You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 513

"Two hundred million dollars?" Liu Wei was so angry that he laughed.

You really dare to ask for it.

The other party really asked for an exorbitant amount of money. This coal boss had no idea at all.

Your "YP Technology" is just a small casual game development company that has clung to Facebook's support.

Before anything happened, I felt like I had transformed from a pheasant into a phoenix and was about to take off.

In 2004, NHN Group purchased 1% of Lianzhong’s shares for US$50 million, which was considered a sky-high price.

Liu Yuanrui dared to ask for $25 million for % of the shares, which shows how excessive this offer is.

Liu Wei asked back: "How many players do you have at YP Technology? How many are online daily on average? What is the expected monthly turnover? What is the annual revenue? What is the ARPU value? Have you calculated the LTV?"

Liu Yuanrui was confused by this series of questions. What were they all about?
What is the Apo value?

What is LTV?

"This... Mr. Liu, can you explain it in more detail?" Liu Yuanrui asked curiously with an attitude of not being ashamed to ask questions and humbly learning.

In fact, Liu Wei didn’t understand what APO value and LTV were. These terms were invented by Qin Shaoyan, and he just used them to show off.

Liu Wei laughed, "How long has your board game been online on Facebook? These data have not yet been officially compiled. Why do you think your shares are worth more than Lianzhong?"

"At the beginning, Lianzhong had 2 million registered users and 1500 million monthly active users, so Lianzhong could sell its shares at a high price."

"You have nothing yet. What's more, your project is still in the early stages. It's hard to say whether it can make money and how much money it can make."

"Facebook only provides you with a platform. How high your project can reach is entirely up to you, and they can replace new partners at any time."

"So the risk of your YP Technology is very high. The valuation of the entire company cannot even reach 100 million US dollars."

Liu Yuanrui frowned and pondered for two seconds, "So how much is your company willing to offer?"

"How about 100 million RMB?" Liu Wei raised a finger.

"This..." Liu Yuanrui felt unhappy. The bargaining was too harsh. Not only did he cut the price in half, but he also changed the currency. The difference was more than ten billion.

Logically speaking, 100 million RMB is a very large sum of money, but Liu Yuanrui has higher standards and a bigger appetite now, and he really doesn't care about this number anymore.

"Is this your company's offer?" Liu Yuanrui smiled. "I don't see how sincere you are."

Liu Wei thought for a moment and said, "How about we add another 50 million?"

"I won't consider it if it's less than 1 billion RMB." Liu Yuanrui stood up and said, "I have other things to do, so I'll take my leave now."

This is not an excuse. Liu Yuanrui is indeed very busy now and he has to rush to the next meeting.

The other party is South Korea's NHN Group, and they are more interested in the chess and card games of "yp Technology".

South Korea's NHN Group is the largest portal group in South Korea and also the gaming group with the highest stock price in the country. Its Naver is the most used search engine in South Korea, and its status in South Korea is equivalent to that of Baidu in China.

In 2004, NHN Group spent a large sum of money to acquire shares of Lianzhong, hoping to enter the Chinese game market through the Lianzhong platform, introduce its large-scale online games to China, and obtain rich profits in return.

However, after NHN entered the Chinese market, the market environment changed dramatically.

Game companies led by Shanda, 9you, and Sentinel Technology have been successfully listed on NASDAQ. Portal sites such as NetEase have risen rapidly after entering the online game industry, which in turn has led to the emergence of a large number of domestic online game products.

The most important thing is the appearance of Qin Shaoyan, which made Korean game companies grit their teeth.

With the title of China's No. 1 game producer, the brilliant record of "Warring States OL", and the unparalleled production capabilities in the stand-alone field, Qin Shaoyan has firmly established himself as the industry leader in China's gaming industry.

On the one hand, Qin Shaoyan mediated and introduced the strategy of European and American online games to restrict Korean online games, making it sharply more difficult for Korean online games to enter the Chinese market. On the other hand, he lobbied the authorities to restrict Korean online games.

At the same time, Qin Shaoyan vigorously supported domestic game companies, invested money everywhere, and encouraged domestic self-developed games.

Qin Shaoyan also allowed companies in the industry to use his game engine for free. This alone was a fatal blow to Korean game companies.

As we all know, the biggest feature of Korean online games is the high quality of game art, while the gameplay can only be said to be barely passing.

Qin Shaoyan's "System" game engine directly raised the art level of domestic games to a higher level, causing Korean games to lose their only advantage.

