novelnext Chapter 162 The Dark Room is Activated, Marpony Agrees
Chapter 162 The Dark Room is Activated, Marpony Agrees
Chapter 162 The Dark Room is Initiated, Marponni Agrees (8k)
Geng Zhi had no intention of hiding his complete plan for WeChat from Tang Yan, but things were just in a rush and he hadn't had a chance to explain it to him in detail yet.
Since taking full control of Momo, Tang Yan has devoted himself to the product, focusing on data, user feedback, and operational plans, and has paid little attention to the dynamics of the innovation department led by Geng Zhi.
At this moment, when he heard Geng Zhi say that he wanted to launch an overseas IM right away, Tang Yan was completely stunned.
He strongly disagreed with it.
Tang Yan knew that the North American market was very different from the domestic market.
Having worked in media for so many years, he has studied countless cases of failed overseas ventures.
First, there is the cultural gap. North Americans' way of speaking, social habits, and understanding of privacy are completely different from those of Chinese people.
North American users also generally lack trust in applications developed by Dongda, whose low-end and knock-off brand image has long been ingrained in their minds.
Without a brand, without a social network, and without a traffic entry point, WeChat had virtually no chance of survival in North America.
Moreover, companies like Facebook have already monopolized the social media field. Even if WeChat manages to survive by relying on its innovative advantages on mobile devices, it will inevitably face heavy blows from major companies like Facebook immediately.
History has repeatedly proven that they will copy, buy, and censor.
Furthermore, compliance reviews in the United States are extremely stringent for internet products involving communications. The FCC, FTC, and various privacy laws—any one of them could give Mingfan Technology a run for its money.
Mingfan Technology currently lacks both an international team and any overseas experience. Relying solely on enthusiasm to rashly produce products for overseas markets is simply not feasible.
Tang Yan's throat moved, his lips parted slightly, then closed again. He didn't directly express his objection, not wanting to spoil the boss's mood so quickly; he wanted to listen first.
Apart from Gu Wanning and Tang Yan, everyone else stared at their boss with surprise.
Geng Zhi didn't offer much explanation, handing the floor to Ma Tongtong: "Okay, now Tongtong will explain in detail the product logic of our flagship product [WeChat]."
Ma Tongtong nodded and connected her laptop to the screen mirroring.
The first slide of the PPT shows the project goals, which consist of only eleven large characters: [Achieve the ultimate user experience and instant success!]
"[Striving for the ultimate user experience]" has become Momo's company culture, and "[Achieving instant success]" has become Mingfan Technology's basic pursuit for developing new products. Everyone agrees on this.
Everyone was waiting to witness Ma Tongtong unveil the innovative products designed by their innovation department for overseas markets.
Ma Tongtong slowly turned to the second page.
Three UI visual drafts of a mobile app were presented to the public.
White background, green speech bubble, gray speech bubble. An input box, a send button. Three dots in the upper right corner; clicking them opens a chat message.
The bottom three tabs are: Chats, Contacts, and Me.
The UI design only shows chat, contacts, and account center—simple, extremely simple.
Everyone understood the app's functions at a glance.
Ma Tongtong began explaining the basic logic to the UI design: "These are the two core logics of our [WeChat] product: one is the one-on-one chat and group chat function, and the other is the address book function. We must complete all development within three months and make the user experience the best it can be."
Upon hearing this, Tang Yan frowned, as did Lü Sifeng, Zou Lu, and others.
That's it?
Before Ma Tongtong could finish speaking, Chu Jiatong interrupted incredulously, "Tongtong, is that all there is to WeChat?"
"Yes, but there's also a PC version of [WeChat]." Seeing that Chu Jiatong was very enthusiastic, Ma Tongtong first turned to the fifth page of the PPT and showed everyone the UI design draft for the PC version.
"The PC version is actually exactly the same as the mobile version, including the two core functions of chat and contacts."
