Chapter 338 Real Operation

Chapter 338 Real Operation

Chapter 338 Real Operation

Alibaba’s WeChat is currently carrying out a great wave of promotional activities.

How good is it?
It’s so good that opponents, employees and onlookers will give it a thumbs up immediately.

This rare consensus of public opinion prompted NetEase reporters to cite an example from another field to describe it.

——After writing his poems, the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi would always read them to an uneducated old woman, and then he would change the parts of the poem that the woman did not understand until she could understand it. Therefore, Bai Juyi's poems are often easy to understand and can be understood by everyone.

——I would like to say that this time, WeChat launched an activity that everyone can praise immediately.

——Based on the information we have received so far, the penguins are very nervous!
The activities are good, and the time is notoriously limited.

So, who is behind this activity?

WeChat’s competitive strategy just changed on New Year’s Day, with the latest hot spot becoming cooperative companies. Then two weeks later, it launched a “Spring Festival Offensive”. This naturally makes people think of Yu Xing, who is well-known in the Internet for his operations.

The Bai Xiaosheng Forum initiated intensive discussions, but did not receive a response from the site administrator. Some Bai Xiaosheng employees who frequently hang out on the forum also said that they really had no idea about the matter.

However, just the next day, the identity of the mastermind was confirmed by Alibaba's head Ma Dian himself.

It's him, it's him, it's him again!
Ma Dian was interviewed by the media in Lin'an, part of the content was about the new situation of e-commerce in 2012, and another part was about the new competition in mobile communications.

He did not hide the contribution of Yu Xing, the former boss of WeChat, but instead praised the young man's talent.

"Yu Xing came to Lin'an to chat with me. He said he had a good idea that he wanted to try on WeChat. To be honest, I was skeptical about his 'good idea', but he changed my mind with just one sentence."

"That's not a golden idea, that's... a super golden idea that can leverage Alibaba's advantages and change the entire mobile communications competition landscape!"

"I know there is a saying in the business circle that praises Yu Xing. Saying 'your operations are like Yu Xing' is already a compliment to someone's operations level. I used to think that it was not a good thing for young people to receive too much praise, but I must say today that this saying is very correct."

"Alibaba is discussing investment cooperation with Yu Xing's company. There was an opportunity to buy him to Alibaba before but it failed. I hope there will be another opportunity to buy him next time."

The reporter was surprised by Ma Dian's straightforward praise and asked, "Is Alibaba going to hire him as its chief operating officer?"

Ma Dian said with a surprising smile: "No, I hope to buy him to be the CEO."

This time, along with the praise from the head of Alibaba, the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes surfaced, and the media reporters also had a lot more material.

The details that Alibaba was willing to pay an additional $4000 million to invite Yu Xing to join the company when it purchased WeChat last time were dug up again. In contrast, Ma Dian actually claimed that he was willing to let Yu Xing come to Alibaba to be the CEO!

Whether it was the event planning coming from an outsider, or the company being bought out and becoming the CEO, or the old rivalry between Yu Xing and Penguin, or the tension that was difficult to conceal on the part of Penguin, the public opinion this time was really full of topics.

This attitude from the head of Alibaba will undoubtedly affect Ji Gang's investment in Carbon Silicon Data.

Ji Gang has tried his best to overestimate the impact of this event, but judging from Mr. Ma’s attitude, this “super golden idea” is more important than he imagined, and it may be a key move that will enable the east wind to overwhelm the west wind.

On January 1, Ji Gang, who arrived in Lingang to discuss investment, did not meet Mr. Yu and could only have a honeymoon-style push negotiation with CEO Zhong Zhiling.

That night, Zhong Zhiling couldn't hide his excitement and came to see his senior brother, briefly reporting the major breakthrough in this round of negotiations.

Compared with the 1.8 million valuation that Ji Gang strictly guarded last time, this time it was relaxed to 2.25 million, which is an 80% increase of the first round of valuation. Considering the short time before and after, it can be said to be a premium.

"Not bad. Although it is an estimated financing, but with this money in hand, we can brag about it in the next financing." Yu Xing said with a smile, "A valuation that is about right is fine. I don't know if Ji Gang has discussed this valuation with Tsai Chongxin. I guess they have discussed it. It's hard to say how much higher it is even if we want to say it."

Zhong Zhiling nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Brother Xing, Ji Gang and the others want to move this matter forward quickly."

Yu Xing took a sip of tea and said, "Then let's set the valuation this way. You can look at other details of the cooperation. Carbon Silicon Data Company needs funds, but it needs traffic even more."

Zhong Zhiling knew what was going on, but he felt that Ji Gang's change of attitude twice really made him... admire his senior brother even more.

He said sincerely: "Brother Xing, your operation of WeChat this time is really amazing! Many people say this is a divine move!"

"That's all Alibaba's own ability." Yu Xing was telling the truth. "Besides, what's the use of just an idea? Alipay's brand advantage and technical strength were all created by Alibaba itself. The so-called operation is all Alibaba's own."

Zhong Zhiling shook his head: "Ma Dian is going to ask you to be the CEO."

"It's just talk. Do you want money for nice words?" Yu Xing said with a smile, "But I think some people have classified me as an Alibaba company. Once Carbon Silicon Data Company gets Alibaba's funding, it will be even more Alibaba-affiliated."

Zhong Zhiling didn't take this seriously: "They don't even have the right to vote." Yu Xing nodded slightly. He was originally considering the leader's inspection, but since his junior brother came to talk about operations, he actually had an idea that came to him after reading the research materials of the Red Falcon team recently.

