Nowadays, there are less than 500 Internet stocks in the United States, and there are trillions of dollars of funds pouring in, each stock has been speculated to sky-high prices, the Nasdaq, which is dominated by technology stocks, has an average market capitalization of nearly one billion US dollars, and the Internet stocks are far more than the average, but there are only a handful of profitable companies, at present, only AOL, Yahoo, Electronic Harbor, and a few such as Inktomi and Verisign are profitable, Amazon has not yet made a profit, and most of the rest of the companies have not even launched their own business. Most of them are constantly acquiring or hyping their so-called concepts, and if Ant Moving announces its profits, there will never be only one or two companies offering, even if they are not listed, they can also ask for a sky-high price during the period when the new technology wave is sweeping.

This is something that everyone here can foresee, looking at the excited expressions of the three of them, Lu Xi smiled and said: "Of course, it is a good thing that some investors take a fancy to it, which shows that our efforts have not been in vain, but now we have to consider negotiations, and if we can't negotiate, we will have to eat a lawsuit." ”

Several people laughed, Wan Xingnian said: "Intellectual property lawsuits will take at least a year or two to have a result, we want to win the lawsuit is very likely, but we can use the influence of public opinion to promote our business, if it really goes to court, the best result is out-of-court settlement, but the negotiation is going well, we don't have to worry about being sued." ”

There were only some small differences in the negotiation, Lu Xi was very optimistic, just talking casually, and asked Wan Xingnian with a smile to introduce the internal situation of the company during this time.

Several people were in a good mood, and after Wan Xingnian was introduced, they talked about this topic until ten o'clock in the night, and then they went back to rest.

After only one night's rest, Hong Xuedong threw himself into work.

On the third day of his arrival in San Francisco, Lu Xi and Wan Xingnian, Melanie and Hong Xuedong started the Nth round of negotiations with the five major records, and the two sides only had differences in the pricing and sharing ratio of each song. Ringing insisted on $1.2 per song, and Ant moved to get a five-part split, while the big five record companies demanded to raise the price of each song to $1.29, with a price difference of 9 cents, and the share was only given to Ant Move.

In the previous life, the share between Apple and the record company was only 30%, and the contracts of some other large companies were below 30%, Lu Xi's bottom line was lower than 30%, but the benefits that could be fought for should be fought for as much as possible.

In the third negotiation after Lu Xi and Hong Xuedong arrived in San Francisco, the five major record companies made some concessions. The price of each song is $1.2 a song, but the share is still Ant Moving, while giving in, the five major record companies suddenly added additional terms in order to maximize profits, in order to maximize the profits, to pressure the small, requiring the network ant music download website to change its name to the Global Music Alliance, and require Ant Moving to change the focus of development, to promote the Global Music Alliance, they just provide some resources, under the addition of harsh overlord terms, the five major record companies also gave Ant Moving a little sweetness, promising not to relicense the copyright in their hands to a second Internet company within a year, and will vigorously crack down on the few free music resources.

Unpredictable things often happen, but Lu Xi didn't expect it to happen at a critical moment in the negotiations, the income of the music download website is a lot for the current Luzhu, but if you want to promote it globally, this money is far from enough, and the five major record companies have added additional terms This is forcing them to take the road of financing and burning a lot of money, but if they don't accept it, they will be sued.

The five major record companies used the strength of large companies to suppress people, and in the next few rounds of negotiations, several people tried many times to no avail, and Luzhu and Ant moved now can't afford to fight a lawsuit, Lu Xi and Hong Xuedong After careful consideration, they came up with the final solution - after the negotiation was successful, they immediately packaged and sold the music download business, and took the funds to develop the core business.

If you don't sell, you will have to raise money to fully promote the global music alliance, a series of plans will be disrupted, the focus of Ant Moving will change, and you will no longer be able to take out funds to develop the core business in China, and the purpose of doing music downloads is to make a profit, and to take out funds for Luzhu to develop its core business, and selling it is also the best way that a few people can think of at the moment.