"Tongtong, is this what our star product looks like??" Zou Lu couldn't help but ask, his tone full of disbelief.
In his opinion, this function is far too basic; Momo is ten times more complex than this.
"That's right, our main focus is on simplicity. From five- or six-year-old kids to seventy- or eighty-year-old grandmothers, everyone can use it at a glance," Ma Tongtong said with a smile. "But I haven't even started explaining the details of the chat function yet."
"That's not difficult at all," Zou Lu commented with a smile, his tone much more relaxed. "We have Momo's foundation, so we don't need three months, just three weeks. No need for being locked up in a 'black room' at all, haha!"
"Mr. Zou, don't rush to conclusions." Ma Tongtong gave Zou Lu a meaningful look, smiled and gestured for him to stop. "Be patient and let me explain the details. I guarantee you'll be amazed and speechless."
"Go on, go on," Zou Lu quickly fell silent, gesturing for Ma Tongtong to continue.
Ma Tongtong turned to the next slide of the PPT, and an interactive diagram of a chat box appeared on the screen.
"First, WeChat's basic chat functions should not only support text, emoticons, and pictures like QQ, but also support sending real-time voice messages."
"What?!" Zou Lu sat bolt upright in his chair, his eyes wide. "What does 'real-time voice message' mean?"
Chu Jiatong, Lü Sifeng, Tang Yan, and the others also frowned, their faces full of doubt.
"It means users can send a voice message in real time." Ma Tongtong continued turning the pages, pointing to an interactive template with her mouse to explain, "Like this, the user presses and holds to speak, releases to end speaking, and then sends."
"The recipient can play the recording with a single click; there's no need to make a phone call or transfer any audio files."
As soon as Ma Tongtong finished speaking, the room erupted in chaos.
"This feature—is a bit ridiculous—" Chu Jiatong muttered first, his expression extremely interesting.
"This is a bit too innovative," Lü Sifeng commented immediately.
"You know what, you really have to say, if this were actually made, wouldn't it be much more convenient than typing?" Huang Haitang grasped the key point.
Sending voice messages is a novel and incredible feature in their eyes.
At that time, no product on the global market had the function of sending voice messages.
Even a nationally popular product like QQ doesn't have that.
Ma Tongtong didn't interrupt the discussion. After everyone quieted down a bit, she continued to explain in detail all the interactive details of sending voice messages: "Press and hold to speak — release to send — swipe up to cancel — real-time performance must be ensured. The maximum delay cannot exceed 1 second —"
After Ma Tongtong finished speaking, several developers, including Lü Sifeng, Zou Lu, Chu Jiatong, and Jia Zhenbiao, immediately raised a series of questions and then gathered together for a heated discussion. The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became tense and enthusiastic.
Zou Lu frowned, his tone grave: "The workload on the client side is enormous. The UI and interaction are secondary; the main tasks are recording, real-time processing, compression encoding, network transmission, and playback control. Each one is very complex, and each one could potentially cause problems."
Compared to Zou Lu's solemn expression, Chu Jiatong couldn't hold back any longer, and with a bitter and resentful look, he almost wailed, "Your iOS clients are alright, the devices are all the same, so adaptation is simple. We Android clients are really suffering!"
"Android devices are a mess. Different phones have different microphones and CPU architectures, and their audio APIs vary greatly. To achieve compatibility with all models without any bugs is simply a nightmare!"
Chu Jiatong's words were not at all pretentious.
In 2010, Android was so fragmented that it was appalling.
The system version ranged from 1.5 to 2.2, with a chaotic mix of vendor customizations and bizarre hardware. Meeting Ma Tongtong's requirements for stability, smoothness, and low latency was indeed an extraordinary undertaking.
But the most difficult part is actually the server side.
Voice messages may seem simple, but the underlying data consistency and long-term push notifications are significant challenges. If not handled carefully, issues such as message loss or excessive latency can occur, rendering the product completely unusable.
