After asking the question, Lin Ching-ah instantly regretted it. She felt that this kind of matter was the boss's own business. Since the boss asked her how to kick Baidu out of the competition, then she should just answer the question directly. It was very impolite to question the decision of the leader.
Therefore, Lin Ching-ah hurriedly added, "Li Zong, don't misunderstand me. I'm just a little curious …"
Li Mu waved his hand and smiled. "Senior sister, I don't mind if you call me Li Zong in the company, and I won't call you senior sister in the company either. But outside the company, it's better for us not to be so distant. You can just call me by my name."
Lin Ching-ah nodded. Li Mu comforted her again. "Since you can ask me that question, it proves that you are not only working for the company, but also thinking for the company. This is a good thing. Don't worry about me getting angry. I'm not a narrow-minded person. Even if you think I did something wrong, you can directly say it in the company or in private. It's okay to criticize me or scold me."
Lin Ching-ah said with a little embarrassment, "I understand …"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Let me first tell you why I want to kick Baidu out of the competition."
Lin Ching-ah sat up straight and waited for Li Mu to continue.
Li Mu took a sip of tea and said with a serious and serious expression, "First of all, for me, Baidu will be less and less of a help in the future. Its role is in stages. After this stage, we won't need it anymore. It's like baby milk powder. It's a great help to the Makino Technology in the infant stage, but when we grow up, we won't need it anymore."
Lin Ching-ah pursed her lips and looked at Li Mu for a while. She said seriously, "I don't think you're telling the truth."
Li Mu asked, "Why?"
Lin Ching-ah said, "The reason you just said is equivalent to burning the bridge after crossing the river. Strictly speaking, it's very immoral. But I don't think you are such a person."
Li Mu shrugged and smiled. Kicking off a partner before driving was indeed not in line with Li Mu's usual code of conduct. But he couldn't tell her that Baidu could earn 12 billion RMB in advertising fees from Putian private hospitals through keyword bidding ranking every year, and when the money was finally passed on to the consumers, the consumers would even have to pay a hundred times that amount. Such an immoral company was just like what the boss of the Triad in Young and Dangerous said that the underworld was like a chamber pot. In the future, many people, including Li Mu himself, would be disgusted by such a coquettish company.
So, Li Mu could only say, "They and I, in essence, may be different. I just want to move them out of Makino Technology. Maybe it's indeed immoral, but I want to do it urgently. And this matter must be done as soon as possible. Once we show signs of taking off, they won't get out of the car no matter what."
Lin Ching-ah looked at Li Mu for a moment. In her heart, she felt that Li Mu should have other difficulties. She believed that Li Mu was not that kind of subjective despicable person, so she nodded and said to Li Mu, "If you want Baidu to dilute its shares or even withdraw its investment, there are two or three ways in total."
Li Mu hurriedly said, "Tell me about it."
Lin Ching-ah said, "The first is to increase the capital. You are the major shareholder, and you have absolute control. If you ask all the shareholders to increase the capital in proportion, then the other shareholders must increase the capital with you. Otherwise, the shares will be automatically diluted. However, you have too many shares. Excluding the employee options held on behalf of others, we gave 10% of our shares to Baidu, 5% to Song Liang, and 5% to Zhao Kang, the owner of Douban. If you only increase the capital normally, Baidu will not hesitate. After all, they only need to increase the capital by 1 million, and you need to increase the capital by 8 million. So, you have to consider your own cash situation, and also the cash situation of Baidu.
You might be working for nothing. "Li Mu nodded and said," Baidu is still in the stage of burning money. They should not have too much capital, but they should not be too stretched either. I estimate that a few million should be easy. It is not possible to make things difficult for them to increase the capital. "
Lin Ching-ah added, "In this case, if you want Baidu to withdraw its investment, you have to make them lose confidence in the company's future. You have to give them a development plan that they cannot accept, so that they will not be willing to take risks with you."
Li Mu understood what Lin Ching-ah meant. This method was very common in the internet and physical business field. Not only did it use a suicidal plan to scare small shareholders, some companies even suspended their operations in order to force small shareholders to withdraw their shares. It was a direct loss to the company, forcing small shareholders to withdraw their shares and leave to avoid greater losses. However, Lin Ching-ah might have underestimated the leadership of Baidu. This was, after all, one of the three carriages of Hua Xia's internet in the future. Their leadership was very far-sighted. If this method could scare them away, they would definitely not be able to become Baidu in the future.
