There were at least 100 million PC terminals in the world every year. Under normal circumstances, 10% of Hua Xia's share was not a lot. Everyone believed that the number of PC terminals in Hua Xia would increase exponentially in the future. However, this exponential increase would take at least five years.
Wu Haijun was very clear about the development of computers in the country. Less than 10 million units were sold last year. Li Mu increased the total number of computers sold this year to 20 million units. This was a double increase.
What's more, more than half of the year had passed. According to the current situation, the entire market would only have 12 million units by the end of the year. Did Li Mu really have the ability to make up the remaining 8 million units by himself?
Li Mu's expression did not look like he was joking at all. Wu Haijun looked at Li Mu and saw that he had a slight smile on his face. Wu Haijun could not help but sigh in his heart. No matter what, this young man in front of me is the fastest rising billionaire in Hua Xia. His net worth is many times higher than mine, and the speed at which his capital is increasing is immeasurable. Such a person has done so many big things in such a short period of time. He must have a reason for saying such bold words.
At this time, Wu Haijun began to weigh the pros and cons in his heart. His current production capacity was very weak, and his market share was not high enough. In addition, he was taking the low-cost route, and the profit margin was low. He also had to do marketing. If it were not for the hardware support behind him and the unique geographical conditions in Shenzhen, it would not be easy for him to continue like this.
It was actually very easy to go against the entire industry. Just like what Li Mu did, directly using Mango-ME to break the price of the MP3 market was the most direct way to do it. He could make all the people in the industry hate him. However, it was really not easy to go against the entire industry and make money at the same time.
Wu Haijun could not see his real future and potential now. In fact, the future of the Divine Boat did not give him much room for development. Therefore, Wu Haijun was sure that it was not easy for him now.
After weighing it for a long time, Wu Haijun also realized that he really needed to ride on someone's coattails. Li Mu said that he was going to drive now. If he didn't seize the opportunity to get in the car and still wanted to use Li Mu's platform to achieve great things with little effort, he was afraid that he would completely miss this opportunity.
Thus, Wu Haijun made up his mind. He opened his mouth and said to Li Mu, "Li Zong, tell me. How do you want the Divine Boat to cooperate?"
Li Mu nodded slightly and said calmly, "First, I would like to use Makino Technology to invest in the Divine Boat. I would like to use a small amount of cash and channel resources to invest in the Divine Boat. Channel resources will be the majority."
Wu Haijun realized that Li Mu definitely wanted shares. He agreed with the small amount of cash and resources, but the key was how many shares he wanted.
Wu Haijun was about to ask, but Li Mu did not wait for him to speak. He said, "I am not interested in the parent company of the Divine Boat. I only want the shares of the Divine Boat." As he said that, Li Mu raised four fingers. "40%!"
40% …
Wu Haijun's heart twitched. Li Mu was really ruthless. The moment he opened his mouth, he asked for 40%. Wu Haijun did not even own 80% of the shares of the Divine Boat, and Li Mu alone wanted 40%.
Wu Haijun said awkwardly, "Li Zong, I really don't know how to answer you about 40%. We are also involved with other shareholders. What's more, 40% shares would dilute the current shareholders' shares too much."
Li Mu waved his hand, smiled, and asked him, "Chief Wu, do you know why I want to use Makino Technology to invest in the Divine Boat and not Taobao, which is the most direct sales platform?"
Wu Haijun asked curiously, "Do you want Makino Technology to enter the hardware industry?"
Li Mu shook his head. "If I want to make my own hardware in the future, I will be like Mango-ME. I will only look for manufacturers to cooperate with, and the brand must be in my hands."
Wu Haijun asked again, "Then what is your plan?"
Li Mu sat up straight and said, "Let's put it this way. Taobao's role as a sales channel is more important. In the eyes of ordinary users, it is not a pure Internet company. It is more like a business company that uses the Internet as a sales channel. If I want to promote an official PC to the market, using Taobao's name will seem inappropriate. If we cooperate in the future to produce a Shenzhou Taobao version of the computer, it will sound too awkward, and the consumers will also find it strange.
"However, if Makino Technology and Shenzhou cooperate to produce a Shenzhou Muye version of the computer, what will the consumers think? It will be the largest Internet company in the country, and it will also be the most influential Internet company. How much do you think the consumers will accept it? How much worse will it be compared to companies like Lenovo, Fangzheng, and Dell? "
Wu Haijun was stunned. He carefully thought about what Li Mu said. The Shenzhou computer was not well-known now. In the eyes of the consumers, it was the "cheapest computer". However, if it could be combined with Makino Technology, its influence would definitely increase. After all, Makino Technology had a killer weapon, YY. The number of YY users in the country far exceeded the number of home computers. Therefore, every YY user without a private home computer was a potential Shenzhou user!
