MTL - Rebirth Starts at 7 Million-Chapter 240 Baidu Maps and Xingyuan Payment

"Mr. Li, I think Xingyuan's admission is a bit unwise. We Baidu also lost hundreds of millions of dollars in group purchase subsidies some time ago, and these Xingyuan should also be counted.

But they still want to get involved, it's a big gamble! I don't know what to call them bold? Or ignorance? "Xiang Zong sighed.

After listening to Mr. Xiang's words, Mr. Li also sighed. As he said, Baidu, which was in full swing at the beginning, also invested in Baidu, but not as much as Ali.

After the big collapse of the group buying market, Wowo Tuan also fell into a business crisis. Looking at this, it is basically impossible to save it. The money invested by Baidu is naturally the meat buns and dogs. There is no return.

"To be honest, Mr. Li, I don't think 100 million US dollars is important to us. The important thing is that we have gained nothing from this investment."

"So you are worried that the future takeaway subsidy will eventually evolve into this situation?"

Mr. Xiang nodded.

Baidu is one of the shareholders of Wowo Group, and it is relatively clear about the amount of funds in this money-burning war.

The subsidy battle between Wowotuan and Lashou.com has burned through hundreds of millions of dollars.

This money mainly comes from the Big Three of BAT.

Among them, Ali and Penguin have both cultivated a large number of groups that use mobile phones to pay, and even if the group purchase is over, the scope of this group is still expanding, because there is already a foundation.

And Baidu is participating in a loneliness. I thought it would at least wait until the future listing of Wowo Group to recover the investment and make another profit, but now it is all gone.

After this battle, there is no confidence in the future takeaway subsidy big project.

Mr. Li didn't think so. He got up and looked out the window and said: "Mr. Xiang, the payment market is on the PC side. Alipay was the only one, but now the Internet position has shifted, and mobile payment has begun to appear. This market, The variables are huge.

Even with the stable business model of social networking, after the emergence of the mobile Internet, Penguin has new competitors. Weibo and Xingchao have taken advantage of this, breaking Penguin's inherent social model.

Not to mention Alipay, which only has user habit but no user stickiness. People are habitual animals, and many people who are exposed to the mobile Internet are novices. They often use what they use first and form a habit.

For example, I used Xingyuan's Daily Toutiao before, but now I have changed two mobile phones, and the Daily Toutiao is still there. It has become my habit to look at it in my spare time. "

Mr. Xiang was stunned when he heard the words, but he did not expect this.

"In addition to what I just said, there is another reason why we must cooperate with Xingyuan."

"What's the reason?" Mr. Xiang asked.

"The big data algorithm in Xingyuan's hands! The takeaway war we just discussed is the future, and now the most important thing for us is to get Xingyuan's big data algorithm to stabilize the post bar and search engine.

Mr. Xiang, I told you just now that people are accustomed to animals. If users are accustomed to using other search engines, it will be a huge blow to us. "

Mr. Xiang's face changed slightly when he heard the words. Indeed, it is most important to focus on the present rather than the future.

"Old Xiang, you should understand what I care about, right?"

Mr. Xiang nodded.

"Then help me book the nearest ticket! I'm going to go to Shanghai and discuss it with Luo Fan in person."

Mr. Xiang asked me a little surprised: "Mr. Li, do you want to go in person?"

"Yes." Mr. Li nodded and said, "This cooperation involves both big data algorithms and payment fields, and its importance is self-evident.

The sooner the cooperation intention is reached, the better it will be for us to stabilize the situation.

I have a personal talk with Luo Fan, and at least resolve some major issues first, otherwise, this negotiation will not know until the Year of the Monkey, I think Luo Fan is also waiting for me to go there.

After all, the bosses of the two companies negotiate directly without discussing the details. At least they will soon be able to set the direction of strategic cooperation. In the follow-up, the negotiation team can also sort out the details according to the results of the negotiation between the bosses of the two companies, which will be much faster. "

After listening to Mr. Li's words, Mr. Xiang suddenly realized that there have been many similar cases before. When many large companies cooperated, the negotiating teams of both sides struggled for several months, and they held hundreds of meetings without a result.

As a result, the bosses of the two companies had an appointment to play golf, and the matter was settled.

