Silicon Valley

I haven't been to China for a year or two, and the changes are really big. Not to mention all kinds of high-rise buildings, there are many more cars in the city than the year before. On the way to Zhongguancun, Henry was actually stuck in a traffic jam. The traffic situation in Beijing really needs to be improved. It took more than an hour after half an hour's drive before Henry arrived at Baidu's headquarters.

At this time, upon hearing the news that Henry was coming, Robin Li had already taken the company executives to wait downstairs in the building.

"Mr. Williams, you are here!" Robin Li stepped forward to greet him.

"You're welcome," Henry smiled at Robin Li, "Let's go, I haven't seen what Baidu's headquarters looks like yet."

"it is good!"

A group of people walked into the building.

The 6th floor of this building called "Zhongguancun Science and Technology Building" is Baidu's temporary headquarters.

After Henry walked into the Baidu company, the Baidu employees greeted him respectfully, while unable to hold back their curiosity, they looked at Henry one after another. I used to only see Henry Williams in newspapers, TV, and the Internet, but now I can see the real person up close, so excited! ! !

Henry observed back and forth. The company has no fewer than one hundred employees, most of whom are programmers.

Afterwards, Henry came to Robin Li's office and chatted with him. Before, Henry raised 10 million US dollars for Baidu. With this money, Baidu can last for a long time, and its development speed is much faster than before. At this time, the Internet environment in China has been "smoky" caused by 3721's "bundled and unable to uninstall" hooliganism, and Baidu and CNNIC, which mainly provides general-purpose URL services, have joined the battlefield one after another, causing Chinese netizens to "anger and complain".

Henry came to China to invest this time, and planned Baidu's future development by the way.

"Li Yanhong, Baidu or 3721, who has more potential for development?" Henry asked while sitting on the coffee table and drinking Longjing tea.

"Baidu has even greater potential for development!" Li Yanhong said in a very confident tone, "3721 attaches great importance to marketing, and Baidu attaches great importance to technology research and development. At present, although 3721 has a larger market share than Baidu, Baidu will catch up sooner or later. !3721 gives users a very poor experience, and the search content is often the opposite. Their market share is supported by various advertising bundles and software that cannot be uninstalled. In fact, users don’t like to use it. On the contrary, Baidu’s The user experience is very good, and it has cultivated a lot of steadfast users!"

Henry nodded and said, "That being said, sometimes bad money drives out good money..."

"Yes, but Baidu's market share has been rising steadily. After receiving an investment of 10 million US dollars, we decided to spend more than 2 million US dollars to develop software and websites with relatively large traffic in China, such as ICQ, Netease, Sina, and Sohu. Advertisements and publicity are very effective, and the market share has been increased by 8.7%! Today, Baidu has occupied a quarter of China's search market!"

When Li Yanhong said this, he paid special attention to Henry's expression. The Chinese Internet is a zero-sum market. If one side increases, the other side will naturally decrease. Naturally, Baidu's market share has increased, which means that Isearch's market share will decrease!

Henry's expression didn't change much, but he could see Robin Li's careful thinking. Henry took a sip of tea, put the cup on the coffee table, then raised his head and looked at Robin Li, "You know, I have Isearch under my name, but do you know why I still want to invest in Baidu?"

Robin Li shook his head, expressing his ignorance.

Henry smiled and said: "It's actually very simple. In a Chinese idiom, it's 'the three caves of the cunning rabbit'. If Isearch fails in China, wouldn't there be Baidu?" Henry paused, turning his eyes to look at the birds flying outside the window, Muttered, "Isearch's principle is 'don't do evil', let the people have the right to know what is the truth. Isearch is like a flying bird outside, unfettered and able to fly freely in the sky! "

When Li Yanhong heard this, he immediately understood.

In Li Yanhong's view, Isearch's approach is purely stupid. Since you come to China, you have to abide by Chinese rules. If you don't follow the rules, China will implicitly ask you to go...

Of course, Li Yanhong would not directly say that Isearch's actions were stupid in front of Henry, but he was a little proud and fortunate in his heart. Of course, he would not remind Henry, and he even hoped that Isearch would still go its own way, so that it would be in trouble with the Chinese government. And the Chinese government gives it small shoes from time to time, so why not force Isearch to withdraw from the Chinese market?

3721 is like a rat crossing the street, everyone shouts and beats it, Robin Li doesn't take it seriously, but Isearch is Baidu's confidant! Without defeating Isearch, how can Baidu dominate China's Internet search field?

"Mr. Williams, didn't you just come to visit Baidu today? Is there something else?" Li Yanhong deliberately changed the topic and stopped talking about Isearch, so as not to remind Henry.

"Oh, I'm here to inform you that 3721 may be acquired by Time Warner-AOL!"

"3721 is going to be acquired by Time Warner-AOL?" Robin Li couldn't help repeating, with a look of shock on his face. Compared with Time Warner-AOL, 3721 is just a small company, and Baidu is naturally not afraid to compete with it. But with Time Warner America Online, Baidu's pressure will inevitably increase! Right now, Isearch is walking on the road to death, and Li Yanhong is secretly happy. I never thought that another big international company would enter the Chinese market...

"Yes, Time Warner-AOL formally issued an acquisition invitation to 3721 three days ago, and Zhou Hongyi meant to sell 3721!" Henry nodded.

"3721 is developing rapidly. Why did Zhou Hongyi choose to sell it?" Robin Li shook his head, puzzled. If it was him, he would definitely not want to sell it!

Hearing this, Henry couldn't help laughing: "Zhou Hongyi has now been dubbed the 'father of rogue software' by Chinese netizens and colleagues. This reputation is really not good. He always talks about wanting to 'bleach'...Of course, this It is not the main reason. Although 3721 is cast aside by others, it is an indisputable fact that it has a high market share. Therefore, in the first quarter of 2001, 3721 has achieved profitability! The main reason why Zhou Hongyi gave up 3721 was actually Baidu and CNNIC, it is you who put a lot of pressure on Zhou Hongyi, especially CNNIC with a Chinese official background. You know, in China, since ancient times, people have not fought against officials, and Zhou Hongyi is afraid..."

(I have caught a cold for the past two days, and I feel much better after going to the hospital to get some water. I will resume normal updates tomorrow.)

(to be continued ~^~)