In addition, the programmers at Korean game companies are of very poor quality and are easily targeted by plug-ins. Chinese companies that have cooperated with them before have a deep understanding of this and have a very low impression of Korean companies.

The rapid rise of Qin Shaoyan's Sentinel Technologies has basically destroyed the possibility of Korean games making money in the Chinese game market.

Compared with the previous situation where they did nothing and just collected money, the internal competition among Korean game companies is even more extreme.

They not only have to improve the game graphics, but also the gameplay and technical services. Otherwise, Chinese game companies will not cooperate with Korean companies at all.

Under such conditions, fewer and fewer people want to cooperate with Korean game companies.

After NHN Group bought shares in Lianzhong, they found that the situation was completely different from what they had expected. The two online game projects they tried out in the Chinese market were complete failures, which caused great controversy within the group's senior management.

But if they don't open up the Chinese market, they have nowhere else to go.

The surrounding countries either have a small market with low returns, or have a well-developed local game industry and their own products have no advantages to enter the market.

When NHN Group heard that YP Technology wanted to sell its shares, it did not take it seriously. However, after learning about the company's true situation, it immediately paid great attention to it.

If we can take advantage of this opportunity and use the YP Technology shell to connect with Facebook, we will have a chance to open up the European and American markets.

NHN Group, which was in urgent need of new markets, was very eager for Liu Yuanrui's shares and actively contacted him to express its intention to acquire all of them.

That's why Liu Yuanrui was dismissive of Liu Wei's offer.

……

Liu Wei flew back to Giant Interactive that afternoon and went straight to CEO Shi Yuzhu, "Mr. Shi, that coal boss has a very big appetite."

Shi Yuzhu asked calmly, "How much does he want?"

"At first he wanted $200 million, but after a long discussion he said no deal if it's less than 1 billion RMB." Liu Wei was a little angry. "Who is he to dare to ask for 1 billion?"

Shi Yuzhu was also a little surprised, "You really have a big appetite."

Seeing that Shi Yuzhu had no other reaction, Liu Wei continued to ask, "Do we still want to talk?" "Of course we do." Shi Yuzhu said seriously, "We must get the shares of YP Technology. This is a death order."

Liu Wei was surprised. "What is our highest offer?"

"You can just make the decision if the amount is less than 400 million yuan," Shi Yuzhu stressed. "We need to do this quickly."

Liu Wei hesitated for a moment. "It's just a board game, and it's only been online on Facebook for two months. Logically speaking, the entire company is not worth 25 million. Spending million to buy % of the shares is too much of an exaggeration."

"Why are we still considering whether it's worth it at this time?" Shi Yuzhu said seriously, "Our first priority is to go public. Do you understand?"

"As long as the company can be successfully listed, we can make ten times more than 400 million!"

Originally, Giant Interactive planned to go public this year, and Shi Yuzhu had made sufficient preparations. However, his plans were disrupted right from the start.

The game "Zhengtu", which he had high hopes for, got off to a bad start. It was blocked by "Warring States OL" operated by Sentinel Technology just after it went online for testing.

Whether in terms of art, graphics, technology, or gameplay, "Warring States" is in a crushing position, and the gameplay of both sides is very similar.

Later, when they were confronting each other on the ground, they were not only at a disadvantage in terms of fighting, but also lost miserably in terms of public opinion.

Shi Yuzhu decisively gave up the confrontation and announced that the launch time of "Zhengtu" would be postponed and the entire game would be remade from scratch.

To this end, Shi Yuzhu spent a large sum of money to poach a heavyweight producer, He Jinrui, from Qin Shaoyan.

But half a year later, Shi Yuzhu found that things were not developing as he had expected.

This producer who was hired for a large sum of money seemed to be...not quite right.

During the meeting, He Jinrui talked about the game concept, framework design, gameplay, and numerical planning in a very clear and logical manner, which sounded impressive.

When it came to getting started with the actual work, they were very fierce. The entire "Zhengtu" project team, led by He Jinrui, was almost collapsed by the 007 work system. It was only after Shi Yuzhu personally came forward to persuade He Jinrui that he agreed to slightly reduce the intensity of his work.

From any point of view, this producer is worth the money.

But after "Zhengtu" completed the revision planned by He Jinrui, an unexpected miracle occurred.

50% of the players who participated in the test dropped out after playing for a week, and after a month, only less than 10% of the users were still online.