Nowadays, with Baidu's internal and external problems, what Mr. Li wants is to cut through the mess quickly and settle things as soon as possible, instead of procrastinating like now.

Thinking of this, Mr. Xiang nodded and said, "Yes, it's easier for us to control the situation if we settle down earlier."

...

Two days later, Mr. Li came to Shanghai. After Yu Yin learned that Mr. Li was coming in person, he immediately went to meet Mr. Li.

President Li briefly learned about Xingyuan's recent news from Yu Yin, and then asked Yu Yin to book a private hotel room and invited Luo Fan to come over.

Luo Fan was not surprised at all when he received President Li's invitation.

Luo Fan had already guessed the arrival of President Li, and how severe Baidu's situation is now can be seen from the status of later generations of Baidu.

Now Baidu is standing at a fork in the history, and one step is wrong, let alone the status of the Big Three.

That night, Luo Fan came to the box reserved by Mr. Li.

Seeing Luo Fan coming, President Li gave Yu Yin a wink, and Yu Yin left the box knowingly.

After Yu Yin left, Mr. Li smiled and said, "Mr. Luo, this is the first time we have met, but your name is so familiar to me! From October 2010 to October 2012, in just two years, from one to play games It's a small workshop in the country, and it ranks among the first-tier Internet companies in the country. Mr. Luo, your Xingyuan is a miracle!"

"I was also forced out. President Li, you should understand that in the Internet field, if you don't advance, you will retreat, and you never stand still." Luo Fan said.

"Hahaha! If you don't advance, you will retreat! Mr. Luo, you can point out the truth of our Internet industry in one sentence!

Indeed, in our Internet industry, it is most likely that the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach. "

"Mr. Li, you called me here today to praise me, right?" Luo Fan asked as he sat down.

"Of course not. Since Mr. Luo is quick to talk, I will not hide it. Mr. Luo, I have already learned about the cooperation plan proposed by Xingyuan. There are only a few questions, and I would like to know about it in advance."

"Mr. Li, please speak." Luo Fan said.

"We Baidu also have our own payment software. If Xingyuan is stationed in Baidu's payment system, how will we handle our payment software?"

"Mr. Li, I think you have misunderstood. Xingyuan never thought of asking your company to give up its own payment software. Our initial goal was to hope that your company's payment system will only use three payment software in the future. The upper and lower positions are our Xingyuan Payment, your company's payment software, and UnionPay."

Hearing this, Mr. Li pretended to have an expression of sudden realization: "It turns out that Xingyuan's purpose is to unite us to boycott Alipay."

"Yes, Mr. Ma from Ali has come to threaten me in Shanghai. I, Luo Fan, are not afraid of anything, let alone his threats." Luo Fan pretended to be filled with righteous indignation.

"So that's what happened." President Li smiled, but he definitely knew in his heart that it wasn't that simple.

If you can make the company so big, you won't be someone who is arrogant, the boss of Xingyuan, this is relying on his youth to act!

Mr. Li was too lazy to dismantle Luo Fan, he smiled and asked: "Mr. Luo, as far as I know, your company has been guiding your users to use Xingyuan payment, from Xingchao to Xingyuan games, which are popular in all aspects.

I understand this business model, but since Xingyuan Payment will be connected to our Baidu payment system, will Xingyuan Payment provide corresponding subsidies to our Baidu users? "

Mr. Li's problem is very acute, because the payment software on the platform needs the consent of the platform to promote and spend money to subsidize users to attract users.

Small platforms are naturally happy to accept them, but large platforms generally do not give up their strategies for this small profit.

Just like some software in later generations, although wx and Alipay can be used for payment, one can always see that one of them has subsidies, and the other has no movement.

Such an approach will not have much impact in the short term, but over time, it will inevitably change the payment habits of some users.

The more users the platform has, the greater this influence. Even Alipay can't stand it for a long time.

Mr. Li's question, to put it bluntly, is to determine how Xingyuan will promote their payment software, and how much cooperation it needs from Baidu.

Since they want to cooperate, Luo Fan will not hide him and say directly: "Mr. Li, if Xingyuan Payment enters Baidu's payment system, Xingyuan and Baidu will also become the closest allies.

There is no need to fight for funds between us. Both parties can choose to subsidize, or not to subsidize.

