Lawrence's humor greatly enlivened the atmosphere at the scene. However, when entering the reporter's question session, his previous humor did not win him the attention of the media reporters. The eyes of all media reporters were focused on Li Mu. They There were too many questions to ask Li Mu, who was sitting next to Lawrence.
When countless media reporters raised their hands, Li Mu said with a smile: "Sorry everyone, I am from China, so I'd better take care of the Chinese media first. The first opportunity to ask questions should be asked by reporters from China CCTV .”
The microphone was given to a female CCTV reporter in her twenties. Although the other party was sure that Li Mu would definitely give CCTV a chance to ask questions, she did not expect that Li Mu would be so frank and directly give her the first chance to ask questions.
The female reporter stood up and asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, there are many professional comments in finance and the Internet. They all agree that you chose American capital to discuss Makino Technology's Series C financing. The ultimate goal is to enable the company to be listed in the United States. , I would like to ask you, in your plan, does Makino Technology really tend to be listed in the United States?"
When Li Mu heard this question, he smiled slightly and said very frankly: "Yes, I do prefer that Makino Technology can be listed in the United States in the future."
The female reporter asked: "Can you tell me why you did this?"
Li Mu said seriously: "As the most developed market in the Internet industry, the understanding, tolerance and recognition of the Internet by society and capital in the United States far exceed that of other countries. The Internet industry is different from the real industry. Most of the assets of Internet companies are intangible The specific evaluation of assets and intangible assets requires the market environment as a basis. If you want the market value of Makino Technology to be recognized to the maximum extent, you must choose to list in the most mature market, otherwise there will be a phenomenon of serious underestimation, which will affect the company's value. Development has a big impact.”
Li Mu didn’t know why the CCTV reporter asked him whether he would decide to go public in the United States in the future. However, Makino Technology’s ambition to go public in the United States is now very obvious. Otherwise, he would not have been able to go to the United States to raise funds and at the same time be in the United States. Above such a big movement.
The reason why he does not consider listing in the country is not that Li Mu is unpatriotic, but that Makino Technology is not suitable for listing in the country at the moment.
First of all, domestic A-shares have very strict thresholds and are not suitable for today's Internet companies, especially profitability indicators;
A-shares require listed companies to make continuous profits within a certain period of time, but most Internet companies are burning money. Although Makino Technology is still barely self-sufficient with YY and Paradise Town, this is only the immediate situation. Once If the financing is successful, the cash burning will start immediately. By that time, Makino Technology's negative book profits will probably scare people to death. It is normal to have negative book profits of hundreds of millions of dollars or even more than one billion US dollars a year. It is fundamentally inconsistent with A-shares. Require;
Secondly, there are currently no Internet companies in A-shares, and the entire capital environment lacks sufficient understanding and recognition of Internet companies. Even if Makino Technology can be listed on A-shares, its valuation will be far lower than expected. In that case, It's like breaking your legs.
After the CCTV reporter finished asking questions, Li Mu chose the reporter from CNN for the second time.
The CNN reporter was a middle-aged man in a suit. He asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, the current development speed of Makino Technology has shocked the entire American Internet industry, and it has become a direct competitor with Microsoft MSN. I think The question is, in your opinion, which Internet companies in the United States are likely to become strong competitors to Makino Technology?"
Li Mu thought for a moment and said: "There is no doubt that there are many great Internet companies in the United States, whether it is Google, Microsoft, Oracle, etc., they are role models for Makino Technology to learn from. But in my opinion, I hope that all Large American Internet companies can become competitors of Makino Technology."
As soon as Li Mu said this, many reporters expressed surprise. The meaning of Li Mu's words was obvious. He hoped to become competitors with all the large Internet companies in the United States. The subtext was that Makino Technology would take the initiative to launch attacks in all areas where its opponents are located. .
The reporter asked further: "Mr. Li, can I understand that Makino Technology is not satisfied with the current development direction and will develop in more fields in the future?"
Li Mu nodded: "For me personally, I will not confine Makino Technology to the field of instant messaging software. I also hope to have the opportunity to allow Makino Technology to develop horizontally and open up the front line. Once the front line is opened, it will naturally have More opponents.”
Then, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, as far as we know, the current valuation of Makino Technology in the venture capital industry has exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars. Are you satisfied with the valuation of 20 billion U.S. dollars?" ?”
Li Mu laughed. Although he didn't know what the Wall Street Journal reporter's mentality was for asking such a question, he still answered: "I must answer your question honestly. First of all, am I satisfied with the valuation of 20 billion US dollars? I can tell you clearly that if this price is proposed at a certain stage, I will definitely be satisfied, but that stage is not now; secondly, I feel that the thinking speed of most venture capital cannot keep up with the development speed of Makino Technology. Under such circumstances, if we want to achieve cooperation, then they must catch up with us, because the development of Makino Technology will not stop because of them. If they can never catch up, then the valuation they give to Makino Technology will have no impact. Practical significance.”
Li Mu already made it clear in his words that a valuation of US$20 billion is not attractive to the current Makino Technology. If capital wants to invest in Makino Technology, it must offer a price that can truly catch up with the development speed of Makino Technology.
