The next morning, the signing ceremony between Muye & Baidu and Google was about to begin. Media from all over the world gathered at the exhibition, competing to report on this business acquisition worth at least 3 billion US dollars.
Just yesterday, several authoritative Wall Street survey and evaluation agencies re-evaluated Google's valuation, and gave a reference valuation of 9 billion to 12 billion US dollars. Ever since Google announced that it would acquire Muye & Baidu and was confirmed by Makino Technology, even though Makino Technology had not actually introduced any resources to Google, Google's valuation still staged a huge rebound.
Several agencies believed that Google's valuation had a great possibility of exploding, but this possibility did not depend on Google itself, but on Makino Technology.
If Makino Technology really fully supported Google's development after today's acquisition, then Google would usher in a period of explosive growth. If after the acquisition, Makino Technology was relatively perfunctory, then the valuation would not be so impressive. However, no matter whether Makino Technology fully supported Google or not, at least one thing was certain. After the acquisition, Makino Technology would not touch any search engine business within five years, which meant that no matter what, Google would be in a golden period of growth without any natural enemies in the next five years.
In the Internet industry, large capital operations of billions of US dollars were rare, not to mention that this was a successful case of Li Mu getting something for nothing. Therefore, it received a lot of attention from all over the world.
In addition to a large number of media reporters, a large number of industry elites also came to support. Therefore, the entire exhibition was much livelier than usual large-scale exhibitions.
At this time, Li Mu was in the backstage lounge prepared for the organizers of the exhibition. Although today's signing ceremony was very grand, the process was very simple. In addition to a well-known host from CCTV who came over to help as the opening host and interspersed in the middle, the whole signing ceremony was divided into three parts. First, Li Mu, Robin, and Larry Page took turns to give a short speech. Second, the signing ceremony of the three parties would be held on the spot. Finally, they would answer questions from the live reporters.
After going through the process with the host, Li Mu sat alone in his own lounge for a short rest. When there were ten minutes left before the ceremony started, Li Ziwei knocked on the door and came in. She said to Li Mu, "Li Zong, Manager Lin sent an email from the US. She has the preliminary results of the investigation."
"Oh?" Li Mu sat up straight and asked, "What did she say?"
Li Ziwei took out a palm-sized notebook and flipped to the page with the mini ballpoint pen. She said, "There are a total of 3 reliable sources. First: Microsoft had made some big moves recently, and there are a lot of changes in their internal positions. Based on her experience, a lot of changes in their internal positions should mean that there is a large-scale internal restructuring. Her analysis should be the establishment of a new department or project team. But Microsoft's internal security level is high, and they are located in Seattle. That's why it is easier to keep it a secret."
Li Mu nodded and said, "If it's a large internal transfer, it must be some internal restructuring. Seems like they have a new direction for development."
Li Ziwei continued. "Secondly, Microsoft had been working hard on content management recently. They had poached some chief editors from famous US media and paid them several times their salaries. But there is still no news on which project they are going to use these chief editors for." Feng Yu nodded.
Li Mu smacked his lips and said, "Microsoft is recruiting so many content talents. They are going to focus on the content side. Now, content talents are mainly used in web portals and content related products. But there are still very few content related products. Other than blogs, there is nothing else …"
The initial booming development of the internet revolved around social media, games, and information. These three main categories were related to information products. To put it bluntly, they were all kinds of portals. Other than portals, the development of content products was very limited at this stage. Unlike the later generations, where encyclopedia products, question and answer products, interest social media, and knowledge social media products were as numerous as the hairs on a cow. The only mature content product at this stage was actually the blog. As for the others, even web novels were still in the exploration stage.
Li Mu mumbled to himself, "Seems like Microsoft had poached so many content talents. They are either thinking of setting up a new web portal or a blog. There is no third possibility."
After that, Li Mu asked Li Ziwei, "Didn't you say there are three points? What's the third point? "
Li Ziwei quickly said, "The third point is that Microsoft had made a few small scale acquisitions recently, and they are all game development teams."
"Game development?" Li Mu could not help but frown. "Is it for the Xbox platform?"
Li Ziwei said, "No, CEO Lin said that these game development teams are all developing games for the Windows platform on the PC, and one of them is an online board and card game company."