Lu Sifeng kept biting his lip in deep thought, and there was a clear lip mark on the corner of his mouth.
After a long while, he finally looked up at Ma Tongtong and asked, "Manager Ma, what is the maximum duration for voice messages?"
"The early version can be set to a maximum of 30 seconds, but the future maximum should be able to reach 60 seconds," Ma Tongtong replied.
Lü Sifeng roughly estimated: "Each voice message is about tens of KB. Storing and processing voice files is quite troublesome, and we also have to consider offline messages when the user is not online."
"Yes!" Jia Zhenbiao quickly added, "And it also involves switching network environments, such as switching from 3G to 2G or WiFi. Maintaining a long TCP connection is not easy."
At this moment, Huang Haitang also spoke with a worried look: "Our testing resources are even more insufficient. Just for the voice messaging function alone, we need to test it on different mobile phones, different network environments, and different usage scenarios. For me personally, just testing alone takes two or three weeks."
While the client-side, server-side, and testing team members were still complaining about the difficulty, Ma Tongtong continued with a smile: "Everyone, everyone, I've only talked about one feature so far, there's more to come."
The conference room fell silent instantly. Everyone stared at her, their expressions shifting from shock to despair.
As she spoke, she flipped to the next few slides and gave a complete explanation of the message recall function, message synchronization between mobile and PC, and automatic matching of contacts in the phone's address book.
Upon hearing "[automatic matching of phone contacts]", Gu Wanning, who had been watching the commotion, frowned again.
Because Kik's development team is also working on this feature.
Is it really such a coincidence that both the Eastern and Western hemispheres are developing the same thing with similar functions?
Is it really just a coincidence?
Gu Wanning glanced at Geng Zhi, and for a moment, she began to have a slight doubt.
But then she thought of Newton and Leibniz developing calculus almost simultaneously, Darwin and Wallace independently proposing evolutionary theories centered on natural selection, and Edison and Swann almost simultaneously inventing the incandescent light bulb—
Scientific discoveries are sometimes so amazing; what does a coincidence in science really matter?
The tide of the times has come, and everyone will see the same opportunities.
The Kik team saw it, and Geng Zhi saw it too, that's all.
Suddenly, she stopped doubting it.
Just then, Geng Zhi's phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID; it was from Guangzhou. He then went outside to answer the phone.
Unlike Gu Wanning's relief, the development and testing team was on the verge of collapse.
Chu Jiatong clutched his head in his hands: "Manager Ma, with so much material, three months is simply not enough to complete the development! This isn't a manpower issue, it's a problem with the laws of physics!"
"That's why we're putting you in the dark room for closed-door development!" Ma Tongtong said with a smile.
In the office, several R&D and testing staff members went from simply complaining to arguing with Ma Tongtong. Their voices grew louder and their emotions became more and more agitated.
"On our server side, it's just me, Zhenbiao, and Peidong. Three months is simply not enough time," Lü Sifeng shook his head. "The voice function requires preliminary research on new technologies, and the uncertainty is very high. If we encounter technical difficulties, it's normal for it to be stuck for two weeks. We definitely can't guarantee that it will go live by then."
Ma Tongtong glanced at Tang Yan, then turned to Lü Sifeng: "Mr. Lü, what if we transferred two developers from Momo?"
"Manager Ma, Momo is developing a new version, and we're short on manpower. There's simply no one available," Lu Sifeng said, shaking his head with a helpless tone.
"There's nothing we can do about it then." Ma Tongtong's attitude was firm. "The simultaneous launch of the app and PC versions before National Day is a strict order, and there's no way to change it."
Tang Yan, who had been observing silently, finally couldn't help but speak up when he saw that Ma Tongtong was being too assertive: "Manager Ma, I have a suggestion. Please take a look and see if it's reasonable."
All the researchers turned their attention to him as if he were their savior.
