New York 2006

Chapter 324: Valuation of 40 billion dollars
"What are social games and the history of social games."

“Holi occupies seven of the top ten popular social games on Facebook, and the top five are all occupied by Holi.”

"FarmVille, a "food-stealing" game, is popular around the world. According to internal reports from Holi employees, the monthly active users of this game have reached 6000 million, and the number of monthly active users in East Asia is 4300 million."

"Social games are about to explode. Some professionals predict that the scale of global social games will reach US$2010 billion in 40."

"The famous game giant EA acquired social game development studio Playfish for US$11 million in early November. It officially announced its entry into the social game industry."

"Some professionals have analyzed that the valuation of Holi game may reach 60 billion US dollars."

"The ruler of the social gaming industry, the history of Holi Games!"

Silicon Valley, California.

Zuckerberg read the in-depth analysis of Holi on the front page of today's New York Times, then looked at Yuri Milner opposite and said.

"In the past two months, there has been so much news about social games and Holi Company? Is Holi Game Company going to launch Series C financing?"

"Yes, my investment company received news of Holi's Series C financing." Yuri Milner nodded.

Yuri Milner is the CEO of DST Venture Capital and a giant in the Internet investment community.In the past two years, it has made frequent moves and invested in many global Internet companies.

These include famous companies such as Facebook and Twitter. He also participated in the investment during Holi’s B-round financing.

Zuckerberg said: "Holi is the number one in the global social gaming industry. It not only cooperates with us, but also cooperates with some local social media in East Asia and Russia."

"Yes."

"So what is the real valuation of Holi Games now?"

Yuri Milner shook his head: "Not sure yet."

Zuckerberg touched his chin and said, "I saw some media saying that Holi is now valued at $60 billion. Is this true?"

"Of course not."

Yuri Milner said with a smile: "These articles may be small essays that Logic asked the media to write. Now many of the articles bragging about Holi Game Company may have been written by him."

Zuckerberg pointed to the New York Times in his hand: "Including this article?"

Yuri Milner shook his head: "I don't know about that."

"Okay." Zuckerberg looked at the "New York Times" in his hand and fell into deep thought.

…………

In the past two months, there has been a sudden increase in news about social games and Holi in the media.

Among them, some of the articles that brazenly boasted about Holi Company were indeed soft articles written by someone hired by the company.

But more news reports are due to the rapid development of social games, which has attracted the media's interest, and they are written spontaneously.

As for today's in-depth article about Holi Game Company in the New York Times, it is true that Luo Ji took the initiative to find a reporter to write it after returning to China.

However, there was nothing Luo Ji could do to influence the New York Times' reporting bias.

He just proactively provided some company information in exchange for the favor of the New York Times reporter.Just let their reports be slightly biased towards Holi Company.

……

Washington DC.

A restaurant near Capitol Hill.

Psaki was chatting with the chief of staff of a senator on Capitol Hill on behalf of a new energy industry lobbying group.

Psaki said: "Although the new energy industry has just begun to develop, it represents the future. Just like the Internet wave in the 90s, the Chinese government supported China's Internet industry early that year. Now the only one in the world that can compete with the American Internet is China’s Internet.”

"Now, China has also taken action in the new energy industry. In their latest government plan, they plan to support China's new energy industry. This includes subsidies, tax exemptions, and the government providing land at low prices. We..."

The chief of staff interrupted directly: "Psaki, I know what you are going to say. You hope that my boss can support the "American New Energy Support Act" proposed by Representative Zhao Meixin, right?"

"Yes." Psaki nodded.

The chief of staff immediately shook his head: "Even with the support of my boss, this bill would not be passed. Your new energy industry is too weak, how many congressmen can you influence?"

“We don’t want to pass this bill in one go, we just hope to get support from senators.”

"It's impossible."

The chief of staff said firmly: "Psaki, we are old acquaintances, and I won't give in. The three major car companies in the United States, as well as several major oil giants, have already spoken out to Capitol Hill. Which congressman dares to support it?" They will definitely impose penalties on this new energy bill!”

Psaki didn’t want to give up so easily: “They can’t cover the sky with one hand! There must be congressmen willing to support our bill.”

"Indeed!"

