Because of the series of operations of the Veterans Never Die Foundation, the reputation of Li Mu and Makino Technology gradually reached an unprecedented peak in the world. Li Mu lived up to the title of "World Youth Leader". Not only did he tell an extremely inspirational story to the world, but he also planted a huge seed of good karma in society.
However, the media recently discovered that compared with Li Mu and Makino Technology's charitable actions that frequently made headlines around the world, Li Mu's companies rarely made major breakthroughs in business. Recently, the media news about Makino Technology almost all revolved around the Veterans Never Die Charitable Foundation established by Makino Technology in the United States, but there was no new news about the business of Makino Technology itself.
In Li Mu's view, the overall business of Makino Technology was now in a stage of steady development. Although Taobao did not make any particularly big moves, the transaction volume of the platform was also reaching new highs. His two core pillar companies had entered a very stable growth period. This was a very important stage. It was a good period to consolidate the business foundation and strengthen the company from the bottom.
However, for the public who were used to seeing Li Mu's rocket-like rise, such a steady, stair-like growth did seem a bit boring and boring. Therefore, the media would occasionally jump out and shake their heads, thinking that Li Mu and his industries had entered a bottleneck period.
Li Mu rarely had the energy to pay attention to these unwarranted speculation news. Recently, he focused his energy on two things. First: Baidu had reached a preliminary consensus on the acquisition of Easy Listening Network, and it was currently in the internal evaluation stage. Li Mu asked for a 20% share exchange. Baidu obviously couldn't accept it, so it could only enter the evaluation stage first.
According to the normal historical pace, Baidu's valuation in the first half of 2003 was at least more than 500 million US dollars. A music website wanting to occupy 15-20% of its shares was indeed wishful thinking. However, the current Baidu's actual valuation could reach 200 million US dollars. They failed to seize the online music traffic and missed out on Baidu's Tieba. Now, Baidu itself was a lame teenager, and Easy Listening Network was dominant, occupying more than 90% of the entire Hua Xia online music and download market. At this time, taking the opportunity to cheat Baidu, although it was difficult to exchange 15-20% of the market value, Li Mu felt that the possibility was very high.
In addition to the acquisition of Easy Listening Network by Baidu, the second thing that Li Mu paid close attention to was the SARS that had gradually affected the country.
Since March, there had been a lot of news about SARS.
This news came from all over the country, especially the southeast region. At the beginning of the month, Li Mu learned through Chen Ze's information channel that Beijing had also confirmed the first imported case. In other words, SARS had now reached Beijing.
Fortunately, most of the rumors did not form a joint force. Some said that there was an outbreak of bird flu, some said that there was an outbreak of meningitis, and some people heard that it was a type of pneumonia with strong drug resistance. Most of these rumors were only spread locally, and the impact was not very big.
Appointed by Li Mu, Liu Shixiong actively improved the logistics system and the logistics personnel's own protection. At the same time, he was also paying attention to the social impact of various places.
Since February, there had indeed been small-scale panic buying in some cities. The most serious panic buying was disinfectant, indigowoad root, and white vinegar. Some merchants raised the price, and it did have a certain impact on the local prices. When Liu Shixiong reported the situation to Li Mu several times, he did not forget to ask Li Mu if Taobao wanted to intervene in the areas where the price of goods was rising. However, Li Mu refused every time.
There were more than three hundred prefecture-level cities in the country. The panic buying in a few cities and regions was not enough for Taobao to respond immediately. If Taobao began to intervene in the price of goods in a few cities, this unusual action would definitely attract large-scale attention. At that time, the country, which had not yet entered a state of panic, would immediately panic after being tormented by Taobao. That would be bad.
Recently, the situation of the price of goods in Guangdong Province had become more and more serious. It had become so serious that the dealers had increased the price to ask the manufacturers for goods and to transfer goods to other regions. Therefore, it had suddenly led to rumors in the surrounding provinces.
Some people said that they had seen with their own eyes businessmen from Guangdong Province driving a large amount of cash to their provinces to search for disinfectant, indigowoad root, and other supplies. Almost every store was empty.
Some people said that it was because of an infectious disease with a high mortality rate in Guangdong Province. The disinfectant could kill the infectious bacteria, and the indigowoad root could also prevent the human body from being infected.
Some people said that they should quickly find a way to buy some disinfectant and indigowoad root at home. Otherwise, if the people in Guangdong Province bought all of them, and the infectious disease spread, they would be in danger.
As a result, the panic-buying behavior of the merchants in Guangdong Province directly made the citizens of the surrounding provinces and cities nervous to the extreme. The rumors spread faster and faster. Everyone rushed into pharmacies and supermarkets to buy the legendary supplies that could resist infectious diseases.
