"Mr. Zhang, Tencent's investment in [Yinhan Technology] is a collaboration that was made possible thanks to your mediation."

"It's a small matter. Since you, Mr. Yang, acquired [Yinhan Technology] last year, you have launched two mobile games in succession, both of which have become popular all over the Internet. This time, I want to see what kind of grand event the mobile game masterpiece you mentioned will be."

"It is expected to be launched in late June or early July. You will see then."

This time, Yang Xiao paid a visit and met Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital again to express his gratitude in person.

During this period, Tencent, through the recommendation of Zhang Lei, immediately inspected the "Time and Space Hunter" to be launched by [Yinhan Technology] and quickly completed the investment.

They even wanted to acquire the entirety of [Yinhan Technology], but Yang Xiao would naturally not let them do as they wished.

30% of the shares is the bottom line for both parties.

Immediately afterwards, the technical staff of both parties have been implementing the promotion of the QQ login interface, as well as related things for the subsequent planning of a series of game activities.

However, we have not reached a consensus with Tencent on the gimmick of the mobile version of DNF.

The other party's opinion was exactly the same as Yang Xiao had expected.

——It can take advantage of the popularity of DNF, but Tencent has not made any official statement and will not directly admit that it is the mobile version of DNF.

Yang Xiao could guess the reason.

Tencent wants to keep the large IP DNF for its own development.

After all, DNF has so many fans!

However, the fans' hearts are destined to be hurt.

After coming out of Honor of Kings, they have been clamoring to make a mobile game of DNF.

But the result was delay after delay, until DNF became unpopular and the mobile game has not even been released!

Finally, I held it in until 2024 and had a big shit.

At the last minute, they still have to disgust a wave of fans. I can only say that Tencent is as humorous as ever.

Yang Xiao did not force it.

When "Time and Space Hunter" goes online, it will be connected to Tencent's login interface. This alone will have achieved his goal.

As for whether it is a mobile game of DNF and whether there is any connection between the two, it is no longer within Yang Xiao’s consideration.

To be honest, these two games, apart from the similarities in style and gameplay, are actually very different in terms of their specific content.

Yang Xiao just wanted to get some traffic before. Even if Tencent didn’t allow him to do so, he had his own ways to get it.

The main reason for being able to reach cooperation with Tencent is to rely on their promotion channels!

It can be said that the number of users of "Time and Space Hunter" in the future will at least increase by 2 to 3 times!
There is no way around it; Tencent is still the current overlord of online games.

A QQ channel is just short of having the word "monopoly" engraved on its forehead.

Yang Xiao just coveted this channel, the benefits are just too huge!

To put it bluntly, this wave of giving away 30% of the shares is an exchange of interests to make up for Tencent's shortcomings in the mobile game market, which is something that both parties welcome.

As a veteran, Yang Xiao knows how explosive the market prospects for mobile games will be in the future.

With the development of smart phones, it may even lead to the closure of a large number of Internet cafes!

According to Yang Xiao's memory, at the beginning of 2021, as the popularity of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" faded, the wave of Internet cafe closures began to show signs.

why?
First, everyone’s gaming needs have been replaced by mobile games!
There are no fun and must-play PC games for people to choose from.

In addition, mobile games also have "social attributes". Mobile phones can meet people's needs, so computers are no longer a necessity.

Naturally, fewer people go to Internet cafes.

It's not difficult to deal with in big cities. If Internet cafes are transformed and upgraded into e-sports hotels and hundreds of millions of dollars are invested, it may attract a lot of customers.

But this thing also caused a lot of losses!

As for those small counties in the 18th tier, at most they can only support setting up an Internet cafe locally.

As for the townships and villages below, Internet cafes for young people in small towns to lie down are almost extinct.

Of course, it is not absolute.

For example, in the coastal areas of Guangdong Province, where there are many industrial zones, there is still a market.

Many guys who are a little bit capable like to lie down in this kind of small Internet cafe.

For the brother who has no financial resources, all he needs is a mobile phone and an abandoned house to live in.

The phenomenal PC game League of Legends has already been released, but its mobile counterpart Honor of Kings is nowhere to be seen.

The later popular "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and its mobile substitute "Peace Elite" had not yet been born.

Nowadays, in terms of mobile games, Yang Xiao has started planning earlier than anyone else!

He is confident that he can stay ahead of Tencent.

"Mr. Zhang, actually, I came here today not only to express my gratitude to you, but also to ask for a favor."

"Wow, Mr. Yang, you really are the kind of person who never comes to visit for no reason. It seems that my guess was right. How can a young man like you be the kind of person who would come to visit specially to express gratitude?" Zhang Lei was a little amused.

