You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 498

Qin Shaoyan smiled slightly, "The price is not high. I will help them design two new products so that they can change their track. There is no need for them to crowd into Weibo-like platforms to shop."

After listening to the two products Qin Shaoyan mentioned, Xiong Xiaoge felt a little regretful. "These two things sound very promising. If we make them ourselves, they can also have a market value of several hundred million. It's a pity to hand them over to Sina."

Qin Shaoyan didn't care about it at all, and said calmly: "Weibo is more important than Tuba. After Weibo becomes the dominant product, the revenue it brings far exceeds those two products."

"Now Sina has obtained the new project they wanted, and we have obtained the resources of BoJi. It's a win-win situation!"

Xiong Xiaoge doesn't want a win-win situation, he just wants to win big, but this matter was decided by Qin Shaoyan, so he can't say anything.

But he changed the subject and said, "Sina invested like this. I feel like it's missing something. It's not grand enough."

Qin Shaoyan was stunned. "What do you want? Are you going to hold a press conference with great fanfare and let Sina admit that it has lost?"

"It's not impossible." Xiong Xiaoge smiled, "We can announce to the public that Sina is selling Boji and Weibo is buying it for a large sum of money."

"Sina received funding, and Weibo received important good news, which is good for the stock price. This is a win-win situation."

Qin Shaoyan was silent for a moment. "After all, it still costs money. This amount of money is not small."

"Don't worry about these small amounts of money." Xiong Xiaoge said with a smile, "Some money should be spent. Remember, sometimes spending money is making money."

Qin Shaoyan does know that sometimes spending money is making money, and he also understands many ways of "spending money is equal to making money", but there are also many routines that he doesn't know.

However, he doesn't want to know too much about these routines. Don't ask. If you ask, they are the unspoken rules of the industry. They are not quite legal, but they are reasonable.

Qin Shaoyan didn't need to pay too much attention to what conditions Xiong Xiaoge and Sina negotiated. Spending money to buy the surplus value of Blogger was indeed a win-win business and a necessary procedure.

The money spent by Sentinel Technologies will eventually return to everyone's pockets after going through several circles.

Therefore, spending money is equal to making money, and one must be willing to spend money.

The Sentinel Technology team quickly contacted Sina and the two sides began negotiations.

Soon reporters noticed the frequent contacts between the two sides. Members of both sides looked happy, as if there was some good news, but both sides avoided talking about topics related to the content of the negotiations.

The reporter immediately realized that there was big news here. After in-depth digging, an insider who wished to remain anonymous said that the negotiations were about Weibo's acquisition of BoJi.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused a sensation.

There was a heated discussion on the Internet. The previous "Weibo War" was still fresh in our minds. Both Weibo and bloggers spent a lot of money and the fight was hard to resolve, which caused a frenzy of posting on Weibo.

Bo Ji was banned due to unexpected factors, and Weibo became the winner of this battle.

But this victory came too suddenly, which made many people dissatisfied and felt that Weibo's victory was unfair.

Bo Ji originally had the advantage and would have surely won if it had held on for a while longer. Now Bo Ji’s defeat was not due to any fault of its own.

Another group of netizens believed that if you are not good at it, you should practice more, and bloggers are just plagiarizing Weibo.

They couldn't beat Weibo in the money-burning war, and finally attracted a large number of users by skirting the rules. This is a completely unorthodox approach and there is no possibility of winning at all.

For this reason, netizens holding two views started debates in various places, from Tianya to Mop, from campus network forums to Baidu forums.

From the beginning of the debate with extensive citations and references to classics, to the end with greetings to each other's relatives, the passionate exchanges really brought a lot of heat.

Before the netizens here could even decide who was the better of the two, the two sides over there were already exchanging glances to make peace, which immediately made many of the blogger's supporters very indignant.

Your Majesty, why are you surrendering when we are ready to fight to the death?
Many Sina bloggers are also indignant and heartbroken that Sina is going to sell its blogs.

They think that Sina Blog still has a lot of advantages. Although there are a lot of pornographic content in it, if it can be properly rectified, it may not lose.

What's more, eroticism is a basic human need. Nowadays, every website has erotic content. As long as you keep the balance, it's fine.

Some people even called for the establishment of a website rating system, so that bloggers would be able to dominate the market and Weibo, Fanfou and other small companies would be vulnerable.

This proposal immediately attracted the response of netizens, who began to discuss the Internet content rating system and talk about it in great detail, as if the rating system was a universal value. Once it was implemented, everyone would become a saint and the Internet would become a paradise.

