Zhang Chen tapped the wine glass with a spoon, and the waiter stepped forward to remove the front plate and replace it with an after-dinner dessert.

The most distinctive dessert in Britain is strawberry with cream. The red and large fresh strawberries are topped with a layer of white flower cream, and although the taste is slightly greasy, the creamy aroma of the cream and the unique aroma of the strawberries are combined to dilute the sourness of the strawberries, and it is still delicious.

The only thing to worry about is calorie intake.

"Although the essence of business is to buy low and sell high, there are still some differences between venture capital and traditional industries. Zhang Chen forked a strawberry and put it in his mouth, "Traditional industries will try their best to reduce procurement costs, and always hope to purchase more goods at lower prices." Unlike venture capital, we have only one product, which is entrepreneurs. ”

"From the perspective of venture capital companies, cost accounting is the most unreliable way to invest in entrepreneurs. I used to be an entrepreneur, and there were many projects, and if the entrepreneur got 20 million, he could make the project work successfully, and the investors would get double the profits. But if they can only get 15 million, maybe the project has no chance, and the investors' money will be lost. ”

"How much would you choose to invest in the case of 20 million and 15 million shares that can get the same shares? Undoubtedly, of course 20 million will be invested. However, no one can really see whether the project will really succeed after investing 20 million. Therefore, at this time, we need to analyze specific cases to determine what the real capital needs of entrepreneurs are, and give them a reasonable suggestion. ”

Cheryl Sandberg disagreed: "I understand this, but Harry Potter is only one book after all, although my previous bid was a little lower, but now the market in the publishing industry is like this, I don't think this condition will make Rowling dissatisfied." The conditions you gave her are no more than the level of a famous writer. ”

Zhang Chen naturally couldn't explain to Cheryl what level of existence the original theme of Harry Potter would exist in the future, and no one would believe that in just three or four years, the image of this teenager wearing round-framed glasses would become popular all over the world and become the largest original IP at the end of the twentieth century.

Books, movies, peripherals, theme parks, pan-entertainment, Harry Potter has supported a 100 billion dollar market.

Even if Rowling is satisfied with this condition now, when this magical empire is actually built in the future, will she still be willing to take only the seven percent royalties?

At that time, there will only be two results, give in or tear your face to court.

Zhang Chen shook his head: "Cheryl, in the venture capital industry, the most important resource is entrepreneurs. Similarly, in the publishing industry, the most important resource is the creator. At present, creators are satisfied with 10 to 15 percent royalties and near-free copyright transfer proceeds because large publishing groups have monopolized the entire market channel, forcing these authors to accept the rules of the industry they have set. ”

"However, these rules will be subverted in the next ten years!" Cheryl felt a strong confidence and contagion in Zhang Chen's tone, which she had only seen in a few people before, and these people were giants who could have an impact on the politics and economy of the world today.

"Internet?" Now the concept of the Internet is as hot as the erupting Yellowstone volcano, and everyone has heard that the Internet is going to change the entire human society, but no one knows how.

Zhang Chen nodded, "Yes, although this topic is a bit cliché, it is true, the rise of an industry will inevitably lead to the decline of many previously prominent industries, and the publishing industry is one of them." ”

"The core interest of the publishing industry is to sell books, and I will not continue to talk about the impact of the Internet on paper books. Admittedly, it will be difficult for e-books to completely replace paper books for quite some time. However, judging whether an industry is declining does not require the industry to be completely finished, as long as the industry is no longer growing, low growth or negative growth, it can basically be judged that the industry belongs to the sunset industry. ”

Zhang Chen smiled: "The publishing industry is the sunset industry. ”

Cheryl Sandberg frowned: "As long as the publishing industry can still control the channel, even if it no longer grows, it will be difficult to change its established rules, right?"

Zhang Chen said with a smile: "The lack of growth in the publishing industry does not mean that the text reading market has not grown, and where has this growth gone? It took less than half a year for the number of online reading users in the United States to change from 100,000 to 1 million. Of course, I'm not saying that e-reading will completely replace physical book reading, but there is a trade-off between the two sides. ”

"With competition, the innate conditions for the publishing industry to monopolize channels do not exist. Moreover, the new channels of the Internet have already begun to show their power. ”

"Cheryl, have you ever bought a book online?" Zhang Chen suddenly asked, eating the last strawberry.

Cheryl Sandberg shook her head: "No, there are a lot of bookstores in Washington, but my classmates in Rockwell often go to Amazon to buy books. ”

"Do you know what Amazon's turnover has so far been this year?" Zhang Chen asked.