Tang Yan sat up straight and said, "The first version of [WeChat] has so many functions all at once, and the PC version and the mobile app version are being developed at the same time. This violates our company's principle of [small steps, quick iterations]."
"Since our goal is to target the untapped mobile market in North America, I suggest we focus on mobile first and then iterate on the PC version later."
Lü Sifeng, Huang Haitang, Jia Zhenbiao, and Guan Peidong all said in unison, "Agreed!"
"No way!" Ma Tongtong shook her head again, her tone leaving no room for argument. "The PC version's functions are more important than the app version."
Tang Yan, Lü Sifeng, and others: "————"
The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds; the air seemed to freeze.
"No, Manager Ma, your logic contradicts what the boss just said," Chu Jiatong finally couldn't hold back anymore. "Aren't we focusing on the North American mobile market? The PC market is more important than the mobile market, so which one should we attack, mobile or PC?"
Just as Ma Tongtong was about to explain, Geng Zhi, who had just finished the phone call, returned to the meeting room with a big smile.
"So, have you come to a conclusion?" He glanced around, his tone relaxed. "Going online before National Day shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Silence, and more silence.
A few seconds later, Lü Sifeng spoke frankly first: "Junior brother, we need to do technical research on the server side, and three and a half months is simply not enough time."
"Senior brother, don't worry," Geng Zhi said with a smile as he walked up to Lü Sifeng and comforted him. "In early July, we'll be hiring a few more server-side developers to fully assist you. There won't be any problems."
After thinking for a moment, Lü Sifeng finally spoke up: "Newcomers need to get used to the environment and may not be able to get up to speed quickly."
Geng Zhi patted him on the shoulder: "Senior, the few who came are all senior developers from Tencent, former members of the QQ development team. They understand instant messaging, so it won't be difficult for them to get started."
"Oh." Upon hearing this, Lü Sifeng fell silent.
He's a senior R&D engineer at Tencent, formerly with the QQ team—he understands the significance of that.
Geng Zhi sat back in his seat, his smile fading and his expression becoming serious.
"Everyone, the [WeChat] project is a matter of life and death for Mingfan Technology, and it determines whether your stock options are worthless or invaluable. Launching before National Day is the bottom line, and there is absolutely no room for negotiation."
Geng Zhi clenched his fists and slammed them on the table several times: "Can everyone do this?"
"Yes!" everyone said in unison.
"Okay." Geng Zhi immediately put on a smiling face: "If you have any other questions, you can ask them all now, and I'll answer them all at once."
Chu Jiatong was the first to raise his hand, speaking quickly: "Boss, the client needs to handle many types of messages: text, emoticons, images, and voice messages, and each type needs to be supported. The UI, storage, and sending logic for each type of message are different, which is very time-consuming. What should we do?"
Without hesitation, Geng Zhi replied, "You can unify text, emoticons, images, voice messages, and in the future, file and geolocation data into a single reusable rich media component."
"Each message is a rich media type, using the same underlying architecture. Supporting rich media sending significantly reduces the workload."
Chu Jiatong paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up: "Ah—that makes sense! This way, adding new message types won't require modifying the underlying system."
Subsequently, Lü Sifeng and Zou Lu raised several technical questions. Geng Zhi answered them while explaining his general architecture and design philosophy to them.
At first, Lü Sifeng and the others thought Geng Zhi's design was complicated, but as they talked, they understood Geng Zhi's lofty and insightful design ideas, and the group quickly reached a consensus.
In the end, everyone was surprised to find that completing the task in three months didn't seem so technically difficult.
The tense atmosphere in the room immediately eased and became harmonious.
With a general idea of how to solve the technical problems, Tang Yan began to raise questions from a business perspective.
"Boss, actually, I think—"
He gathered his thoughts, carefully considered his words, and continued slowly, "We've invested so much manpower and resources in building [WeChat], but without a localized team in North America, the risk of entering the North American market is actually quite high. If we ultimately fail—"
"Even if it fails in the end, we won't have developed it for nothing!" Geng Zhi said with a smile. "We can just change the product's Chinese name and put it in the domestic market."
