2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 701 Wei Lai Zhi Jia
"I heard you're planning to sell Happy Farm to us?"

"Yes, do you want it or not? If you do, give us a good price. We're short on cash."

Pony Ma actually called Tan Jincheng himself, which surprised Tan Jincheng greatly, considering that Tencent's style of doing things has been quite domineering in the past two years.

With its dominance in the social networking market and significant breakthroughs in the gaming market, the company boasts ample cash flow and can effectively target any market it chooses.

In some niche markets, whenever something new or exciting emerges, they invest money to replicate it. Leveraging QQ's massive user base, they've managed to capture a significant market share.

For example, Lianzhong Games, which was incredibly popular before, is now almost dead.

There's also that software that's still called QQ Doctor. It's obvious that this thing is targeting Zhou Hongyi's antivirus software. It seems that the 3Q War broke out after it was renamed QQ Manager.
Copying other software can work on a single computer, but no computer can have two antivirus programs installed. This is going to be a nightmare for Zhou Hongyi.

As for Orange Technology's business, Tencent has considered it, but they really didn't know where to start.

Kaixin.com is essentially a copy of other social networking sites, and Orange Products Club is nothing new either. Tencent also has Paipai.com, and as for games like Happy Farm, frankly speaking, they have absolutely no technical sophistication.

However, it won't be easy to succeed or replace Happy Farm's current position; first impressions are very important for game enthusiasts.

Not to mention that Tan Jincheng was very cunning and made a lot of arrangements in terms of trademarks and other aspects, so there were not many replicas on the market. This is also the reason why Happy Farm's lifespan is longer than in its previous life.

Orange Technology may seem weak, but it's like a hedgehog that's impossible to bite. And for Tencent, Orange Technology doesn't have anything that can be copied.

The only thing I'm really interested in is Happy Farm, which has a significant impact on driving traffic to QQ Space.

"Let them handle this. I'm just curious why Mr. Tan would consider selling Happy Farm to us at this time?"

Tan Jincheng was also full of empty talk: "Didn't I say we're short of money? Orange Technology's future focus is on online shopping. We need to raise more money to develop our online shopping business."

"Hey kid, don't forget I'm also an investor in Orange Technology."

"Haha, what does it matter? Just tell me if you want it or not. You've been busy lately, buying this will help promote your business and improve your image. You should thank me for that."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone; these words had really hit a nerve.

A good investment can have a great publicity effect, play a positive role in improving one's image, and also divert attention.

"Alright, I'm too lazy to ask why you're selling it. I'll ask the QQ Space project team to speed things up."

"Thank you then; by the way, do you know any data professionals who could introduce me to some? I invested in Bitauto last year, and I recently started a car-related company, so I'm looking for some talent in that field."

"Data-related talent? You mean cloud technology?"

"More or less. I don't know the specifics and can't describe it well. You guys recently started something called Tencent Cloud, right? I thought it might be related to this. Could you introduce me to some relevant talent?"

Tencent has actually been working on cloud technology for a long time, but it didn't provide services in the early stages, just like Dingding only serves its own company now, so it wasn't well known to the public.

Since its establishment, Weilai Intelligent Driving has been an empty shell. This year, Tan Jincheng plans to build up its basic framework.

The first thing needed for developing intelligent driving is a software platform, which requires many software and system engineers, as well as algorithm and development engineers.

Orange Technology can provide some of these internet engineers, but ultimately, it's not as powerful as a behemoth like Tencent.

Little Ma called out of curiosity, so we had to take advantage of him.

"Tell me what your intelligent driving system is first, so I can have the HR department recommend talent to you. How can I recommend someone if you don't know anything about it?"

Pony Ma isn't stupid. "Intelligent driving" sounds like a technology-related term, so of course he'd try to extract some information from it.

“My company, Weilai Auto, is currently working on new energy vehicles, so I thought I'd create a dedicated automotive system for electric vehicles. We can't compete with foreign companies in terms of gasoline vehicles, but in terms of new energy vehicle technology, we're not that far behind.”

"An operating system for new energy vehicles? Wow, you've got quite the ambition, aren't you? Trying to emulate BYD?"

“If you’re going to do something, do it well. Don’t be fooled by how well our Yuechi A1 is selling now. We don’t really have any advantage in the gasoline car market. We can’t even manufacture an engine. We might as well get involved in the new energy vehicle market, which is still in its early stages.”

“That makes some sense, but innovation is always difficult. I estimate it won’t be any results for several years. I still admire you, kid. I think I understand what you mean. This intelligent driving system will require a lot of software engineers.” “That’s about right. The early development will definitely require a lot of software engineers. Tencent has more resources in this area than Orange. Can you get me some?”

