“No, if we do that, we’re just asking for trouble!” Brother Ma refused Zeng Qing’s suggestion without a second thought.
“Why?” Zeng Qing asked indignantly.
“If we didn’t have oo as a competitor, then if you wanted to charge, it would be no problem, I’d support it! But now that we have oo as a competitor, if they don’t charge and we do, then within a week, all ten million of our users will be gone. Not even ten million pigs would run away that fast!” Brother Ma, as the chosen one, was incredibly perceptive for an era when internet services were not yet dominated by the free model.
“If not by charging, then how do we limit traffic? By who types the most?” Zeng Qing retorted.
“Don’t be so sure, we actually could rely on typing more!” Brother Ma nodded. “I was thinking, can our QQ users also have a level system, similar to games?”
“This could be based on the length of time online. The longer the time, the higher the level, and the highest-level users can have priority access to the QQ voice function!”
“Exactly!”
“This is a good idea!”
Everyone agreed. However, Brother Ma felt a pang of bitterness. This idea was indeed excellent. Under normal circumstances, Brother Ma could already imagine the massive QQ craze that would sweep the entire internet once this policy was implemented.
Human nature would drive all QQ users to stay online desperately, thus the user stickiness of QQ would skyrocket, leading to higher advertising revenue!
Currently, the only source of profit for QQ was advertising. Revenue was generated by selling ad slots on QQ. According to the rules, the longer and more frequently users saw ads, the more revenue would be generated. This was a good way to increase QQ’s income.
Unfortunately, they were now facing oo. Although this level system idea was still very useful, it wouldn’t prevent a large number of users from switching to oo to experience the voice function.
More importantly, this would further increase the burden on the servers.
Introducing this QQ level system now was rather ill-timed, but in order to maintain user stickiness, this policy had to be implemented immediately.
With this thought, Brother Ma immediately ordered Zhang Zhidong to create a simple traffic limiting program within a day, ensuring that a small portion of users could fortunately use QQ voice while the main part of QQ could operate normally.
Simultaneously, within half a month, the QQ level system design and update was to be completed, and this would be used as the rule to limit QQ voice traffic.
“Only half a month?” Zhang Zhidong looked troubled. A simple server traffic limiting program was manageable, but the QQ level system was truly a headache.
This not only required programming but also integration with the entire QQ system. At the same time, various data models and rules for QQ levels had to be established. In the past, let alone half a month, even half a year might not have been enough to get it done properly.
With only half a month, Zhang Zhidong felt immense pressure.
“Zhidong, you’ll have to work hard. Once we get through this crisis, I’ll give you half a month… a month of paid long leave!” Brother Ma promised.
“Yes, I will do my utmost!” Zhang Zhidong dared not guarantee more, so he could only say this. Brother Ma also knew Zhang Zhidong’s character; if he said he would do his best, he wouldn’t slack off. The actual outcome would depend on fate.
“Chairman, traffic limiting is not a long-term solution. We can’t have most of our users unable to use voice all the time. We still need to find ways to expand our server capacity!” Xu Chen, one of the founders who had been silent, spoke up.
“That’s easier said than done. It’s simple, as long as we have money!” Zeng Qing said. “Zhidong, tell me, if we were to meet the needs of all users, how many servers would we need?”
“At least four times the current amount!” Zhang Zhidong actually had a plan in mind. Since the server crash, he had been calculating how many servers were needed to stabilize QQ’s network.
“Four times? That means we need another 320 million for servers!” Zeng Qing’s eyes widened, the number making his head spin. “oo only bought 150 million worth, why do you need double what they have!”
“Because our current number of active users is twice theirs!” Zhang Zhidong replied. “I checked the data in the backend. Today, a total of 4.87 million people tried to access our QQ voice. If we calculate based on this number, we absolutely need to expand by another four times!”
“Boss, can we afford 320 million?” Zeng Qing said with a wry smile.
“Should I go rob the bank for you guys?” Brother Ma complained helplessly. As mentioned before, Tengda was in a state of losing money, so it was impossible to rely on profits; the only source was financing.
In June, a week before Huang He visited Tengda, Him invested 12.5 million US dollars in Tengda, equivalent to 100 million yuan, which was a significant injection of capital. At that time, Brother Ma had optimistically stated in a meeting that Tengda would not lack development funds for the next three years.
This was also why Brother Ma rejected Huang He without even meeting him, because at that time, Brother Ma was not lacking money at all.
However, this 100 million yuan was spent much faster than expected.
The largest expenditure was 50 million yuan for server expansion. After that, there were various miscellaneous expenses, employee salaries, internet fees, office space, etc., which added up to about 10 million yuan. Therefore, Tengda only had 40 million yuan available, which was not even a fraction of the amount needed to purchase servers this time.
“Damn it, where can we get so much money? Our entire company is currently valued at only 500 million yuan. Unless we sell the entire Tengda, we can’t possibly get this much money to buy servers!” Xu Chen grumbled.
“Even if we really wanted to sell, no one would probably buy. With the huge mess we’ve made this time, and with competitors like oo, I’m afraid our company’s value has already been halved in the eyes of others!” Zeng Qing cursed. He was the shareholder with the largest stake in the company besides Brother Ma.
“The only way is still financing. How about talking to Him again to see if he can invest more money? We can give him shares!” Li Dan suggested.
“There’s no point in considering Him. I actually talked to him yesterday about increasing investment, but Him’s headquarters said that the situation is currently very chaotic, and they need to see the outcome before making a decision!”
“Heh, it’s a miracle if Him is willing to invest when the entire world knows we were wiped out by a group of cleaning ladies!”
“Then how about talking to IDG and Pacific Century CyberWorks?” someone else suggested.
“That ‘Little Superman’ from Pacific Century CyberWorks never had faith in us from the beginning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sold all his shares to Him! As for IDG, I can talk to them, but setting aside whether they are willing to invest, IDG is known for its strict procedures. It’s unlikely to secure funds in less than a month, and there are procedures to follow. Time is a major issue.”
“Then let’s find a few more investment institutions. Surely some are willing to invest in us!”
“Which investment institution is willing to put up 300 million for us to buy servers!”
The executives of Tengda were arguing intensely about the money, but no one could come up with a reliable source of funds. Brother Ma, looking small, stared blankly at the sky in the distance.
“Could this be your plan!” Brother Ma muttered to himself. “You knew we didn’t have money, so you dragged us into a server war and then used money to crush us?”
“Then this plan is truly an unsolvable stratagem!”