At this moment, Li Mu said, "Aren't you working on a 4888 Pentium 4?"
Wu Haijun hurriedly said, "It's 4999."
"Okay." Li Mu nodded. "4999. What's your selling price?"
Wu Haijun hesitated for a moment and said, "The selling price is about 4400 yuan. The remaining 599 yuan is the profits from the logistics and distribution channels."
Li Mu nodded and said, "If we come to an agreement and the news of Makino Technology investing in Shenzhou gets out, will you be able to get more room to bargain with the hardware suppliers?"
Makino Technology was the largest Internet company in the country. Its users were the most loyal. What's more, Makino Technology had an online sales platform, Taobao, behind it. Li Mu believed that if Makino Technology and Shenzhou cooperated, it would definitely cause an earthquake in the computer hardware industry. Similarly, it was up to the manufacturers to deal with the situation. However, all the suppliers would have to re-evaluate the potential and strength of Shenzhou. Then, there would definitely be a change in the quantity of hardware they supplied. The increase in quantity naturally corresponded to a decrease in cost.
Wu Haijun also understood this logic. The bigger the downstream manufacturers were, the better the benefits the upstream suppliers would receive. Take the simplest keyboard and mouse manufacturers as an example. When they supplied OEM parts to the big manufacturers, other than giving them the biggest price discount, they would also receive even more favorable accounts. This was a benefit that small enterprises did not have.
Li Mu's words made Wu Haijun feel that if he could completely cozy up to Makino Technology, he would have the capital to renegotiate with all the suppliers. What's more, with such a powerful channel, he could even negotiate with Intel. If he took tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of CPUs in one go, the supply policies would definitely have to be adjusted, right?
Thinking of this, Wu Haijun said to Li Mu, "If that's the case, I believe there is still a certain amount of extra space with the suppliers."
Li Mu nodded and waved his hand. "Very good. I'll assume that you can squeeze 5% out of the entire supply chain. That would be a cost reduction of at least one or two hundred yuan. Just now, you said that your shipping price is 4,400 yuan. After deducting this part of the reduction, you will be left with about 4,200 yuan. If I tell you that Taobao does not earn a single cent, does that mean that you can save the profits of the entire supply chain?"
Wu Haijun nodded repeatedly.
Li Mu said, "Alright, I've already invested 500 million yuan into Taobao's logistics. If I tell you that when my logistics is launched, all the logistics costs will not be included, and I will sell the Shenzhou at 4,200 yuan, what will the market look like then?"
Wu Haijun couldn't help but shiver when he heard this. With the current 4999 configuration, if he could sell the Shenzhou at a price of 4,200 yuan, coupled with the strong marketing and distribution channels in Li Mu's hands, he would be invincible.
Wu Haijun suppressed his excitement and said, "If that's the case, then the market share completely depends on the production capacity."
Li Mu clapped his hands and said, "That's right, the market share completely depends on the production capacity. Just like my Mango-ME, I can sell as many as I produce. I don't have to worry about sales at all. Also, don't think that I will destroy the entire industry by doing this. In fact, I will make the MP3 hardware more popular, and the number of users will increase even faster.
The popularity of Mango-ME will allow more potential users to come into contact with MP3 players in advance through the Mango-ME users around them, and gradually convert them into potential MP3 users. The user demand will continue to increase, and Mango-ME will not be able to satisfy the entire market. Therefore, the consumers who can't buy Mango-ME will still choose from other product lines. "
As he spoke, Li Mu changed the topic to the PC and said, "What I want is to increase the number of netizens and the development of the Internet industry. What you want is to increase the sales of your products. If we cooperate, both of us will be able to meet each other's demands. Most importantly, as long as we agree on the specific distribution of benefits before the start of the cooperation, there will be no conflict of interest in our subsequent cooperation. Everyone can be united and fight side by side."
Wu Haijun was tempted by Li Mu's words.
It was too hard to fight alone. He knew his weaknesses. First of all, he lacked experience. Whether it was in terms of branding or production, the lack of experience put him at a disadvantage in the market.
