Media Tycoon since 1999

Chapter 281 Acquiring Foxmail?

On September 9, 23renren.com will start its closed beta.

In terms of technology development, this SNS project has actually been prepared for more than half a year.

From mid-March, Gao Yang began to discuss the planning and investment plan of this project with He Guangwen, Jin Yang and Fang Jian.

Since then, He Guangwen, as CTO, also took some time to think and prepare for the specific technical architecture of this project.

Later, Gao Yang proposed some very detailed and specific functional applications one after another.

For example, to implement the @ function between users;
Users who are @, every day or at least every week, must have @ value, that is, the numerical update of attention;
There must be an interactive function of leaving a comment...

In addition, Gao Yang also proposed a concept of [friend circle], thinking that this is the best interpretation of the value of SNS websites. He Guangwen, Jin Yang and Fang Jian all agree with Gao Yang's formulation.

Under the concept of [Circle of Friends], Gao Yang proposed that 51 Renren should build a model of [Circle of Friends].

Similar to the channel of the portal website, users with different interests and hobbies are gathered in each [Interested Moments].

It is also similar to the section channel design of an online forum, but it can be divided into finer details.

Such as photography and travel, reading, sports, food and cooking, fashion trends, music, and even knowledge quizzes and sharing...

In short, design a bunch of different fields and different levels of interest circles for users.

Combining self-media forms such as forums and blogs through such large and small circles.

Moreover, it is necessary to design a virtual currency that allows users to calculate points based on their activity and contribution by posting posts, sharing logs, participating in topic discussions, etc.

This point is a virtual currency, for example, it is called [51 coins].

Then, users accumulate 51 coins, and can conduct some virtual transactions with each other, such as answering professional questions, exchanging some professional materials, and so on.

These functional applications proposed by Gao Yang are very detailed and complicated.

For a time, He Guangwen and Fang Jian were very surprised. Does this seem like someone who doesn't understand technology?

It's just that both of them know that Gao Yang really doesn't understand technology.

He Guangwen and Fang Jian, who know programming, especially He Guangwen, found the application details proposed by Gao Yang interesting and valuable.

As CTO, He Guangwen must digest these specific applications proposed by Gao Yang, organize technical personnel, discuss the architectural model of the website, and the technical implementation path.

For example, the @ function mentioned by Gao Yang needs to be implemented with a high-level programming language called PHP.

Of course Gao Yang didn't know what PHP was, not at all.

Specifically, starting from April, He Guangwen, his fiancée Zhang Xuan and others, while busy with 51.com, took time to communicate about the technical architecture and application development of 51 Renren.com.

In late May, after the establishment of the technical department of 5 Renren.com, He Guangwen led a team with 51 skilled software engineers and 4 fresh graduates to start the specific development process...

On September 9th, as soon as he went to work in the morning, Gao Yang went to 20 Renren to pay attention to the preparations for the internal test of the website.

In the past few days, through the internal organization and promotion of the 51 Department and the CPI Group, more than 6000 users have been registered.

Gao Yang and He Guangwen went to Fang Jian's CEO office to chat.

He Guangwen said: "Looking at the progress, the internal test that started on September 9rd, there is no problem with registering 23 users, and there is no problem with website development. Some details can be resolved in time during the internal test."

Fang Jiandao: "In terms of time, we are still in a hurry. In fact, we should develop a free mailbox, which can be used within the company and promoted to users of 51 Renren and 51 City."

He Guangwen said: "To develop the mailbox, we need to form a new technical team. We can only think about it after the website goes online."

Gao Yang was taken aback when he heard the words, and hurriedly said, "Old Fang, check how Foxmail is doing now, and which company is it in?"

Fang Jiandao: "I know this. Foxmail is a free software developed by Zhang Xiaolong himself. It should be in Boda now. Boda bought foxmail in 2000..."

Fang Jian immediately searched the Internet and said: "Boda bought Foxmail for 2000 million in 1200. Zhang Xiaolong is the vice president and technical director of Boda. Boda is doing WSP, which is the website system service provider that Boda claims. business, developed from a mailing list system..."

He Guangwen said: "foxmail is indeed a very good free email, we can study and learn."

Gao Yang lit a cigarette and thought about it: "What if we buy Foxmail directly?"

"Acquire Foxmail?"

Both Fang Jian and He Guangwen were taken aback by Gao Yang's thoughts.

Fang Jian said: "Acquisition of Foxmail is probably unrealistic for us.

Boda spent 2000 million in 1200, and then invested in research and development, and continued to be free of charge, and has been developing into enterprises and government departments in recent years.

It has been four years, and Boda is willing to transfer, and the asking price is probably 4 to 4000 million. "

He Guangwen said: "Yes, we are 51 people, and the start-up capital is only 2000 million..."

Gao Yang said with a smile: "As long as we can buy it, capital is not a problem. We not only want to acquire foxmail, but also take over its entire team. Fang, how many users does foxmail have now?"

Fang Jian checked the information again: "Borda acquired foxmail at the beginning, and there are already 400 million users, mainly in China, distributed in more than 20 countries and regions around the world. There is no public information at present. I estimate that there should be five or more users. 600 million users."

Gao Yang said: "We are also Foxmail users now. If you think about it, it has 500 million users. If we buy it, it will be of great value to 51.com and 51 Renren after it goes online. What's more, Next year we will do 51 Finance and Economics.”

Fang Jian smiled wryly: "The value of foxmail is indeed very high. Let's lower our expectations a bit. Even if the acquisition funds of 3500 million yuan are good, where will the money come from?"

Gao Yang said: "Money is not a problem. Let's find a way to solve it from Sunlight Company. We will negotiate the acquisition in the name of 51.com, and the product and team will be accepted. How about this, call Jin Yang, Wu Bo and Chen Sen, and everyone will discuss it immediately .”

Later, seven or eight high-level executives who were nominally divided into three companies sat in the conference room and discussed Gao Yang's bold idea.

More voices of opposition, mainly financial issues, too big.

Jin Yang said: "Gao Yang, we want to acquire Foxmail and its entire team, not to mention whether Boda is willing to transfer it, an Internet product with 600 million users, the purchase price in 2000 was 1200 million, now, it is estimated to be 4000 million, It’s possible to get it.”

Gao Yang said: "It's okay, even if it's more than 4000 million, as long as we can get it, we should buy it. This will be of great use value for us to do 51.com and 51 Renren. It is entirely possible that many Foxmail users, Find a way to attract traffic to our two projects.

That's millions of users.

In terms of funds, for the time being, it will be solved through the channels of Sunlight Company.Since the establishment of Sunshine Company, we have successively invested in several projects with no debts. Sunshine Company is expected to achieve a cash flow of [-] million yuan this year.

My idea is that, in the name of Sunshine Company, using bank loans to settle the acquisition funds is tantamount to making advances for Sunshine Company.

In another one to two years, we will inevitably establish the 51 Group, and the funds and the cost of using them will be resolved at the group level.

Funding is not a problem, it is also the smallest problem, since everyone agrees on the value of Foxmail, then we must acquire it, and as soon as possible..."

After all, Gao Yang is the major shareholder. Facing his resolute attitude, everyone had no choice but to change their minds and agree.

For Gao Yang, if the current 51 series does not buy foxmail, it would be a fool, because maybe the goose factory has already thought about foxmail.

Without further ado, we must act first.

After final confirmation, Jin Yang, as the CEO of 51.com, immediately contacted Boda to discuss the possibility of acquiring foxmail and its technical team...

(End of this chapter)