Yang Xiao laughed and said, "Haha, I am really grateful and the story is true. You are my investor and we are partners."

"Tell me, as long as it is within my ability, I will do my best to do it for you."

Zhang Lei was a little curious. Some company founders he met were basically unwilling to deal with venture capital firms after receiving investment.

How could he be like Yang Xiao, who was trying to hit the snake with a stick?

Yang Xiao did not say it directly, but instead changed the topic to JD.com.

"In January, I saw the news that JD.com acquired Wangyin Online. The prospectus said it was 1 million. Can Mr. Zhang tell me how much money Dong Ge actually spent?"

"This is no secret, and it's okay to tell you. The total is 1.89 million."

When Zhang Lei saw Yang Xiao mention JD.com and Wangyin Online, he immediately looked at him meaningfully and replied, "Why, are you also interested in the payment license?"

Online Banking, whose full name is Online Banking Online Technology Co., Ltd., has only thirty or forty employees in total.

But JD.com’s acquisition price was as high as 200 million!
The reason is because this company has a third-party payment license!
The scope of this license is very broad, covering Internet payment, mobile phone payment, landline payment and more!
Why does a company as large as JD.com need to rely on acquisitions to obtain a payment license?
It’s because applying for a payment license is too difficult!
Moreover, as the country stops issuing third-party payment licenses, this thing will only become more and more expensive.

They can only spend a lot of money to acquire companies that have already obtained payment licenses.

For example, famous large companies such as Xiaomi, Vipshop, Wanda, Huawei, ByteDance, etc., also obtained third-party payment licenses through acquisitions.

There is a very interesting point here. Many companies that have obtained payment licenses are small companies.

It seems like it was born to be sold at a high price and to make money by being sold to big companies.

The trick behind this is that you can only wait and see.

JD.com took the lead in this step in January this year and officially acquired Wangyin Online

Zhang Lei is a major shareholder of JD.com, and he knows all the inside information very well.

Even the acquisition of Online Banking might have been supported by Zhang Lei behind the scenes.

After all, this person has too much power and too many tentacles under his command.
When Yang Xiao heard Zhang Lei's question, he nodded calmly without hiding anything.
"That's exactly what I meant. If Mr. Zhang could recommend a company with a payment license that I can buy, that would be great." "Okay, prepare 200 million in cash, and I'll help you with this."

Zhang Lei pondered for a moment, nodded, agreed, and then joked with Yang Xiao, saying, "You have a good vision. It's right to have this plan. Payment licenses may become more and more expensive in the future."

Hearing this, Yang Xiao was overjoyed and said, "Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Zhang."

Zhang Lei suddenly asked curiously, "You have so much cash now? I remember Tencent bought a stake in [Yinhan] Technology, and the shares you sold were only about 70 million, less than 80 million, right?"

"Well, I haven't had time to say it yet. My current cash can only make up 100 million at most. Mr. Zhang, I need you to help me find a way to get the rest of the money."

"???"

Zhang Lei was so angry that he laughed and scolded: "Do you think I am Tang Monk's meat? You rely on me for everything? If you want money, no problem. Give me some more shares of [Food Benefit Group] or shares of Qingsong Internet Technology Company, and I am willing to buy them at a premium."

"Hey, Mr. Zhang, what are you talking about? I have already given away enough shares of [Food Benefit Group]. As for the shares of Easy Internet Technology Company, I said before that it is not the right time yet. If there is any big move by WIFI Master Key, you will definitely be called. Unless you don't want to, I guarantee that you will have a place, okay?"

Yang Xiao said with a smile, and then added silently in his heart, just don't chop me when the time comes.

"I am a businessman. Since you don't want to sell your shares, how do you want to get money from me?"

"The shares of [Food Benefit Group] and Easy Internet Technology are not available for sale at the moment, but there is one company that I think you should be interested in."

"Oh? You said."

"Kuaiya, a product previously spun off from Easy Internet Technology."

Yang Xiao continued calmly, "Kuaiya has already entered the international market. This app is also very popular in Southeast Asia. It currently has 6000 million users in China, and with international users, the number has exceeded million."

"Kuaiya. This product also has hundreds of millions of users?"

After hearing Yang Xiao's data, Zhang Lei nodded slightly, muttered something, and said, "Tell me, how do you want to trade?"

"Mr. Zhang, we are old acquaintances. You have helped me so much. I, Yang Xiao, am a person who knows how to repay kindness. The current market value of Kuaiya is at least 10 billion. You can find a specialist to evaluate it. I plan to start a round of financing and give you 10% of the financing quota. In addition, I will personally sell you 15% of my shares."

"Oh? Kuaiya's user base is growing so fast, are you willing to give away so many? Are you sure?"

Zhang Lei was a little surprised when he heard Yang Xiao's plan.

