Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 735 Overseas Strategy
At this time point in mid-October 2016, the concept of virtual currency, which was born during the global financial crisis in 2008, was officially born in 2009.
To this day, it has only been seven or eight years in the making, and looking at the world as a whole, it is still in a gray area, with most countries holding an ambiguous wait-and-see attitude towards it.
Including China, no one has yet tried to wipe it out, and no official prohibition has been issued. As the saying goes, anything is allowed unless prohibited by law.
Under such circumstances, there is even a Chinese virtual currency market at present, and settlement is still done in the national currency. It can be said that we are currently in the blue ocean stage of virtual currency speculation, and future expectations are unprecedentedly high.
In particular, Zhou Dongsheng checked casually and was shocked to see that the virtual currency was at a low level. He wanted to confirm again that the information was not delayed on the Internet.
Zhou Dongsheng also specifically found Lu Sifang and asked him to compare the differences between the domestic and overseas markets through investment channels, further confirm this fact, and then report to him personally.
After receiving Lu Sifang's detailed report on the virtual currency market, Zhou Dongsheng opened it and took a quick look, putting aside the professional terms that he did not understand at all.
Zhou Dongsheng emphasized the idea of simplicity, which is to only look at data that he can understand, including the market value change curve since the birth of the virtual currency market.
From this, it is not difficult to see that no matter how many fancy words are piled up, the boss will only focus on the key points (funny).
It has to be said that looking at the market changes since the birth of virtual currency, from being worthless at the beginning, just one US dollar is enough to easily buy at the bottom and hoard dozens of them in your hands.
In just less than two or three years, the virtual currency market began to rise all the way, even approaching the one thousand US dollar mark at its peak, an increase of nearly ten thousand times!
Such a jaw-dropping curve is obviously impossible to appear in the foreign exchange market or stock futures where every second counts.
Zhou Dongsheng obviously had no idea what kind of undercurrents were surging behind the scenes, but just from this magnificent curve, it was not difficult to get a glimpse of the true face of the market.
Afterwards, when the leeks matured, the first wave of harvest naturally came. In just a few months, the virtual currency market went from a market value of nearly thousands of US dollars per virtual coin to being cut in half again and again.
From the peak of US$955.85, it fell all the way to US$457, and then fluctuated all the way, harvesting a wave of gains between highs and lows, and then plummeted. The following year, it was halved again to the US$200 range.
Although the time span is as long as one year, this familiar curve change is performing a script with the same destination in different ways, perfectly interpreting a sentence.
What does "all crows are black" mean?
Don't ask, it's just a technical adjustment. After that, the virtual currency market once again entered a long-term shock stage, and it has not returned to this stage until today.
At this stage, as of the time Zhou Dongsheng checked, the market value of virtual currency in overseas markets had just returned to the US$613.98 range.
Although it has recovered most of its vitality, it has not returned to its peak in three or four years. This shows how deep the water is. If there are retail investors, they have probably been tortured to the point of mental breakdown.
However, for Zhou Dongsheng, a dwarf standing on the shoulders of future giants, seeing this price made his eyes light up and he salivated.
After all, even though Zhou Dongsheng only had a limited understanding of the virtual currency market, he had heard about the changes in the market, as well as the final frenzy...
Zhou Dongsheng vaguely remembered that at the craziest time, it seemed to have reached a peak of 60,000 US dollars, which is nearly 400,000 US dollars per coin in local currency...
The virtual currency is currently trading at US$613.98, which is at an "unprecedented" historical low, at least in Zhou Dongsheng's eyes.
Rounding off, there is room for growth of hundreds of times, and the prospects are extremely broad. Even the national liquor on the stock market is slightly inferior to it.
However, from Zhou Dongsheng's perspective, national liquor is equivalent to a "financial fund", which is a tangible and stable investment. After all, the unique sauce-flavor technology in the world is enough to make it invincible.
As for virtual currencies, which are little known and have a high degree of speculative value, they are completely aggressive projects with high risks and high returns.
A man cannot become rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse cannot grow fat without night grass. After all, Zhou Dongsheng has tasted the sweetness of this aspect. As the saying goes, one can learn by analogy, and the difference between the two is not much.
