When Xiao Ma returned to Penguin, he convened another meeting with the Five Tigers as soon as possible. Because of the frequent high-level meetings during this period, coupled with the continuous decline in operating data, many people within Penguin were already a little turbulent. The current situation has already begun to change among employees.

It's an open secret.

From May 11, 2000, the highest number of simultaneous online users exceeded 100,000;

On February 10, 2001, the highest number of simultaneous online users exceeded 1 million;

On March 10, 2002, the highest number of simultaneous online users exceeded 2 million;

On September 12, 2002, the highest number of simultaneous online users exceeded 2.5 million;

As of today, December 27, 2002, the maximum number of simultaneous online users has dropped to 1.5 million;

The data that had been climbing all the way suddenly hit the bottom. The decline in the past three months was more exciting than riding a roller coaster. The culprit of all this is naturally Kirin Entertainment.

"If things continue like this, do you think the company will go bankrupt?"

"I don't know, the number of people online is getting lower and lower now, our product functions are too single, and users have begun to slowly abandon Penguin."

"There is no other way. Kirin Entertainment is so powerful. It launches so many products at once, and the technical department doesn't even have that much time to copy them."

"It's okay if you can copy it, but I'm afraid you can't copy it. Do you know the star gallery of Kirin Facebook? Now all the stars from the domestic, Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circles are on Facebook. Do you know how much these celebrities can bring to Kirin?"

New user."

....

Four of the top five were already sitting at the conference table. Brother Ma looked at the employees outside the conference room through the floor-to-ceiling windows. He walked over and lowered the blinds.

Lower the blinds and return to the main seat.

"Zhidong, how's the development going?" Brother Ma looked to Zhang Zhidong on the right and asked. At present, what he is most concerned about is the development progress of new products.

"The new functions of Changchao are basically copied. If the new product is not integrated into one program and displayed in the form of a web page, it should be online in about half a month. However, we still have to see the final test results, especially

As for the voice chat room, according to my estimated bandwidth and server, at least 100 more groups will be added," Zhang Zhidong replied.

The new products Zhang Zhidong is referring to are naturally the functions of Kirin Facebook and Kirin Weibo.

Xiao Ma's head felt a little numb after hearing Zhang Zhidong's last sentence. One hundred groups would require at least an investment of more than 50 million. After paying the money for Winger Games, there is almost no funds left on the books that can be used, let alone those new products.

The outsourcing costs have been reduced, and at least 100 million more funds have to be raised to allow Penguin to continue operating.

"How do you know about the Qilin Star Hall?" Brother Ma turned to look at Xu Chenhua and asked.

"It's not very optimistic. Those celebrities have signed contracts with Kirin Entertainment. If you want to lure them over, you have to pay five million in liquidated damages. In addition, you have to pay an annual settlement fee of one million. Kirin Entertainment is really going down this time.

I lost all my capital." Xu Chenhua twitched the corner of his mouth and sneered.

According to the public data of the Star Hall, it can be seen that the number of celebrities who have settled there has reached hundreds.

Although these stars are admitted for free, these media companies do not say that we are free. Naturally, they have to quote a price to the outside world. However, these are internal secrets, so naturally Xu Chenhua cannot find out.

"There is no way, Kirin Entertainment has Kirin motherboards that are constantly transfusing blood behind the scenes." Zeng Liqing said with a wry smile.

Every time Qilin Entertainment punched the Penguin, it was a heavy blow. This huge pressure made the Penguin Five feel breathless.

"Actually, it's just a matter of money. Lao Ma, why don't you find MIH to continue financing?" Chen Yidan looked at Xiao Ma and asked.

Speaking of MIH, Brother Xiao Ma recalled that in 2001, when the Internet bubble burst, I Penguin’s situation was not very good, almost to the point where it could no longer operate. IDG Capital and Yingke President Xiao Chaoman felt that Penguin’s investment was a loss.

IDG wanted to sell its shares. IDG approached Yahoo China but was rejected. At that time, Superboy approached Hong Kong director Wang Jing and wanted to tie Penguin users to movies to see if they could make a profit, but it didn't work out later. At the same time, many domestic companies wanted to sell their shares.

The company is almost not optimistic about Penguin’s traffic business and has rejected its own financing requests.

Just when he was running into obstacles and Penguin was at the end of its rope, a beacon named Wang Dawei came to his office and claimed to be the vice president of the China Business Department of South Africa's MIH. As soon as he opened his mouth, he said that MIH wanted to become Penguin's first

A major shareholder.