Although Kuaiya and WIFI Master Key have been separated, in his eyes, or in the eyes of any venture capitalist, these two are both popular products with great potential. Yang Xiao treats them equally and will not easily sell these two such good products.

Unexpectedly, I sold more than 20 shares at one time!
"I can't help it. I'm short of money."

Yang Xiao gave a bitter smile, his face full of pain.

He wasn't acting, he was really heartbroken.

At least in the next three years, Kuaiya's market value will be on an upward trend. If it is sold to Zhang Lei now, the other party will definitely make a lot of money.

But the original intention of establishing Kuaiya was to provide blood-forming supplements when necessary, and now is its time to shine.

10% of Kuaiya’s financing will be used as company development funds, while Yang Xiao’s personal 15% stake will be transferred, which is a normal cash-out transaction.

But in Zhang Lei's eyes, he felt that this was pushing the young man into a desperate situation. This heroic act of cutting off one's own arm actually showed Yang Xiao's determination in making this plan.

Although it seemed like he was taking advantage of someone's misfortune, it made Zhang Lei admire him a little.

"Okay, I'll find someone to evaluate it, complete the equity subscription as soon as possible, and then transfer the money to you."

However, Zhang Lei would not refuse Yang Xiao's offer, and would not even offer him a high price, because this was their duty as venture capitalists. They only symbolically comforted Yang Xiao with one sentence:
"Well, I understand you. When it comes to big things, you don't have to be too particular about small details. It's better to get the third-party payment license as soon as possible from a long-term perspective. Mr. Yang, your decision is undoubtedly correct."

"I thank you."

Yang Xiao rolled his eyes. Damn it, it's easy for him to talk without any pain in his waist.

Zhang Lei acted decisively and quickly completed the transaction for Kuaiya Technology.

Of course, he was also very efficient and almost at the same time, he helped Yang Xiao get in touch with an Internet company that had a third-party payment license.

This company is also located in Shenzhen, its name is [Minghua Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.], and it was wholly acquired by Ping An Company in its previous life.

Unexpectedly, this time thanks to Zhang Lei's help, Yang Xiao was able to get there first.

The company was originally worth only 1.3 million, but it still had a lot of debts, unpaid employee wages, and severance costs, totaling 1.7 million.

The company is much smaller and cheaper than what JD.com acquired!
Because the only function missing from the business scope is the fixed-line telephone payment function.

This function itself is useless. At present, landline phones are actually on the verge of being eliminated.

Who still uses landline to recharge?

This business is quite useful for Tencent.

For example, in the early years, you could use a landline to call a special phone number to recharge Tencent's value-added services.

Things like QQ membership and yellow diamonds can be recharged with solid items.

As a result, many naughty children at that time would go to small shops with public telephones, spend a few dollars to make a call, recharge a membership fee of ten dollars, and cheat the merchants.

This kind of behavior is naturally easy to be discovered, and merchants are not easy to deal with, which leads to a "getting beaten by your mother" drama.

Of course, landline phone recharge is not exclusive to children, adults also have the right to use it.

But, adults have more choices, so why bother with this?
It’s better not to use this landline payment.

Therefore, Yang Xiao was not only glad, but also saved a little money.

After all, the times are moving forward, and as an entrepreneur, one still needs to have some sense of social responsibility. Yang Xiao also disdains the profits brought by landline telephones.

On the other hand, let’s talk about the [Food Benefit Group].

After receiving financing from Zhang Lei not long ago, it began to expand rapidly.

In the first place, the entire Guangdong Province has been completely occupied. In cities at the district and county level and above, there are figures of "yellow robed" [Food Benefit Group] guys running around everywhere.

These "local enterprises" have received support from the local government.

It not only boosts employment, but also makes the general public feel proud.

After that, it spread to surrounding provinces such as Guangxi, and at the same time moved towards Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Other cities are okay, but Shanghai is the most difficult because it is the headquarters of Ele.me.

To this end, Wang Juntao, Zhang Yang and others went straight to the Magic City and took charge personally. They also selected employees with handsome tattoos and tall and strong physiques to bring with them.

At that time, perhaps some "hand-to-hand combat" will be inevitable.

They are afraid of suffering any loss!

As the director of the campus marketing department, Zhang Yang even chose to take a leave of absence to show his determination.

Of course, this was his own choice, and Yang Xiao chose to respect him.

[Food Benefit Group] is just one of his businesses, and he just needs to control the general direction.

Expanding the market and conquering territories are all things that need to be done step by step, so naturally he doesn't have to do it himself.

Now it is the end of June, and "Time and Space Hunter" is about to be launched, so his attention is turned to [Yinhan Technology].

(End of this chapter)