Everyone knew that it was too early to split now. Both businesses were not yet profitable and still needed continuous cash support. What they really needed to do now was to obtain Series B safely and steadily. Then, after obtaining Series B, they would start to open up the profit points of the two businesses so that they could generate income. Once they started to generate income, their value in the capital market would be higher. At that time, the two could be split. Makino Technology would be able to go public in at least three or four years, and Easy Listening Network's independent listing would not be a dream either. At that time, it would be two heavy fruits that were very stable.
However, Li Mu's request to split now was too inappropriate. Such a big move and such a risky move would cause the capital to lose confidence in Makino Technology and the person at the helm behind the scenes. Once the investors lost confidence, it would be really dangerous. The most feared thing for a startup was a broken capital chain. It did not matter if it did not make money, as the capital was optimistic about it, they would support you. However, once the capital tightened and the capital chain broke, the only thing that could be done was to go bankrupt.
As one of the first people to come into contact with the Internet in China, Li Zong more or less understood Li Mu's mentality.
In his opinion, young people were high-spirited and had an unyielding spirit. However, sometimes this spirit was a good thing, and sometimes it was a bad thing. Once they chose the wrong direction and insisted on going down a dark path, they would fall.
Therefore, Li Zong tactfully said to Li Mu in a tone of experience, "Splitting is a very good idea, but it's just a little too early. If you really want to split, wait patiently for a few months. It's not too late to split after Series B financing is successful. At that time, you can trick more capital into joining you. Once you split, they will also do their best to help the development of the two companies."
Li Mu knew that the other party's words were very pertinent, but since he wanted to show off, he had to show off to the end. Therefore, he snorted with slight contempt and said, "It'll be too late to split after Series B financing. Now is the time to split the concept. We have to split it first and make the two concepts into a more mature state. Then, we can use higher financing to finance Series B. "
Manager Li shook his head. "That's not going to work. Once it's split, it's not going to work. Once it's split, the capital will be disappointed with you. "
Li Mu said with a smile, "I'm not afraid. The capitalists who will be disappointed by the split lack foresight and insight. I don't want to cooperate with such capitalists. As the saying goes, people of different principles cannot make plans together. In the future, I will have to communicate with the capital that can see through my intentions. "
Manager Li's face was a little ugly. Li Mu's words were a little indirect. Those who didn't support him were lacking in foresight and insight. He had just clearly expressed that he didn't support it. Wasn't this a slap in the face?
Tan Yaocheng also felt that Li Mu had gone too far. He cleared his throat and said, "Li Mu, to tell you the truth. Manager Li's opinion is very pertinent and objective. Now, Easy Listening Network's valuation can reach 300 to 400 million in the capital market. If you make a wrong move before Series B, the investors will not be optimistic about it, and the valuation may plunge. Are you willing to destroy the company that you have worked so hard to manage? "
Li Mu frowned. "Mr. Tan, what do you mean? It's my own company. What I do is my own business. I said it just now. I'm just here to convey the message. Whether you guys agree or not, the split is a done deal. Moreover, you haven't seen my future development plan. Why are you in such a hurry to make a decision? "
Tan Yaocheng said awkwardly, "I'm not denying you. I'm just reminding you that we're working together and friends."
Li Zong's expression turned ugly. He tapped the table with his fingers and said, "Alright. He said, "Alright, let's not argue about these useless things. Let's look at the follow-up development plan first."
Li Mu nodded and tapped on the keyboard with his fingers. He immediately entered the development plan after the breakup of the Easy Listening Network.
In this section, Li Mu described in detail how optimistic he was about the MP3 market, which coincided with Li Zong's.
In fact, Li Zong had already started plotting for the MP3 business this year. It was just that he had not made a firm decision yet. His main concern was the copyright issue. He had come back from the United States and worked in Silicon Valley for several years. He knew how strict the United States' protection of intellectual property rights was. Downloading MP3 without a license would result in bankruptcy and imprisonment in the United States.
However, just as he was studying the ratio between illegal costs and illegal benefits, the Easy Listening Network appeared out of nowhere. It used its own actions to prove that there were indeed no clear legal provisions that could control it. It was impossible for European and American record companies to come to China to fight a lawsuit against it, because China did not pay much attention to this area. Even if they went to great lengths to come here, they would still end up losing the lawsuit. Furthermore, the domestic record companies also had no way to fight a lawsuit against it. Not to mention that it would take a long time to fight a lawsuit, the most important thing was that lawyers had calculated that if they went to great lengths to fight a lawsuit, they would not get tens of thousands of yuan in compensation, and it would easily take one or two years.
