Chapter 89
As expected, not long after the call was hung up, someone came to report that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology called and asked to go to Yanjing, and asked Xiao Ma to go in person.
He took a deep breath.
“I see~~”
He waved his hand.
Xiao Ma Ge’s eyes were filled with some sorrow.
It was not known whether it was a coincidence that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology intervened at this time, or whether Shanhai Group was behind it.
After thinking about it, Xiao Ma Ge felt that he was worrying too much.
Shanhai Group had only been established for half a year, and the bosses behind it were all in Silicon Valley.
It was impossible for them to have such powerful backgrounds.
It was probably because the public opinion was too loud, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology could not stand it anymore, so they intervened and mediated.
It seemed that blocking the link on Weibo would definitely not work.
Xiao Ma Ge took a deep breath, adjusted his mentality, and returned to the meeting room. People in the meeting room were still thinking about how to fight back against Shanhai Group.
“Well, today’s meeting ends here. Everyone has worked hard. Go and have a rest first. Zhidong will stay for a while.”
Everyone was surprised when they heard this. Didn’t you say we were going to discuss countermeasures? We haven’t even come up with a countermeasure yet, and it’s over?
��Although they were a little confused, they had no choice but to get up and leave after seeing what Xiao Ma said.
“Pony, what’s going on?”
After no one was in the meeting room, Zhang Zhidong frowned and looked at Xiao Ma Ge.
Xiao Ma Ge showed a helpless expression and said exhaustedly:”The secretary of the leader just called and asked us to quell the negative news as soon as possible.”
“In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology called and asked me to go to Yanjing. I guess they want to mediate the dispute between us and Shanhai.”
“And then calm down the public opinion outside.”
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology?”
Zhang Zhidong’s face changed drastically.
It can be said that this department has a decisive influence on the development of the Internet industry.
Almost the entire Internet industry is under the management of this department, including the communication industry and the industrial sector, because the full name of this department is Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
If you offend a local government, you can still change places to invest again, but if you offend Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, then you don’t have to do anything, just wait to be severely punished or even closed down.
Of course, this is under the premise of breaking the law and failing to supervise network information. There is nothing wrong with legal and compliant operations, and Penguin has been able to grow and develop to this day. Dare to say that there is no problem at all? And is there any defamation problem in the content of the news portal?
Therefore, it can’t stand the investigation at all.
“Why did the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology suddenly end up like this? Could this be the case with Shanhai?…”
Before Zhang Zhidong could finish, Xiao Ma interrupted and rejected the question:”It can’t be Shanhai Group. They don’t have that much influence. I think it’s probably because of this public opinion incident.”
“Okay, let’s not do anything about this for now. I’ll go to Yanjing and decide what to do after I come back.”
“Good~~”
“This is the only way to deal with the current situation.”Zhang Zhidong nodded, agreeing with what Xiao Ma said.
In the evening, Xiao Ma took a plane to Yanjing.
The next morning, he arrived at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and Su Chengyang, the boss of Shanhai Group, also appeared in the meeting room of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
After learning that the extremely young man in front of him was the founder of Shanhai Group, the famous super-rich man with a net worth of more than 30 billion, Xiao Ma narrowed his eyes and showed his signature smile on his face.
“I have heard of Mr. Su’s name for a long time. Today I have the honor to meet him. It is true that a hero emerges from a young age.”
Su Chengyang was not deceived by Xiao Ma Ge’s fake smile. He had not had close contact with Xiao Ma Ge in his previous life, but he knew that this person was good at disguise. He seemed to be gentle and gentlemanly, but in fact, when he got angry, it was very scary.
Well, he had never seen it, but he had heard of it.
Imagine managing a giant enterprise with nearly 100,000 employees. If he was really a modest gentleman, he would have been driven away by the capital without some means. He would have been like a tumbler, always controlling the power of the Penguin Group.
Su Chengyang collected his thoughts, stretched out his hand with a smile and shook hands with the other party, and said:”Mr. Ma, you are too kind. I am just a nobody, but Mr. Ma, you are a celebrity, a senior, you should help us younger generations!”
“senior~~”The two words were very strong.
There is a saying that goes, the wave behind beats the wave in front.
Xiao Ma’s face paused, and a flash of anger flashed in his eyes. It only took a moment.
“Mr. Su said with a smile.”
Xiao Ma Ge restored his signature smile, hiding the anger in his heart well.
Su Chengyang smiled indifferently.
The two men who let go of each other’s hands returned to their seats. No one said a word, but everyone knew the content of today’s meeting.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, several men walked in.
Su Chengyang originally thought that Liang Changjun would preside over the meeting, but it turned out that a director under the General Office presided over the meeting.
The content of the meeting was very simple. It was hoped that both parties could turn hostility into friendship and calm down the outside public opinion as soon as possible.
In response, Su Chengyang took over and stated:”Leader, we Shanhai are very happy to shake hands with Penguin Company, but you also know that Penguin Company blocks links. This behavior is too abominable. I strongly request that Penguin must not abuse its market dominance and block links to other companies.”
The director did not speak, but turned his eyes to Xiao Ma.
Xiao Ma was unhappy, but he had to express his position. He apologized first and then restored the link jump.