"Online tabletop games …" Li Mu narrowed his eyes and nodded.
Li Mu would not be surprised if Microsoft had acquired and invested in Xbox's gaming teams. After all, Microsoft had to support a gaming platform and still need to compete with Sony's PlayStation. Without a few exclusive gaming teams, Microsoft would not be able to survive. But it was weird for Microsoft to acquire PC gaming teams. The online Tabletop game was even more ridiculous. This was different from Microsoft.
Online tabletop games rely on social networking. If Microsoft's MSN is still around, Feng Yu will not be surprised if it starts online tabletop games. But MSN is no longer around, and Microsoft had lost the chance to develop social gaming. Now, they suddenly want to develop social gaming. Microsoft will not do something so stupid unless they are going to rebuild their social gaming platform.
Li Mu analyzed the few clues he could find. First, he can be sure that Microsoft is doing something big internally. They had hired a bunch of content developers and are going to develop social gaming.
Secondly, there are a few things that need to be confirmed. Microsoft might want to do a portal, blog, or social media.
Li Mu thought for a while and slapped his thigh. "Microsoft is making a comeback!"
Li Ziwei quickly asked. "Li Zong, are you saying that Microsoft is going to develop social gaming again?"
Li Mu nodded. "I think he is not only going to develop social gaming. He is going to do everything! At least, he wants to do everything that Makino Technology is doing now! Also, he is doing it secretly. He wants to catch me off guard! "
Li Ziwei looked at Li Mu in shock. She does not know why Li Mu would come up with such a serious conclusion. On paper, the information that Lin Ching-ah sent back was not enough to support Li Mu's judgment. After all, any company that wants to compete with Makino Technology will have to pay a huge price and bear the risk of failure. It is not easy to make such a decision.
After hesitating for a while, Li Ziwei asked, "Li Zong, is it really that serious?"
Li Mu nodded without hesitation and said, "I think the possibility is at least seventy to eighty percent."
Li Ziwei hurriedly said, "Do you want to call Chief Lin back and ask her to investigate further?"
Li Mu rubbed his chin and thought for a while before saying, "We must investigate further, but we need to change the point of entry."
After that, Li Mu asked Li Ziwei, "Do you know which dimensions the Americans are using to determine the progress of North Korea's nuclear weapons?"
Li Ziwei shook her head lightly and asked tentatively, "Are we going to use spy satellites to film?"
Li Mu laughed. "This is the most direct method. It's just like how we try our best to investigate Microsoft's internal situation. But if someone deliberately hides the clues, then it will be hard for us to find out the truth."
Li Mu paused for a while and said, "On the contrary, there are many clues that cannot be hidden. For example, monitoring North Korea's uranium mining. If there is an increase in uranium mining, then it can prove that they are doing something related to nuclear energy. But this might be for nuclear power plants, and it might not be for nuclear weapons. So, how can we confirm that they are doing nuclear weapons development? We must also monitor their electricity generation. If there is no significant increase in the electricity consumption for civilian and industrial purposes, but their electricity generation increases, then it proves that they might have used thousands of centrifuges to produce highly enriched uranium. This is because nuclear power plants only need around 3% uranium-235, but nuclear weapons need more than 93% uranium-235. The amount of uranium mined and electricity generation are the clues that they cannot hide."
Li Ziwei thought for a while and nodded. She asked seriously, "Then what do you think are the clues that Microsoft is using?"
Li Mu said, "I will tell you, and you write it down."
"Ok." Li Ziwei immediately took out a pen and notebook.
"First, ask Lin Qingya to check Microsoft's personnel records. They had been doing MSN for so many years, and the information of all the employees should be relatively transparent. It will be easy to find out who had been working for MSN all this while. After Microsoft shut down MSN, see how many of them left and how many stayed. Also, find out how many of those who left recently returned to Microsoft. If Microsoft wants to do a social networking business, they will not be going too far. They will reorganize the old teams and products of MSN for a second development. This will save them a lot of time and effort, and they will be more experienced and efficient. These people are like Microsoft's uranium mines. Microsoft will not give up on mining them, and they might even be mining at a high speed."
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