Geng Zhi spoke casually, and the developers, including Lü Sifeng, didn't seem to notice anything. But the perceptive Tang Yan suddenly felt as if he had been electrocuted.
He didn't say anything more, carefully considering Geng Zhi's words.
Ultimately, the meeting unanimously decided that Lü Sifeng would lead the technical team to immediately establish a task force to work in seclusion and develop [WeChat] with all their might.
After the meeting.
Tang Yan and Gu Wanning followed Geng Zhi to his office.
After the room door closed, Tang Yan tentatively asked, "Boss, is our [WeChat]'s claim of going overseas just a pretext? We're actually aiming to take over Tencent QQ, right?"
"That's right." Geng Zhi nodded with a smile.
He paused, then continued, "The project team is large, so we had to resort to this tactic to maintain secrecy. Besides, if everyone knew we were going to fight Tencent, their mindset would be different. Saying it's going to sea makes everyone feel more relaxed."
Tang Yan understood.
He swallowed hard and continued, "So, what are our chances of surviving?"
"If I'm lucky, I'll have about a 30% to 50% chance," Geng Zhi said earnestly.
Tang Yan remained silent.
This number isn't high, but it's not low either. In the internet industry, a 30% chance of success is already worth taking a gamble.
Seeing that Tang Yan seemed burdened, Gu Wanning quickly smiled and comforted him, "President Tang, this time I went to Canada to participate in an IM project called Kik, which was invested in by a client. The team is very strong, and the product logic is similar to [WeChat], so it will be launched soon."
"So, we'll see how [Kik] performs after it goes live in a while."
Gu Wanning's original intention was to make Tang Yan understand that WeChat had foreign counterparts by mentioning the Kik project, thereby boosting his confidence.
If Kik succeeds, it will prove that the technology is feasible and the direction is correct, and WeChat will have a chance.
But Tang Yan interpreted her words differently: with Gu Wan Ning's help, Geng Zhi understood Kik's product logic, and [WeChat] copied Kik.
However, this did greatly boost Tang Yan's confidence.
While tidying up the documents on the table, Geng Zhi said, "President Tang, get ready. In a couple of days, you'll be heading north with Wan Ning and me to secure our Series B funding."
"How much are you planning to raise in our Series B round?"
Without even looking up, Geng Zhi said calmly, "2500 million US dollars, for the release of 10% of the shares."
Upon hearing this, Gu Wanning and Tang Yan both widened their eyes.
It was eight times the value of the Series A round, and Tang Yan even started excitedly calculating the value of the options he held.
Two minutes later, Tang Yan left the office, and the door closed gently behind him.
After a fierce internal struggle, Gu Wanning slowly spoke: "Big liar, I can share with you Kik's product logic and promotion logic—"
In Shenzhen, at Tencent's headquarters, in the investment department office.
The sunlight outside the window was just right, illuminating the entire office area brightly.
At her workstation, An Wenjing, the investment manager in charge of following up on Momo's product research, suddenly came across a group photo while browsing Momo's employees' Weibo posts.
In the photo, Geng Zhi is seen shaking hands with a middle-aged man with a smile in front of a window of a club. The man is Yu Feng, the founder of Yunfeng Capital.
The photo was taken by Lü Siyu after Geng Zhi and Yu Feng finished their meeting that night.
Without hesitation, An Wenjing immediately stood up, grabbed her phone, and strode towards the office of President and Chief Strategic Investment Officer Liu Chiping.
"Martin, I just saw a photo posted by an employee of Mingfan Technology Company. The photo shows Yu Feng of Yunfeng Capital and Geng Zhi together."
As An Wenjing spoke, she showed Liu Chiping the photos on her phone.
After thinking for a moment, Liu Chiping went to Ma Boni's office to report the situation.