If you think of it as a gamble, there are only two choices: gamble or not gamble?
If we look at it this way, things will naturally become much simpler. This is a rare opportunity that can earn you money and create some foreign exchange income for yourself...
The answer is of course self-evident. Even though Zhou Dongsheng is worth a lot of money now, he will not give up such a good opportunity.
Especially when the leeks are being harvested from overseas markets, there is naturally less psychological burden.
And you know what, Zhou Dongsheng has unique advantages in this regard, which is reflected in foreign exchange.
Although most of Zhou Dongsheng's current businesses are located in China, Zhou Dongsheng's assets are mainly in China.
This includes the cash flow of Dongsheng Group. Although the investment market is keen to use US dollars as the unit, the money spent is still real local currency.
However, don’t forget that as Dongsheng Group’s cash cow, the game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds targets more than just the domestic market.
There is also a huge overseas market!
With the support of Steam, the world's largest game distribution platform, the game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has undoubtedly set off a chicken-eating craze around the world.
Although due to Zhou Dongsheng's "wishful thinking", the game changed from a buyout system to a free-to-play mechanism with in-app purchases as the main consumption mechanism, thus losing a considerable amount of cash.
If we calculate based on the current popularity of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on the Steam platform, with millions of new players per week and a total number of players exceeding 10 million...
Even with a rough calculation, it is already a huge sum of nearly 700 to 800 million US dollars. However, the far-sighted Zhou Dongsheng chose to resolutely give up this "small profit" and instead use a free-to-play strategy to expand the audience and lay the foundation for e-sports in advance.
In this way, perhaps the income brought in in the short term is not as good as the buyout system, but it is enough to make it a real long-term cash cow that can bring in huge income continuously.
The Internet rule that free is the most expensive has already been most clearly verified in Tenda.
But even so , PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, an unprecedentedly successful battle royale game, has still brought considerable returns by creating a phenomenal chicken-eating craze around the world.
The book revenue from overseas markets alone has already exceeded hundreds of millions of US dollars, and this is just the overseas revenue of the game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and only accounts for a part of the company's revenue.
Among them, the Chinese market, as the first launch market, is the main market that contributes the majority of revenue, after all, it is developed by a number of game manufacturers such as Tenda.
The Chinese market is naturally suited to the free-to-play strategy, and is more willing to pay for in-game items, especially for such a phenomenal game that is the "light of domestic games."
Therefore, the financial statements of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" are unprecedentedly gorgeous. According to conservative estimates, the annual revenue from the domestic market alone is expected to exceed 2 billion!
Such impressive revenue data not only makes it a hot commodity in the Chinese gaming market, but also becomes a trendsetter. I wonder how many gaming companies have followed suit and started making battle royale games behind the scenes.
Just want a piece of the pie!
It is natural that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which has taken advantage of its first-mover advantage , can generate such considerable profits.
With such a gorgeous financial report as support, there is no doubt that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is the subsidiary with the highest market value under Dongsheng Group.
If it weren't for such a cash cow, Zhou Dongsheng's business would have been exhausted long ago. After all, every round of financing involves real money.
It is worth mentioning that in order to facilitate the management of the overseas market of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", an overseas branch has already been established with the help of Zhuchang's familiarity to manage it.
At the same time, this part of overseas income currently remains on the company's books and has not been remitted to the country immediately. Zhou Dongsheng originally thought that it was for emergency use.
After all, it was foreign exchange, and now it was put to good use. It also saved me the trouble of exchanging foreign exchange, and it could be done more covertly...
So for Zhou Dongsheng, everything is ready, except for the east wind.
Thinking of this, Zhou Dongsheng no longer hesitated and contacted Lu Sifang again. Matters related to investment should naturally be handed over to the head of the group's investment department.
At present, Dongsheng Investment’s investment scope is basically limited to the domestic market, and its involvement in overseas investment is almost zero. Only one short video investment project in Wenxue Network can barely be regarded as “overseas investment”.
After all, although Wenxue Network is a domestic company, its initial main business was in the European and American markets, so it is not too outrageous to say that it is an overseas investment, ahem.
Also, in a sense, the cash cow "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" was also transplanted from overseas markets to the domestic market by Zhou Dongsheng with great effort.