He lit a cigarette, took out the documents submitted by Qi Miaohan, and motioned for his junior to take a look.

Zhong Zhiling took it and took a look. The front was an analysis of security software and some content from NetQin, and the back was two emerging e-commerce companies, Mogujie and Meilishuo.

He didn't quite understand his senior brother's intention, so he read it again before putting it down.

"Look at page seven." Yu Xing put out his cigarette and gave instructions.

Zhong Zhiling turned to the seventh page and saw the part drawn by his senior brother. It was an analysis of the traffic data of two e-commerce companies. 90% of Mogujie's revenue this year came from Taobao's commissions. Meilishuo directed part of its traffic to Taobao through pay-per-click and bidding ranking ads, and the related commission income accounted for more than 50%.

There is no doubt that these two are part of the Taobao ecosystem.

Their operation is to use the API interface of "Taobao Alliance" to capture Taobao's product information and display it on their own platform, and then complete the transaction by having users click on the product link, and finally obtain commissions.

"Mogujie received two rounds of financing this year, totaling 2000 million US dollars. Meilishuo's financing has not been made public, but it is estimated to be quite a lot." Yu Xing said, "Taobao has set up Taobao Alliance to integrate traffic and create a group of traffic intermediaries. These two are the best among them. What's different is that they are both content shopping guide platforms, so the data is very good."

Zhong Zhiling still didn't understand what his senior brother meant by talking about this.

"But the development of Mogujie and Meilishuo seems a little too good. Zhiling, do you know how good it is?" Yu Xing looked at his junior and smiled, "It's so good that nearly 10% of Taobao's traffic comes from these two companies."

Zhong Zhiling was surprised: "Huh? 10%? Brother Xing, you said that 10% of Taobao's traffic comes from Mogujie and Meilishuo?"

"It's almost 10%. For example, Meilishuo, which shares daily outfits, uploads 1 Taobao pictures every day." Yu Xing asked, "What do you think Taobao will think?"

Zhong Zhiling thought for only two seconds before saying, "This seems a bit too big to be eliminated."

Taobao wanted traffic intermediaries, but the traffic intermediaries lured customers away. 10% of the traffic came from external websites, which is by no means a small number.

Yu Xing nodded: "Taobao will definitely not sit idly by, and this solution is also very simple, just tighten the API permissions. These two companies are heavily dependent on Taobao's traffic. Once the supply is cut off, they will surely slowly decline."

These are his thoughts and speculations.

Alibaba launched "Alimama" in 07, positioning it as an advertising trading platform that integrates traffic resources of small and medium-sized websites. In 08, "Alimama" merged with Taobao and launched a Taobao customer program that returns commissions.

By 2010, "Taobao Alliance" operated independently and opened its API interface, allowing third-party developers to call up Taobao product data, giving birth to content shopping guide platforms such as Mogujie and Meilishuo. The profit share alone exceeded 15 billion that year.

What will happen next is easy to predict. If a company becomes too powerful to be controlled, it will inevitably be feared. Mobile Internet is very popular now. Mogujie and Meilishuo are both actively planning for a new mobile era.

Zhong Zhiling listened to his senior's analysis, and his mind was full of thoughts. Thinking about his own team's recent work, he suddenly guessed a possibility: "Brother Xing, if Taobao cuts off the traffic of Mogujie and Meilishuo, if we can increase the traffic, and then take over the role of traffic diversion, will these two companies survive?"

Yu Xing said with a smile: "This brings us to Penguin. Liu Chih-ping said that Penguin's transformation depends on 'capital' and 'traffic'. Capital is really amazing. It can make rivals make peace and integrate resources. Traffic is really important. For small and medium-sized websites, it is a matter of life and death."

Zhong Zhiling made a reasonable speculation that if Mogujie and Meilishuo were cut off by Taobao, a group of emerging e-commerce companies represented by them could take advantage of the chaos to integrate, and Carbon Silicon Data Company is now cultivating and developing the traffic of super apps.

If Taobao thinks that external websites have become a threat and is unwilling to provide traffic, Carbon Silicon Data can take over the task of providing traffic...

Zhong Zhiling turned the question back to his previous judgment: "Brother Xing, do you think Taobao will really tighten its control over them?"

"It will probably be this year or next year," Yu Xing said seriously. "These emerging e-commerce and vertical e-commerce will all be in chaos and die."

Zhong Zhiling pondered, "Since it is too big for Taobao, then this bigness is valuable. Carbon Silicon Data Company is engaged in information and content. Mogujie and Meilishuo are also content shopping guide platforms. If they can be integrated and transformed, they may be able to get a piece of the pie while Alibaba and Penguin are fighting."

Yu Xing smiled and said, "It's worth observing."

Zhong Zhiling feels that this is not only worth observing, it is truly worth operating!
Capital and traffic, integration and supply, plus the booming development of mobile Internet... Just as no one thinks that Penguin's communications position can be shaken, how can we know that such operations will not take away Alibaba's cake?
Zhong Zhiling took a deep breath and said from the bottom of his heart: "Brother Xing, you can operate it..."

Yu Xing shook his head slightly: "Let's just observe and see how to deal with it."

He sighed sincerely: "This situation is indeed different from before."

Since it’s different, let’s see how chaotic it can get.

This is what CEOs outside the Alibaba system think.

(End of this chapter)