At this point, more than half a month had passed since QQ PC Manager was launched.
QQ PC Manager rapidly increased its installation base by relying on forced or silent installation within the QQ client. However, due to its relatively small user base, it did not trigger a full-scale counterattack from 360 at this time, and the 3Q war had not yet reached its climax.
When Liu Chiping knocked on the door of Ma Boni's office, Ma Boni was standing by the window, gazing at the view of Pengcheng Bay in a daze.
"Pony, there's something I need to discuss with you." Liu Chiping got straight to the point, handing over a photo on her phone. "Yu Feng from Yunfeng Capital is in direct contact with Geng."
10 minute later.
The office of Maboni was already full of people.
After Liu Chiping made a second visit to strongly recommend the product, Ma Boni, who was still hesitant, called together several senior executives, including Ren Yuxin, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Chang, and Wu Xiaoxi, the product manager of QQ, to discuss the matter.
Liu Chiping projected the information onto the screen and explained the acquisition plan for Momo to everyone.
"Everyone, this is the preliminary plan prepared by the investment department."
"Momo currently has over 400 million users and daily active users—based on its current growth curve and market competition, we value it at between $4000 million and $6000 million."
Liu Chiping had just gotten to this point when Ren Yuxin interrupted her.
"Martin, did I hear that right? You're going to spend $400 million to $4000 million to buy an app with only 6000 million users?"
"Yes, and I suggest you make a move as soon as possible." Liu Chiping's tone was very calm. "If you delay any longer, the price won't be the same."
Ren Yuxin leaned back in his chair, a playful expression on his face, a faint smile playing on his lips: "Martin, from an investment perspective, I can understand. But from a business perspective, I strongly disagree with the acquisition."
He paused, then began to list the reasons unhurriedly: "First, it's cheaper for us to do it ourselves. We have talent, technology, and traffic, so why should we spend so much money to buy a small product that's only been online for a little over three months?"
"Secondly, Alibaba lacks a social media DNA. Their investment in Momo will inevitably lead to interference in Momo's operations, potentially distorting the product's direction. Jack Ma's e-commerce mindset is ill-suited for social networking."
"Third, look at Lianzhong, 51.com, and Kaixin.com. Which one wasn't eventually surpassed by us? In the social + gaming field, we are the hegemon. Momo can't make a fuss either. Let them struggle; we'll strike later at a lower cost."
"Fourth, even if we buy it, then what? Where will the team be placed? Will it be managed by the QQ team, or will it operate independently? How will it be integrated? These are all questions."
Wu Xiaoguang immediately stepped forward: "I agree with what President Ren said, but I also have a concern. The core of QQ is communication among acquaintances. If we add a social networking feature for strangers, the two will clash, and users will be confused."
Wu Xiaoguang's words were half from the heart and half from personal motives.
He worried that if Momo were acquired and operated independently, it would take away his QQ resources. QQ was his territory, and he wouldn't allow anyone to take a share.
Subsequently, CTO Zhang Zhidong and public relations manager Liu Chang also expressed their views.
The former has shifted from opposition to neutrality, while the latter is neutral to slightly opposed, worried that Momo's brand image is different from Tencent's, making integration difficult.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was somewhat awkward.
It seems that only Liu Chiping supports the acquisition.
But Liu Chiping had already made preparations.
He stood up calmly and began to refute each point: "First, I've done the math. To make an identical product, the total technical cost would be around 500 million to 1000 million."
But what about marketing? What about user acquisition costs? Time costs? Opportunity costs? Mindset costs?
"Now, when users think of 'people nearby' or 'social networking with strangers,' their first thought is Momo. This kind of mental awareness is priceless. Has Mr. Ren (Ren Zhengfei, CEO of 'Ren Zhengfei') considered this?"
Ren Yuxin didn't speak, but the expression on his face changed slightly.