Cheryl Sandberg thought for a while, and supported her cheek with one hand, "Ten million?" But seeing that Zhang Chen just smiled, Cheryl asked curiously, "How much is that?"

"Ten million, followed by a zero. Zhang Chen said softly.

Cheryl Sandberg was surprised: "A hundred million dollars? so fast?"

Zhang Chen smiled: "As of July 31, Amazon's sales revenue exceeded 100 million US dollars, sold 9.09 million books, and served more than 1.5 million customers. It took Barnes & Noble 110 years to reach this achievement, while Amazon was founded in just two years. ”

"The new era has come, if you still cling to everything in the old era, how can you say it? Oh, run over mercilessly by the wheels of the times. Ha ha. ”

Cheryl didn't understand why Zhang Chen was laughing, $100 million in sales revenue doesn't sound like much, but combined with the background that Amazon has only been established for two years now, it is very scary.

"I attended Amazon's board call two days ago, and by the end of this year, Amazon's sales revenue will exceed $150 million, and next year, Bezos promised that the board of directors will grow to $500 million. ”

"500 million US dollars, a growth rate of more than 300%?" Cheryl Sandberg looked at Zhang Chen in surprise, unlike the PC industry that Matrix is engaged in, Amazon currently sells only books, and the total global retail book market is only 82 billion US dollars, and the North American market is less than 20 billion. At present, Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookstore, has only 10 percent of the market share, and its annual turnover does not exceed two billion US dollars, and the growth rate is even lower.

Zhang Chen didn't think that Amazon's growth was fast, compared with many rising stars, Amazon is limited by the current number of netizens, and the growth rate is not much surprising: "This is not surprising, the high growth of Internet companies is not comparable to traditional industries, as far as I am personally not very satisfied with Bezos's promise, I think his prediction is still too conservative, in the next year, Amazon's turnover should at least exceed 700 million US dollars." After all, Amazon is about to enter the CD sales market, which is also a market with a total market volume of more than $20 billion. Next year, the number of Internet users in the United States is expected to exceed 65 million, which means that the Internet will truly enter everyone's life, and Bezos should have a higher goal. ”

Cheryl Sandberg never imagined that Internet companies would have such a high level of growth, although she now uses the Internet every day, but the feelings of a simple user are far from the feelings of a real Internet practitioner.

Cheryl felt that a door was slowly opening to her, and beyond the door was a new world that she had never seen before.

"Away from it, back to Rowling. Zhang Chen pulled the topic back, "The Internet and computer technology are all-round changes to human society, and the entertainment methods of human beings will also change greatly, the entertainment industry will grow rapidly, and the importance of content and themes will be raised to an unprecedented height." The benefits that can be obtained as creators, especially first-line creators, will not be limited to remuneration and royalty sharing. ”

It is said that Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" has begun to prepare for a film version, which shows that content creators are now more and more valued by Hollywood, and a real big intellectual property feast is coming, and Harry Potter is the ticket to enter this feast. ”

"There is an old story in China that a king liked Maxima very much, so he gave a sum of money to the famous Soma Master in China, and asked the Soma Master to go to various countries to find Maxima for him. After a year, Soma Master came back and said that he had found Maxima, and it cost a thousand gold coins. The king was pleased, and asked where the horse was, and the Soma master pointed to the box on the ground and said, "When I went, the horse was dead, so I bought its bones for a thousand gold coins." ”

"The king was very angry and wanted to kill this Soma master, but the Soma master said, Your Majesty, you bought a pair of horse bones for a thousand gold coins, and spread it out, everyone must think that you are a real horse lover, and they all know that selling horses gives you a good price, and you have lost a thousand gold coins now, but you can gain more horses in the future! When the king heard this, it made sense, so he let the Soma master go. Half a year later, sure enough, many people took the initiative to sell the horses to the king, and the king bought a lot of real horses. ”

What's more, Rowling is not a horse bone, but a foal with the potential to be a horse. As long as it works properly, I have the confidence to create a Harry Potter whirlwind around the world!"

