Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1417 Prey and Hunter

3721 has already completed its listing, which means it has weathered the storm and overcome the most difficult hurdle. The question now is how much profit it will generate.

Zhou Hongyi took a sip of the tea. He understood what Li Dongling meant, but he still couldn't help feeling nervous.

If 3721's stock price drops today, Zhou Hongyi doesn't know how the media will report it.

When the stock price rises, the media hypes it up, but when it falls, they don't hold back when criticizing Zhou Hongyi and 3721.

Public opinion and fame are both double-edged swords. When things are good, you are invincible, and everyone seems to be praising you as if they want to lift you up to the sky.

However, public opinion has reversed, and now everyone is ready to criticize a broken drum. The more fiercely it was praised before, the more fiercely it is criticized now!
“I know, but…” Zhou Hongyi said with a wry smile.

Looking at Zhou Hongyi's expression, Li Dongling shook his head helplessly. The current "Red-Clothed Cult Leader" was not yet the same "Red-Clothed Cannon" who had criticized everyone and everything and had attacked most of the Chinese internet circle. Her mentality was clearly not up to par yet.

"After 3721 goes public, there will likely be many competitors!"

After glancing at the opening time of the Hong Kong stock market, Li Dongling spoke to Zhou Hongyi.

The current trend in the internet industry is that when a new opportunity arises, a large number of companies emerge to seize it and then fight each other.

3721 is currently enjoying great success. Its main businesses are website navigation and Chinese domain name services. To be honest, these two businesses do have some technology, but that's about it. They don't really constitute a competitive advantage.

Li Dongling could foresee that when Zhou Hongyi returned to the mainland, the entire website navigation industry would be engulfed in fierce competition, with a host of competitors vying with 3721 for internet traffic entry points.

The real test for 3721 will come after it goes public!
"An opponent has emerged!"

When the topic of her opponent came up, Zhou Hongyi's expression clearly turned sour.

"A new website navigation company called Hao123 has emerged in Guangdong Province. I've heard that quite a few venture capitalists are already in contact with this internet company!"

Those most deeply influenced by Li Dongling are undoubtedly people like Zhou Hongyi, who were closest to him.

Knowing yourself and your enemy, you will never be defeated. This is a concept that Li Dongling has been promoting to the Dongke Group companies, and Zhou Hongyi also highly admires it.

Even though she was based in Hong Kong, Zhou Hongyi still had Yahoo! China keep an eye on the developments in the domestic internet industry through internet media and channels. She was also aware that the Hao123 website navigation had attracted venture capital attention.

Upon hearing the name of the website hao123, Li Dongling paused for a moment. The founder of hao123 was mysterious, but definitely a big shot in the internet industry.

His educational background was somewhat unremarkable in the early days of the internet, when most people had higher education levels. He was a network administrator who only graduated from junior high school. However, his vision was exceptionally unique, and he had some similarities to Li Dashanren.

Besides hao123, this person also developed another website that is much more well-known, namely 4399...

"Whether it's hao123 or other website navigation sites, 3721 currently has an advantage. The worst thing to do at this time is to destroy its own strength!"

Looking at Zhou Hongyi's expression, Li Dongling reminded him, "Some methods may be effective in the short term, but they are like slow poison, eventually leading to incurable consequences!"

Li Dongling knew the Red-Clothed Cult Leader's methods all too well. This was a heads-up to Zhou Hongyi, reminding her that 3721 couldn't use those underhanded tactics.

Tricks like forced installation, difficulty in uninstallation, forced pop-up ads, and background memory occupation may work in the short term, but in the long run, they will basically ruin your reputation, public image, and goodwill.

Hearing Li Dongling's words, Zhou Hongyi chuckled. He had indeed thought about using some "small" methods to give the emerging rivals like Hao123 a hard time.

"3721 currently has an absolute advantage. As long as it maintains an advantage in terms of installed base and technology, 3721 will not be surpassed by its competitors!"

Even without resorting to underhanded tactics, Zhou Hongyi felt that in a fair and square head-on confrontation, 3721 would have an absolute advantage and could easily sweep aside all the opponents, including 123.

"After I return to Yanjing, 3721 will prepare to launch its own browser, and in the future, 3721 will establish its own product matrix!"

Zhou Hongyi was actually aware that relying solely on website navigation and Chinese domain names would likely be insufficient to maintain an advantage in the long run.

If other websites launch their own website directories and start competing with 3721 for traffic, then 3721 will have a very difficult time. Even if it survives, it will probably have to depend on others. Otherwise, if those websites cut off their links with 3721, it will be 3721 that will suffer.

Therefore, Zhou Hongyi knew that she had to launch her own flagship product; only by having her own website could she generate a continuous stream of traffic.

Looking at the triumphant Zhou Hongyi, Lin Xianhui and Liang Botao felt for a moment that their valuation of 3721 might have been too low...

If 3721's browser and other businesses can truly develop, then 3721 may indeed become a giant company in the Chinese Internet and the largest traffic portal in the Chinese Internet!

3721's current business targets traffic entry points rather than content. Whether it's website navigation, Chinese domain names, or browsers, they are all entry points to the internet.

This is equivalent to entering the gate of the internet industry. Whoever guards the gate has the capital to control other internet companies and thus gain an advantage!
Each era of the internet has its own characteristics, and the current internet war is essentially a battle for the internet. Whoever has more traffic, more installations, and more users will be the leader in the internet industry! Li Dongling had no objection to Zhou Hongyi's plan, as 3721 was a member of the Dongke Internet camp.