"Secondly, Jack Ma just said that Taobao is a social platform. Alibaba has been looking for traffic entry points. What would happen if they invested in Momo, or even spent 10 billion or 20 billion to build it up?"
"If their mobile Alipay, mobile Taobao, and Momo were combined—if—"
"We're not trying to steal a product, we're trying to establish a strategic foothold in the mobile internet, comrades!"
Liu Chiping raised her voice a few decibels: "Third, how many years did it take us to catch up with Lianzhong in QQ Games? Three years. In those three years, how much money did Lianzhong make? How much did we spend? If we had acquired Lianzhong earlier, how much time and opportunity cost could we have saved?"
He paused, then continued, "Back in 08, we proposed acquiring Dianping, but the business unit said they'd do it themselves. And now?"
Fourth, where will we put Momo after we buy it? Independent operation, of course. Let them maintain their own pace and culture; we will only provide resources and strategic support.
Liu Chiping paused for a moment, then continued, "To put it bluntly, the fact that we were able to acquire Geng Zhi might make us the next Zhang Xiaolong."
"Pfft—"
Wu Xiaoguang couldn't help but laugh out loud, and waved his hands repeatedly to apologize to Liu Chiping.
"Xiao Guang, don't laugh. I'll let Zhi Dong experience Momo before. You can ask him how strong the Momo team really is." Liu Chiping looked at Wu Xiao Guang seriously.
Zhang Zhidong nodded in agreement: "What President Liu said is true. I have done my research, and Momo's technical capabilities are indeed very strong. If we really bring their team under our wing, they certainly have great potential."
Marponni remained silent.
He was listening, taking notes, and thinking.
The opinions of Ren Yuxin, Liu Chiping, Liu Chang, Wu Xiaoguang, and Zhang Zhidong were clashing in his mind.
He recalled successful examples like QQ Zone, QQ Show, and QQ Games, as well as recent failures like QQ Group Buying, QQ Alumni, and Penguin Weibo.
What you do yourself may not succeed. What you buy with money may not be a loss.
The issue isn't "whether to do it yourself or buy it," but rather "whether it can succeed."
Ultimately, he concluded that once a user's mind is captured, it is very difficult to win them back.
Momo is currently capturing the hearts and minds of users with its "People Nearby" and "Stranger Social Networking" features, while Alibaba is preparing to help them build an even higher wall.
Marponni put down his pen and looked up: "Martin, have the investment department redo a detailed acquisition plan."
"Give me the valuation, terms, and integration plan within three days."
He paused for a moment, then added, "At the same time, the QQ team will also be working on a demo for [People Nearby]. We're taking a two-pronged approach."
Ren Yuxin frowned: "Pony, you're not—"
Marponni interrupted him: "I haven't decided to acquire it. I just don't want Alibaba to beat me to it. We'll work on both the proposal and the product development simultaneously. We'll evaluate them once the proposal is finalized."
He stood up: "Meeting adjourned."
As the group emerged from Pony's office, Ren Yuxin's expression darkened. He sighed and said, "Pony has changed. We used to be able to do everything ourselves, but now we're thinking of buying things."
Liu Chiping patted his shoulder with a smile: "Old Ren, didn't you buy your Fruit Ninja game? I was being lenient with you earlier."
Ren Yuxin was speechless, and when he tried to retort, he was at a loss for words.
"And did you know that one of the developers of the Fruit Ninja game is Geng Zhi, the founder of Momo?" Liu Chiping added another jab, then walked straight to the stairwell without waiting for the elevator.
Ren Yuxin stood there, stunned, his expression extremely complicated.
Does Fruit Ninja have anything to do with being straightforward? Why didn't Lok Oi-man tell me that?
15 minute later.
Liu Chiping, along with An Wenjing, returned to Maponi's office with the Momo acquisition plan they had prepared in advance.
Four hours later.
Liu Chiping took An Wenjing directly to the airport and took the next available flight to Shanghai to see Geng Zhi.
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