The richest person in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 88: Endorsing Penguin?

"Chenchen, are you really so optimistic about this company?" As an accompanying person and guardian, if Sun Fangping is to be successfully invested and signed, she must be present.

"Well, instant messaging, there are already successful cases abroad." Zhang Chen nodded.

Not long after, Xiao Ma Ge came out of the conference room and invited Zhang Chen back.

This negotiation was much simpler.

Since Zhang Chen has already agreed to invest, all we need to discuss now is how much Zhang Chen will invest and how much of the shares he will own.

On this point, the opinions of several founders were surprisingly consistent, that is, to use shares to exchange for more funds as much as possible without affecting the team's voice.

Because they also know that at the current user growth rate, if there is not enough money, only a small amount of funds will not be able to sustain the expenses needed to purchase servers in the future.

Zhang Chen was very clear about this and knew where their bottom line was.

Since the man was in love and the woman was interested, the two sides talked quickly.

Eventually, Zhang Chen's venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners will invest $260 million in exchange for a 40% stake in Tencent.

Zhang Chen knew that the price could be lowered further, but thinking that it must have been difficult for Xiao Ma Ge to pretend to be a beautiful woman and chat with people over the past year, he gave her a little more as mental compensation.

Zhang Chen also promised that he would not interfere with the company's normal operations and decision-making, but he needed to have a seat on the board of directors.

However, this position and the normal exercise of shareholder rights will be temporarily handed over to Pony Ma.

Zhang Chen's purpose in doing this is also very simple, that is, I can use power, but I can't live without it. In addition, he needs to have enough say in an Internet company that will play an important role in the future, so as to avoid some unnecessary troubles.

With the confirmation of the lawyers of both parties, they both signed the contract and stamped it with the official seal.

Seeing that everything was settled, Zhang Chen didn't plan to hide it anymore: "Boss Ma, actually, during this period of time when I was using your software, I have some opinions of my own. I wonder if you are interested in listening to them?"

Zhang Chen's words "we" brought them closer to each other. Now they were all family, so Zhang Chen would naturally help them find the way out.

Originally, Xiao Ma Ge and his colleagues were not optimistic about the company's future, but since the original version was about to be acquired, they wanted to continue operating the company and then sell it at a price to make a profit.

But seeing that Zhang Chen was so eager to talk to them about the future of the company, they also became curious and wanted to hear the opinions of this company user and superstar.

Next, Zhang Chen explained Penguin’s initial profit model. It was very simple, which was to create a virtual image for each user and allow users to spend money to dress up their virtual image, which is the “QQ Show”.

I don’t know whether Zhang Chen’s move will put Penguin on the fast track of development.

"Zhang Chen, you are really smart. I didn't expect that you are such a good singer and have such deep insights into the Internet." After listening to Zhang Chen's explanation, Xiao Ma Ge's face flushed, as if he had found the way forward for the future.

"I have a younger sister at home who always tells me that we can't meet online, so I thought about creating a virtual image." Zhang Chen raised a flag and passed the blame to his classmate Xiao Liu who was far away in the capital.

By the way, classmate Xiao Liu is about to take off. If I write a few more catchy songs for her, it won’t be long before the ringtone era comes.

Does he really want Xiao Liu to sing nursery rhymes?

That's creating wealth for her!
Who made him unsuitable for such a song in his current position? But he was unwilling to watch this piece of fat slip away, so he could only give it to Xiao Liu. "Um, Zhang Chen, there is something else I want to discuss with you." Xiao Ma walked out with gritted teeth amid the constant eye contact from the other three.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Zhang Chen looked at his embarrassed look and was curious about what was making this grown man so shy.

"This is what I think. QQ wants to get more users. Can we ask you to be the spokesperson?" Pony Ma was a little embarrassed because he had just checked Zhang Chen's information in the conference room with several partners.

In addition, after discussions among several people, in order to prevent being accused of plagiarism again, OICQ was changed to QQ at Zhang Chen's suggestion.

They found that so far, Zhang Chen has not accepted any company's product endorsement.

You know, with Zhang Chen's fame, if he takes on a few endorsements, his income will definitely be unimaginably high.

But now they are proposing that Zhang Chen endorse QQ. As for the endorsement fee?
Could it be possible that they should return the money Zhang Chen had just invested to him? Whether it would be enough is another matter. After that, the company's operating funds would run out again.

After listening to what Xiao Ma said, Zhang Chen thought to himself, I've always been the one asking others to pay more, but now I'm getting it for free?

"Are you sure the company can absorb the users I will bring after becoming the spokesperson?" Zhang Chen did not agree directly, but asked a key question.

The original reason for seeking investment was due to the server shortage problem, and now they ask him to be the spokesperson.

Can Tencent handle this huge wealth?

"Well, how about you invest a little more?" Brother Xiao Ma felt a little embarrassed.

Wow, the contract was just signed and they asked me to invest more, is it so casual?

In fact, for Xiao Ma Ge and his colleagues, after signing the contract, they also seriously considered the profit model proposed by Zhang Chen and believed that it was worth a try.

Now that the prospects are bright, in order for the company to develop faster, it naturally needs greater exposure.

“You can invest more, but…” Zhang Chen would not be a sucker for nothing. If he gave in now, what if he was short of money again in the future, would he invest more money?
Of course, he would not sit idly by and watch Penguin run into problems, but he could not let the entrepreneurial team feel that his money was easy to take. If they developed this habit, the company would lose the motivation to move forward.

On the other side, the four members of the Penguin founding team were also in trouble.

Now Zhang Chen already has 40% of the shares in his hands. If Zhang Chen were to take away more shares, it would inevitably erode their team's voice in the company.

This is currently their angel round, and after Zhang Chen’s investment, they still have 60% of the equity left.

If it goes through three more rounds of financing before going public, it will be sufficient as long as it ensures that after the current angel round with Zhang Chen, the shares on hand exceed 52%.

It is indeed 52%, not 51%, because the first and second rounds will basically be diluted by 20%, and will be diluted by another 25% when it goes public. If it is 51% of the equity, then after the listing, the founding team will only have 33.27% of the equity, and thus lose the veto power.

Once you lose your veto power, you risk being kicked out.

If the equity is 52%, then after three rounds of dilution, there will be 33.34% left. Equity exceeding one-third has a veto power.

　It will be available at 12 noon tomorrow. I hope you will give me a first order! Thank you very much!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)