If a competitor starts a subsidy war in the future, then we will take turns subsidizing according to a certain fair proportion, which can not only reduce the economic pressure on both you and me, but also avoid a certain degree of internal friction. "

"Then if the subsidy war doesn't appear, it would be unfair for us at Baidu." Mr. Li said with a frown.

Xingyuan's payment system is connected to Baidu, and it obtains Baidu's user data, and Luo Fan just said that the ranking weight he wants Xingyuan payment itself is higher than Baidu payment, so Xingyuan payment will become more and more Strong, Baidu Pay's living space will be squeezed a little bit.

How can there be a good thing in the world that only takes advantage and not suffers? President Li clearly wanted to make conditions.

"I understand what Mr. Li means, tell me your conditions!" Luo Fan said.

"Our conditions are very simple, I want Xingyuan to pay 20% of the shares, plus the corresponding voting rights.

If we have the shares of Xingyuan Payment, everyone will be considered as a family, and the family will not say anything. We will support Xingyuan Payment at that time, and we can even give up our own payment to support Xingyuan Payment. "

"Mr. Li is interested in the shares of Xingyuan Payment. This is a user who is interested in our Xingyuan Payment!"

Mr. Li smiled and said nothing.

"I can't agree to this condition."

"Why? Alipay's equity is not all in the hands of President Ma, right?" President Li asked.

"Mr. Li, you misunderstood. What I mean is that the shares paid by Xingyuan will not be sold, but they can be exchanged."

"Exchange? What do you mean?"

"Our company is very optimistic about Mr. Li's Baidu map. If Mr. Li is willing to exchange the corresponding shares of Baidu Maps for Xingyuan payment shares, then I am very willing."

"It's impossible! President Luo is too whimsical, right? The market value of Baidu Maps is incomparable to your company's daily headlines, let alone a Xingyuan payment." President Li decisively chose to refuse.

Luo Fan smiled and did not refute. As President Li said, the current valuation of Baidu Maps is as high as more than 5 billion yuan, and the estimated value of Daily Toutiao is only 2 billion yuan at most, which is far worse than Baidu Maps.

Daily Toutiao is the industry with the highest valuation of Xingyuan, and Daily Toutiao is not as good as Baidu Maps, let alone other industries.

"What if I'm willing to add the fourth generation of big data algorithms?"

"Fourth Generation?"

"Yes, our Xingyuan big data algorithm is currently updated to the fifth generation, and the fourth generation is still in use a few months ago. With this technology, it is enough to deal with most of the competition that Baidu is currently facing."

After listening to Luo Fan's words, President Li was silent. He didn't expect Luo Fan to be willing to come up with the big data algorithm that he was using recently.

According to the information obtained by Mr. Li, the big data algorithms circulating on the market researched by major universities are basically equivalent to Xingyuan's first-generation big data algorithms. Xingyuan is now using the fifth-generation algorithm, and Luo Fan's fourth-generation algorithm. I don't know how much ahead of the market.

To be honest, Mr. Li was a little moved.

In fact, Luo Fan's remarks are not nonsense. Xingyuan's big data algorithm has indeed been updated to the sixth generation so far, but only in some core applications, other applications, including the application mall on the rice side, are still fifth. Generation technology.

The fourth-generation technology is the limit that Luo Fan can come up with.

The development and replacement of the sixth-generation technology is currently confidential inside Xingyuan, and most technicians think that Xingyuan is currently using the fifth-generation technology.

With the capabilities of major companies, they must know that Xingyuan is using the fifth-generation big data algorithm, so Luo Fan dared to use the fourth-generation big data algorithm as a bargaining chip.

But when his heart returned, Mr. Li was not carried away. After a moment of silence, he said, "Mr. Luo, the fourth-generation technology is not enough, you should also know what the valuation of Baidu Maps is. If you want shares in Baidu Maps, just Show some sincerity!"

The corner of Luo Fan's mouth rose slightly when he heard the words. President Li's attitude was impossible just now, but now he has shown a little sincerity, which shows that he has been shaken.

Luo Fan struck while the iron was hot and said, "Mr. Li, I can add a section on Xingchao, and click on it to arrive at the Baidu Maps page. With the popularity of Xingchao, this is very useful for Baidu Maps to attract traffic, right?"