Netizens had a heartfelt discussion, but the parties involved completely ignored the netizens' suggestions and no one responded.

In fact, the existence of borderline content on the Internet has existed since its inception and has never been eradicated. Even the most strictly managed domestic Internet has not been able to completely eliminate it after multiple rounds of rectification.

Take Qin Shaoyan’s Weibo in his previous life for example. Until 2025, you can still see various welfare girls and borderline bloggers. In the past few years, if you follow the ID with photography, you can definitely find various private revealing photo albums.

It is normal for pornographic content to exist on social platforms; after all, that is human nature.

However, the main business of social platforms is still social networking, and this point must be made clear. If they are allowed to develop into a place where pornography is the main focus and social networking is incidental, then there is really no way to save them.

Tang Bu Re wanted to be a good person, but ended up being rejected.

The sale of Bo Ji is an inevitable result and cannot be stopped by netizens' opposition.

After being kept secret and becoming known to everyone, Weibo released an announcement to the public.

It is planned to issue shares privately to no more than eight specific targets. This private offering will raise US$100 million. The main purpose of this fund is to acquire Sina's BoJi platform business.

Sina also soon issued a statement confirming the news of the sale of the Boji business.

After the official announcement by both parties, the stock price of Weibo’s parent company Sentinel Technologies soared.

From the initial issue price of $19, Sentinel Technologies' stock price has continued to soar and has now reached around $80. After acquiring the Boji business, the stock price is expected to break through the $ mark.

By then, Sentinel Technologies' market value will exceed US$30 billion.

Both parties are happy about this acquisition. Weibo now has no rivals at all and has become the largest social platform in China with over 100 million registered users and more than 20 million daily active users.

As microblog-type platforms, small platforms such as Fanfou, Diguo, Jiwai, and Zuosha have also realized the changes in the industry environment and have begun to explore their own platform positioning, preparing to build differentiated platforms and strive to survive.

Although Sina sold BoJi, it recovered all the funds it had invested in the early stage and stabilized the stock price. Apart from the trouble, there was no loss.

Moreover, Sina has also obtained the design of a product like Zhihu and is gearing up to open up a new track.

When the Zhihu product was first launched, the first person invited was the designer Qin Shaoyan.

“Excuse me, everyone calls you a master of Internet product design. Is Zhihu the product you are most satisfied with?”

Qin Shaoyan answered enthusiastically: "Thank you for the invitation. I'm in the United States and just got off the plane. I have a vested interest in this, and my circle is too small. I don't dare to call myself an Internet product design master. I don't deserve the reputation. I put a lot of effort into designing each product, and I'm very satisfied with each one."

"If you ask me which one I am most satisfied with, my answer is the next one." "The original intention of creating Zhihu was to build a community that spreads knowledge and ideas to netizens. I hope Zhihu can become a spark and lead a new social trend."

Zhang Pingyi was amazed when he saw this answer, "You are really supportive."

"They say business is not about fighting and killing, it turns out it's all about human relationships and social skills."

Qin Shaoyan said with a smile: "Everyone is lifting the sedan chair, and people are praising you as a master of Internet product design. No matter how Zhihu does, you have to help out."

"How much money can Zhihu make?" Zhang Pingyi asked curiously, "You are so generous to give it away."

Qin Shaoyan smiled, shook his head and said nothing.

"What do you mean?" Zhang Pingyi was very confused.

"I mean, this thing basically doesn't make money." Qin Shaoyan replied with a smile, "Zhihu is planning to charge for knowledge, and the spirit of the Internet is freedom and sharing. How many people do you think are willing to spend money?"

Zhang Pingyi was shocked, "You have dug a hole for Sina!"

"Don't talk nonsense." Qin Shaoyan corrected immediately, "This is the product they chose themselves. It has nothing to do with me."

"What if Zhihu fails? Aren't you afraid of damaging your reputation as a master of Internet product design?" Zhang Pingyi teased.

"What does Sina's own operational mistakes have to do with me?" Qin Shaoyan said confidently, "If it fails, it proves that the market for paid knowledge is not mature yet."

"If it succeeds, it will all be your credit, right?" Zhang Pingyi said.

"That's right." Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "Without my advice, how could they succeed?"

Zhang Pingyi nodded calmly and agreed, "As expected of President Qin."

Qin Shaoyan didn't care about Zhang Tianshi's ridicule and continued to share his rich experience on Zhihu.

