commerce platform."
Yixun Technology now has a team working on virtual shopping malls and payment software. They were originally intended to sell things like QQ Shows, but now Lu Yiming thinks that these things have greater uses.
Now that e-commerce is beginning to rise, Lu Yiming must also step out and take up a position.
However, e-commerce is much more complicated than virtual shopping malls. Supply chain, channels, transportation, etc. all require a large team.
It can greatly promote employment for ordinary people in the middle and lower classes.
This is a golden ticket to immunity from death.
Lu Yiming was planning to imitate the models of Amazon and JD.com to engage in e-commerce. Now that Dong Ge was still selling CDs, it was the perfect time to cut in.
"I have written a plan to build a one-stop e-commerce group. Take a look."
Lu Yiming handed the rough draft he had written to Zhang Xiaolong.
"Luming Mall?"
Zhang Xiaolong was too exhausted to complain: "Are you serious?"
Lu Yiming said: "It doesn't matter what the website is called, what matters is that I like it."
The virtual mall and payment software were originally designed to facilitate QQ users to recharge, so Zhang Xiaolong would be informed of this matter.
E-commerce and social networking will become two independent companies in the future, so Luming Mall is not suitable to continue to be placed within the framework of Junzi Interactive Entertainment.
Zhang Xiaolong didn't like to take power, and since this business would be run independently in the future, it had nothing to do with him, so he had no complaints about Lu Yiming's decision. Moreover, Lu Yiming was the boss, so he just asked, "Who will be in charge of Luming Mall?"
Lu Yiming said: "What do you think of Lao Rong?"
Lao Rong is the pen name of Wang Juntao. He often hangs out on sports forums. He once wrote a popular football article titled "Dalian Jinzhou Doesn't Believe in Tears", which was widely reposted and received tens of thousands of replies, thus becoming famous overnight.
It was also from that time that he felt, through his exchanges with netizens, that the Internet would be everywhere in the future, and that the combination of the Internet and business was an inevitable trend. He finally devoted himself to e-commerce and started B2C following his idol Bezos.
Unfortunately, due to bad luck, the pioneer became a martyr.
Wang Juntao was quite famous, and Zhang Xiaolong knew him. When he heard that Lu Yiming wanted to invite Wang Juntao to take charge of Luming Mall, he suddenly felt a little unbelievable: "Boss Lu, Wang Juntao is the founder of 8848, how could he come to work for you?"
His reaction is very normal, and everyone would think so. Wang Juntao already has such a big company in his hands, so how could he still work for others?
However, Lu Yiming smiled and said: "Many founders end up as wage earners. This is not surprising."
Beijing, 8848 headquarters.
Wang Juntao's face, which had been full of confidence, was now filled with fatigue and unwillingness.
As the founder, he actually lost power in the company he founded .
Partners, management, investors, almost everyone was against him.
In the Internet age, as long as you are alive, you will be harassed by variables. This uncertainty in entrepreneurship is both poison and honey for entrepreneurs.
Compared with the difficulties and twists and turns of its contemporary Ahri in the early stage, the development of 8848 can be described as smooth sailing.
After only eight months of operation, the company not only recovered all the costs since the establishment of the division, but also made a net profit of several thousand yuan. This was much better than the three consecutive years of losses that occurred when Ma Jieke founded Taobao a few years later.
Of course, the success of 8848's e-commerce model is due to the support of the federal company behind it.
On the one hand, 8848 has solved the three insurmountable problems that have plagued e-commerce - the number of Internet users, online settlement, and distribution system.
On the other hand, 8848's target customers were highly consistent with netizens. Although the number of netizens was not large at the time, most of them were computer players and industry insiders, and most of them were federal users. It was easy for them to transfer from offline to online.
8848 was pursued by many capitalists. IDG, Yahoo and other capitals injected two million US dollars successively and acquired 55% of the shares. Lian Bang accounted for 33%, and Wang Juntao accounted for even less.
Behind the glamour, a crisis is quietly brewing.
The world is full of people who come for profit. From the day when IDG and other venture capital institutions invested in 8848, they began to plan for 8848 to go public and cash out. Within two years, three domestic portal websites were listed on NASDAQ one after another, which made venture capitalists jealous.
Therefore, 8848, which has only been in operation for 9 months, has also begun to prepare to start the process of listing on Nasdaq.
In order to comply with the listing policy of the United States at that time, the capitalists carried out a complex capital operation. IDG owned 70% of the shares and became the largest shareholder, while Wang Juntao's shares were diluted to less than 3%.
It was from this time that Wang Juntao lost his voice in 8848.
Problems soon arose in 8848 after it lost Wang Juntao’s control. 8848’s advantage was B2C, but the investors insisted on packaging 8848 as B2B and also cut off its B2C business.
Because of the Internet winter, even Wall Street is now spreading rumors that Amazon is about to fail. In fact, Amazon’s stock has almost hit rock bottom, so much so that financial vampires have come to believe that the B2C model simply won’t work in the capital market.