Thanks to the strong support of the pig farm, the baby did not die in the womb due to acclimatization. This was a reluctant effort.
However, when it comes to fleecing the sheep, you can't just grab one sheep. Although Zhou Dongsheng knows more about the opportunities in the domestic market, he has already fleeced most of them.
It is also time to take this opportunity to develop overseas investment projects. At the very least, you can make some money and reserve some foreign exchange. This will make it more convenient for you to buy in overseas markets in the future, right?
Although Zhou Dongsheng couldn't think of any other bargains to be found in the overseas market other than virtual currency for the time being, even if there was only one, it would be enough to make a fortune.
Long before submitting the report on the virtual currency market to Zhou Dongsheng, Lu Sifang had already begun to prepare himself mentally, and even did his own homework.
In his opinion, Zhou Dongsheng, the investment genius, never makes random moves, and every move he makes is always successful, which is why Dongsheng Investment has achieved such a miraculous performance.
If we say that thanks to the game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has become the subsidiary with the highest market value under the group.
Then Dongsheng Investment, as the main body of the group, can use real achievements to explain why it can become the parent company.
In addition to the fact that Zhou Dongsheng holds 100% of the shares, the immeasurable value of resource sharing that can be brought by his investment projects is one of the most important reasons.
As Zhou Dongsheng's top general in charge of investment business, Lu Sifang witnessed almost the entire incredible process and watched how Zhou Dongsheng turned decay into magic.
It is not an exaggeration to describe my boss as having a Midas Touch. After all, every project is still in a plain stage before he gets involved...
This is true for both Pinxixi and shared bicycles. Soon after Zhou Dongsheng raised funds, he began the process of accumulating strength and then making a breakthrough, and even made a big splash!
After time and again, Lu Sifang has been full of admiration from the bottom of his heart and is completely convinced of his boss's investment talent.
So, after receiving Zhou Dongsheng's instructions, Lu Sifang naturally thought, could it be that his boss is optimistic about the prospects of virtual currency?
So, does it mean that the virtual currency market is also likely to usher in a wave of growth?
After all, the virtual currency market has been recuperating for several years since the market was cut in half. According to the objective laws of the market, it seems that it is time for an explosion...
Of course, these rational analyses are secondary. In Lu Sifang's opinion, the only person who can really play a decisive role is Zhou Dongsheng.
If the boss is optimistic about the prospects of virtual currency... maybe I can also benefit from it! Lu Sifang couldn't help but think of his own little tricks.
After all, the virtual currency market is so huge that there is too much room for maneuverability.
Zhou Dongsheng naturally didn't know about this, and just continued to give orders to Lu Sifang.
"The group has just been established. As the main business of the group, the investment department naturally cannot stand still. It is time to try to develop overseas investment business. I think virtual currency is a good opportunity..."
"It just so happens that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' overseas revenue has a considerable amount of US dollars that can be used as starting capital. I plan to invest 10 million US dollars first. You will be responsible for forming an overseas investment team and observing the virtual currency market..."
"First, try to quietly accumulate chips at a low level at the current position. Take as many chips as you can and complete the position building. Then wait and see what happens. See how the market changes and report to me at any time."
Zhou Dongsheng explained his motives in a few words. He said it was just a trial overseas investment, and a try with tens of millions of US dollars as a base was within Zhou Dongsheng's budget.
"Okay, Chairman! I'll do it right away!"
Lu Sifang's little thoughts couldn't help but waver. Zhou Dongsheng certainly had the capital to try it, but... should he follow him?
Lu Sifang was a little hesitant about this, but putting aside this little thought, he did not forget that he still had important matters to report.
"By the way, Chairman, Xiyin can't wait any longer. The founder is very sincere and is ready to fly to Shanghai in person to meet and discuss with you. His attitude is very urgent..."
“Look…”
Zhou Dongsheng slapped his head and realized that he had been so busy that he had forgotten about a company he had never heard of. It just so happened that this company mainly did overseas business.
Doesn't this just fit in with their overseas strategy? Just use it as a cushion.
"Since the other party is so sincere, I have to meet him no matter what." Zhou Dongsheng said happily.
Zhou Dongsheng probably never dreamed that he would pick up a treasure by accident.