The chief of staff continued: "But those congressmen's districts are in economically developed places like California and New York State. Of course they want to emphasize environmental protection. But my boss's district has some traditional automobile industry workers. They decided Can my boss be re-elected?"

Psaki had already done some research, and she said, "Automotive industry workers only make up a small part of your boss's constituency."

The chief of staff said with a serious face: "Psaki, I think I have made it clear enough. Let's not continue this meaningless topic."

"Ok."

"That's right, everyone understands each other."

Psaki is a little depressed and has been having a rough time recently.Not only was her boyfriend snatched away, but she also encountered obstacles at work.

This was the fifth congressman she had encountered in a row who had been explicitly rejected.It seems that traditional car companies and oil giants have a greater deterrent effect on Capitol Hill than she imagined.

The chief of staff smiled: "Let's talk about other things."

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard that you are very familiar with Logic?"

"Yes." Psaki nodded: "I have known him for a long time."

The chief of staff said: "My boss wants to get to know him. I wonder if you can introduce him?"

Psaki wondered: "Why does your boss know Logic?"

"Do you need any more reason to know Logic? There is no one in the United States who doesn't want to know him."

The chief of staff continued: "Did you read today's New York Times? Logic's gaming company Holi was on its front page today."

Psaki asked curiously: "I haven't read it yet, what does it say?"

“Holi is now number one in the social gaming industry and number one in the mobile smartphone gaming industry. In three years, Holi has grown from a simple music comparison software to a global Internet company. The number of monthly active users has surpassing Activision Blizzard and becoming the world’s number one game company by users.”

"Really? I remember it wasn't last month."

"It was just exceeded in early December."

The chief of staff quoted information from some reports: "Social games and smartphone games are developing too fast, and the number of users will experience explosive growth every month. It exceeds any traditional game industry, and you know that the secondary market is now How high is the valuation of Holi Games?"

"How many?"

"28 billion meters knife!"

"Is it growing so fast? I remember Holi was only 20 billion US dollars two months ago! This is an increase of 8 million US dollars."

"This is the speed of the Internet. It changes every month."

The chief of staff said with admiration: "That's 28 billion US dollars. It is rumored that Logic personally holds more than 50% of the shares. He is really amazing. No matter what he does, he is so successful." "Well... ..." Psaki nodded, and then became a little lost.

"Psaki?"

"what……"

The chief of staff looked at Psaki expectantly: "So, you will introduce Logic to my boss, right?"

…………

Silicon Alley, New York.

Holi Gaming Company Headquarters.

Luo Ji and Christine were in the pet area of ​​the office, discussing with a group of employees about which dog was the most beautiful.

At this time, CEO Yang Jian came over with a happy face: "Logic, please come."

"Okay." Luo Ji then patted his girlfriend on the waist: "You stay here for now, I'll go talk to Yang Jian."

"Okay." Kristen nodded obediently.

Luo Ji and Yang Jian came to the office. Yang Jian immediately said excitedly: "KPCB, Sequoia Capital, Richard Li, IDG and DST Venture Capital all responded and said they would attend our seminar."

“So do they accept our high valuation?”

"I didn't say anything, I just said I would participate."

"Okay." Luo Ji then said, "What about Tencent? Will they come?"

"They responded directly and said they were not participating."

Yang Jian continued with a serious face: "It seems that our large-scale promotion of WeChat in China has completely aroused their vigilance. They are unwilling to provide us with more ammunition."

"Our Holi has completely taken off, and there is no shortage of them." Luo Ji continued: "Has SoftBank responded? They have always been very generous in investing in the Internet, and I really want them to participate."

"Not yet. It's still night in Japan, and they won't reply to us until daytime."

"Okay, let me know as soon as there is any news."

……

Luo Ji put his arms around Christine and just walked out of the Holi Game Company building.A group of reporters nearby immediately surrounded him, but were blocked by bodyguards.

"Logic, Christine, look over here."

"Logic, could you please do an interview?"

"Logic, could you please talk about your Holi company?"

Luo Ji stopped, then motioned to the bodyguards to step aside. He walked in suits and ties in front of a group of reporters and said confidently.

“Everyone feels free to ask whatever they want to ask.”

