History has many accidents and many inevitabilities. The concept of centralization is inevitable when the Internet develops to a certain stage. However, Li Mu’s dominance over Yahoo made Ben. Clarkson accidentally become the proposer of this concept.
Ben. Clarkson came up with this concept, which made him particularly recognized by the entire industry. At the same time, he also used this concept to repay Li Mu.
When the concept of centralization was put forward, there were generally two products on the market that could meet the requirements, one was YY and the other was Microsoft Windows.
However, Windows itself is a platform open to all developers, which is very different from YY. Any software developer can develop their own products on Windows, and they do not need to be reviewed and approved by Microsoft and Windows, but YY is different. All its product functions are separated and 100% controlled by YY itself.
Take the current YY game platform as an example. Today, Li Mu can allow other board and card game development companies to operate the small games he developed on the YY game platform, and then share the game revenue with the game development company, but he can also do so at any time. By removing the opponent's games from its own platform, YY itself has absolute control over the YY game platform. In this way, it is a truly centralized product.
This is true for every YY game, not to mention the entire YY product ecosystem.
As the only representative product of the current centralized concept, YY's attention has once again increased. This time, companies in the industry have regarded Makino Technology as a god, and it has accidentally made it so huge. Its scale and such powerful influence amaze the entire Internet industry.
So, Li Mu made a final offer to Sequoia on the negotiation table: Makino Technology’s Series C financing was valued at US$33 billion, and Sequoia purchased 10% of Makino Technology’s shares for US$3.3 billion in cash. This 10% stake The existing shareholders of Makino Technology will be diluted in equal proportions as a whole, but Sequoia only owns equity and does not have any voting rights, let alone interfere with the daily operations of the company. At the same time, Makino Technology will take out US$300 million from the US$3.3 billion. It is the shareholder cash-out portion of this financing.
In other words, US$3.3 billion comes in, US$3 billion enters Makino Technology's books, and the remaining US$300 million is distributed in proportion to all shareholders before the share dilution. One point can be taken when it is diluted to 0.9 points. to $3 million in cash.
And after getting these three million US dollars, the remaining 0.9 points are still there. Calculated based on the market value of 33 billion, 0.9 percentage points, the market value is nearly 300 million US dollars!
Sequoia wouldn't want to sign this kind of agreement even to death.
First of all, they had just reluctantly accepted a valuation of 30 billion, and suddenly it increased by another 3 billion. This valuation grew so fast that their hearts could not bear it;
Secondly, they do not want the shareholders of Makino Technology to cash out in this round. Based on the valuation of 30 billion, they invest 10%. After the US$3 billion is given to Makino Technology, all of it will be used as the company's subsequent development funds. In this case , they can feel more balanced.
Li Mu's current request is basically like asking Sequoia to suddenly provide an additional 300 million US dollars so that he can share it with everyone. The person in charge of Sequoia is dying. You reward the team and let us get more. Three hundred million US dollars, how can there be such a domineering thing
However, Li Mu insisted on being so domineering.
He has long seen through the nature of capital. Capital is profit-seeking. Whether it is angel investment or venture capital, it is all profit-seeking. Even the best angel investors will not invest in projects that are bound to be completed. It seems to be brilliant, saying to those hanging silk entrepreneurs who are struggling to survive: "Come, come to me, I will give you money to develop."
In fact, their subtext is: "Come, let dad see if you have the potential to make money. If so, let dad buy some stocks at a low price."
For companies with promising but not so bright futures, they are willing to provide capital as if they were their own fathers, but capital, the biological father, may not treat them as their own sons; for those companies with infinitely bright futures, capital is willing to Kneel down and call them daddy. As long as his dad allows him to buy some shares, everything else is fine.
Li Mu doesn’t want to play such frivolous things with capital. Since everyone is pursuing profits, then I will give you my final offer. If you are willing to agree, we can shake hands and sign the contract, and we will be tied together in the future; if you If you don't agree, I won't keep you even if you slam the table and leave. If you leave, I will find someone else with the same offer.
Sequoia was tortured crazy by Li Mu. Negotiations began when Makino Technology had never left the country and its valuation was only a few billion dollars. They talked about it until they arrived in the United States. As soon as YY became popular among the elite group, its valuation was It has become more than 10 billion; then Li Mu stopped talking and continued to hit hard. "Paradise Town" gained national attention. YY forced a large number of users to be washed away, and the user base doubled; this is not the end. , Li Mu turned around and went to Harvard. By the time he came back from New York and Hollywood, Makino Technology had already reached 30 billion.
Sequoia has been investing for so many years, but they have never seen such a rhythmic player like Li Mu. Every time, they can only stare at Li Mu's strategies and tactics in stunned silence, sighing: "How can there be such an operation in the whole world?"
Li Mu is like a super e-sports expert. He just sneaks into the jungle for a walk, farts, and then comes out with a super outfit.
