The next morning, a group of people from Baidu's senior management came to Toutiao Company as promised, and Zhou Yujie personally went to the door to greet him.

In later generations, Baidu has declined, but it is currently at its peak, with a market value of more than 40 billion US dollars, ranking first in domestic technology companies. The core product search engine controls the door of hundreds of millions of people to enter the Internet. At the same time, the cooperation of Tieba, Encyclopedia, Knowledge and other aspects has allowed Baidu to have the largest traffic in China. Judging from the number, Tengxun's QQ is not comparable, but it is a little weak in terms of user stickiness.

Soon, a gl8 was parked at the door of Toutiao Company.

Baidu's leader this time was Chen Zi'ang. He was surrounded by several young middle-aged men and a woman of 27 or 28 years old. It seemed that he should be a secretary.

"Mr. Zhou, this is Mr. Chen Zi'ang and Chen, the VP of Baidu." Lin Youde introduced in the middle.

VP is actually the vice president. Generally, a company, the person in charge of a single large business is the position of vice president. Internet companies prefer to show off and always use English VP to express this position.

"Hello, Mr. Chen." Zhou Yujie smiled and shook hands and said hello. He had read Chen Zi'ang's information in advance. As Baidu's VP, he is one of the most savvy figures in the entire Baidu company. He has participated in the commercial confrontation between Baidu and Ali Tengxun many times.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou." Chen Zi'ang also shook hands with a smile, and then politely introduced the people around him, namely technology, market and finance.

Obviously, Baidu was fully prepared and brought everyone he should bring.

Zhou Yujie also politely introduced several senior executives from his side, and then said: "Mr. Chen, it's cold outside, let's go in and talk!"

"Okay, the winter in Shanghai is really cold. I have heard that there is a wet and cold magic attack bonus in the winter in the south. I have seen it when I came to Shanghai this time." Chen Zi'ang laughed.

"The first time Chen has been to Shanghai?" Zhou Yujie asked.

Chen Zi'ang shook his head and said, "Of course not, but this is the first time this is coming in winter."

"There are cold waves these days. After two days, Mr. Chen can also go out for a trip. The winter in Shanghai is still a bit special." Zhou Yujie said with a smile.

Chen Zi'ang smiled and said, "Okay, then I hope we can set up a cooperation strategy as soon as possible so that I can enjoy the beautiful scenery with confidence."

Zhou Yujie chuckled and didn't say anything. Lin Youde had already had several contacts with Chen Zi'ang. Both sides were smart people and it was obvious that the possibility of cooperation was very high.

It goes without saying that Baidu wants to invest in Quxin. If Quxin wants to develop, it must obtain sufficient funds, resources and traffic support. The only one that can provide this kind of help in China is Baidu.

Of course, facing a social software with potential, even if it is impossible to really threaten Tengxun, its value is also very high. If Ali is willing to pay the price, it can also provide huge help. Therefore, Chen Zi'ang also needs to set the cooperation as soon as possible.

Although time was tight, Chen Zi'ang and his group did not go directly to the conference room. Instead, as Lin Youde visited the Toutiao company, Lin Youde also briefly introduced several of the company's businesses. Chen Zi'ang actually knew all of these, but the process still had to be done. He was also very curious about why several software under Toutiao company can develop so rapidly.

However, how could Lin Youde give him such an opportunity? After a round trip, he came to the conference room. The air conditioner, fruits and mineral water were all ready, and the financing meeting was held in a pleasant atmosphere.

Lin Youde first passed the completed PPT to the DVD player. The PPT of more than 30 pages introduced Quxin's business team, market share, other businesses of Toutiao Company, future development plans, etc.

Of course, the weapon of personalized recommendation of big data will naturally not be mentioned. PPT is also the most common APP development ideas and monetization methods on the market. It may be a bit exaggerated. Anyway, PPT itself is just bragging and car manufacturing, not to mention the future development trend of a software.

After the PPT was over, Chen Zi'ang also entered the business negotiation state and asked: "Mr. Lin, Mr. Zhou, my PPT just now is very exciting. Quxin's market share and development speed did exceed my previous estimates. This is very exciting news, but one thing is, I don't need to say more about what Teng Xun's situation is. I don't know how Quxin should deal with Teng Xun's offensive?"

"Mr. Chen, first of all, this is not Teng Xun's offensive, but a counterattack." Zhou Yujie smiled and said, "Socialism is Teng Xun's territory. This is a recognized fact on the Internet. The emergence of mobile Internet has changed the way of socializing, which is the opportunity for new players to enter the market. We Quxin got this first ticket and have entered the game."