On his third weekend in San Francisco, Hong Xuedong signed agreements with the Big Five record companies on behalf of Ant Moving.

It seems that the five major record companies have long been prepared, and a grand reception was held on the night of the successful negotiation, inviting many celebrities and their stars and news media reporters to announce in a high-profile manner that for the development of online music in the future, an international music online company will be formed, and the record industry will march into the Internet.

Lu Xi and the others came back from the reception and sent Wan Xingnian and Melanie and others away, Lu Xi first called Xiuqing and Sun Mingwei, and then went to find Hong Xuedong next door.

Hong Xuedong, who was a little depressed at the cocktail party, drank too much, and was holding the phone to complain to Yu Xin at this time, and hung up the phone when he saw Lu Xi coming in, and said: "Lao Fan called just now, he said that exchange students are a way, and you can also operate it directly by spending money, provided that the grades are good enough." ”

Lu Xi said with a smile: "Grades are not a problem, and money should not be a problem now, but let's go on an exchange student, it is better to say it, Mr. Sun has already contacted two intermediaries in China, but there are no good schools, Lao Fan is well-connected in this regard, ask him to help contact him again." ”

Hong Xuedong responded with a smile, and after calling Fan Chonghai, he pushed his thick glasses, and asked with a smile: "You didn't think that they would suddenly add the overlord clause before, right?" ”

Lu Xi nodded frankly: "I didn't expect it, but it's a coincidence that we do music downloads, they use large companies to increase the overlord clause, thinking that we will be influenced by them, but they didn't prohibit us from selling our business, and then we will find a buyer and wait to collect the money." ”

Before the Spring Festival, Yu Xin's friend who came back from South Korea gave her an MP3 player produced by Shihan Company, which she transferred to Chen Danying as a gift. If it weren't for this MP3 player, they would still be working hard to register more users, and the profits would have to be relied on by big manufacturers to advertise, but after selling the music download business, it would still have to develop as previously planned.

Hong Xuedong smiled and took out a cigarette, lit one first, and then threw the cigarette case to Lu Xi, and said: "It is indeed a happy event for us, we can get a large amount of development funds by selling the music download business, and we don't have to worry about many things in the future, but first of all, there are buyers." ”

Lu Xi threw the cigarette back on the table and said with a smile: "Tomorrow the news spreads, there will definitely be many people who want to get the Global Music Alliance, and now the United States will have a chance to stand out as long as it has a little relationship with the Internet, not to mention the emergence of our website, which has had an impact on the sales of online audio-visual products of companies such as AOL and Amazon, although digital music is difficult to shake the status of traditional music for a while, but buyers should not worry." ”

The development of music carriers has gone through four stages, from the initial vinyl records to tapes and CDs and the current digital music, even if digital music cannot replace the physical record industry, it is currently unable to bring a huge impact to the physical record industry because of the noise and capacity of the player, but it is obvious that from the development of the MP3 format in the early 90s, to the advent of the first MP3 player in Sehan, and then to the lawsuit between the Record Industry Association and the Imperial Alliance, the traditional record industry has been impacted, although not very obviously, but it has shown a downward trend year by year.

In just over a month, AOL, Amazon, overstock.Com and other e-commerce companies that sell CDs and tapes online have also begun to decline slightly, and Lu Xi believes that these giants should be able to see what the reason is.

"It's a beautiful thing to think of like that." Hong Xuedong smiled, patted his forehead again and said, "I remembered something, Hou Yantang just sent me an email, and he still has a technical problem that has not been solved, do you think I should help him?" ”

Since contacting Hong Xuedong, Lu Xi has been sending a message to Hou Yantang through him, hoping that he can come to work, but he refused, and now Internet Ant has more than two million registered users in the United States and has achieved profitability, but the Internet Express has not been launched for a long time due to technical problems.