Wang Juntao still remembers that on the day when 8848 went public, the Internet bubble burst, the Nasdaq index plummeted, and the stupid shareholders of IDG argued endlessly over the two options of whether to go public at the risk of their lives or wait for the index to recover.
Wang Juntao, who only held 3% of the shares, had no say and could only watch the B2C business being split off and turned into another company - my8848.
In fact, at this time, 8848 still had a strong capital of 70 million US dollars and sufficient ammunition. If it was not in a hurry to list on NASDAQ, it could survive for more than ten years.
If we wait until the Internet bubble is over before planning to go public, there might not be any place for Taobao and JD.com anymore.
Unfortunately, these idiots at IDG Capital don’t do that. They are not thinking about how to run the company, but are thinking about how to divide the money so that everyone can go their separate ways!
Wang Juntao has been arguing about this matter, but unfortunately no one listened to him, which made him very angry.
“Boom boom boom…”
There was a knock on the office door.
Wang Juntao heard the knock on the door, reached out to smooth down his messy hair, and said, "Come in."
The person who came in was his female secretary. Like all bosses who made a lot of money in a short period of time, his requirements for his female secretary were no different from others.
When his eyes passed over the desk in front of him, along the secretary's black pointed high heels, up through the long legs wrapped in black stockings, over the two majestic peaks, and stared at the beautiful face, the secretary spoke: "I just received a call from Mr. Lu Yiming, and he is expected to arrive at our company in half an hour."
"Mr. Lu?"
Wang Juntao raised his eyebrows, and a strange look appeared in his eyes.
"Hurry up and get ready. Take someone to clean up the living room and make the tea I bought at the auction a few days ago for Mr. Lu!"
The man in front of him was the richest man in Asia, so Wang Juntao dared not neglect him. Moreover, Lu Yiming was amazing and often said something surprising that made people suddenly enlightened. Now Wang Juntao was in distress, so it was naturally a great thing to be able to communicate with Lu Yiming.
The whole company attached great importance to Lu Yiming's visit. After a few minutes, everyone knew about it. Many people spontaneously went to wait outside the company - not to greet Lu Yiming, but just to see Lu Yiming in real life. After all, he is the richest man in Asia, and ordinary people don't have many opportunities to see such a big man.
Half an hour later, an Audi car appeared at the company gate, and Lu Yiming got out of the car under the protection of Zhao Tiezhu.
Wang Juntao in the team quickly came forward and said enthusiastically: "Mr. Lu, I have heard of your great name for a long time! Your visit to our company today is a great honor to our company."
Lu Yiming waved his hand and said with a smile: "Mr. Wang, you are too polite. I came here today just to chat with you. I have no other intentions."
"I have been planning to visit Mr. Lu for a long time, but unfortunately Mr. Lu is very busy, and I am afraid that I will delay Mr. Lu's work. Please."
"please."
Arriving at the reception room, Wang Juntao said with emotion: "Although I have heard many stories about Mr. Lu, at first glance, Mr. Lu's youth still makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Mr. Lu is young and promising."
Lu Yiming's image in the circle now mainly has two aspects: young and frivolous, and a wealthy man.
Recently, he can be seen arguing with people on many Internet forums every day. This kind of personality makes everyone laugh and cry.
Originally, everyone thought that as the richest man in Asia, he must be mature, prudent, and calm. Crazy scolding people in the forum was not something that Asia's richest man would do. But when they thought that Lu Yiming was just a young man in his early twenties, everyone felt that Lu Yiming's behavior was understandable.
After Lu Yiming sat down, he said bluntly: "Boss Wang, I came here today to invite you to join my company."
Wang Juntao was stunned for a moment, because he really didn't expect Lu Yiming to come here for this matter. Then he smiled and said, "Boss Lu, I have my own company, how can I work for others?"
After hearing what Wang Juntao said, Lu Yiming showed a rather disdainful look on his face, and said slowly: "You only have 3% of the shares in your hands now, is this still your company? Of course, it counts as having more voting rights if you have fewer shares, but do you have the decision-making power? How many people in the company are willing to listen to you?"
These questions were like a critical hit, and they made Wang Juntao feel chilled to the bone.
The smile on Wang Juntao's face disappeared and his expression gradually became solemn.
Although what Lu Yiming said was extremely impolite, every word of it was true.
This made him feel helpless amid his anger.
Lu Yiming continued, "The reason why I came to see you today is because I have comprehensively reviewed the problems you have encountered in your business in recent years, and I think you should not waste your precious time in such a smoky environment. There is an old saying, 'You can't support a wall with rotten mud', I think you should have a deep understanding of this saying now. I am not afraid of god-like opponents, but I am afraid of pig-like teammates. Give up struggling, you can't lead those people in your company."