"It's indeed a sense of accomplishment to say this, but this does not solve the problem." Chen Zi'ang asked in a verbal voice.

"The solution to the problem is here." Zhou Yujie pointed to his head and said, "The success of Quxin is by jumping and shaking. As long as there are more similar ideas, it can stabilize the entire market and slowly cultivate user habits."

"What creativity does Mr. Zhou have?" Chen Zi'ang was very interested.

"Sorry, this is a trade secret." Zhou Yujie refused.

Chen Zi'ang didn't care, so it was naturally impossible to tell the business secrets at will. If it was a general financing and a small company needed funds, he might be able to know the other party's follow-up plan in advance, but this time it was different. Quxin is obviously a popular item at present.

So he continued: "Mr. Zhou, being creative is naturally a good thing, but Tengxun has always launched similar products or services for creative companies, and competes for the market with huge traffic. How do you deal with this?"

Zhou Yujie said with a smile: "There are many kinds of creativity. Once some ideas are made, they will be difficult to copy by later generations. Otherwise, Facebook would not have risen under Google's nose.

Moreover, Tengxun’s QQ is indeed monopolized, but it does not mean that users only know how to use QQ.”

Zhou Yujie picked up the phone in his hand and said, "Just like this phone, one is enough, but there will still be many people buying a second one because they will have other needs.

It costs money to buy a second mobile phone, but it does not require installation of the second social software. This is different from the computer. The computer needs to log in, and users often change computers. The two social software is too cumbersome, but there is only one owner on the mobile phone and does not need to log in frequently. Therefore, for users, adding a social software is not too expensive.

Moreover, although the functions of QQ are very comprehensive, it is also because it is too comprehensive, which makes it difficult to change. It is difficult for the ship to turn around. What does Mr. Chen think?"

"Mr. Zhou's analysis makes sense, but Teng Xun has also launched their own mobile version of social software - WeChat. How should Toutiao companies face it?" Chen Zi'ang asked: "If Teng Xun makes every effort to attract traffic and add QQ's own social link, even if Quxin is creative, it may not be able to recover this disadvantage, right?"

"This is indeed a fact. Facing Teng Xun is indeed a nightmare for entrepreneurs." Zhou Yujie nodded and said, "But this is also the closest opportunity to Teng Xun since Teng Xun monopolized Internet social networking, isn't it?

The trend of mobile Internet has emerged. For most Internet services, the entrance to the mobile phone is very inconvenient, but for social networking, mobile phones are much more convenient than computers.

Although almost all netizens across the country have used QQ, they use QQ on the computer rather than on the mobile phone. Currently, there are only 50-60 million smartphone users across the country, and the rest are potential users of mobile social software.

Theoretically, it is indeed very convenient to divert traffic, but other social software may also have the opportunity to gain a certain market share, and in the process of development, it can also obtain traffic. As long as there is traffic, it is value."

Chen Zi'ang smiled, but immediately said: "But Mr. Zhou, although Quxin has a certain advantage now, Teng Xun is fully promoting WeChat. Even if you are creative, it is difficult to fight Teng Xun's funds and resources. Even if this financing is successful, there may be other financing in the future, but these are not enough to fight Teng Xun.

Even Facebook, the United States has only received $500 million in recent financing, which is still the case where Facebook almost monopolizes social networking in Europe and the United States. But even $500 million is just a few months of net profit for Fujixun. Social networking involves Fujixun's core lifeline, and they will inevitably use all resources to suppress Quxin."

"What does Mr. Chen mean?" Zhou Yujie smiled. He already knew what the other party wanted to say.

"We Baidu is willing to acquire Quxin. As long as we acquire Quxin, Baidu will do his best to attract traffic for Quxin. With Baidu's current scale and users, this is the best cooperation." Although Lin Youde has already stated that he will not sell Quxin, Chen Zi'ang will still not give up because this is a perfect match made in heaven.

Quxin has the advantage of first-mover and has certain users, while Baidu has huge traffic and hundreds of millions of users.

Baidu's users have hundreds of millions of users but no stickiness. As long as you get Quxin and promote it with all your strength, then for Baidu, user stickiness will be improved qualitatively, and it is possible to counterattack social software on the computer.

