Because of the series of operations of the veteran, the global reputation of Li Mu and Makino Technology has gradually reached an unprecedented peak. Li Mu is worthy of the title of "Young Leader of the World", not only telling the world an extremely inspiring story, but also giving people A huge seed of good karma has been planted in society.
However, the media has recently discovered that compared with Li Mu and Makino Technology’s charitable actions that frequently make headlines everywhere, Li Mu’s companies rarely make major breakthroughs in business. The recent media news about Makino Technology almost all revolves around Makino Technology established the Veterans Immortality Charitable Foundation in the United States, but there is no new news about Makino Technology’s business itself.
In Li Mu's view, Makino Technology's overall business is now in a stage of steady development. Although Taobao has not made any particularly big moves, the transaction volume of the platform has also hit new highs repeatedly. Its two core pillar companies have entered a very important stage. A period of stable growth, this is a very important stage, a good period to consolidate the business foundation and strengthen the enterprise from the bottom.
However, to the general public who are accustomed to seeing Li Mu's meteoric rise, such steady and stair-climbing growth does seem a bit boring and boring. Therefore, occasionally the media will pop up to show their wits and think that Li Mu and his companies The industry has entered a bottleneck period.
Li Mu rarely has the energy to care about these unfounded speculations. He has recently focused his energy on two things. The first is: Baidu has begun to reach a preliminary consensus on the acquisition of Yiting.com and is currently in the internal evaluation stage. Li Mushi boldly proposed a 20% share swap, but Baidu obviously couldn't accept it and could only enter the evaluation stage first.
If we follow the normal historical pace, Baidu's valuation in the first half of 2003 would have been at least over US$500 million. It would be a bit wishful for a music website to hold 15-20% of its shares, but now Baidu's actual valuation can reach US$200 million. The U.S. dollar is about to be burned. It failed to capture the traffic of online music and missed Baidu Tieba. Now Baidu itself is a lame boy, and Yiting.com is another dominant player, occupying the entire Chinese online music and download market. With a share of more than 90%, this is the time to take advantage of Baidu. Although it is difficult to exchange for 15-20% of the market value, Li Mu feels that it is very possible.
In addition to Baidu's acquisition of Yiting.com, the second thing Li Mu is paying close attention to is SARS, which has gradually had an impact across the country.
Since March, there has indeed been a lot more news about SARS.
This news comes from all over the country, especially from the southeast region.
Fortunately, most of the current rumors have not formed a synergy. Some say that avian influenza broke out in a certain place, some say that a meningitis broke out in a certain place, and some people heard that it was a type of pneumonia with strong drug resistance. These Most of the rumors only spread locally, and their influence is not very large.
Senior Brother Liu was appointed by Li Mu. While actively improving the logistics system and the logistics personnel's own protection, he was also paying attention to the social impact in various places.
From February to now, small-scale panic buying of related materials has indeed broken out in some cities. Among them, the most serious panic buying phenomenon is disinfectant, isatis root and white vinegar. Some merchants are raising prices on the ground, which has indeed brought a rise to local prices. To a certain extent, when Senior Brother Liu reported the situation to Li Mu several times, he never forgot to ask Li Mu whether Taobao would intervene in areas where material price gouging occurred, but Li Mu refused every time.
There are more than 300 prefecture-level cities across the country. A few cities and regions have triggered panic buying, which is not enough for Taobao to respond immediately. If Taobao starts to interfere with the prices of materials in a few cities, this unusual move will definitely trigger a large-scale Note that at that time, the whole country had not yet entered a psychological panic, but when Taobao messed with it, it immediately panicked. This would be a good intention but a bad thing.
Recently, the situation of material gouging in Guangdong Province has become increasingly serious. It has become so serious that dealers have increased prices to ask for goods from manufacturers and transferred goods to other regions. Therefore, rumors have suddenly spread in several surrounding provinces.
Some people said that they saw businessmen from Guangdong Province driving to their provinces and cities with large amounts of cash to search for disinfectant, isatis root and other supplies. Almost every store was bought and emptied;
Some people say that this is because an infectious disease with a high mortality rate broke out in Guangdong Province, and disinfectant can kill this infectious bacteria, and isatis root can also prevent the human body from being infected by this pathogen;
Some people say that you should quickly find a way to buy some disinfectant and isatis root at home, otherwise the people in Guangdong Province will buy them all. If the infectious disease spreads by then, you will be in danger...
As a result, the plunder-like buying behavior of merchants in Guangdong Province directly made the citizens of surrounding provinces and cities nervous to the extreme. Rumors spread faster and faster, and everyone rushed into pharmacies and supermarkets to buy those legendary items that could withstand the cold. Supplies for infectious diseases.