Li Mu has made everything impossible possible, and he is also making Makino Technology's valuation of US$33 billion possible.
Because Li Mu's attitude was extremely tough and left no room for error, after struggling for two days, Sequoia finally announced that it would accept Li Mu's financing conditions and officially start pre-financing due diligence.
Unexpectedly, Sequoia, who had finally been able to act decisively once, would be attacked by Li Mu again.
Li Mu directly responded to Sequoia in his own name and through the company level in the form of an official letter. The core content was: "What are you and I writing about? It's already here, who still has time to accompany you to complete the financing due diligence? Sign the contract Before, I can first open to you the company's general market revenue data. Once the contract is signed, I will open the financial account information to you. After you read it and you have no problem, you can pay immediately. After the payment, we have officially completed the financing, and I will accept your regular audits. , that’s all, if you want to withdraw in the middle, you can withdraw before financing or IPO. If you don’t want to withdraw, you can make your own decision in the stock market after the IPO next year or the year after.”
At the end of the official letter, Li Mu's request was: "Consider it as soon as possible and reply as soon as possible. I don't have much time to waste waiting."
Sequoia couldn't laugh or cry.
Li Mu is really a rare hegemonic company, and it can be so domineering in financing. This Chinese person is really extraordinary. The key is that Sequoia can't have a temper at all. Who can let the company develop so fast and update its valuation so quickly? It's too fast. Maybe something will be done tomorrow and 33 billion people won't agree.
In fact, Li Mu still has a magic weapon in his hand to increase the valuation of Makino Technology. This magic weapon is "Plants vs. Zombies" which he magically transformed into a social network game. After this game went through internal testing, everyone in the game development team felt that this The game is simply not that fun, it’s almost fucking crazy. If it weren't for the boss keeping an eye on it, I'm afraid the entire department would be wasted on this game.
Li Mumo's modified "Plants vs. Zombies" has almost become "Plants vs. Zombies Online", and it attaches great importance to the interaction and cooperation with friends. Users who have played the normal "Plants vs. Zombies" may not be able to play it. It's too familiar, but for these users in this era who have never played "Plants vs. Zombies" or even played serious tower defense games, this game is so fun that it is simply poisonous!
If this game were released now and promoted through YY, which currently has a huge increase in users, it would probably become popular all over the world in a few days, but Li Mu also has his own difficulties at the moment.
First of all, two huge events of "Paradise Town" are advancing. It is unparalleled in the gaming field and no one can beat it. If "Plants vs. Zombies" is launched at this time, it will directly steal the limelight of these two events. In the end, no one could beat "Paradise Town". Li Mu himself defeated it with new products. This was internal friction and was not advisable;
Secondly, "Plants vs. Zombies" is an Online game, which means that it requires server bandwidth to support it.
If it only supports hundreds of thousands of people playing, then the server bandwidth requirements are nothing to Makino Technology.
But Li Mu is very aware of the magical nature of "Plants vs. Zombies". This thing has become popular faster than Uncle Psy's horse riding dance. It may become popular all over the world overnight. In that case, the servers of "Plants vs. Zombies" need to carry , I’m afraid it’s the huge demand from tens of millions of people playing games at the same time;
Moreover, the overall game rhythm of this thing is much faster than that of games like "Paradise Town". "Paradise Town" is a management game. You can collect corn in the fields, feed chickens in the chicken coop, and hand in tasks in NPG. Even if it is There is no problem if there is a certain amount of lag and delay in data processing. Not only can users tolerate it, but sometimes they may not even notice it.
But if "Plants vs. Zombies" encounters lags and delays during a friend battle, it would be terrible. Just when you were about to plant a pea shooter, the result was stuck. By the time you realized it, zombies had already pushed you along the way. This kind of user experience would be absolutely terrible. It's like a dog. In the end, if the user's online experience is too poor due to insufficient server load and they switch to stand-alone mode, then the greatest significance of this game will be completely lost.
To build "Plants vs. Zombies Online" that supports tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of users, Li Mu really needs to build at least five to six large-scale data processing centers around the world, otherwise the game will not be available.
Therefore, Li Mu has no way to launch "Plants vs. Zombies Online" first to raise the valuation. He can only raise funds first, and then invest in building a data processing center. After the data processing center is built, he can then launch "Plants vs. Zombies Online" .
In the Internet game industry, most games are influenced and restricted by geography and culture when they are constructed and developed, so they often appear to be popular locally but weak overseas. Except for outliers like "World of Warcraft", there is really no such thing. Several online games can become popular all over the world.
But it is extremely rare for a game like "Plants vs. Zombies" to be popular across five continents without any obstacles. Li Mu has high hopes for this game. In his opinion, the development space of this game is far greater than that of "Paradise Town" above.
(End of chapter)