Top of the big era

On the plane, we really sat and talked for more than ten hours.

During this period, Zhou Buqi ate two meals, drank four cups of coffee, two glasses of red wine, and ate a whole plate of fruit platter. He was very energetic. Friedman opposite is old, and his condition is no worse than that of a young man.

Once I went to London, I didn’t care about anything.

Go to bed first!

At this point, the benefits of staying up on the plane for more than ten hours are revealed. When I wake up, it will be dawn, so there is no need to suffer from jet lag.

During the day, Zhou Buqi first went to inspect the British branch of Ziweixing.

The so-called British branch is actually the headquarters of Ziweixing's European region. As time goes by, it has grown in scale. The core business is of course Helo.

It has launched 8 language versions including English version, German version, French version, Dutch version, Spanish version, Portuguese version and Swedish version.

Servers already cover 11 countries.

In Europe, there are many small countries. In many cases, the sum of several countries next to each other is not as big as a domestic province. There is no need to build servers in every country.

Because the business volume is small and there will be cloud computing projects in the future, the total number of servers currently deployed in Europa is only 6,000. The high-end IBM servers that could be purchased also cost a total budget of US$35 million.

It's really a waste of money.

The good news is that Helo's business is developing very smoothly!

Thanks to the surge in sales of smartphones, Helo, as the most popular app on smartphones, has become the biggest winner.

Currently, Helo on mobile has more than 24 million users worldwide!

It already accounts for one-third of the world’s smartphones.

The number of users in Europe has reached 7 million, of which 4 million are in the UK. It can be seen that there is still a lot of room for development in continental Europe.

Regarding this development trend, Zhou Buqi exchanged views with Paul Koerner, the president of Europe, and he was worried.

The copying attribute of the Internet is too strong!

Helo has no technical threshold. If you want to do it, you must seize the track and win the market quickly and decisively! Dominate the user's mobile phone desktop and seize the user's inertial mind!

Not to mention Silicon Valley, there are seven or eight small startups imitating Helo in the UK alone.

Be alert!

Beware of arrogance, impetuosity, and carelessness!

The top priority is to unite the forces that all parties can combine to promote Helo more quickly! Helo is developing rapidly in Europe, but it’s not fast enough!

At least judging from Ziweixing’s resources, it can be faster!

Zhou Buqi is actually not too worried. At present, Helo has become a trend, at least it has dominated the Apple Store and Google Store.

By mastering these two major channels, Helo's position will be unbreakable.

However, Paul Koerner’s advice also makes sense.

Helo for smartphones is a big project, and potential risks must be minimized at all costs!

Zhou Buqi gave two plans.

First, from the group strategic level, Ziweixing International gave up its confrontational relationship with Twitter. There is no need to fight to the death. After all, Ziweixing International holds nearly 40% of Twitter's shares.

Twitter's development in Europe is ahead of YikYak, and it has opened more than 30 branches and work sites on the European continent.

The competition between YikYak and Twitter is over for now.

Ziweixing will support Twitter again, and at the same time, the Twitter team will also help Helo further develop in continental Europe. This job is actually not difficult. There are still very few Helo users in various small languages. The operation is not complicated and the server pressure is not great.

When there are more users, Ziweixing's business will be spread all over Europe, and some fragmented businesses can be taken over.

Second, from the business level of Helo.

In order to ensure that Helo can succeed without fail, some capital methods must be used. Anyway, Ziweixing has a lot of money. As long as it can get this business started, it doesn't matter if it spends more money!

Aren’t there many startups imitating Helo and making similar products?

easy!

I went to investigate and found some teams with strong technical capabilities and good creative ideas that were threatening, so I bought the company directly. Then after some internal tinkering, their products were removed from the shelves.

Keeping a great team at my disposal.

…

After staying in London for two days, Zhou Buqi not only held several meetings at Ziweixing International and Ziweixing Digital Media to set a few tone, but also focused on EMI Records.

The case went badly.

It's clear that they are insolvent and on the verge of bankruptcy, so the equity side can just follow MGM's example and exit honestly? Citibank directly swapped debt for equity and took over EMI Records.

Then Ziweixing Global bought EMI Records from Citigroup, just like MGM’s transaction model.

It's a pity that British capitalists are still a little less knowledgeable than American capitalists, and they still have illusions. All investments have failed, so you can just cut off the meat when it's time to cut it off, just grind it off.

But Terra Firma Capital still wants to persist, thinking that it can change destiny and lead EMI Records to recovery.

Zhou Buqi is not in a hurry, so just use it up.

It is impossible for him to be taken advantage of and pay to the equity parties. Spend 2 billion pounds for Terra Firma Capital and take on another 3.4 billion pounds of debt... Damn it!

How much does it cost?

