Chapter 917: Advanced Progress
After a very democratic investigation, conversations and visits, a consensus was basically reached within the Guowen Society on the candidate for the position of president, but this matter still needs to be approved by the higher authorities.
That day, Lin Weimin came to the office.
As soon as they met, Yu Shu teased, "Hey! Isn't this Mr. Lin? How come you have time to come to the office today?"
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "Leader, you are really a jokester. You can't use the word 'rich man' casually. That's all the country's money."
During this period of time, the news that Guowen Group reduced its holdings of Sohu shares and made a profit of 2.2 billion yuan has become well known in the domestic publishing field, Internet industry and literary circles.
Every time Lin Weimin went out for a meeting, he would inevitably cause a round of ridicule, and private discussions about him and Guowen Group were endless.
After the joke, Lin Weimin discussed with Yu Shu the candidate for president nominated by the Guowen Society.
"Since it is a democratic selection, the agency respects the opinions of your group."
After a brief communication, Yu Shu agreed to the new president of Guowen Society.
After finishing the business talk, Yu Shu said, "You haven't been the president of the Chinese Literature Society for a long time, but you have brought the greatest changes to your society."
"I am just making a small contribution based on the work of my predecessors." Lin Weimin said with a smile.
"If you had restrained your expression when you said this, it might have been more believable. But it's also right to be proud. Your achievements are obvious to all, and you have the right to be proud."
This statement is equivalent to affirming Lin Weimin's experience and achievements as president.
Then, without waiting for Lin Weimin to be modest again, Yu Shu reminded him, "Now that you have taken off the burden of being the president, you will focus on the affairs of the group. You must keep up the good work!"
"I will definitely live up to the expectations of my leaders!" Lin Weimin stated.
Yu Shu smiled warmly and said, "I hope you will have better development in the future."
The successor to the president has been decided, and Lin Weimin's most important task before the New Year has been completed. Thinking that there will be fewer mundane affairs in the days ahead, his mood has become much brighter.
A few days later, Lei Jun called Lin Weimin and said he wanted to treat him to a meal. Lin Weimin thought that something must have happened again.
When they met, he jokingly asked, "What kind of problem have you encountered this time?"
Lei Jun was exposed by Lin Weimin right away, and he smiled shyly, "Let's eat first, I'll tell you slowly."
Before the Chinese New Year last year, Lei Jun and Lin Weimin were drinking and talking about Kingsoft's powerlessness in the face of Microsoft, a powerful opponent. Kingsoft's hard work in the software market alone could not keep up with the development of the domestic Internet industry, let alone defeat Microsoft, a world-class giant. He gradually realized that the Internet wave was unstoppable.
So shortly after communicating with Lin Weimin, a new business unit was established within Kingsoft Software.
In less than a month, a brand new Internet website was born within Kingsoft - Joyo.com, a website focusing on software downloads.
That’s right, Joyo.com, one of the pioneers of Chinese e-commerce websites that people often hear about in later generations, started out as a software download company.
Lei Jun's obsession with software is so deep that after he came up with the idea of starting a website, his first thought was to create a website that can download software.
Facts have proved that Lei Jun's move was right, but not entirely right.
From the start of Joyo's online trial run at the beginning of the year to the end of the year, Kingsoft has invested a total of two million yuan in Joyo.
The website has also achieved remarkable results, ranking 33rd on CNNIC in less than a year.
CNNIC is an institution established by China Internet Network Information Center in 1997. One of its functions is to monitor China's Internet information. Today, CNNIC's information indicators are also an important parameter for venture capital to pursue target companies.
Sohu and NetEase, which are invested by Guowen Group, are now the top websites ranked by CNNIC. Even Rongshuxia, a website focusing on literary content, is ranked in the top 50 of CNNIC.
Joyo.com grew from nothing to rank 33rd on CNNIC within one year, which is an outstanding achievement.
But one year after the website was established, the problems it encountered became increasingly clear.
The first is that bandwidth and server fees are relatively expensive at this time, and Joyo.com is under tremendous financial pressure to focus on downloads; the second is the ultimate problem that also plagues all Internet entrepreneurs and websites in China - the business model is difficult to make a profit.
In fact, these two problems actually boil down to the same problem - no money.
Faced with the difficulties of Joyo.com, Lei Jun thought hard and finally made a difficult decision to transform Joyo.com from a software download website into an e-commerce website.
But Joyo.com has invested two million yuan, and now it is saying it wants to transform, which is basically equivalent to giving up all the achievements of the past year.
Lei Jun is the general manager of Kingsoft, not the boss, so he must give an explanation to the company and the boss.
So, Lei Jun invited Lin Weimin to dinner today.
After listening to Lei Jun's words, Lin Weimin showed a relaxed smile on his face, "It seems that today's meal is not cheap!"
Hearing this, Lei Jun said a little embarrassedly: "If you are in trouble, I can go out and find investors."
"When did my words become unreliable?" Lin Weimin said unhappily.
He said with a smile: "Recently our Guowen Group has made a fortune. You have a keen nose and you came at the right time."
Lei Jun smiled happily when he heard this.
"How much do you want?"
Lin Weimin's words revealed a sense of wealth and arrogance, which made Lei Jun smile even more.
