New York 2006

Chapter 323 Luo Ji’s Business Empire

On December 2009, 12, more than a month of global inspections finally came to an end. Everyone was leaving Japan on a private plane and flying to the United States.

Kristen, Fiona and others were drinking and celebrating at a table near the big sofa on the plane, and even the two flight attendants joined in.

Luo Ji, Deborah Liu, and Yang Jian sat on a small sofa near the lounge, browsing the branch's documents for discussion.

Luo Ji first looked at Yang Jian: "Please summarize the situation of Holi Game Company first."

Yang Jian raised his glasses with his hands, and then said seriously: "11% of Holi's global social game revenue in November came from Facebook."

Luo Ji frowned: "I remember Facebook only accounted for 60% before, right?"

"Yes, you remember correctly."

Yang Jian said: "Facebook has been developing very fast recently, adding millions of new users every month. The number of active people on other social platforms such as MySpace and Hi5 is getting smaller and smaller. Correspondingly, our social games The proportion of revenue on these platforms has also declined, now down to 5%."

Luo Ji's eyes gradually became darker: "It seems that we are about to usher in an era ruled by Facebook!"

"Yes."

Yang Jian is also a little worried: "Facebook should show its fangs soon. No Internet monopoly will allow third parties to make profits on their platform without paying taxes to them."

Luo Ji tapped his fingers on the table, thought for a moment and said, "We can't let Holi be so dependent on Facebook all the time. We must seek diversified development."

"You mean to vigorously develop the mobile game industry?"

Luo Ji shook his head: "No, aren't mobile games always developing? I'm talking about other things. Let's put the development of stand-alone games back on the agenda. Try to diversify the company so that we can develop mobile games and social games. There are also stand-alone games. In the end, large-scale online games are the only thing missing.”

Yang Jian thought for a moment: "Okay, I will set up a new department and start developing stand-alone games."

"Then you can continue with the analysis of Holi Games."

Yang Jian continued: "The layout of Holi Games' global servers, personnel, venues and branch structures has reached an advanced stage. I expect the financing to be completed this month, plus the company's own income. By May or June this year, the company will be able to Profitable."

"Well done." Luo Ji was very happy to hear the news. The dawn of victory was just in front of him, and he could finally see the money back.

Yang Jian continued: "Holi's income from other countries around the world basically has to cover the expenses of the branches. The head office needs to provide support from time to time. However, in Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, we are playing games Agent for local social networking sites. Because we don’t need to build servers ourselves, we now have a lot of local currencies. Should we transfer this money to the American head office?”

Luo Ji shook his head and refused: "If you transfer money to the United States, you have to pay 30% tax. I don't want it. Look, Internet companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook haven't transferred the money back."

"Then what should we do with the money? We can't just leave it idle in the bank."

Luo Ji thought for a moment: "Let's do this. You can directly recruit local employees and let them develop mobile games. This year, the scale of global mobile games will reach 47 billion US dollars, and the growth rate of smartphone games is particularly fast. We will continue to deploy globally. Increase investment."

"Okay, I have no problem."

…………

To be honest, after three years of development, Holi Game Company has completely become popular.

Even if you encounter a problem, it is only a minor matter. It may be a bit tricky to deal with at most, but it will not affect the survival of the company.

But WeChat is different. This is Luo Ji's key layout in the mobile Internet industry.

After nearly a year of development, WeChat has seized the opportunity and is far ahead in the world.However, there are also many competing products emerging in the middle.

Line in South Korea, WeChat in China, and What's app in the United States.

These software are all developed by small companies, and the capital is not as sufficient as WeChat, so there is nothing to worry about.

However, it seems that some giants are coming to an end.

Luo Ji looked at the two of them and said, "When I visited Tencent, Pony Ma asked me if I had any plans to sell WeChat. My answer was that I had no plans to sell, but they were welcome to raise funds. He skipped the topic at the time .”

