"Long time no see, Mr. Lei. We're probably the only ones still fighting in the business world after all these years."
The conference hall at the headquarters of Kechuang Biotechnology was filled with big names, with CEOs from almost all the internet giants present.
Although many big names from home and abroad have gathered here, in reality, this group has already been replaced.
Basically, the founders no longer make public appearances; people like Jack Ma, Dongzi, and Huang Zheng have all stepped down to the second line.
Steve Jobs has already passed away, Bill Gates retired early, and Jeff Bezos will also retire in 2028.
The founders who are still working on the front lines are Lei Jun, Pony Ma, Zhang Yiming, and Li Yanhong, while overseas there is Zuckerberg.
But for Pony Ma, the only person he can really talk to is Lei Jun. He and Zhang Yiming have been fighting a business war for so many years, from the mobile internet era to the VR era.
It's already quite an achievement to maintain a semblance of politeness on the surface.
Although Lei Jun and Pony Ma also worked in the instant messaging field, including the MiTalk vs. WeChat battle many years ago, that was many years ago.
In recent years, Tencent and Lei Jun's businesses have had numerous cooperative relationships.
Taking Kingsoft as an example, Tencent is the major shareholder of both Kingsoft and Cheetah Mobile.
Lei Jun is the actual controller of both companies.
As for Robin Li, they couldn't connect either; they were simply not compatible in terms of temperament.
Lei Jun looked at Pony Ma, his already small eyes disappearing instantly: "President Ma, you've come in person."
I definitely have to lead the team myself.
Who can resist the temptation of the right to develop a virtual world?
Who would miss such a rare opportunity?
I glanced around and realized I couldn't count on two hands the number of people there who were richer than me.
Lei Jun's net worth was approximately 20 billion US dollars, but since 2031, due to the severe decline in the valuation of his companies, it has fallen to less than 10 billion US dollars.
"Only by truly experiencing the virtual world can one know the impact it will have on the real world."
The business leaders present had all heard, to varying degrees, that Lei Jun had obtained a prototype of the virtual reality equipment earlier this year.
Among them, there were senior executives with whom they had close relationships, and they also had virtual reality device prototypes at home.
However, they had only felt the thing with their hands and had never actually used it.
When Lei Jun brought it up, the senior members who heard it lowered their voices or even remained silent, wanting to hear Lei Jun's thoughts.
After all, the view is different depending on the height you stand at.
Lei Jun's perspective on issues should be more profound and comprehensive than that of the executives at Kechuang Biotechnology.
After seeing Lei Jun mention it briefly and then stop talking, Pony quickly pressed, "And then?"
I'm also quite curious about the virtual world.
About ten years ago, I proposed the concept of full connectivity. In fact, breakthroughs in brain-computer interface technology have come close to the full connectivity world I envisioned.
However, judging from Kechuang Bio's promotional videos, executives' public statements, and even private conversations, the concept of a virtual world is a step closer to reality than the idea of a fully interconnected world.
Lei Jun shook his head: "Pony, the concept of the 'Full Reality Interconnection' that you mentioned back then was, to put it bluntly, a further elaboration of the concept of the metaverse at that time."
It's just a metaphor for the boundary between the real and virtual worlds. You simply hope to work with Tencent and its ecosystem partners to build and improve your ecosystem together.
It's not the same as building a truly virtual world.
In my view, the virtual world of science and technology innovation is meant to replace the real world, and the significance of the real world will be weakened rather than integrated.
The significance of the virtual world lies in giving each individual more choices.
If they can succeed in the real world, then they live in the real world; if they can be more successful in the virtual world, then they live in the virtual world.
The task of bridging the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds has already been accomplished in the era of brain-computer interface (BCI) VR. The virtual world signifies more choices for individuals and the resurgence of social mobility.
This was the result of Lei Jun's long-term consideration; he was the only senior figure present who had personally experienced the virtual world.
After experiencing it, he truly realized that the level of realism achievable by virtual reality devices infinitely diminishes the significance of the real world.
Combined with the dramatic fluctuations in global capital markets over the past year, he reached this conclusion.
Pony agreed: "Every technological advancement creates new groups that profit and a new rentier class."
The extent of technological breakthroughs determines the size of the group that benefits from them.
I also believe that the technological breakthroughs in Kechuang Bio's virtual reality equipment are enough to bring about revolutionary changes to the world.
Or rather, the change began at the beginning of this year.
"Aren't we sitting here today precisely to become beneficiaries of this new era?"
Lei Jun continued, "That's why I'm pessimistic about today's cooperation."
Kechuang Biotechnology is very likely to offer extremely stringent cooperation terms.
Li Yanhong, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, couldn't help but say, "We will come, and we will come in person, so we must have made preparations."
After all, there are some conditions that only we have the right to decide.
Our advantage over those overseas giants who send professional managers lies in the fact that we can make the decisions ourselves regarding some of the stringent conditions.
Baidu missed two major eras: the mobile internet era and the VR era. Baidu can be said to have completely missed them.
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