“Brother, that Fan Jie, I always feel something is wrong!” After the contract was signed, Li Dan, who had participated in the entire negotiation, said to Brother Xiao with a frown.
“Indeed, if nothing unexpected happens, this Fan Jie is likely one of our enemies!” Brother Xiao said solemnly.
“Our enemy? Could it be Jiangnan?” Li Dan reacted.
“It should be, but it’s not ruled out that some people want to get my QQ!” Brother Xiao laughed.
“Then you still signed the contract!” Li Dan asked incredulously, “You knew they had set a trap for us, why did you jump into it?”
“Because I had to jump into it, otherwise the company’s accounts would be empty!” Brother Xiao waved his hand, “I know what you want to say, you want to say that even without financing, Tengda can obtain funds through loans. But loans are different from financing, and loans depend on a company’s profitability.”
“With our current profitability at Tengda, we can at most borrow tens of millions, which is not enough to solve our urgent needs. Only financing can meet our needs, so I must sign this agreement.”
“But what if we…”
“There is no ‘what if’. If the market share really drops below 40%, do you think we will have much hope of defeating 00? If we can’t defeat oo even when we still have the advantage, let alone when the market share falls below 40%!”
“To put it mildly, if it really comes to that point, the chance of our management team being replaced is not high. After all, it is a joint investment from so many investment companies. Even if they want to activate the clauses, they need all investment companies to reach a consensus and hold more than 50% of the shares to dismiss me.”
“And we still hold 10% of the shares, and SoftBank still holds 22%. Mr. Sun is very supportive of me, and his attitude will not change. This way, we will have at least 32% of the shares. Then we just need to find a way to win over investors who hold 18% of the shares, and my position will remain stable. They cannot replace me!” Brother Xiao said calmly.
“So Li Dan, you don’t need to worry about these things. We only need to do one thing now, and that is to operate QQ with all our might. In 2003, I hope to see QQ launch at least 10 different new features. We must firmly grasp our market advantage!” Brother Xiao said.
“Understood!” Li Dan nodded.
“By the way, is Zeng Qing still in Korea? How are his negotiations going?” Brother Xiao asked with great anticipation.
“They are interested in an online game called ‘Triumph.’ It is said to be the best in terms of technical capability and excellence developed in Korea. This game is not only a full 3D game, but also has excellent graphics and a 360-degree free perspective. In short, this game is very outstanding. It is said that Zeng Qing has become so engrossed that he can’t stop playing it.”
“Very good!” Brother Xiao nodded. “Remember, no matter the cost, we must secure the agency rights for this online game. I understand one thing now, and that is that the only way out for our QQ is games.” xxs
“Our advantage is our huge user base. As long as we find a way to direct these users to our games, then we can sit back and collect money, just like what oo is doing.”
“I’ve already proven the feasibility of the game market by acquiring Lianzhong Games. Now we have another 800 million, which is enough to acquire the agency rights for several online games, thereby obtaining massive funds. At that time, our QQ will be completely revitalized and reverse the entire market!” Brother Xiao said, with a burning flame in his eyes, as if he could already see the day of Tengda’s rebirth from the ashes.
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“Mr. Huang, this is the joint investment agreement between us and Tengda!” On the afternoon of the signing, the financing agreement for Tengda was also placed before Huang He.
Brother Xiao’s guess was correct. The person who gave Huang He this document was Fan Jie, and all his actions during the financing negotiations were for Huang He’s benefit.
Some people might be wondering why Fan Jie, a senior executive at CITIC Investment, would work so diligently for Huang He.
The reason is simple: Huang He had signed a non-public agreement with CITIC Investment. Within the next five years, Huang He would allow his oo game platform to be listed independently through an IPO. CITIC Investment would have the opportunity to obtain a 10% stake in the oo game platform in advance, meaning they would get the chance to acquire original shares in the oo game platform.
Do not underestimate this opportunity. According to the estimates of CITIC Investment Group, if oo game is listed, its market value will reach at least 3 billion RMB.
And CITIC Investment’s 10% would then earn hundreds of millions in huge profits. Therefore, CITIC Investment readily agreed to help Huang He gather intelligence.
Although CITIC Investment would also invest 5% of its shares in QQ, costing about 66 million yuan, this money might not necessarily be lost. Even if it were all lost, they could still earn it back from oo. Therefore, CITIC Investment happily acted as an inside informant.
