"Mr. Liu, we have found out everything."
Shenzhen Bay Area, Sea Lion Group Building.
Standing in front of Mr. Liu's desk, the man in formal attire placed a document on the desk, lowered his head slightly and continued in a deep voice.
"The shareholder behind Kuaiyin APP is Yunmeng Group, with a shareholding ratio of more than three-quarters. The second largest shareholder is Zhang Tao, the founder of the previous modern bicycle project."
When Liu Zhiping heard about the modern bicycle project, he couldn't help but twitch his brows, as if a scar on his body was being uncovered.
As the president of a domestic Internet industry giant, he has always had a very accurate vision of the industry and people. However, in just one year, he made mistakes twice on the same project.
At that time, Hiace Group spent 700 million. The acquisition of Modern Bicycle from Yunmeng Group almost shocked the entire financial world. No one thought that Sea Lion Group could actually take over this hot project from Yunmeng Group at such a low price.
After all, according to the scale of Modern Bicycle at that time, it would be worth at least 10 billion if it went on the market. It would not even be a problem to grow to 50 billion within a few years.
Liu Zhiping was quite proud of that genius acquisition.
However, he had not been proud for a few days when things took a turn for the worse.
First, some peers suffered from the problem of broken capital chains, resulting in users being unable to withdraw their deposits. Then, strict control and supervision from the national level and a wave of deposit withdrawals from users directly led to the collapse of a large number of small and medium-sized shared bicycle companies. , the entire industry is accelerating its decline like an avalanche.
Although Modern Bicycle withstood that group of pressures, due to the establishment of regulatory accounts by the China Banking Regulatory Commission and restrictions on the use of deposits, the original snowballing gameplay of shared bicycles was no longer feasible, and the entire project was suddenly reduced from "Internet finance" to dimensionality. It became a "short-term bicycle rental".
I spent 700 million to buy a bicycle rental company.
Lao Liu never dreamed that he would become a receiver.
And that precise "picking the top" also made Hiace Group and him the laughing stock of the industry.
In fact, if the story ended here, he would have made a mistake at most. However, unfortunately, Liu Zhiping once again made a mistake about Zhang Tao.
To be honest, when he first acquired Modern Bicycle, Liu Zhiping didn’t think highly of this entrepreneur who was born as a college counselor.
At least in Liu Zhiping's view, the reason why the modern bicycle project became popular was partly because of Hao Yun's unique strategic vision, and partly because of the genius financial means of the executive named Lin Jun.
As for Zhang Tao and his team of founders...
It’s just that he happened to be standing at the center of the storm, and was brought to the stage by two truly talented people. To say that his only role is probably to provide a shared bicycle idea and complete the development of the initial APP.
However, these two things can only be said to be average in Liu Zhiping's opinion.
At least the Sea Lion Group's development to today's scale did not rely on any extraordinary creativity.
It is precisely for this reason that after acquiring Modern Bicycle and kicking Yunmeng Group out of the game, the second thing Hiace Group did was to parachute executives with more professional capabilities to replace founders such as Zhang Tao.
However, what Liu Zhiping didn't expect was that Zhang Tao, who had achieved financial freedom and was supposed to be living a life of dreams and dreams, would actually run out to start a business out of boredom.
And as soon as he came up, he caused such a big trouble for himself.
"Mr. Liu..."
Looking at the gloomy and silent Mr. Liu, the man standing in front of the desk took a deep breath and whispered in a tentative tone.
"The other party's equity structure is too strong. If it is acquired... I'm afraid there is no chance."
"There will definitely be an agreement between Yunmeng Group and that Zhang Tao to prohibit private equity transfers, and considering our relationship with them... I'm afraid that no matter how high the price is, the other party may not agree to sell this software to us."
Although acquisition is the simplest and fastest way, it is also the least likely.
Even if the tense relationship between Sea Lion Group and Yunmeng Group is not considered, it is impossible for Yunmeng Group to sell its shares due to its good financial condition.
After all, it's not a year ago anymore.
"My suggestion is... why not develop a similar short video APP, or simply add a short video function based on WeChat's original functions."
Although it is impossible to catch up with the current development speed of Kuaiyin, this is currently the only and most effective option.
Liu Zhiping, who had been silent, finally nodded and spoke.
"Um."
“That’s all we can do for the time being.”
…
Yunmeng Group Building.
Office of the Chairman.
After quietly listening to what Zhang Tao said, Hao Yun thought for a moment and then spoke.
"You mean... WeChat plans to develop a short video portal?"
"That's what I heard."
When he said this, Zhang Tao's face was filled with nervous expression.
He had no choice but to be nervous. After all, his opponent was the Hiace Group, a giant in the domestic instant messaging field, with tentacles covering almost all areas of the domestic Internet.
Not only that, with the powerful imitation capabilities of the Sea Lion Group, it can easily develop a software with similar functions in a short period of time, and defeat its competitors with its huge size and rogue spirit.
In fact, just a few hours ago, he received news from the operations department of Kuayin APP that three APPs that advertised listed them as competing products and planned to terminate their advertising agreements with them.
And according to information revealed by a middle-level manager of the Sea Lion Group who has a good personal relationship with him, the Sea Lion Group is currently studying the development of a short video version based on the Dou Mao live broadcast, called Dou Mao Short Video.
In addition, I heard that Sea Lion Group also plans to add a short video function on WeChat.
This combination of punches was obviously aimed at Kuaiyin, and Zhang Tao was far more panicked than he appeared on the surface.
"I didn't expect their response to be quite fast."
Hao Yun nodded thoughtfully and turned the pen in his hand.
“I originally thought they would have to wait at least until our official version was launched before they would start thinking about developing competing apps. Unexpectedly, they have already started taking action.”
Looking at Hao Yun who looked calm, Zhang Tao smiled bitterly and said.
"I don't think you're panicking at all."
"Because there is nothing to panic about," Hao Yun smiled lightly and continued, "We are at least two months ahead of them, and have formed a complete short video content creation ecosystem, not to mention our expertise in artificial intelligence technology and The advantages of big data algorithm push.”
"As long as they continue to invest now, it is almost impossible for them to surpass us."
After a pause, Hao Yun continued.
"Besides, I'm not unprepared."
After all, this is not the first time that Sea Lion Group has followed suit.
As early as when Kuayin first came out, Hao Yun had considered that Sea Lion Group would create a similar app.
"What are you going to do?" Zhang Tao asked immediately.
Hao Yun said with a faint smile.
"Very simple answer."
“Let our content creators make money and they will naturally be on our side.”