Besides Weilai Zhijia, Tan Jincheng also started Orange Cloud. Both companies have been established for almost a year, but they are still just shell companies because the investment is too large to afford.

Orange Cloud can be put on hold for now, but no matter what, even if it's difficult to develop intelligent driving, we have to start slowly.

Engineers aren't that expensive these days, but the cost will increase in a few years when everyone is scrambling to hire them.

"It has to be done eventually, let's take it slow. Mr. Ma, do you remember what I said? Introduce me to some engineers, the more reliable ones. If they have experience in the automotive industry, that would be even better."

Tan Jincheng didn't reveal much information, but even if he told Xiao Ma everything, he wouldn't be afraid. This guy's style in recent years has been too domineering, offending a lot of people. The 3Q War should be coming soon.

Even if he wanted to steal business, he wouldn't have the energy for it, not to mention that Tencent doesn't seem to have made any major investments in the real economy.

The relationship with Tan Jincheng is quite good. On the one hand, Orange Technology has Tencent's investment and is considered part of the Tencent system. On the other hand, Tan Jincheng is mainly engaged in the real economy and does not compete much with Tencent, so the relationship between the two parties can be handled more harmoniously.

Weilai Auto, Flash Technology, and GXG are all major advertisers. In fact, Tan Jincheng is one of Tencent's major advertising clients, especially Weilai Auto, which has been sending Tencent a lot of money since October.

"Okay, I'll take a look for you. But don't you like poaching people? Why don't you try poaching from BYD?"

"What kind of talk is that? I haven't personally poached anyone in a long time. This is just slander against me."

Hehe, how could we not dig? But now is not the time. After BYD faces a full-blown crisis this year, WYD will definitely make a move. Currently, the best electric vehicles in the world are BYD and Tesla.

Tesla actually launched a small sports car called Roadster in 2008, which was a bit later than the F3DM. It was quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, the subprime mortgage crisis hit, and Tesla almost didn't survive, so there's no possibility of mass production of this car for the time being.

The subprime crisis really saved the domestic auto economy. In terms of design alone, the F3 is no match for Tesla's sports car. It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.1 seconds, and its performance in most other aspects is also superior to the F3.

If it weren't for this crisis, Tesla's development speed would definitely be even faster, and it's hard to say whether it could have surpassed others.

"How about Wei Lai makes an electric sports car too?"

After hanging up with Little Ma, Tan Jincheng thought that it would be good to create some hype. It just so happened that Sai Ling's authorization was also in Wei Lai's hands. He could discuss it with Lao Mi and see if they could modify the design and make it.

To reiterate, the ability to build sports cars isn't based on sales volume, but rather on technology and hype.

If a company has the ability to build sports cars, then its technological accumulation has reached a certain level. When Geely created the Beauty Leopard, it caused quite a stir.

Hey, we can talk about this. Let Zhang Yong go to the US and give it a try.

Little Ma was quite fast. Not long after Tan Jincheng hung up the phone, Cheng Hao called. Huang Xitong informed him that the negotiations needed to be expedited, saying it was an order from their boss.

In terms of specific business transactions, the total acquisition amount, even at its highest, would only be a few hundred million yuan, which is less than the price of one of his houses. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for it to attract the attention of Pony Ma.

With so many businesses at Tencent each year, if Pony Ma (Ma Huateng, founder of Tencent) had to oversee every single project, he would be exhausted.

"Then let's talk quickly. If we can resolve this before the new year, let's do it before the new year. Since their boss has inquired, the terms should be easier to negotiate."

Wherever there are people, there is a world of its own. Pony Ma has made countless enemies in the past two years, but even the most powerful person needs allies and friends, and Orange Technology is a good choice.

There are business dealings, investment shares, the boss is well-known and has a strong background, and the main business does not conflict with Tencent's main business.

In addition, although Orange Technology is not a big company in the Internet industry, their products are able to make them very innovative in the Internet industry, which has been copied to death. For example, their mini-games are very popular overseas.

Small investment, quick results, and not easy to replicate – isn't this exactly the idea that gave Tencent the best idea?
Happy Farm has been operating for several years, and its growth has reached a bottleneck, which Pony Ma is certainly aware of. Orange Technology has never hidden its desire to cash out at a high price, but so what?

Tencent can afford this amount of money, as long as the game project is beneficial to Tencent or it can be helpful to Tencent in terms of personal relationships.

Meanwhile, after receiving Xiao Ma's promise, Tan Jincheng also began to prepare for the preparations for Weilai Zhijia.

(End of this chapter)