Such low data shocked Shi Yuzhu. He couldn't understand why such shocking results appeared when there were no major bugs in the game.

As a veteran online game user, Shi Yuzhu decided to try the game out himself. After five days of intensive play, he found that the entire game's numerical system was a piece of shit, and the economic system collapsed on the third day.

Shi Yuzhu was completely confused, and even began to suspect that this He Jinrui was an undercover agent sent by Qin Shaoyan to trap him.

After playing for a week, Shi Yuzhu gave a decisive order, asking He Jinrui to leave the "Zhengtu" project team immediately and recall the original team of the project for emergency rescue.

After several days of review, Shi Yuzhu found that the entire project seemed to have rotted. He Jinrui's design had a huge impact on "Zhengtu", and it would be difficult to save it unless most of it was overturned.

But it was too late. Shi Yuzhu couldn't wait another year to reshape the entire game. He only had three months.

After three months of rescue, the game is finally playable. As for how effective it is, it remains to be seen by the market.

Unfortunately, the market data after testing was not optimistic. Although he could still make money, it was far from Shi Yuzhu's expectations.

The profits did not meet expectations and the conditions for Giant Network's listing were not mature, so the time was delayed again and again.

Shi Yuzhu was very anxious. Not only was he anxious, but others who were waiting to make money were even more anxious.

At this time, the news of Liu Yuanrui selling shares reached Shi Yuzhu.

After careful study, he suddenly realized that this was a great opportunity.

If Giant Network can acquire the shares of "YP Technology", then the cooperation between this newly emerged game company and Facebook can effectively boost the share price of Giant Network.

With the support of Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, which provides it with traffic, and the huge profits hidden in chess and card games, it is a perfect goal no matter how you look at it.

It sounds so nice to acquire YP Technology shares and provide benefits to Giant Network.

"We must go public in 08. There is no room for bargaining," Shi Yuzhu stressed. "If Giant Interactive cannot successfully go public, the entire project team and even the entire company will have no meaning to exist. Do you understand?"

Liu Wei's heart tightened when he heard this. Looking at Shi Yuzhu's resolute attitude, he knew very well that the other party was not just talking nonsense, but had already made up his mind.

He has been with Shi Yuzhu for so many years and he knows very well that the other party has the courage to cut off his own arm.

However, Shi Yuzhu can fail and then turn around, but I don’t have that ability. Giant Network has also invested a lot of effort and can’t just watch such a good opportunity go to waste.

What's more, Giant Network is fully capable of listing on NASDAQ, it is just a matter of how much profit it can make.

"Mr. Shi..." Liu Wei hesitated for a moment, "I heard that this YP Technology has a great relationship with Qin Shaoyan. Should we contact Qin Shaoyan?"

Shi Yuzhu was startled and frowned, "Didn't they say that Qin Shaoyan and this company were just cooperating? Does he really have a stake in it?"

"I haven't heard of it." Liu Wei shook his head. "But we still have to be cautious about this matter. Qin Shaoyan's words still carry a lot of weight. If he comes forward to stop us, all our efforts will be in vain."

"If he agrees, the acquisition will go much more smoothly."

Shi Yuzhu now instinctively disliked the name Qin Shaoyan, but the situation was stronger than the person, so he could only suppress his unhappiness and said, "Then go to the capital to meet Qin Shaoyan and talk to him."

"Okay, I'll fly there tonight." Liu Wei agreed quickly.

"Also, get that He Jinrui away from me quickly. I don't want to see this idiot again!" Shi Yuzhu couldn't help but swear.

"Ah, Mr. Shi, we have invested in He Jinrui's company." Liu Wei couldn't help but say, "The project is not finished yet."

"What this idiot made is just a bunch of shit. What do you expect him to come up with?" Shi Yuzhu was very angry. "The most urgent thing now is to stop the loss quickly, withdraw the investment first and then let him get out!"

"He is the evil sent out by Qin Shaoyan! He came here on purpose to trick us!"

Liu Wei was speechless. Didn't you dig He Jinrui here? How come you were released by Qin Shaoyan?

But since the boss had spoken, Liu Wei had no choice but to follow his orders. He thought for a moment, "How about selling He Jinrui's company?"

Shi Yuzhu frowned. "Sell it? Sell it to whom? Who would buy this idiot's project? Look at what he has done to "Zhengtu"?"

"It's okay as long as you want to sell it." Liu Wei said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)