823

Because it will be fun to step on it

The reason for choosing Li Yanhong's Baidu over Jack Ma's Alibaba was simple.

Because Baidu is currently the undisputed number one among all IT companies in China.

Over time, they grew into companies that symbolize China and were called BAT, but today's Alibaba and Tencent were just starting to walk.

But Baidu had already dominated China's search market and was expanding its revenue model based on that.

"Did you say gaming business?"

At the mention of the game business, Li Yanhong glanced at Tencent's Ma Huateng next to him.

Li Yanhong also knew that although Tencent's main business is messaging, most of its revenue comes from games.

But, when he was asked in front of such a person as Ma Huateng whether he had any plans to enter the gaming industry, Li Yanhong must have been embarrassed as well.

"Yes. The game business. I have invested in many game companies. I need a company that can service those games in China."

"As far as I know, Tencent has almost exclusive rights to import Korean games."

"That was the case until now. But not anymore. As of today, Tencent will not be able to import any games from Korea."

Before Li Yanhong could answer, Ma Huateng raised his voice.

"Mr. Kim. Why are you doing this?"

I glared at the grumbling Ma Huateng.

"Why are you asking me this? Are you really asking because you don't know? Do you think I will continue to do business with you, who betrayed me? I am a businessman, not a gentleman."

"Didn't I tell you that it was a misunderstanding? I didn't ignore President Kim, but I was just trying to put out the urgent fire······."

Ma Huateng continued to make excuses until the very end.

"Do I look like a fool to you? Do you really think I don't know that I've decided to cling to the Shanghai faction and get a seat at the National People's Congress? You seem to think I'm a fool."

"How, how about that······."

"The fact that I have set foot in China again means that all the forces that were pressuring me have already retreated. They are slow in information and have no sense. They are the worst partners to do business with, so I will not do business with them anymore. Even if I have to pay a penalty, I will terminate all contracts for the games currently in service."

All the life drained from Ma Huateng's face in an instant.

Ma Huateng was a businessman who was also interested in politics.

In his previous life, he was even a representative of the National People's Congress.

The National People's Congress was nominally China's highest state power.

So when Jiang Zemin extended his hand, I quickly changed the line and got on.

"You can expect it. We will disrupt everything Tencent does. We will force competitors to enter the market with the same business model, no matter how much it costs."

As he declared in a calm voice, Ma Huateng suddenly came to his senses and objected.

"Where is that law? How can you unilaterally cancel a contract that has already been concluded?"

"That's why I'm saying I'll pay the penalty. What's the problem with terminating the contract if I pay the penalty? There's no legal problem. You can file a lawsuit. I'm confident I'll win. No matter how favorable the Chinese court's ruling is to the Chinese company, I intend to win."

"Do you think I would stay still?"

Ma Huateng spoke in a fierce voice, as if trying to maintain his pride until the end.

Looking at him like that, the corners of my lips lifted up.

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"You'll probably get upset. No, you should. Try everything you can. That's how fun it'll be to step on it. It'll be fun from now on. You'll see how terrible a person I am. I'll soon liquidate my Tencent stake and hand it over. I guess I'll go now. Don't you think I should talk to other people?"

Now that it has come to this, I have no hesitation in handing over my shares to Tencent.

Tencent is not a company with great technological prowess like Baidu or Alibaba, but rather a company that has grown into a messenger with a high market share in China.

Of course, later on, it turned its eyes to the world and grew in size by buying up game companies around the world like a dinosaur, but for now, it was just a small dinosaur that only sold in China.

"What are you doing? You should go back now. I called you today to tell you this."

Even though the order to evacuate guests was issued, Ma Huateng stood there as if he was nailed to the spot.

I glanced at Director Ma, who was standing next to me.

Director Ma raised his hand and called the bodyguards waiting nearby. The bodyguards approached Ma Huateng and spoke.

"Please go back now."

"I was invited and came in too! Who are you to order me to go back?!"

"Please go back."

No matter what Ma Huateng said, the bodyguards just kept repeating that they should go back.

He must have been quite angry because he raised his voice even though it was obvious that everyone's attention would be focused on him.

"Let go! Let go!"

"Chairman Ma Huateng. Wouldn't it be better to just leave? Many businessmen who will lead the Chinese economy are gathered here today. But if you get kicked out of such a place, it's not a good look."

"······."

Ma Huateng didn't respond and just glared at me as if he was going to kill me.

I looked at Boshirai, who was looking at me with interest.

When I nodded toward Boshirai, whose eyes met mine, he snickered.

I saw him whispering to the secretary next to him, noticing my signal to chase Ma Huateng away.

After a while, several police officers guarding the party entered.

Bo Xilai's secretary approached Ma Huateng with the police.

"Chairman Ma Huateng. Please leave now."

"What? What are you guys doing, again!"

"This is an order from the Party Secretary."

"······The party secretary?"

"Yes. He said that if you cause any more trouble, he won't just kick you out."

Only after receiving a firm warning did Ma Huateng give up and straighten his disheveled clothes.

Before leaving, he glared at me fiercely, then turned around and left the party.

"Now the intruder is gone."

I looked at Baidu's Li Yanhong again and smiled.

"······I guess something bad happened with Chairman Ma Huateng."