"And when the time comes, if our treaty is too harsh, on the one hand, it may cause dissatisfaction and complications of the author, and on the other hand, the harsh criticism of public opinion will also have a very negative impact on us, and I don't want to be called a black-hearted businessman. ”

"Investment itself is investment in people, and in the field of creation, the effect of this law is even more obvious, a good writer can save or destroy a publishing house, if we leave a bad impression on the creator at the beginning, if the invested company does not believe us, it will be a disastrous consequence. ”

Cheryl Sandberg didn't expect Zhang Chen's evaluation of Harry Potter to be so high, but Zhang Chen's judgment of the future still deeply moved her, seeing the look on Zhang Chen's face, Cheryl suddenly understood how this young man could create such a miracle in such a short period of time.

"None of that really matters. Zhang Chen smiled suddenly, "The important thing is that creators need to be respected. The best way to show respect is to have a more reasonable distribution of benefits. An excellent work may be successful in many ways, but the author himself may be harvested by a publishing house or film company at a very low price, which is inherently unfair. If the interests of the creator cannot be guaranteed, how can the creator have the passion to create better works?"

Respect...... Cheryl Sandberg suddenly thought of her experience in the Treasury Department, and almost everyone was shouting respect because it was part of American political correctness, but she never experienced what real respect was on Capitol Hill. The atmosphere in which everyone seemed to be refined egoists, wearing a mask of hypocrisy and shouting all sorts of beautiful words, but no one was really willing to do anything for the world, suffocated her.

And now, the young man in front of him actually told himself that respect is not just a slogan, only a more reasonable distribution of interests is a manifestation of respect in the true sense.

Cheryl Sandberg came to be Zhang Chen's assistant, originally just wanted to use this as a springboard to enter Silicon Valley, although she has worked in the Ministry of Finance, but it is not easy to really enter a large Silicon Valley company to seek a satisfactory position.

In the initial contact with Zhang Chen, Cheryl felt the outstanding business talent of her young boss, and began to feel that it was a good choice to work as an assistant for a while, at least she still needed to learn a lot of things.

And now, Cheryl found that Zhang Chen's values are very similar to herself, maybe... I can really continue to do it in this company.

——————————————————

West.

"Mr. Yang, of course I support this plan, if the Spark Scholar Award Program can really be implemented, it will definitely play a role in promoting our country's scientific research!" Yao Yucheng, who had just been transferred from Shanghai to serve as the deputy director of the Education Commission, closed the document that Yang Zhuping gave him, and on the cover of the document was a line of inconspicuous Song characters: "Proposal on the Establishment of the Spark Scholar Award Program".

"I just don't know if this company called Xinghuo Technology has the strength to sustain this funding program, and the annual investment of 15 million yuan is not a small amount. I am most afraid that it will be implemented for two or three years, because it will not be sustainable because of various problems. ”

Yao Yucheng is one of the few female senior officials in China, and she has been able to get to this day by not losing the character and outstanding ability of men.

Yang Zhuping took off his glasses: "This concern is very real, Xinghuo Technology agreed to set up a special fund in China, with special funds, a one-time investment of 100 million yuan for the Spark Fund, and will provide 15 million yuan of financial support for the Spark Fund every year in the future, which can ensure that the Spark Scholar Award Program can be smoothly promoted at least within ten years." ”

"100 million yuan?" Yao Yucheng was slightly surprised, except for the Asian Games held in the early 90s, when the famous red rich man in Xiangjiang donated 100 million yuan, he had never heard of any company that could donate so much money to China at once.

"Mr. Yang, with all due respect, I have never heard the name of Xinghuo Technology before, this company is 。。。。。。 Yao Yucheng cautiously probed.

Yang Zhuping laughed and said, "Do you remember the company that donated 150 computers to the Hope Project last month?"

Yao Yucheng smiled and nodded, this was the first week after she was transferred to the Education Commission, and her memory was very deep. Moreover, when she heard that this computer company was actually founded in the United States by a Chinese young man named Zhang Chen, and in a short period of time it has been hailed as the next Dell, with a net worth of more than one billion dollars, she couldn't help but be surprised for a long time.

Could it be that this Spark Scholar Award Program has something to do with him?

Yang Zhuping tapped his finger on the proposal: "This Spark Technology is the company set up by Zhang Chen of Matrix in Xiangjiang. It's not simple, less than 19 years old, he has already created a wealth of more than a billion dollars. The most rare thing is that he can still maintain this pure heart and never forget the country. If we can have such young people, why worry that the country cannot become rich and strong?"

"Xiao Yao, you take this plan back and discuss it with the comrades of the Education Commission, and implement the implementation steps, sooner rather than later, sooner rather than later, sooner rather than later, and seize the day. ”

It's two in one, and there's another chapter, which is being written.

(End of chapter)