This time, it was the most negative impact since the emergence of SARS.
When Liu Shixiong reported the situation he had confirmed to Li Mu, he did not forget to remind him, "Now at least more than 30 million urban people have been affected. Guangdong Province and several surrounding provinces have broken out in a panic, and this panic buying trend is spreading very fast. I heard that in some places, a bottle of two yuan white vinegar is selling for thirty to fifty yuan, a bottle of three yuan disinfectant is selling for seventy to eighty yuan, and a pack of five yuan indigowoad root is selling for more than one hundred yuan. The supply still cannot meet the demand. If we do not intervene, this panic buying trend will soon spread throughout the country …"
Li Mu's brows furrowed as he listened.
According to what Liu Shixiong said, the current situation was indeed a bit critical.
Rumors were spreading everywhere, the people were afraid, the unscrupulous businessmen were raising prices, the supply of supplies could not meet the demand, and it suddenly covered many provinces and cities in the southeast. Based on this scale, it was indeed necessary for Taobao to intervene. At present, the Taobao network had a huge reserve of supplies related to SARS. As long as they opened the warehouse door, not to mention the supply problems of the provinces and cities in the southeast, even if half of Hua Xia had a supply problem, the Taobao would be able to suppress it. On the one hand, they used supplies to calm the people, and on the other hand, they used fair prices to suppress the unscrupulous businessmen. However, Li Mu always felt that the time was not right yet.
Li Mu said to Liu Shixiong, "Senior, the time is really not right yet."
Liu Shixiong asked him, "Then can you tell me what kind of time you are waiting for? So that I can be mentally prepared. "
Li Mu said, "Based on the information we have received so far, the impact of this epidemic is indeed getting more and more serious. However, so far, the country has not made any arrangements at the national strategic level. If we rashly intervene at the level of supplies, it may instead speed up the spread of the news. The speed at which critical news spreads is faster than all mobilization measures and the mobilization of supplies. If we do not grasp the speed well, it will be a hindrance to the country."
Liu Shixiong sighed and said, "To be honest, the local officials in the country have a habit of only reporting the good news and not the bad news. The rumors among the people will magnify the facts, and the local reports will narrow the facts. If the local reports to the ministries and even the central government are optimistic about the situation, then the national strategic level instructions that you mentioned will probably be much later!"
Li Mu nodded. As someone who had been through this, how could he not know this?
The concealment of the situation in the early stages of SARS had also brought a great impact on Hua Xia's international reputation.
Li Mu also did not want the concealment to happen again and successfully conceal it until April or even May. Now, he also hoped to help the country start the national epidemic prevention war in March. However, he was only a businessman, after all. If he wanted to do this, he could not use brute force, but he had to seize the opportunity and use his ingenuity.
Li Mu had a flash of inspiration and blurted out, "That's right! Senior, is there any news from the WHO? "
The WHO was the abbreviation of the World Health Organization. Although Li Mu could not remember what role the WHO played during the SARS outbreak in his previous life, he vaguely felt that such a big matter, after the WHO paid attention to the epidemic, they should have given some reminders.
Liu Shixiong said, "I've paid attention to the WHO, but there hasn't been any movement so far."
Li Mu smacked his lips and said to Liu Shixiong, "How about this, Senior. Firstly, we can't rashly cause panic in the country, and secondly, we can't sit back and watch the epidemic and the material problem continue to develop without doing anything. Let's just come up with a middle strategy where we each take a step back. As soon as the WHO releases the relevant information about SARS, we will immediately start the nationwide action!"
Liu Shixiong nodded and asked Li Mu, "If the WHO releases the news, but the local officials are still hiding the news, what should we do?"
Li Mu waved his hand and said firmly, "At that time, we won't care about them anymore. If the WHO releases the warning, it will prove the seriousness of the epidemic, and we must pay attention to it! If the local officials only report the good news and not the bad news, deliberately interfering with the country's hearing and affecting the country's judgment, then we must bear this social responsibility. When that time comes, I will use YY to release the WHO's warning about the epidemic to the people of the country. Then, I will set up a news team on YY to broadcast the news of the cases and suspected cases that we have collected from all over the country, and even around the world, 24 hours a day. If the local officials dare to hide the news, then we will be responsible for reporting the truth, and ensure that the country's judgment will not be affected by people with ulterior motives! "
Seeing that Li Mu was so determined, Liu Shixiong immediately became excited. He slapped his thigh and said, "Then I will immediately make preparations. Once the WHO and YY release the news in the country, the Taobao will immediately cooperate and push the materials we have prepared online so that the people of the country can buy the relevant materials at a reasonable price. This will stabilize the price of the materials and the panic of the people!"
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