"Well, that's right. Chairman Li Yanhong, wasn't there any pressure from the Chinese government?"

"There were, but they weren't very strong sanctions. Of course, I heard the news. There was a strong audit of the companies that Mr. Kim had invested in. But we didn't have anything like that."

As I looked at him with a surprised look, Li Yanhong smiled confidently and said.

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"Well, even if there was strong pressure, our situation is different. Our main business is search engine, and everything else is secondary. There would be no way to sanction us unless they completely block our site. But they really couldn't do that. If they block our site, the Internet in China would be paralyzed."

Baidu was the company that accounted for more than 50% of the Chinese search engine market.

The Chinese government would also be reluctant to shut down such a company.

Thanks to this, we may have been able to avoid the Chinese government's sword this time.

"I heard that one of the co-founders, Hooyong, recently left the company."

"Yes, that's right. I took all the shares he had."

It was common for co-founders to split up if they didn't get along.

In the previous life, Hou Yong resigned and Li Yanhong began to run Baidu on his own.

"If you don't like the temple, you can leave. So what do you think about my proposal?"

"The game business is an attractive business. However, we are preparing for a NASDAQ listing this time. We were originally planning to list last year, but it was postponed for various reasons. So it is difficult to start a new business."

"I've reported that. Don't worry about that. Dream High will do its best to prepare."

"Really? Thank you. It would be great if Dream High could step forward."

"Don't worry. It's something we wanted to do too."

Alibaba wants to delay its listing as much as possible, but Baidu thinks it would be right to list as quickly as possible.

Because it was already likely to be valued at $1 billion.

As I recall, it showed off its power by reaching a market capitalization of 4 billion dollars on the first day of listing.

"Don't worry about the listing, let's talk about the game business again."

I brought the topic of conversation back to the gaming industry.

"Chairman Li Yanhong may not think the game market is attractive yet. However, as Chinese Internet users continue to increase and infrastructure is established, games will show faster growth than any other sector. Just look at the growth rate of the Korean game industry right now."

The growth rate of Korea's gaming industry has been surprisingly fast and broad.

The growth was largely driven by the expansion of high-speed Internet access and the emergence of new entertainment spaces called PC rooms.

"If Korea can grow like that, what about China, with its population of hundreds of millions? Tencent has already shown that possibility. Tencent naturally attracted users of their messenger app called QQ to games."

Tencent's game publishing has been successful.

Even considering China's low Internet penetration rate, the growth rate was astonishing.

"Of course, behind that are online games imported from Korea. China's game development capabilities are still lacking. So we have to bring games from Korea and provide services. I can bring you any game you want."

China's game development capabilities were still in their infancy.

It will eventually reach a similar level to Korea, but that is a story from the distant future.

Ultimately, Korean online games were needed for a stable business.

And I know of one Korean game that is incredibly successful in China.

"It will take quite a long time to acquire the Chinese service rights for Korean games on Tencent. However, there are still many Korean games that have not been serviced in China. And I know of games that could be successful in China. What do you think? Would you like to join hands with me and enter the game business?"

Li Yanhong seemed lost in thought for a moment and remained silent.

I tilted my wine glass and waited calmly for his answer.

"I've always thought about jumping in. I know games can be a good moneymaker. But is there a game that's guaranteed to be a success in China? You never know until you try."

"Yes, there is one. We are already preparing to launch the Chinese service simultaneously. If we can find a partner to handle the Chinese service, we can launch it simultaneously in Korea and China."

Li Yanhong was surprised by my firm words and asked back.

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"Are you really sure you will succeed?"

"I can assure you. If you are worried, invest the same amount of money in a joint venture and proceed with the business."

"What game is it?"

"It's a game called Dungeon & Inspector that is being developed by NeoRun."

Li Yanhong tilted his head as if he hadn't heard it.

But I already know that this game will be a huge hit as soon as it is released and will remain popular for a long time.

"The development has already been completed. I am the company's major shareholder. I don't normally interfere with management at all, but as the sole major shareholder, I have asked you to prepare for simultaneous launches in Korea and China. Thanks to this, simultaneous service in Korea and China is possible."

"That's attractive. But it also has the disadvantage of being risky."

I nodded to Li Yanhong's words.

There has never been a simultaneous release in Korea and China before.

Most Korean games entering China are serviced in Korea and exported to Taiwan.

And most of the decisions about whether to provide services in China were based on the results in Taiwan.

"I am confident that this game will further accelerate Baidu's monopoly."

"Okay. I will personally lead the staff to Korea. I will watch the game and decide."

"You won't regret it."

At that moment, Ma Yun, who had been listening silently, interrupted me from the side.

"Chairman Li Yanhong. Mr. Kim's advice will never hurt. I have done it myself."

"Ah, Chairman Ma. Now I can properly greet you."

The two people exchanged greetings and started talking, and I looked around again.

The presidents of the companies I invested in were hesitating whether or not to come here.

"Then, you two, please continue talking. I'll talk to other people too."

The two geniuses, Jack Ma and Li Yanhong, started talking to each other whether I went or not.

I walked with a faint smile on my face as I watched the two people.

"Haha. I really wanted to meet you."

"It's an honor, Mr. Kim."

That day, I met with all the companies I had invested in.

And they were rewarded accordingly for their choices.

End