Every time I think of this, Chen Zi'ang was very excited. If Baidu occupied the social market on the mobile terminal and then found a way to transfer these users to the PC terminal, and cooperated with Baidu's search, Tieba and other businesses, he would definitely be able to control the traffic entrance of the entire Internet. In the future, one or two monetization channels will be successfully made, then Baidu's scale will at least triple.

"Impossible, Quxin will not be sold." Zhou Yujie shook his head and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, Quxin is the core software of our company. I think it's better not to spend too much time on such impossible things. Let's talk about financing plans!"

Chen Zi'ang frowned, not expecting that the other party would refuse so toughly. You know, even if ordinary entrepreneurs do not intend to sell the company, they will want to know the price of their own company that they can sell.

"How many shares are Mr. Zhou willing to sell, and how much financing is he hoped to get?" Chen Zi'ang did not talk about the acquisition again. Since he couldn't acquire it now, the subsequent financing must be obtained and he must reach a certain strategic cooperation with Quxin.

Moreover, if you can't acquire it now, it doesn't mean that it is impossible to reach a cooperation first. If Quxin can't withstand Teng Xun's pressure in the future, Baidu will still have a chance.

Zhou Yujie smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, in the early stages of entrepreneurship, the value of an Internet company is a very difficult number to define, it depends on what Baidu means."

The initial valuation of startups in the Internet industry does not focus on the current market size of the company, but on the strength of the founder team, the company's development direction, future market quota, etc. Therefore, many teams of several people can obtain financing valuations of tens of millions of dollars.

Another important factor in determining the amount is to see how much money a startup needs to develop to its expected market share in the future. When encountering excellent investors, the other party will even provide more funds, such as JD.com's 10-year financing.

At that time, JD.com intended to invest heavily in the logistics industry and hoped to raise US$75 million, but there was no optimistic about venture capital, including Sequoia Capital and SoftBank.

Just when JD.com was almost bankrupt due to capital exhaustion, Zhang Lei of Gaozeng Capital decided to invest US$350 million in one go after a conversation with Dong Ge, because JD.com needed US$350 million to achieve its strategic goal.

Chen Zi'ang nodded and said, "I don't know if our financing this time is for the entire Toutiao company or the separate financing for Quxin."

Zhou Yujie said, "Our company's various businesses have established separate subsidiaries, and this time the financing is only for Quxin."

'OK.' Chen Zi'ang nodded with satisfaction. He didn't care about Toutiao's other businesses, but if they raised funds together, the other party would be likely to mobilize the financing funds to develop other software, which would have a great impact on Baidu's strategy of using Quxin to interfere with Tengxun.

Chen Zi'ang said, "Mr. Zhou has extraordinary strategic goals. We, Baidu, are willing to reach a long-term cooperation agreement with Mr. Zhou, so we, Baidu, want to acquire 49% of Quxin's shares at a valuation of US$100 million."

Zhou Yujie smiled and said, "The 49% ratio is not like an investor. I think today's meeting can end here."

"Mr. Zhou, we Baidu came today, but we were sincere." Chen Zi'ang said very formally: "If cooperation can be reached, Baidu will definitely provide certain traffic support, but before this, we need to reach cooperation sincerely."

"I'm very sincere, otherwise, the one who came here today would be Mr. Xue from Alibaba." Zhou Yujie nodded and said:

‘In addition, Quxin has already made AB shares, which means that for this financing, what I need is a partner who can help me strategically. I give up future benefits in exchange for the resource investment I want. Let’s make the cake bigger together. It’s that simple. If you have any other ideas, you don’t need to waste time anymore.’

‘Then I don’t know how much profit Mr. Zhou is willing to give up in the future and how much value he will get.’ Chen Zi'ang didn’t care about Zhou Yujie’s sarcastic words at all.

Zhou Yujie smiled and said, "I can sell 20% of the A-share stocks for 50 million US dollars."

"Mr. Zhou's valuation is too high. In the Internet industry, no company has such valuation in the Angel Wheel." Chen Zi'ang said calmly.

Zhou Yujie shrugged and said, "Is Quxin worth so much? You can't just look at the current results, but consider that once you have funds, Quxin can burn money to continue to expand. Although Tengxun is stronger, this market is not a single-plank bridge at present.

The first is that the proportion of smartphone users is still very small at present, and there is still a lot of room for this market. No matter how fast Tengxun expands, it cannot be as fast as the market expansion. What remains are opportunities for others.

The second is what I said before. A user can use different social software at the same time. As long as we can make suitable products, Tengxun will not be able to force users to uninstall other social software.
Chapter completed!