Dongling Hi-Tech can naturally use the traffic that 3721 obtained; Li Dongling's attitude towards the internet has remained consistent.

That is, in this industry, Dongling Hi-Tech must have its own brand, otherwise it will be too passive. With traffic and users, Dongling Hi-Tech's products will be much easier to transform into internet-based or intelligent products, so that they won't be completely clueless.

Furthermore, the models of publicity, promotion, and public opinion have completely changed in the Internet age. Without your own Internet camp to act as a mouthpiece, you can be attacked relentlessly by your competitors.

You don't even have a chance to speak up and defend yourself, because the power of discourse and traffic are completely in the hands of others. What can you use to defend yourself?
"I hope that the future of 3721 will be because users like to use it and are willing to use it, not for any other reason!"
Reputation is something that's sometimes undervalued, but at other times, it's absolutely essential!

Finally, Li Dongling said something meaningful to his fellow disciple.

In her previous life, Zhou Hongyi's life in the post-Internet era was, to be honest, somewhat "miserable," and this does not refer to her net worth.

It's normal for things to go up and down in the business world, but Lao Zhou's reputation has never improved; on the contrary, it seems to be declining.

He was ridiculed by Tencent's CEO Jack Ma, mocked by the CEO of Great Wall Motors, and ridiculed as a researcher of Lei Jun's behavior. He was even confronted directly by a self-media person, almost losing face.

Of course, it's no longer meaningful to know who is right or wrong, but these things are absolutely related to the dirty tricks Lao Zhou used when he started out, such as using rogue software to harm people, which ruined his reputation and caused him to lose all his fans. No one spoke up for him at all.

In this life, Lao Zhou is from the Dongke Department, a figurehead who has built momentum on the internet. Li the Great Philanthropist certainly doesn't want this figurehead to suddenly collapse!

Zhou Hongyi nodded somewhat bewildered, confirming that this wasn't the first time Li Dashanren had advised him. Back when he started his own business and became the president of Yahoo! China, Li Dongling had advised him against using methods that would be criticized and have endless consequences.

Since the establishment of 3721, Zhou Hongyi has adhered to the instructions of Li Dashanren and has never engaged in any shady practices.

To this day, Zhou Hongyi's reputation is still very good; otherwise, she wouldn't have been touted by the media as an "Oriental Digital Hero."

Just then, 3721 opened for trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but its performance after the opening made Zhou Hongyi's face turn green.

As soon as the market opened, the stock price of 3721 plummeted like a waterfall, dropping by 9% immediately and then breaking through the key support level of 10%, falling to 15%!

The psychological pressure caused by such a rapid drop in stock price is enormous. Many were stunned by the sell-off and, in a panic, subconsciously started selling their shares.

When Zhou Hongyi saw this scene, he was clearly very nervous. Concern can cloud judgment, and his biggest worry at that moment was whether the stock price of 3721 would collapse.

But when Zhou Hongyi turned her head, she saw that Li Dongling, Lin Xianhui, Liang Botao and others all looked normal and showed no signs of tension.

Seeing Zhou Hongyi's gaze, Liang Botao explained to him, "These institutions these days are becoming increasingly unscrupulous. They really want to drive people to their deaths, leaving no stone unturned!"

Liang Botao had absolutely no worries about 3721's performance after the market opened today. He had seen far too much of that and knew all too well how ruthless those institutions were.

After the market opened, the stock price of 3721 fell all the way down, with the largest drop reaching 19% at one point, before entering a period of sideways trading.

After the panic selling subsided, and China.com, Tianya Gangcheng Forum, and other places where stocks were discussed began to criticize 3721 stock, the seemingly collapsing 3721 stock price was suddenly pulled up.

Not only did it wipe out the 19% drop in the blink of an eye, but it also surged by 8% before settling into a sideways trend. Anyone familiar with stocks knows that this was a way to give those who had just been gambled away a little something, so they would sell their shares again.

But after what just happened, everyone can see that 3721 is shaking out weak hands, so why would it give up its shares again?

Seeing this, Li Dongling felt that "the overall situation was settled." He estimated that 3721 was about to enter a period of explosive growth, riding the wave of internet frenzy and embarking on a continuous upward trajectory. However, this would inevitably involve dramatic ups and downs like today's. Anyone with a weak heart playing this stock could easily end up in the ICU…

"Peregrine has to handle the cases of Kingsoft, Jiangmin Technology, and other mainland internet companies that want to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange!"

After shifting his gaze away from 3721 stock, Li Dongling said to Liang Botao, "If nothing unexpected happens, a large number of mainland and overseas internet companies will approach Peregrine, all wanting Peregrine to help them go public."

After instructing Liang Botao, Li Dongling turned to Lin Xianhui and said, "At Dongke Gangcheng Company, we need to handle the listing of China.com and Ruyan e-cigarettes in North America. In addition, we also need to make plans for issuing new shares and going overseas. We must not miss any opportunities!"

"Beijing has already agreed to the plan for Cyberport to go to sea!" Li Dongling said softly.

But these words gave Lin Xianhui and Liang Botao a real boost. With these words, companies like Hong Kong City Telecom and Peregrine Bank would have much more confidence when going overseas!

"Mr. Li!"

"Mr. Li from the Yangtze River Group has arrived downstairs!"

The office door was pushed open, and an assistant from Dongke Port City Company rushed in and said.

(End of this chapter)