It would be better to just wait for EMI to go bankrupt and reorganize, and Citibank to force a debt-for-equity swap with 2.2 billion pounds of debt under a leveraged buyout agreement.

At that time, Citigroup will hold 100% of EMI Records, and EMI's debt will be reduced to 1.2 billion pounds.

Citi's total investment is 2.2 billion pounds. Considering the current economic situation and the current status of the music industry, there is a fundamental premium. Maybe if they offer 1.8 billion pounds in cash, Citigroup will be willing to take action and quickly exit this mess.

At that time, MSI Global can use 1.8 billion pounds in cash and 1.2 billion pounds in debt to win EMI at a low price of 3 billion pounds.

Just wait!

It was the weekend, and Zhou Buqi went to Manchester. Together with his father, he visited Old Trafford for the first time this season and watched Manchester United play against the Bundesliga powerhouse Wolfsburg.

This is a Champions League game.

The gap in strength is huge.

With home advantage, Manchester United easily defeated their opponents with a score of 4:1. Beckham scored two assists and received applause when he was replaced in the 64th minute.

This season, Manchester United is unbeaten in 7 games in all competitions.

5 wins and 2 draws!

Looking at this situation, after leaving Ronaldo, Manchester United's strength has not declined, but has further strengthened. Especially the strong midfield and frontcourt strength makes every opponent fearful.

As the owner of the club, Zhou Buqi also received a warm welcome from the fans.

After the game, Zhou Buqi wanted to chat with Ferguson and congratulate him. Unexpectedly, I received an unexpected call - Li Yanhong.

"Mr. Li?"

"You are so beautiful!"

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Buqi was confused.

Li Yanhong said with a smile: "The local fans welcome you very much. You can make the arrogant British stand up and applaud. It shows that you have been very successful in building Manchester United."

Zhou Buqi said helplessly: "Is this match broadcast in China? It's midnight in China, so you don't sleep?"

"I'm in England."

"Um?"

"I'm on the scene."

"What?" Zhou Buqi was stunned, "Real or false? Don't be kidding!"

Li Yanhong smiled and said, "I'm not kidding. I'm in box 3. Come over here and let's talk."

Zhou Buqi quickly called David Gill and San Dezi, who were watching the game with him, and went to box No. 3 together. After the door opened... Whoa! Sure enough!

There were five distinguished guests in the box, and everything was available including red wine, cigars, fruit plates, and pastries.

Zhou Buqi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He quickly reached out his hand and walked over, saying enthusiastically: "Why are you here? Let me tell you in advance!"

Li Yanhong smiled and said: "I'm here to work. This is your team. I just came over to watch a game. I didn't know you were there. If I had known, I would have invited you to watch the game together."

Zhou Buqi shook hands with several people next to him. He also knew two of them, one was Baidu's American director and the other was Baidu's vice president.

Then, the two sides briefly introduced each other and got to know each other.

David Gill was very knowledgeable and asked Mr. Li which player he liked. He said he liked Beckham, and David Gill personally went to arrange it. He said he would go to the locker room to get Beckham's final jersey as a gift, and also asked all Manchester United players to sign it.

Zhou Buqi was very satisfied and asked: "How about giving you a jersey? With your name printed on it!"

Li Yanhong didn't care, "No, don't bother me. I just came from Edinburgh to watch the game. Manchester United is very popular in China, and it's broadcast every game."

Zhou Buqi waved his hand, "By the way, you want to come to the UK to work?"

"right."

"Baidu?"

"What else could it be besides Baidu?" Li Yanhong was a little funny and had nothing to hide, "Do you know Skyscanner?"

Zhou Buqi shook his head.

Li Yanhong joked: "Yes, you are a big boss. It is normal for these small companies not to know. This is a travel information website, ranked... about third in the world. The first is Google."

Zhou Buqi was curious, "Are you cooperating with Baidu?"

Li Yanhong said: "Yes, Baidu provides them with search technology."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Since this company is a competitor with Google, if you want to not fall behind in search technology, the best choice is to cooperate with Baidu."

This is a bit exaggerated. Google cannot do it, but the search technologies of Microsoft, Yahoo, and Weidian can actually do it. Even South Korea's Naver has the ability to help a bunch of British people.

The reason why I went to Baidu...

Even if Li Yanhong didn't tell him the story behind it, he could guess it.

Cooperation is definitely a two-way street.

It is estimated that Skyscanner, a travel platform, will develop in China, and Baidu is their strategic partner.

Zhou Buqi didn't pay attention to such trivial matters.

Unexpectedly, Li Yanhong gave an exaggerated figure: "This year, the size of the tourism market in Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific region is about 700 billion U.S. dollars, and one-third of the purchases occur online. This is still before the economic crisis. Year. Ziweixing does overseas business, I suggest you pay attention to it."