"For 6 million, we, Kingsoft, can sell 30% of Joyo.com's shares. In addition, we, Kingsoft, will inject another 10 million yuan into Joyo.com, taking up 70% of Joyo.com's shares, of which 20% belongs to our management team."
"That's a 20 million valuation." Lin Weimin pondered, then asked, "E-commerce websites burn money faster than software download websites. Is this little money enough?"
Lei Jun couldn't help but hold his breath. He had finally gotten 10 million yuan from his big boss, thinking that with this money it would be easier to negotiate financing with Lin Weimin. He didn't expect that the other party actually thought the money was not enough.
But think about it, Guowen Group just cashed out 2.2 billion yuan.
"This money may not be enough to build a successful e-commerce website, and we may need more financing in the future," said Lei Jun.
Lei Jun’s idea was correct, but he did not expect that in just a few months the global Internet industry would enter a long winter.
Later, when Joyo.com was transformed, it received investment from Lenovo. It encountered many setbacks in the early stage, but later, with the joint efforts of Lei Jun, Chen Nian and others, it became one of the top e-commerce websites in China.
Unfortunately, Lei Jun underestimated the duration and intensity of the Internet winter caused by the Nasdaq stock market crash in the United States. By 2004, Joyo.com was doing very well, but its funds had been completely exhausted. At that time, the domestic Internet industry was still in a low ebb, and Joyo.com eventually collapsed on the road to finding money. Finally, Lei Jun had to sell the website to Amazon for US$75 million in 2004, and it eventually went bankrupt due to Amazon's mismanagement.
If possible, Lin Weimin wouldn't mind getting more investment from Joyo.com.
The collapse of Joyo.com was entirely due to no fault of its own. If it had raised funds in 2004, the future e-commerce landscape in China would probably not be what it is today.
To take a step back, even if Joyo.com is sold in the end, it can still be sold for 75 million US dollars, which is more than 600 million RMB, and the return on investment is not low.
But unfortunately Joyo.com is Kingsoft's website, and they are just beginning to transform themselves, so they will certainly not sell too much at once.
Lin Weimin left something to say but did not continue.
After reaching a verbal agreement with Lei Jun, the investment department of Guowen Group took action the next day to conduct due diligence on Joyo.com before investing. If there are no problems with the due diligence results, the cooperation between the two parties will be formally reached.
Today, Guowen Group has become more and more formal in its overseas investment.
The year-end is getting closer and closer, and the atmosphere within Guowen Group is particularly turbulent this year.
The reason for this situation is very simple. Guowen Group made a huge fortune this year, and everyone is looking forward to the bonuses and benefits during the Chinese New Year.
It was not until the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month that the bonuses and benefits were finally paid out.
Six months' salary, plus a voucher for a Gree air conditioner.
The employees counted the thick stack of money in their hands and the voucher worth more than 2,000 yuan, and everyone had a smile on their face.
The bonuses and benefits at the end of the year combined are equivalent to their income from work for most of the year. How can they not be happy?
This year can be said to be a fruitful year for many employees of Guowen Group.
In September, Wenhua Films went public and the group provided universal benefits to its employees. Even the lowest-level employees could purchase 400 shares at a low price. Based on the current share price of Wenhua Films, the value of these shares is almost equal to the employees' total annual income.
Now there is another sum of money coming in at the end of the year. If we add other subsidies and benefits this year, the employees of Guowen Press have received at least 36 salaries this year, which is equivalent to working for three years in one year.
Everyone counted their income this year and was surprised to find that what they talked about at the end of last year seemed to have actually come true.
When employees received their bonuses at the end of 1998, Lin Weimin told everyone about a long-term plan.
We aim to increase the monthly income of Guowen Group employees to 3,000 yuan in the next three years, and strive to reach 5,000 yuan in five years.
Everyone was a little worried at the time. Although everyone's income had increased a lot in recent years, based on the salary income at the end of 1998, it would be extremely difficult to earn 3,000 yuan a month within three years and 5,000 yuan a month within five years.
But now, only one year has passed, and Lin Weimin’s goal of “a monthly income of 3,000 yuan within three years” has really been achieved.
Of course, some of the lower-level employees did not reach this goal because their salaries were relatively low. Another part of the employees did not subscribe to Wenhua Films' stocks and did not reach this goal.
But no matter what, a large number of employees have achieved this target income in just one year, which is still a gratifying thing. It also makes employees more hopeful about their future income.
After receiving the bonuses and benefits, the Chinese New Year is approaching and the Guowen Group is filled with joy.
I don't know where a rumor came from, saying that the group is going to give a big salary increase at the beginning of the year.
The news spread as if the documents had already been issued, adding a bit of jubilation to the group.
As a former public institution and now a state-owned enterprise, Guowen Group increases salaries every year, but they are all universal in nature.
This news that came out at the end of this year was said to be a big surge, which was obviously unusual and all the employees of the group were paying attention to it.
Compared to occasional stocks and bonuses of uncertain amounts, salary increases are the most real.
This news first came from Guowen Publishing House, and within just one or two days it became known to everyone in the group.
When Lin Weimin heard this, he was so angry that he threw the cup on the desk.
It’s better not to keep this confidentiality work!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