Wang Juntao was stunned, then smiled bitterly: "Boss Lu, you are really direct in your words."
Lu Yiming accepted Wang Juntao's evaluation of him calmly, and said bluntly: "I won't deal with those nonsense. Come here, you don't have to pay a penny, I will give you 20% of the shares directly, and I will not interfere with your operation and management. At most, I will give you some suggestions."
Wang Juntao had heard about Lu Yiming's generosity before, but when he heard Lu Yiming's offer in person, he still felt like it was a dream: "Boss Lu, are you telling the truth?"
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Even pearls are not so real."
Wang Juntao was tempted by the conditions offered by Lu Yiming.
There was constant chaos within 8848, with management and investors having their own agendas, and he, the founder, was completely marginalized.
The ship was about to sink, and he couldn't stay to be buried with it, so he had to choose to retreat in advance.
In his previous life, after leaving MY8848, he directly joined Xidan E-commerce Company.
A year later, he entered the e-commerce field again and founded 6688. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity and was never able to regain his former glory. Finally, 6688 became a platform specializing in selling agricultural products.
Although Wang Juntao was very tempted by Lu Yiming's offer, he was also frightened by the internal fighting in the company. He asked seriously again, "Boss Lu, will you really not interfere with the daily operations of the company?"
Lu Yiming curled his lips and said, "I have so many companies under my control. If I have to participate in the daily operations of each company, ten clones will not be enough."
Although this statement is very Versailles, it is the truth for Lu Yiming.
Thinking of Lu Yiming's previous brilliant record, Wang Juntao only thought for a moment and said, "Okay, deal."
Just like that, the father of Xiaguo e-commerce officially joined Luming Mall!
When they returned to Baiyun City, Zhang Xiaolong and the others were stunned by Lu Yiming's bold move - he actually poached the founder of another company?
A month later, Luming Mall was officially launched and its website was simultaneously launched. With Lu Yiming's financial support, various advertisements were launched everywhere. Slogans such as "Subverting the traditional shopping experience" and "Just one phone call and the goods will be delivered to your home" became known to more and more people, and its influence quickly spread across the country, attracting the attention of countless peers who were also planning e-commerce.
Among them, the one who was under the most pressure was naturally Ma Jieke.
Because the financial backer of Luming Mall is Lu Yiming, and the financial backer of Alibaba is also Lu Yiming.
Although they are all sons, there are differences between them.
Compared to Luming Mall, Alibaba’s biological son, Alibaba is more like an adopted child.
Jack Ma, who was already struggling with what path to take in the future, was stunned by Lu Yiming's surprise attack.
He bought a plane ticket directly from Hangzhou and flew to Zhonghai, where he found Lu Yiming.
"Boss Lu!"
Seeing Jack Ma appear in person, Lu Yiming stood up and said enthusiastically: "Hey, Mr. Ma is here, this is a rare guest. What brought you to Zhonghai?"
Jack Ma said depressedly: "Boss Lu is really fast. He has created Luming Mall without making any noise. It has caused quite a stir."
Lu Yiming immediately understood Jack Ma's intention of coming this time, but he kept smiling: "Oh, business is about speed, you have to do it as soon as you think of it, otherwise it will be bad if someone else gets there first."
Jack Ma's already ugly face looked even uglier after hearing this, just like Xin Feiji who had eaten too much seasoning and was poisoned.
"Boss Lu, are you dissatisfied with me?"
Lu Yiming patted his shoulder and said sincerely: "What are you talking about? I still have full confidence in Ali!"
Jack Ma felt that even the punctuation marks in Lu Yiming's words were unreliable. He said directly: "Since you have Alibaba, why did you create a Luming Mall?"
Lu Yiming's attitude became more sincere: "Friendship is friendship, business is business. I invested in Luming Mall because I am optimistic about the future of e-commerce, not deliberately targeting Alibaba."
Having said that, Majek was still panicked and had some complaints in his mind.
After all, the e-commerce pie is only so big, and if there is one more person to share it, it means that the amount in your own bowl will be much less.
Lu Yi knew that Jack Ma would definitely have objections, but he still had to eat the meat. He couldn't give up such a huge benefit just for a little friendship.
That's so uncapitalist.
Lu Yiming confidently said to Jack Ma: "The domestic economy is constantly developing . In a few years, computers will be in every household. By then, the pie in the e-commerce field will become very big. Alibaba cannot dominate the entire market, and the country will never allow such a thing to happen. In this case, why don't we divide the market share together? Even if there is a fight, at least we can negotiate and resolve it privately."
Jack Ma kept silent, but was weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
Lu Yiming then added: "The current e-commerce in Xia Country is still in a state of division among different factions. What we should do is to unite against the enemy. As for competition, Luming Mall is benchmarked against Amazon, and your Taobao is benchmarked against eBay. Our development models are different, so there is no need to fight to the death now."
Things have come to this point, and Jack Ma has no choice but to accept reality.