A CNBC reporter immediately said: "Logic, why did you originally want to enter the social gaming industry?"

Luo Ji was wearing a suit and leather shoes, looking like a successful man, and started talking.

"Everyone should have heard that I am a game fan. I not only like online games and large-scale games, but also all kinds of casual games. I have played almost all games on the market. I have wanted to make a game since I was a child. As for the game plan, after I had money, I thought about developing my own game. Then one day, I learned that Facebook was going to release its own third-party developer platform, and I..."

"Holi Game Company is a global Internet company. We have many offices around the world. We now have more than 800 employees worldwide."

"My company Holi is not only the number one in the social gaming industry, but also the number one in the smartphone gaming industry. On Facebook, Apple and Android platforms, the number of game users produced by my company is number one."

"Negative news about my company? Why haven't I heard of it? It must be Fake News."

"My company is a pioneer. Under the Matthew Effect, the strong will always be strong."

"For these two markets, the global market size this year combined exceeds 40 billion US dollars, and it will be even higher next year."

"No one can beat my company in the social gaming and smartphone gaming industries. We are several years ahead of our peers. Holi is the future of the gaming industry."

After 10 minutes, Luo Ji felt that he had finished bragging about his company.So he put his right hand on his chest, stretched out his index finger and moved it back and forth, and said confidently.

"I'm a pioneer, and no one understands social games and smartphone games better than me."

After Luo Ji finished speaking, he ignored the surprised expressions of a group of reporters.He put his arm around Christine's shoulders and left gracefully.

…………

Japan.

SoftBank Group.

Son Zhengyi came to the office to work as usual.

The secretary immediately took out several documents and put them in front of him: "Boss, this is a list of Internet companies that wanted to get our venture capital yesterday. I have classified their industries."

Son Zhengyi immediately looked at it.Since he got a taste of the benefits from investing in Yahoo and Alibaba, he has paid more and more attention to SoftBank's investment business.

The first thing I do when I go to work every day is to look at Internet companies that want venture capital, and then take a look at the latest trends in the Internet industry.

Masayoshi Son looked at the company at the top of the document and said, "Holi Company? Is it the company founded by Logic?"

"Yes." The secretary next to him said quickly: "This is the news they sent last night. I called them this morning to verify that it is indeed their company. They are preparing to launch Series C financing in the near future."

Son Zhengyi stopped looking at other companies and immediately said to his secretary: "Give me the information on Holi's financing."

The secretary is an elite graduate from the University of Tokyo, and of course he also understands the Internet industry. He knows very well that among the companies seeking investment today, the most valuable company is Holi.

Therefore, he had already printed out the financing information transmitted by Holi Company and hurriedly handed it to Son.

Son Zhengyi murmured to himself while watching.

"No. 12 in the social gaming industry and No. 6300 in the smartphone gaming industry. There were 1.28 million active users in the first half of December, and active users are expected to reach [-] million this month."

"In 2009, total revenue is expected to be US$3.8 million, social game revenue is US$3.2 million, and smartphone game revenue is US$6000 million."

“The annual growth rate of social games has reached 220%, and the annual growth rate of smartphone games has reached 230%.”

……

"The purpose of financing is to further expand the world, recruit employees to develop new games, and acquire game studios..."

Son Zhengyi read all the information carefully, then looked at his secretary: "Have you verified these data? Is there any moisture?"

"Only Holi Game Company has the specific data." The secretary continued: "However, based on my judgment from some public information from Apple, Android and Facebook, even if the data is watertight, it should not be large."

Masayoshi Son looked at the extremely high valuation figure on the document, knocked on the table with his hand and said, "Contact Logic. I want to talk to him in person. Also, contact me on my private jet and we are going to the United States."

…………

Three days later, a piece of news spread around the world.

"Holi Game Company completed Series C today, with investors including Masayoshi Son of Japan's SoftBank and Richard Li of Hong Kong."

"Holi Game Company raised US$4 million this time, and its valuation has reached US$40 billion."

　In February 2010, social gaming giant Zynga was valued at 2 billion.In the book, Holi has a global presence and is more dominant in the social gaming industry. Holi is also number one in the smartphone gaming industry.So the valuation is higher than Zynga's valuation two months later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)