Seeing that Xiao Ma gave in so easily, Su Chengyang thought he would struggle and discuss it, but he didn’t expect Xiao Ma to agree readily. Xiao
Ma had to agree even if he didn’t want to, because this was the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He had to give face, otherwise Penguin Group would have to stop working and shut down directly.
Since it couldn’t be changed anyway, he might as well be straightforward and agree.
The director who was in charge of presiding over the meeting showed a satisfied expression, and then urged him to make corrections within a week, otherwise he would be held accountable.
Xiao Ma was That means there is no problem.
So, this short meeting ended with the decisive decision of both parties.
On the same day, major portals released the news that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had interviewed Shanhai and Penguin.
Afterwards, Penguin Group and Shanhai Group each announced the incident.
The details were not announced, but someone on the Weibo platform broke the news that Penguin would make rectifications and lift the banned links.
After the news spread, countless netizens applauded.
On May 14, a friend who used QQ found that the link to Weibo could be redirected in QQ. After this message was sent out, it confirmed what the person who exposed it had said before.
For a time, #PenguinCompanywasorderedtorectify.#
#The news that QQ has removed the Weibo jump link # and so on spread on the Internet.
As the news that QQ links can jump to Weibo spread, it also means that the lawsuit between Shanhai and Penguin has come to an end with Shanhai Group winning.
However, this lawsuit is of great significance.
The myth of Nanshan Pizza Hut has been broken.
Secondly, the Penguin brand image has been severely damaged by this storm, and it is unknown when it can recover.
The beneficiary Shanhai Group has become famous overnight. Its reputation has been greatly shaken.
At the same time, this war has achieved an astonishing surge in the number of registered users on Weibo, which has increased by more than 20 million to an astonishing 90 million. It seems to be only one step away from 100 million registered users.
And the daily activeness has also exceeded 20 million due to this war, reaching an astonishing 23 million, far exceeding Renren.com, and has become the second largest social networking site in China after QQ.
It seems that the trend has already been established.
Penguin Weibo, which was originally ranked second, has lost its image because of this war. It has registered users, but the activity has plummeted, and it has completely lost its original catching-up momentum. It is only a matter of time before it closes and exits the Weibo business.
Many Weibo businesses such as Xinlang, Sohu, and Wangyi that are ranked behind are too small in size and lack of funds. They are not rivals of Shanhai Weibo at all and cannot pose a threat at all. With time, withdrawal will become an inevitable option.
In the Internet industry in Longguo, any track that can kill its competitors and become the first is equivalent to monopolizing the industry, and capital is also more favorable to such enterprises.
Obviously, Weibo has become a hot commodity in the eyes of many capitals.
Although Weibo does not seem to be in a hurry to commercialize it, it is inevitable to commercialize it with such a large traffic platform. I just don’t know how Weibo will commercialize it.
When the outside capital and investment institutions were interviewed by the media, they gave a new valuation for Weibo.
The valuation is 1.9 billion US dollars.
Some investment banks also reported 2.1 billion US dollars and 2.5 billion US dollars.
They are different.
However, many investment banks believe that after Weibo is commercialized, the valuation will be higher.
It is not impossible to double or triple it. It mainly depends on how Weibo’s commercialization path is.
After all, the size of nearly 100 million users alone is already very scary.
Moreover, the commercial prospects are very bright. As a peer, Twitter’s valuation has reached a staggering 3.2 billion US dollars (the butterfly effect, the protagonist invested in Twitter in advance, allowing the website to develop faster than in the previous life!).
The valuation is almost half more than that of Weibo, but the daily active users are almost the same. To be so much higher, it can only be said that those so-called investment banks have double standards. Of course, one is English and the other is Chinese, and the circles are different.
In terms of growth, Twitter is definitely higher.
However, Weibo will inevitably go overseas in the future.
When Ji Yunsheng was excited and ran to tell him the valuation, Su Chengyang was very calm.
In the previous life, Weibo was established for two years and its valuation was as high as more than 3 billion US dollars. The number of registered users and active users were not as high as that of Weibo now.
“Chairman, you look unhappy?”
Su Chengyang glanced at Ji Yunsheng and said calmly,”What’s there to be happy about?”
“This valuation is obviously underestimated.”
“What are you happy about?”
“The valuation is too low?”
Ji Yunsheng was stunned.
A company that was founded only half a year ago, with a valuation of 2 billion US dollars, is that low?
“I wonder what the chairman thinks is an appropriate valuation?”
Ji Yunsheng asked cautiously.���
Su Chengyang thought for a moment and said,”Let’s benchmark Facebook. In the future, the market value of Weibo should be the same as Facebook’s!”
Benchmark Facebook?
Gulu.
Ji Yunsheng swallowed his saliva. Did he hear it right? Su Chengyang actually said that Weibo would have the same valuation as Facebook in the future?
Facebook is now valued at more than 15 billion US dollars.
Wouldn’t Weibo’s valuation be that high in the future?
Oh my God. Wouldn’t that mean it would be worth hundreds of billions?
Thinking about Weibo’s market value of hundreds of billions after its listing, Ji Yunsheng shuddered all over and didn’t dare to think about it..
Transcript: Khoatran