Lu Xi's fingers lightly tapped on the armrest of the seat, thought for a while and said: "Invite him again, Lao Wan has no time to do technology, Fan Ning is indeed a genius, but he is not stable enough." ”

"I'll send an email later." Hong Xuedong answered and asked, "How much can satisfy your appetite?" ”

Lu Xi laughed dryly twice, and said: "The mature market price and value are close, and now there are nearly 500 Internet stocks in the United States, and the highest price-earnings ratio has reached 150 times, and the price embodiment has far exceeded its own value, although I disagree with some scholars that this phenomenon will last for a long time, but it is an idiot not to take advantage of this opportunity, although there are free music websites that cannot be ignored, we are also forced to sell, but the paid users and advertising resources are counted, at least 300 million to meet me." ”

Seeing that Lu Xi was still the habitual lion with his mouth open, Hong Xuedong grinned and said, "You want to scare everyone away, right?" ”

Lu Xi said with a smile: "Dare to think and dare to do, there is almost nothing that cannot be done in this world, at this time, I am still afraid, and if I miss such an opportunity, I will have to wait for a few more years." ”

Hong Xuedong smiled and said, "I don't have as much ambition as you, I just want to sell it for tens of millions of dollars." ”

Seeing Hong Xuedong smiling and lazily lying on the bed again, Lu Xi said with a smile: "Even if we make a successful move, we are still far from success, don't lie on the credit book now, it's not a good thing to lose motivation." ”

Hong Xuedong only raised his head without moving, and said with a smile: "I feel that I am close to success, but you just cast a bed of gold for me, let me enjoy squandering all day long, and I am still willing to write code on the computer every day." ”

Lu Xi grinned, and before he could speak, the doorbell rang. When he opened the door in the past, and saw Wan Xingnian coming back in the drizzle and letting people in, Lu Xi asked with a smile: "Lao Wan, can't you sleep?" ”

Wan Xingnian put the umbrella at the door, the excitement on his face overflowed, and asked, "Guess whose call I received?" ”

Hong Xuedong sat up and leaned on the head of the bed, and asked with a smile: "Is it that your ex-wife knows that we have successfully negotiated, and knows that you are going to be developed and want to reconcile with you." ”

After returning in the evening, Lu Xi announced the option reward plan, Wan Xingnian received a 2% option for Ant Moving, Fanning and Melanie played a key role in the recent development, and at the same time obtained a 0.5% option, which can be converted into equity at a low price after six years of work.

Seeing Hong Xuedong teasing him with personal questions again, Wan Xingnian shook his head and smiled bitterly, and then couldn't wait to say it: "Loboles of AOL, you can't think of it, right?" ”

Hong Xuedong immediately got out of bed and asked excitedly, "What did he say?" ”

Without waiting for Wan Xingnian to reply, Lu Xi asked with a slight smile: "Didn't Keith call in person?" ”

Seeing that there was no trace of surprise on Lu Xi's face, Wan Xingnian said with a smile: "They want to buy Ant Moving as a whole, not to expand the domestic business." ”

"For the overall acquisition, the offer is higher than 800 million US dollars, and it is not impossible to consider." Lu Xi chuckled, "How much do they offer?" ”

Wan Xingnian was taken aback by the price Lu Xi said, and grinned and made a gesture of six, and Hong Xuedong was pleasantly surprised: "Six hundred million? ”

Wan Xingnian shook his head and said, "It's sixty million dollars." ”

Lu Xi shook his head and smiled: "To hell with them, next time AOL calls again, Lao Wan can tell them directly, we only sell music download business, and don't talk about it if the price is less than 300 million." ”

Hong Xuedong sat back with a smile again, even if he didn't have much expectations, the offer was lower than his expectations.

"I'm not satisfied with this price, so I'll refuse him first." Wan Xingnian sat down on the side and said, "However, AOL has a market value of more than 100 billion, and last year's profit was about 400 million, and it is also one of the few profitable companies. ”