Therefore, Li Mu smacked his lips and said, "If I give Baidu a development plan that seems suicidal, Baidu should not withdraw its investment immediately. They only invested a total of five million. This amount of money is nothing to them. At that time, they will definitely wait and see. And I can't destroy the business at hand just to drive away Baidu."
Lin Ching-ah said with some difficulty, "Then this is difficult. Baidu does not have a lot of shares, and they don't care about the money that they have already invested. They are like a dog skin plaster, you can't get rid of them even if you want to."
Li Mu nodded. "This is also what I am troubled about. I can't think of a suitable solution."
Lin Ching-ah asked Li Mu, "What is the fundamental motive of Baidu to invest in Makino Technology?"
Li Mu said, "The biggest problem they face is the lack of user stickiness. Search engines can only be the front end of users, and they can only watch others do the middle end and the back end. Therefore, they want to try to integrate other products to increase their user stickiness. Makino Technology took the lead in MP3 search, and it used a unique community model to gather a large number of users on Tieba. At first, they wanted to buy Makino Technology directly, but I refused. Later, they wanted to buy a large proportion of shares, but I also refused. In the end, they could only agree to my request to buy 10% of the shares first. In fact, their fundamental hope should be to increase their shareholding through continuous financing, and then wash me out bit by bit. If they can control Makino Technology, then they can directly integrate Yi Ting and Tieba under their own banner."
Lin Ching-ah pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then said, "That is to say, their fundamental motive is not to invest in us to make money, but to achieve the final realization of encroachment and annexation of us?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "This is just their wishful thinking."
Lin Ching-ah's eyes suddenly lit up. She said, "In your strategic plan today, there is no plan about Yi Ting. It is obvious that you pay more attention to Tieba and the social projects that Tieba will incubate next. If we cut off our own share, can you bear to do so?"
"Cut off our own share?" Li Mu frowned. "You mean to split Yi Ting and give it to them?"
"No." Lin Ching-ah hurriedly explained, "I mean to split Yi Ting from Makino Technology, and then negotiate with Baidu to find a way to exchange their shares of Makino Technology for Yi Ting's shares. Since you don't value Yi Ting so much, we can sacrifice part of our interests in Yi Ting and let them exchange more shares of Yi Ting."
Li Mu repeatedly muttered the word 'exchange', his fingers gently tapping on the table in a unique rhythm. His brain was working quickly.
It was true that he did not pay much attention to Yi Ting. After Tieba was incubated with Yi Ting, the value of Yi Ting itself was not high enough. Currently, the entire music industry was free. Although there would be a wave of traffic peak next year, this traffic was not worth much. Just operating Yi Ting alone, even if there was a surge in traffic, it would only earn advertising fees. Hao123 was already very good before it was sold to Baidu, but its monthly advertising revenue was only about 800,000. Although it was a large sum of money, it was really nothing for people like Li Mu who played with concepts.
It was certain that there was not much meaning for anyone to set up a music website now, except for Baidu and Tencent. Baidu's music search could greatly increase user loyalty, and that was his most urgent need now. Tencent's idea of making music was probably not born yet. Their biggest concern now was how to expand their user base. In 2002, they would play around the edges and create some dirty chat rooms. In the second half of 2003, they would start QQ games. Music was even later, and they would have to wait until 2005.
From this point of view, only Baidu could maximize the value that music could bring. Currently, there was a legal gap in copyright protection, and it was indeed not that glorious. If he could follow Lin Ching-ah's suggestion and negotiate with Baidu for an exchange, and if the conditions were good enough, Baidu might really be tempted.
If he stayed in Makino Technology, Li Mu would only integrate with Baidu's resources. He would never let Baidu integrate with him. Baidu would probably be anxious if it kept smelling the aroma but could not eat it. He might as well give it a choice: Stop smelling the aroma from Muye, and I'll get you a bowl of it, and you can eat it at the side.
However, Li Mu was also not willing to directly give Baidu the controlling stake of Yi Ting. Baidu only had 10% of Makino Technology's shares. If he wanted them to control Yi Ting, they would have to pay more.
Thinking of this, Li Mu combined the suggestions that Lin Ching-ah gave him before, and an idea came to his mind. Why not make a multi-pronged approach?
The so-called multi-pronged approach was to use all the suggestions that Lin Ching-ah gave him.
First, he came up with an exaggerated business plan, and told Baidu that he was now ready to split Yi Ting and Tieba.
Then, it was time for the main event. Regarding the split and the business plan after the split, the plan for the Easy Listening Network had to be very stable, which was to continue doing music and maintain the first position of the music audiovisual website. However, the plan for Tieba must be full of danger and uncertainty.
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