"I didn't pay attention at the time, but the more I thought about it during this period, the more I felt something was wrong. It was impossible for Pony Ma to ask me this question for no reason. I feel that Tencent is very likely to enter the mobile social field."

Deborah Liu suddenly became serious: “Could this be your misjudgment?”

"impossible,"

Luo Ji continued: "No company in the world understands the value of instant messaging better than Tencent."

"They relied on an instant messaging software to grow into an Internet giant with a market value of more than 300 billion US dollars. WeChat was launched in China in March this year. After seven months of development, it reached 500 million users. This It’s enough to arouse their vigilance, and maybe Tencent has already taken action privately to develop its own APP.”

Yang Jian said: "Our WeChat and Tencent's QQ can be said to be in a competitive relationship. The two are too similar, and they have developed silently for so long to reach 1000 million users, which is enough to arouse their vigilance."

Deborah Liu said with a worried look: "If Tencent really ends, it will not be comparable to those small companies. It will inevitably compete fiercely with us. It seems that there is no foreign Internet industry company that can compete. There are no local Internet companies in China. Not to mention the giant Tencent.”

Luo Ji looked at her in surprise: "You mean to sell WeChat directly to Tencent?"

"Yes."

Deborah Liu said: "This is the best choice. Our main battlefield is still around the world. But Tencent is different. Their core is the Chinese local market."

"If a war really breaks out, they can use all their resources to compete with us in China. But we also have to take care of other parts of the world. Not to mention Tencent QQ has a huge user base, and they can easily attract traffic."

Luo Ji looked at Yang Jian: "What's your suggestion?"

Yang Jian rubbed his chin and thought for a while: "If the price is right, we can sell it. If Tencent really ends, our chances of winning are very low. WeChat is just a Chinese subsidiary of WeChat. After the sale, it can bring us a large amount of cash." , can cope with the subsequent global expansion.”

The two elites under his command were surprisingly consistent in their attitudes towards this matter.

If it was a year or two ago, Luo Ji might have sold it for money.But now, compared to the income that WeChat may bring in the future, he really doesn't like the money from the sale.

Luo Ji looked at his two elites and said seriously: "Surrendering without fighting is not my style."

"Logic, do you want to think about it again?" Yang Jian advised.

"No, you two should think about how to deal with the next competition now."

Both of his subordinates were aware of his strong character, and instead of persuading him, they started to think about it seriously.

Deborah Liu thought for a while and said: "I have carefully studied the failure of Microsoft's MSN and Google's search engine in China. These companies are controlled by white people. They are relatively arrogant, and the decisions of their Chinese branches must be controlled by others." It will be handled by the headquarters, which will have a strong lag. Since we want to compete, we can't make such mistakes again." Luo Ji said: "Then let the local people in China take control and go to a headhunting company to recruit people. Looking for top local Internet talents in China to control the branch."

Yang Jian said: "We can also introduce local Internet capital in China and form an interest alliance with them. Baidu is very suitable, they can provide a strong traffic diversion effect."

"Okay!" Luo Ji tapped his fingers on the table and thought seriously for a while, then looked at Deborah: "How much money has WeChat supported by the headquarters so far?"

"1000 million US dollars. There are still several million US dollars in cash flow from the WeChat account."

Luo Ji said: "Headquarters will support another 2000 million yuan. Next, WeChat will start a crazy money-burning mode. We will try to increase the number of WeChat users in the shortest possible time and reserve enough moats for us."

"2000 million?" Deborah Liu said, "This will make the cash flow of the headquarters a little tight."

"It's okay." Luo Ji then looked at Yang Jian: "When you go back, help Deborah contact those venture capital companies and start WeChat's Series A financing."

"Ok."

The Internet industry is all about raising money and burning money, and Luo Ji is already familiar with these things.

Luo Ji looked at Deborah Liu and said, "After the headquarters supports WeChat with 2000 million yuan this time, WeChat and the head office should be completely separated. Let WeChat run independently and let them finance their own development. This will also facilitate the introduction of China’s capital.”