Li Zong later consulted many professional litigators and came to a clear conclusion. The law did not dare to set a precedent for the time being.
The reason was simple. There were too many pirated copies in China. In small cities, except for Xinhua Bookstore, other bookstores could not find any genuine books. It was the same for tapes, CDs, videotapes, and optical discs. Piracy accounted for more than 90% of the market. There was no clear legal support now. If any court dared to set a precedent, it was likely to bring trouble to itself.
Therefore, Li Zong had recently made it clear to Baidu that no matter what, they must launch the MP3 next year. Even if Baidu had invested in Makino Technology, they must not give up on their MP3 search and download market. The cost of MP3 hardware was getting lower, and the popularity was increasing. The future would be the world of MP3 and digital music. At that time, the demand for downloads on the Internet would increase. If they did not plan in advance, they would die a terrible death!
When Tieba, Sina, NetEase, Shanda, and Tencent started their businesses, Li Zong was not in a hurry. Because everyone had their own specialties. Tieba was a minimalist forum, Sina was a portal, Shanda was an online game, Tencent was an instant messenger, and Baidu was a search engine. Everyone was minding their own business, and it was impossible for them to become enemies with the clothes shop. But MP3 is different. Although MP3 is for music listening, it represents a huge number of MP3 searches. In the future, music lovers and MP3 hardware users will search for a song when they think of it. After that, they will find the download address and download it to their computer or hardware.
Although MP3 search is only a part of the search engine, it is still a search engine!
A restaurant owner would not fight to the death with those who bought clothes, but he would make enemies with those who sold breakfast. On one hand, he also wanted to earn money from selling breakfast. On the other hand, if breakfast sold too well, it was inevitable that people would treat it as a staple food. They would eat a few buns for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and this would affect the potential profits of the restaurant.
Now, Li Mu is optimistic about the MP3 market. He even asserts that MP3 searches will account for more than 20% of internet searches. Li Zong can't sit still. If Li Mu manages Easy Listening, Baidu's MP3 search engine will be affected. Although Baidu has shares in Easy Listening, what's the big deal? It's meaningless! The core business must be in Feng Yu's hands! Even if Feng Yu does not sell breakfast himself, he must recruit breakfast sellers to sell breakfast in his own shop. He must have a deep cooperation with Feng Yu and be under his control.
Li Mu did not expect Li Zong to be so excited by the prospect of MP3.
Li Mu's subsequent plans for MP3 also made Li Zong feel a strong sense of crisis. Li Mu is too optimistic about MP3. Most importantly, Li Zong has the same thoughts as him …
Listening to Li Mu's introduction of the MP3 player with a touch of sadness, Li Mu coughed twice, cleared his throat, drank some water, and began the real highlight of the day.
"It's urgent to build my own navigation website!
"Navigation websites will be the first stop for more than 70% of netizens in the future. It will be the traffic king of the internet!
"Make the navigation website bigger and dig out the potential of navigation websites. This will be the lifeline of the entire internet!
"Increase capital, sell advertisements, use most of my energy to build my own navigation website, then use most of my funds to increase the traffic and influence of the navigation website. I must surpass Hao123 by 2002!"
Li Mu showed his unparalleled enthusiasm for navigation websites with an almost determined attitude, just like how he was optimistic about MP3 players.
Li Zong frowned. In his eyes, Li Mu had become an extreme fanatic.
Previously, Li Mu was extremely optimistic about MP3, which made Li Zong feel that next year's MP3 plan was in serious danger. Now, Li Mu was extremely optimistic about MP3, which made Li Zong feel that once Makino Technology was split, Tieba would be dragged down by his navigation website plan.
The Internet was a place that paid attention to user experience. It was not impossible to sell advertisements, but once the advertisements began to affect the normal use of users, users would inevitably be resistant and cause a certain number of users to leave. Li Mu was now so optimistic about the navigation station. Between the lines, it seemed that he was going to sell everything he had and do his best to do a good job on the navigation website. At that time, he was worried that Li Mu would squeeze out all the value of Tieba in advance and kill the goose that laid the golden eggs to develop the navigation website.
The biggest problem was that Li Zong was not optimistic about the navigation website.
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