Zhang Pingyi sighed, "Weibo has become the largest social platform in China. What are you going to do next? Do you need me to prepare anything?"

"Hey, how do you know I have new moves?" Qin Shaoyan was a little surprised.

"Don't I know you?" Zhang Pingyi said with a smile, "You are a person who never wants to be lonely. You feel uncomfortable if you don't make trouble. Now you are so quiet, I am a little uncomfortable."

"I'm not used to it either." Qin Shaoyan let out a long sigh, "You know what? My original idea was to make a lot of money, and then lie down and enjoy life after I became financially independent."

"You? Enjoying life?" Zhang Pingyi expressed doubt, "You don't look like a law-abiding person."

"I feel great making trouble on the Internet. Isn't this a way to enjoy life?" Qin Shaoyan replied with a smile.

"Previously, there were three Internet listed companies in the U.S. stock market, but now there is talk online that Sentinel Technology, NetEase, and Baidu are the three giants."

Zhang Pingyi thought for a moment and said, "In terms of market value, we, NetEase, and Baidu are indeed the largest Internet companies."

"But in terms of potential, I think NetEase and Baidu are just the first to sell." Qin Shaoyan shook his finger, "Our future opponents should be Penguin and Alibaba. These two giants that are just beginning to show their strength will be our strong rivals in the next ten years."

"Penguin and Alibaba?" Zhang Pingyi was a little confused. "We are in the social networking business, Penguin is in the communication software business, and Alibaba is in the e-commerce business. We are in different fields, so how can there be competition?"

"Because we all don't like to stick to our own field." Qin Shaoyan took out a few teacups and raised one of them. "This is our Sentinel Technology. The water in this teapot is the money we make."

"When the money keeps growing, the cup can no longer hold the water, so we have to find a new cup to hold the water."

"Whether from the perspective of the company's performance growth or the consideration of risk diversification, we will turn to other tracks to find new profit growth points, and outward expansion will collide with them."

"There won't be any overlap in their respective fields, but they will become competitors after crossing over."

"What's more, I am also very interested in chat software and e-commerce."

"I have invested in Jingdong Mall."

Zhang Pingyi asked tentatively: "So the next step is to do e-commerce?"

"No." Qin Shaoyan smiled slightly, "Let's buy some land first and build a few buildings first."

"Buy land?" Zhang Pingyi pinched his chin and thought, "Besides the company headquarters building and dormitory building, what else do you want to build?"

"At least build some welfare housing for employees." Qin Shaoyan replied, "We can make a lot of money by selling the buildings in times of emergency."

“Then we need to find a developer we can trust, and don’t let the project end up unfinished.”

"If you want to build a building, you have to buy land first." Zhang Pingyi asked, "Do you have any connections?"

"That's possible." Qin Shaoyan picked up his phone and started fiddling with it. "But before that, we have to get the business done first."

"Hey, Brother Zhang, I've sent you my plan. Have you read it?"

"Yes, I've seen it." Zhang Wanli hesitated for two seconds on the phone, "Is your plan too big? Are you under financial pressure?"

"Funding is not a problem." Qin Shaoyan assured, "The funds have been almost raised, and they will be credited to the account in batches once the project is implemented."

Zhang Wanli was very surprised, "Don't need a loan?"

Qin Shaoyan patted his chest and said: "We are investing real money and will never ask for loans from local governments. We want to do business and do practical things in a down-to-earth manner."

Zhang Wanli let out a long sigh, "That's great, but your plan is quite bold."

The planned "Asia No. 40 Warehouse" has a total construction area of ​​ square meters and can provide jobs for tens of thousands of people. It is definitely a large project.

"This plan is not too big. We still have the second and third phases of the project." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "But the progress of the first phase of the project is a bit tight. Can it be completed within a year?"

"It's not a big problem." Zhang Wanli replied, "I've asked someone to discuss it. One year is a bit tight, but the construction can be done in stages."

"That's good. We can use part of it after it's built." Qin Shaoyan said happily.

"So when do you plan to come over?" Zhang Wanli asked.

"Here's what I think. Our team will first go to Shanghai and Guangzhou for inspection and spread the word in the media. After all, Asia Warehouse No. 1 is very important." Qin Shaoyan said slowly, "We will not announce the location of the fourth logistics base. Instead, we will visit other cities first and take a look around."

Without saying too much, Zhang Wanli already understood what Qin Shaoyan meant.

There is a difference between taking the initiative to invest and accepting an invitation.

(End of this chapter)