Chapter 493 Blooming everywhere

Chapter 493 Blooming everywhere

Chapter 493 Blooming everywhere

When Fan Wumian called Xiao Ma Ge and said that he wanted to invest in some new projects, he mentioned that he hoped to settle the dividends from the game revenue authorized to Penguin Group.

Little Ma couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked him:

"Mr. Fan's businesses are flourishing everywhere. Congratulations. What new moves are you making this time?"

"It just so happens that a reporter recently targeted us and said that our company's tax payment in the first half of this year was less than the same period last year."

"I just called the finance department to clarify and explain as soon as possible. There will be no problem with the game dividend. I originally wanted to wait until the end of the year to calculate it together. It just so happens that I can calculate the accounts and transfer the money to you before the end of the third quarter."

Fan Wumian has not heard of the negative news regarding the tax amount dispute.

The reason is that a reporter looked through the Penguin Group's first-half financial report and found that its performance in the first half of this year increased significantly, but its tax payment was lower than the same period last year. Last year it even fell out of the "Top 100 Chinese Private Enterprise Taxpayers List."

According to the first half financial report released in August, Penguin Group's total revenue increased by 8% over the same period last year to 142.9 billion yuan, and its profit during the period increased by 17.503% over the same period last year to 102.3 million yuan.

However, income tax was only 5970 million yuan, a significant decrease from 6190 million yuan in the same period last year.

As soon as I heard it, I guessed what was going on.

Fan Wumian asked:

"I just want to raise some money to acquire a company, it's not a big move. Penguin took the opportunity to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and moved its registered address to the Cayman Islands, so the overall tax rate is lower?"

Talking to his major shareholder, Xiao Ma obviously didn't need to hide anything and immediately explained:

"Well, the business in the mainland pays taxes as usual and enjoys certain tax concessions. However, although the revenue in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan is included in the financial statements, it can save some taxes. The reporter divided the tax amount by the net profit, and the numbers are definitely not right."

"Ordinary people outside the country haven't heard about the relocation of the registered place. The relocation was mainly to facilitate the listing and attract international capital. I am worried that someone will use this as a handle to discredit us. It is best not to mention it for now."

"It's probably nothing serious. I just want to let you know in advance. I've made a lot of money from being the agent for games like World of Warcraft, KartRider, and Audition, but I've spent money on many more things. For example, Penguin Weibo has lost 70 to 80 million yuan in the first half of the year in order to expand its market."

Although the profits of mainland Internet companies are limited for the time being, the cost of acquiring customers is not expensive nowadays, which makes them very suitable for large-scale expansion.

If colleagues in Silicon Valley knew that the average customer acquisition cost of Penguin Weibo is less than 2.4 yuan, they would probably be so sad that they would cry.

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is an important indicator to measure the cost required for a company to acquire new customers. The calculation formula is "(total marketing expenses + total sales expenses) / number of new users in the same period".

When evaluating whether an Internet company has development prospects, customer acquisition costs are a key consideration. If too much money is needed to attract new users, it will inevitably affect profits and increase the possibility of entrepreneurial failure.

The reason why the total market value of Amazon, an online shopping mall, has remained stagnant for two consecutive years is partly because the average customer acquisition cost is as high as forty or fifty US dollars, the user stickiness is not enough, and it is difficult to retain old users.

This has caused Amazon to fall into a state of long-term losses. It has been relying on burning money to gain market scale. The company's profits cannot be increased, and investors are certainly unwilling to take the risk to invest in it.

Let’s look at Tudou.com.

Fan Wumian does not have enough working capital and does not want to raise external financing for the time being. He simply puts digitally restored film and television dramas on the platform to attract users to register and use it voluntarily.

Currently, the number of monthly active users has exceeded 900 million, and the cost of acquiring customers is only more than 2 yuan. Under the premise of burning money like crazy but unable to realize it on a large scale, it is indeed not suitable to overdo it. Instead, we should cultivate the user scale step by step like we are doing now, which can save countless wasted money.

Instead of spending money on expansion, it is better to use the money to buy out the online copyrights of film and television dramas. This is the foundation for becoming bigger and stronger in the future.

Across the phone, Fan Wumian said calmly:
"As long as it complies with the regulations and doesn't exploit loopholes to evade taxes, there's nothing much to say. Has the international version of Weibo project already started?"

".Not just starting, but already testing it internally. The Silicon Valley startup you recommended us to acquire has developed a very good product. They also designed a new algorithm to recommend posts to other users based on personal preferences. It can also be used on the mainland version of Weibo."

Hearing the helplessness in Xiao Ma Ge's tone, Fan Wumian laughed:
"I'm sorry, I've been busy writing new songs, holding press conferences, and holding concerts lately. You guys manage the company so well that I never have to worry about anything. At the end of the year, let my representative on the board of directors take the lead in proposing that we give you all more bonuses."