“It seems that Mr. Huang still has some hidden trump cards that can deliver a fatal blow to QQ and reduce its market share to below 40%!” Fan Jie asked with a smile after handing Huang He a copy of the investment agreement.
“Indeed, I have a small preparation. Whether it can be a fatal blow, who can be sure!” Huang He smiled slightly, and Fan Jie shrugged.
He actually disliked Huang He very much because he felt very uncomfortable in Huang He’s presence.
He couldn’t explain why, but in Huang He’s eyes, everyone in the world seemed the same. In his eyes, everyone seemed to be…
It seemed unbelievable, but when Huang He looked at him, Fan Jie couldn’t help but see a patch of lush green fields in his mind, like a leek in my field. This feeling was unbearable.
Therefore, Fan Jie wished he could leave Huang He’s sight immediately. However, for the sake of his work and performance, Fan Jie couldn’t help but ask, “Mr. Huang, when exactly do you plan to sign the formal investment agreement with us and give us the 10% stake?”
“Haven’t I already discussed it with your company? This investment agreement will be signed with your company more than half a year before oo game officially submits its listing application!” Huang He said with a smile.
“Then when do you plan to list oo game?” Fan Jie pressed.
“Within five years…”
“…”
Fan Jie felt like his question was asked in vain, and his expression was very distressed. Huang He said with a smile, “Mr. Fan, my credibility is paramount, and we also have a contract. I will absolutely not deceive you. This is because oo game will experience a period of great development in the next few years.”
“Shouldn’t I let it become more valuable before listing it!” Huang He said with a smile.
“Yes, that’s right. At that time, CITIC Investment will have to spend more funds to purchase this 10% stake!” Fan Jie said with annoyance.
“The more money you spend, the more money you can raise after listing. This is also a good thing!” Huang He said.
Fan Jie left, not very happily. Huang He returned to the company and directly entered the headquarters of Jiangnan Computer Technology Service Company. At this time, the land and factory buildings that originally belonged to Jiangnan Leather Factory were completely occupied by Jiangnan Computer.
However, the original Jiangnan Leather Factory was not cancelled, but was relocated to a new Jiangnan Production Base in the suburbs, as the factory buildings there had already been completed.
But the network center needed by Jiangnan Computer had not yet completed construction due to the completely new designs for the power distribution center, network center, and server cooling equipment, etc. It was expected to be fully completed around March 2003, and Jiangnan Computer would also relocate then.
Thus, the entire Jiangnan Group would completely leave its ancestral land of origin and be rapidly developed into a city complex by developers.
The developer had already thought of it. The residential community built on this land would be called Jiangnan Community, and the commercial center built at the same time would be called Huang He Commercial Center.
They wanted to tell everyone in the world that the Jiangnan Group and Huang He started their businesses on this piece of land. Buying houses, shops, and industries on this piece of land meant receiving the good fortune of the richest man in Wenzhou!
Not to mention that this was also the ancestral land of the Jiangnan Group, equivalent to the ancestral grave, a truly auspicious land!
Therefore, although Jiangnan Network was still in its original location, and the first developer who bought it couldn’t wait to send people to Jiangnan’s headquarters for tea every day, Huang He was annoyed by seeing them. So, once the base was completed, he had no intention of delaying and would move directly.
However, at this moment, on November 30, 2002, on the last day of November, on this ancestral land of the Jiangnan Group, there was still a new company.
This company was established very low-key, without even a ribbon-cutting ceremony or a plaque unveiling ceremony. Only in front of Huang He’s office building, a new corporate signboard named “Jiangnan Network Media Co., Ltd.” was added.
This company was also quite miserable after its establishment, as the entire direct workforce consisted of only two people: a dedicated administrative secretary and a dedicated financial officer, who communicated directly with Huang He.
As for other administrative work, human resources, and research and development, all were undertaken by the staff of Jiangnan Computer Technology.
Therefore, the entire establishment of the company was done without any fanfare. Apart from a very small number of people within the company, no one knew that such a company was established today.
So, many reporters in later generations, when investigating and writing about the legendary journey of Jiangnan Network Media, were surprised to find that there was no news at all when the company was established, completely in a mysterious state. At most, there was only an establishment date.
However, this newly established company with only two employees released its first product to the entire internet on its first day of establishment: Facebook.