Secondly, his pre-sales and after-sales channels were far inferior to those of traditional big manufacturers. His marketing capabilities in major channels were also much weaker than the industry leaders. To put it bluntly, even if he could produce millions of computers per month, he did not have the sales channels to support the monthly sales of millions of computers.
Lastly, in order to keep the price down, his quality control was not outstanding. The after-sales service was not very good either. If this continued, it would definitely affect the reputation of the products. Therefore, it was destined that his brand would fall into the position of being cheap but of poor quality. If this went on, it would only get further and further away from the market. The possibility of turning back in the future was very slim.
Consumers in the PC market did not completely pursue cost-effectiveness. It was just like buying a car. For the same performance index, Wu Haijun also knew that consumers would definitely choose Volkswagen and not Xiali. Even if Xiali was much cheaper, there would still be a considerable number of consumers who would choose Volkswagen. The reason was not just cost-effectiveness, but also brand awareness, trust, and vanity. Shenzhou was now the Xiali of the automobile industry. If there was no good opportunity, it would remain a Xiali for the rest of its life.
However, Li Mu had asked for 40% of the shares right off the bat. This was really too scary.
Wu Haijun hesitated for a moment and asked Li Mu, "Li Zong, I have already understood the marketing and distribution channels. How much cash are you willing to fork out?"
Li Mu asked him, "What do you think the Shenzhou's current valuation is?"
Wu Haijun said, "To be honest, if we were to convert the Shenzhou's current fixed assets and profits, it would not be a problem to reach 500 to 600 million yuan."
Liu Xiaodong glanced at Li Mu and then nodded slightly at Li Mu.
500 to 600 million yuan was not considered high. After all, Wu Haijun's entire production line was valued at 100 million yuan. There was also the estimated team, distribution channels, brand premium, and profitability. Taking into account the overall valuation, it could be said that Wu Haijun's current mentality had changed. He had indeed started to accept Li Mu's proposal. The only thing he was still hesitating about was the issue of the shares that Li Mu wanted.
Li Mu said to Wu Haijun, "I agree with your valuation of 600 million yuan. I can pay 30% of the shares and replace the remaining 70% with resources."
At 600 million yuan, 40% of the shares would require 240 million yuan in cash. 30% of the shares would be 72 million yuan.
Wu Haijun calculated in his heart. If he agreed to Li Mu's proposal, 72 million yuan could be used to expand his production line and after-sales services. Once Li Mu really used the strategy he had just used to sell the 4,999 yuan computers to the market at a price of 4,200 yuan, the sales of the Shenzhou would definitely skyrocket. What Li Mu had reduced were the transportation costs, distribution channels, and hardware procurement costs. The Shenzhou's profit margin could still be guaranteed. Although 40% of the profits would be Li Mu's, with the overall increase in volume, the remaining 60% could be used to create 200% of the profits, or even more.
Wu Haijun was not a fool. Although 40% of the shares was painful, Li Mu's conditions were too much for him to imagine. It was like Ma Liang had drawn a mountain of gold in front of him. However, the only way to reach this mountain of gold was to get on Li Mu's car. If not, there was no other way.
Just as Wu Haijun was struggling internally, Liu Yidong took the opportunity to add insult to injury. "Chief Wu, to be honest, I will not promise you how much we can help the Shenzhou to increase its sales in the future. I will only say one thing."
As he said that, Liu Yidong deliberately paused and said calmly, "If a computer that costs 4,999 yuan can be reduced to 4,200 yuan after working with us, that is equivalent to a 16% reduction. This 16% is the combined strength of Makino Technology, Taobao Network, and Taobao Logistics. If we work with the Shenzhou, the Shenzhou computers can be reduced by 16%. What if we work with other manufacturers? I am afraid this ratio will only be higher, right? When that time comes, the price advantage of the Shenzhou will be gone. Without the price advantage and the brand advantage, how will the Shenzhou make a breakthrough? "
Wu Haijun felt that he was not here to talk about cooperation but to be threatened. However, he had to accept this threat. Li Mu was the leader of the Internet in the country. If he wanted to promote the development of the Internet, it was in line with his personal interests. If Wu Haijun did not work with him, he would definitely find someone else to work with. No matter who Li Mu ended up working with, he would definitely think of all ways to promote the popularization of computers in Hua Xia's home. Coincidentally, the Taobao Network was now very popular, causing the entire country's attention to the Internet. This made him even more advantageous!
That meant that this was a car that would definitely be used very soon. If Wu Haijun did not get on board, there would definitely be other manufacturers who would!
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