Not long ago, when Li Mu started negotiating with a price of US$17 billion, the media was already surprised by Li Mu's overconfidence. At that time, many media outlets wrote articles criticizing him, believing that his offer was basically impossible to be recognized by any venture capital firm. , but I didn’t expect that after such a short period of time, due to the continuous success of Li Mu’s multiple strategies, the venture capital initiative to value Makino Technology has exceeded 20 billion US dollars. Now, Li Mu has completely taken the initiative, and he has already taken 20 billion US dollars. They looked down upon him, and this time, no media dared to ridicule Li Mu like they did before.
A reporter from the New York Times asked: "Mr. Li, in less than two years, you have created an Internet empire with a valuation of more than 20 billion US dollars. This is an incredible success worldwide. So what do you think drives your success and the success of Makino Technology?”
Li Mu said: "There is an old saying in China called 'the right time, the right place and the right people', which roughly means that if you want to win a war, you need excellent climatic conditions, a favorable geographical environment and a stable military morale. The climatic conditions are understandable. For opportunities, the geographical environment can be understood as the environment, and the military spirit can be understood as the inner aspirations of the team members, and Makino Technology just has these three points."
The questions and answers to the first few questions were generally harmonious, and Li Mu's answers satisfied the questioner. Next, Li Mu took the initiative to select several media from the Internet industry to ask questions.
The first one to get the opportunity was Yahoo, but what Li Mu didn't expect was that the Yahoo reporter's questions were full of explosiveness.
"Mr. Li, as we all know, although the Internet industry is developing very fast, it is experiencing serious bubbles and the speed of updates is also very fast. As an instant messaging software, YY is indeed very popular in the US market. So what do you think, How long can YY's popularity among users last? In other words, when do you think the YY bubble will burst?"
Li Mu also didn't expect that the first colleague's question would be so unfriendly.
However, it is in line with Guo Degang's classic statement that only peers are enemies.
What's more, in 2000, Yahoo's market value climbed to hundreds of billions of dollars, and it is currently the number one company in the Internet industry. It is understandable that Yahoo people are somewhat arrogant.
So, Li Mu looked at the provocative white Yahoo reporter, smiled slightly, and said, "Although you are a reporter from Yahoo, I'm not sure how much you know about the Internet industry. Let's put it this way, in my eyes , YY is a product that is in demand and is highly irreplaceable. In contrast, as a portal website and free email service, Yahoo itself is not a product that is in demand, and its substitutability is too high. I am confident that YY will be in the market It will continue to develop in the next ten years, but if Yahoo does not transform as soon as possible, I am afraid it will start to decline in the next few years. If you want to see the bubble burst, it is more realistic to wait and see Yahoo."
Among the Internet companies in the United States, the most interesting one is Yahoo, because in Li Mu's eyes, apart from finding the right development direction at the beginning of the Internet, Yahoo made mistakes all the time.
I missed the opportunity to acquire Google at a low price, but when I wanted to acquire it, I found that I could no longer afford it;
Originally, Facebook could be acquired for one billion US dollars, but at the critical juncture, it lacked business ethics and tried to lower the price to US$850 million. However, Mark Zuckerberg flatly rejected it. When Facebook then shamelessly made an offer of more than US$1 billion, Facebook I no longer care about it at all;
By 2008, Yahoo had been defeated for many years in a row. In order to compete with Google, Microsoft made an offer of US$50 billion to it, but the proud Yahoo rejected it;
In 2016, Yahoo finally found a seller and was taken over by the American communications giant Verizon for US$4.8 billion...
In Li Mu's eyes, Yahoo can be said to have been resting on its laurels without making any progress since 2000, and while resting on its laurels and going downhill, it still pretends to be cool. The most ridiculous thing is that Yahoo has been in the booming Internet and mobile Internet for so many years. In the field, it is rare that there is no commendable achievement. This is really funny.
But now, the funny Yahoo reporter actually looks down on Makino Technology, which makes Li Mu quite unhappy, so he doesn't care about the presence of so many media, not to mention that Yahoo is still the number one in the industry, and directly criticizes it in public.
The reporter did not expect that Li Mu would attack so directly, and subconsciously asked: "Yahoo's market value is at least six or seven times that of Makino Technology. Why do you think Yahoo's bubble will burst instead of Makino Technology's?"
Li Mu smiled and said: "It is impossible for Yahoo to influence Makino Technology now. On the contrary, Makino Technology has many aspects that can influence Yahoo."
The reporter was also young and energetic. Being choked by Li Mu, his pride and arrogance as a Yahoo employee was aroused. He said excitedly: "How does Makino Technology affect Yahoo? Please give an example."
Li Mu smiled slightly and said: "I originally did not plan to vigorously promote YY mailboxes across the United States, nor did I think of launching YY's English portal immediately. However, since you have raised objections to Makino Technology, I might as well demonstrate it to you. Let you see whether YY can influence Yahoo or Yahoo can influence YY."
(End of chapter)