"Ok."

"The same goes for Japan and South Korea. The head office supports 1000 million yuan, and then directly separates it like WeChat. Let them introduce local capital and independently finance development. We do not interfere in daily operations, only major decisions."

"Okay." Deborah Liu said, "What about the Russian subsidiary?"

"As for Russia..." Luo Ji pondered for a moment: "Integrate it into the head office. So far, there has not been a single competitor in Russia. It seems that their local Internet companies have not yet realized the arrival of the mobile Internet era."

…………

The three discussed the details for another half hour, ending this serious conversation.Talking about some interesting things during the global inspection.

Yang Jian said with a smile: "I feel that Ireland has become a cancer of the European Union. American Internet companies and technology industries have gone to Ireland to open branches to avoid the EU's high taxes."

"Hahaha." Luo Ji said with a smile, "Our company is also a beneficiary."

Deborah Liu also laughed: "The United States is full and the EU is hurt. But this money cannot be returned to the United States. The U.S. overseas profit tax is too high, 30%. These technology giants have all stored their money overseas."

Luo Ji nodded: "Apple has 100 billion in cash reserves, and it is estimated that it has at least 50 billion overseas."

Yang Jian said: "Logic, you said these technology companies don't pay dividends, why are they saving so much money?"

Luo Ji said, "Maybe it's to cope with the crisis, or maybe if you see a good company and want to acquire it, you'll use the cash flow."

Yang Jian nodded without any objection.

Deborah Liu opened her mouth and said: "This is what technology companies do now. They save their profits. Just look at Microsoft."

"If they had paid dividends, there might not have been the giant companies they are today. They saved money and used their money to acquire good companies when they saw them. If this continues, Microsoft's scale will definitely grow larger and larger, and it may create an unprecedented company. of super giant companies.”

When Luo Ji heard this, he touched his chin and fell into deep thought.

"Logic, what's wrong with you?" Deborah Liu asked.

"fine."

Yang Jian looked at the people playing enthusiastically next to him and suggested: "Logic, Deborah, let's go over and play for a while. Relax."

"Okay." Deborah Liu said, "It's a rare time to relax."

"You guys go play, I'll be there later."

"Ok."

After the two of them left, Luo Ji sat alone on the sofa, tapping on the computer, looking at some of his company's information on the screen and lost in thought.

Deborah Liu's words about Microsoft just now gave Luo Ji some ideas.Create an unprecedented giant company.

Luo Ji's core assets involve music, movies, games, mobile social networking, and investment.

No, investment companies are an exception. This can only be regarded as a club where you can make connections, and making money is secondary.

Then its core assets are two music companies, two film companies, and two Internet companies.

Internet companies are not profitable, let’s not talk about it for now.

Luo Ji's initial positioning of music companies and film companies was to provide him with cash flow.Then rely on the apocalypse to buy and buy in the market.

He himself seems to have never thought about running these companies, but constantly draws blood from these companies.

But what is the future of music companies?What is the future for both film companies?What is the future of these two Internet companies?
Is he just making money from these companies and then investing in companies that he cannot fully control?
Just like Tesla and SpaceX.At the end of the day, it's Musk's business, not his.

He invests in these companies just to make money.

But to be honest, with Tianqi, making money was too easy for Luo Ji.Now that his assets have increased in value by hundreds of millions of dollars every year, it no longer gives him a sense of accomplishment.

Perhaps, he should seriously consider the future of these companies.

"Honey, what are you thinking about?" Kristen looked like she had drunk a lot of wine, and sat next to him with a flushed face.

"I'm thinking about some company matters."

Kristine said: "You have been busy for a month, can't you just relax and unwind? You think about so many things every day."

"How can we not think about it? If we are not careful, we may be left behind by the times."

"You've been so successful."

Luo Ji looked at Christine and shook his head seriously: "I'm not successful enough!"

(End of this chapter)