This time, SARS has had the greatest negative impact since its emergence until now.
When Senior Brother Liu reported the situation he had determined to Li Mu, he did not forget to remind him: "At least more than 30 million urban residents have been affected now. Panic buying has broken out in Guangdong Province and several surrounding provinces, and this This panic buying trend is spreading very quickly. I heard that in some places, a bottle of white vinegar costs two yuan for 30 to 50 yuan, a bottle of disinfectant for 3 yuan costs 70 to 80 yuan, and a pack of isatis root costs 5 yuan. More than 100, the supply is still in short supply. If we don't intervene, this panic buying wave will soon spread across the country... "
Li Mu frowned upon hearing this.
According to Senior Brother Liu, the situation is indeed somewhat urgent now.
Rumors spread everywhere, people are psychologically fearful, profiteers are raising prices, and supplies are in short supply.
This situation is a very unfavorable negative cycle. Driven by profits, profiteers who raise prices will definitely find ways to intensify the fear of the people. The more panic the people have, the higher the prices they can sell the materials in their hands, so here In this unhealthy market environment, profiteers must have played a huge role in the spread of rumors. If this continues, negative and panic emotions will continue to spread and deepen, affecting more people and causing more people to pay. More money.
As of now, this kind of panic has covered many provinces and cities in the southeast. Judging from this scale, it is indeed necessary for Taobao to intervene in the market price. Currently, Taobao has a huge reserve of SARS-related materials. As long as you open the warehouse door, you will not be affected. Talking about the material problems in several southeastern provinces and cities, even if most of China has material problems, Taobao can suppress them. On the one hand, it uses materials to calm people's hearts, and on the other hand, it uses low prices to suppress profiteers. But Li Mu always feels that, The time has not come yet.
Li Mu said to Senior Brother Liu, "Senior Brother, the time has really not come yet."
Senior Brother Liu asked him: "Then can you tell me what kind of opportunity you are waiting for? I can also be mentally prepared."
Li Mu said: "Judging from the various news we have received so far, the impact of this infectious disease is indeed becoming more and more serious, but we need to consider the problem from a large level. Hundreds of cities across the country, with a population of more than one billion, At present, only a small number of people are really affected. If we intervene hastily at the material level, it may accelerate the spread of news. The spread of critical remarks is faster than all mobilization measures and material mobilization. Once If we don’t grasp the degree properly, it will be a disservice to the country.”
Senior Brother Liu sighed and said: "You are right, but we don't know when the time is most appropriate. If it is early, it will be a disservice to the country. If it is late, it may miss our original intention. It’s so difficult to find a suitable opportunity!”
Li Mu nodded. As someone who has been through this, how could he not know this
However, he is just a private entrepreneur who wants to use his understanding of the future and his current financial and material resources to contribute to the country and society. Contributing is naturally a good thing, but if the contribution fails but does not help, then it is putting the cart before the horse. .
After thinking about it, Li Mu suddenly had an idea and blurted out: "That's right! Senior brother, is there any news from the WHO?"
WHO is the abbreviation of the World Health Organization. Although Li Mu couldn't remember what role the WHO played during the SARS outbreak in his previous life, he vaguely felt that the WHO should give a reminder about such a big thing after paying attention to the epidemic.
Senior Brother Liu said: "I have paid attention to the WHO, but there has been no movement so far."
Li Mu smacked his lips and said to Senior Brother Liu, "Okay, Senior Brother, let's wait a little longer and see if the WHO will take any action. The WHO is more authoritative on this issue!"
After saying that, Li Mu added: "WHO should have some communication with the country, and maybe the country will soon take comprehensive measures to control the epidemic."
Li Mu feels that now is the information age, and the Internet has also achieved unprecedented development in the past two years. He believes that the huge influence of the Internet has been popularized a few years in advance. Under such circumstances, some of the more regrettable things that happened in the previous life may be Changes will occur due to changes in this aspect.
Senior Brother Liu couldn't help but ask: "What if there is a deviation?"
Li Mu said: "It's hard to say. If there is a deviation, I will ask Lao Chen for help and find a way to respond to the problem. I believe that the country will take timely and effective measures to prevent the epidemic."
Senior Brother Liu nodded and said: "Then I will prepare immediately. Once the WHO speaks out and the country speaks out, we will immediately follow the country's grand strategy. Taobao will definitely cooperate with us and put the materials we have prepared online. Push it out so that people across the country can purchase related materials at an affordable price and stabilize the prices of materials and people's panic!"
Li Mu nodded and said: "To do this well, Taobao and Makino Technology must work together. Let's do this. We will have a meeting with the core members of both teams in the afternoon to deploy this strategy!"
(End of chapter)