The reason for investing in Penguin is: almost all Internet cafes have Penguin's program on it, and some general managers also have Penguin numbers printed on their business cards. MIH wants to see what kind of company Penguin is.

In the end, MIH gave Penguin a valuation of US$60 million and invested a large amount of money to allow Penguin to survive. The biggest advantage of MIH is that it never interferes with Penguin's operations.

"No, we can't go to MIH this time. We need to introduce new shareholders. Yidan and I will go to Hong Kong later. The company will be handed over to you. If you have any questions, please contact us via email." Xiao Ma shook his head and said.

, although MIH has never interfered with Penguin's operations, after all, MIH's shareholding ratio is too high.

The meeting ended hastily.

....

Goldman Sachs Investment Asia Headquarters, 68th Floor, Cheung Kong Group Centre, 2 Queen's Road Central, Central and Western District, Hong Kong Island SAR.

"Mr. Ma, we meet again. We meet again so soon. I wonder what's going on this time?" Liu Zhiping greeted with a smile.

"Mr. Liu, Penguin is developing new business and encounters financial difficulties. We are looking for new shareholders to join." After speaking, Brother Xiao handed over the latest development plan information.

"Oh? According to our previous plan, your company will be listed next year. Financing at this time will affect next year's listing plan, which will bring a lot of losses to both of us." Liu Zhiping said after receiving the information.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "There is nothing we can do to continue to fund the development of the new business. As you know about the Internet, time waits for no one." Xiao Ma said.

"In order not to affect Penguin's plan to go public next year, Mr. Ma has a suggestion," Liu Zhiping replied.

"Mr. Liu, do you have any good suggestions?" Brother Xiao Ma asked doubtfully.

"Mr. Ma, it is better to separate the new business from the company and operate it independently. Goldman Sachs is willing to lend Mr. Ma a personal loan. Mr. Ma can use the funds to operate the new company and wait until the company is successfully listed before investing in the company."

After the merger and acquisition, Mr. Ma can also use the funds obtained from this transaction to repay Goldman Sachs." Liu Zhiping said.

When Xiao Ma heard it, it seemed to be a good way, which would not affect the company's listing and solve the financial problem, but he also knew that the vampires on Wall Street would not easily let go of this blood-sucking opportunity.

"Then I wonder what the conditions are for your company?" Brother Xiao Ma asked.

"That depends on how much money Mr. Ma needs." Liu Zhiping said with a smile.

"200 million US dollars." Xiao Ma replied.

Liu Zhiping did not expect that Brother Ma would receive US$200 million as soon as he opened his mouth, which far exceeded his expectations.

"Thirty percent of Penguin's shares will be used as collateral, with an annual interest rate of 8%. Goldman Sachs will complete the merger and acquisition at that time." Liu Zhiping simply opened his mouth.

Liu Zhiping guessed that Penguin must have encountered some difficult opponent, otherwise it would not have needed to borrow so much money.

"Mr. Liu, do we still need to discuss it?" Chen Yidan couldn't stand it anymore and asked through gritted teeth.

He knew that there was definitely no way to borrow this money openly. The equity pledge would cause instability in the equity, which would definitely affect Penguin's listing. Otherwise, Liu Zhiping would not open his mouth like a lion.

"Mr. Ma, with this kind of implicit mortgage, we at Goldman Sachs have to bear a lot of risks. If there are not enough benefits, the board of directors will not agree to this loan." Liu Zhiping shook his head and replied.

"Mr. Liu, can you borrow a place for us to discuss it?" Brother Xiao Ma asked.

"No one is using this conference room. Mr. Ma, you guys have already discussed it. Just call me." Liu Zhiping said and walked out of the conference room.

"Lao Ma, we don't need as much as 200 million US dollars, right?" Chen Yidan asked.

"If we cannot defeat Kirin Entertainment at once, we will fall into a long-term stalemate. Everyone has the same product. As long as we poach all the stars from the Star Hall, Kirin will definitely lose a large number of users. As long as we set the liquidated damages

At a high point, it is impossible for Kirin to poach these celebrities back. Even if Kirin has funds and no users, it will still be nothing in the end." Xiao Ma said.

Xiao Ma has never thought that celebrities can bring such a big impact to the Internet. It was not until the emergence of the Star Center that they lost a large number of users in a short period of time that Xiao Ma made up his mind to turn Qilin Facebook Stars into

The company was hollowed out in order to avenge Cao Mang for poaching their technical backbone. After investigation, they found that all these technical backbones had gone to Kirin Entertainment.

"Okay, let's vote on this matter." Chen Yidan shook his head and didn't know what to say.
Chapter completed!