Brother Ma suddenly sighed:
"It's time to raise the salaries of some technical talents, otherwise we won't be able to keep them. Some employees with strong technical skills choose to develop in the United States, where their salaries are several times higher than ours. Last year, Microsoft MSN officially entered the mainland market and poached many people from us to form a technical team." The sluggish share price of Penguin Group on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is partly due to the impact of Microsoft MSN.

Faced with these American technology giants, many investors' knees naturally begin to weaken. They feel from the bottom of their hearts that mainland Internet companies cannot compete with them, and of course they are pessimistic about the development prospects of Penguin Group.

The original major South African shareholder of Penguin Group sold out all of its Penguin shares in part because of its fear of American Internet companies. Countless examples have proven that some localized Internet companies are vulnerable when facing similar American products.

After entering the mainland market last year, with almost no publicity and local support, MSN's share of the Chinese instant messaging market quickly reached 10.58%, and then increased by more than 4% in the following four months, becoming a must-have tool for business and social people.

Many users may find it difficult to use, but they have been brainwashed into fools, so that when using MSN, they feel a little more superior than using QQ, and feel that they have become so-called "successful people."

This is a common situation in this era. Fan Wumian has long been too lazy to complain and has only quietly blocked countless public intellectuals on Penguin Weibo to avoid feeling irritated after reading their posts.

Silicon Valley's Internet companies have won great success in the global market. Fortunately, some people in the government are more far-sighted and did not give up the mainland market.

Fan Wumian was not worried about products such as Google search engine and Microsoft MSN instant messaging software. He smiled and replied:
"It's OK. I've used MSN's chat products before. They are not as good as us in terms of localized operations, user experience, and business model. I think they will soon become unsuitable."

"But, Mr. Ma, have you ever thought about whether we should also develop a simpler and more convenient instant messaging product for adults?"

"Recently, I have been paying attention to Jifubao and the research and development progress of mobile smart terminals. I feel that it is only a matter of time before mobile phones can be turned into handheld computers."

“When the time is right, if we combine our products with Tenpay, which was just established some time ago, and sell some fund products online, we can encourage people to manage their finances through our platform. Then we can interact with online shopping and second-hand goods platforms to completely open up the ecosystem. I think it will be very interesting.”

It is too early to talk about mobile payments now. The China Securities Regulatory Commission does not allow the platform to sell funds on behalf of others. However, online shopping and second-hand goods trading platforms can indeed cooperate with Tenpay.

Ma explained:

"We have actually discussed this, but we don't think it's necessary yet. It's time-consuming and labor-intensive to create a new product without QQ, and it will also require a lot of extra money. I'll have someone study it again later."

"Jack Ma in Lin'an has Want Want under his control. He has also acquired several instant messaging software companies and integrated them with the previously merged Yahoo Messenger. It seems that he has great ambitions and wants to seize our market."

"Also, Mr. Fan, you asked me to pay attention to Dongjing Multimedia Network some time ago. It is too small. It has only 50 employees, and the average daily order volume is only about 1000. The annual profit is only to million yuan at most."

Fan Wumian continued:
"I'm just offering some suggestions. Mr. Ma, just follow your own pace. The international version of Weibo is the most important. If e-commerce is too expensive, you can wait a little longer."

"In fact, given the mainland's economic and consumption levels, creating a shopping platform that is more accessible than Taobao, attracts users with discounts, and focuses on cost-effectiveness may be more promising."

"But now the cost of express delivery is high, and it is not so convenient for rural people to access the Internet. Let's take it step by step. As long as we can make the international version of Weibo successful and have sufficient cash reserves on the company's books, it will only cost more money to raise funds in the future, but the pressure will be much less than it is now."

All I can say is that there are so many opportunities worth seizing right now.

So much so that Fan Wumian wants this and that, not only has his own wallet almost drained, but he also hopes to seize as much market share as possible through the Penguin Group.

You can't blame him for being greedy.

Every time he seizes a track, the total profit may be tens of billions or even trillions of dollars in a few years or more than ten years. The benefits to him and the Penguin Group are so huge that anyone would be tempted.

Unfortunately, he did not have much liquid capital on hand, and the Penguin Group was still in its infancy, so he could only selectively choose some projects to start with.

It is only the end of September 2006, so there is no need to rush for the time being.

Fan Wumian felt that if he could seize the great opportunity of the "subprime mortgage crisis" to make quick money and find ways to earn hundreds of millions of dollars, he would still not miss some opportunities to get on board.

After hanging up the phone, he found that Guo Biting had sent him a text message, which read:

"Hello, Mr. Fan. Before the concert, you said you had something to talk to me about. Can I ask you what it is? I'm afraid you've been too busy to remember. I happen to be free today~~~"

(End of this chapter)