Chapter 168: Borrowing Momentum

Yao Luoying leaned on the table, looking at the business plan for Tianya Net that Li Dongling had written in his hand. Yao Luoying looked up at Li Dongling. "You're planning to build a website, just like Huiduo Net, Ma Station, Great Wall, and Paradise?"

Yao Luoying didn't know much about the internet. Because of Li Dongling, she had visited sites under Huiduo Net and had posted on the BBS forums of Ma Station and Great Wall Station.

Currently, there were only about 10,000 internet users in the country, and female users were even fewer. Yao Luoying still had a bit of fame on major sites. She had chatted on forums with Boss Ma of Penguin, Boss Ding of NetEase, Lei Busi, and others. After all, there were only those few familiar faces online on a site; it was hard not to know them!

As for understanding the internet, domestic forums and sites were also talking about it, but in reality, there was no progress. No one knew where the future of the internet lay. Silicon Valley was exploring it, let alone domestically.

Hearing Yao Luoying's words, Li Dongling laughed. "I am going to build a website. I plan to have Dongling Gao Ke establish another Internet Business Department. Tianya Net will be a website launched by the Internet Department. However, it's different from Huiduo Net!"

Seeing Yao Luoying's curious gaze, Li Dongling held up the paper filled with words. "Huiduo Net's sites can only be considered chat rooms; they aren't real websites at all!"

"A real website needs its own content for users to browse and discuss, and it needs to be able to retain users, not just be a chat room with only a few people online!"

Li Dongling pointed to the paper for Tianya Net. He planned to launch five major sections for Tianya Net first: Tianya Zatan, Tianya Entertainment, Tianya Sports, Tianya Literature, and Tianya Stocks. These five sections basically covered daily chatting, entertainment, sports, culture, and stocks—enough for current users.

As for the future, if there were more users, the demand for sections would also increase. They could add sections like Guan Tian Tea House, Dancing with Words, Fashion Information, Picture Posting Zone, Emotional World, and so on, but that was a matter for the future.

"Will there be that many people using it?!" Yao Luoying looked at the paper, at the various functions Li Dongling had created for Tianya Net, and couldn't help but say.

Don't look at how Li Dongling couldn't squeeze into major sites during the New Year, seeming very busy; that was because there were no servers, relying only on telephone lines, which couldn't accommodate too many users. But Tianya Net would definitely use servers.

Just like various old-school home appliance brands, after finally finishing their tug-of-war with offline malls, home appliance retailers, and agents, they looked up only to find that the e-commerce era had arrived, and the sales volume of internet platforms had begun to surpass store sales.

Having studied commerce in Hong Kong, she immediately sensed from Li Dongling's words that Li Dongling seemed to value the internet highly. "Is the internet very important to Dongling Gao Ke?!"

Li Dongling said that in the short term, he didn't expect Tianya Net to bring much help to Dongling Gao Ke, nor did he expect Tianya Net to bring much revenue to Dongling Gao Ke; it might even lose money. But Tianya Net was a ticket for Dongling Gao Ke to enter the internet industry.

A host of old-school home appliance companies actually had to pay protection money to Taobao, JD, and Pinduoduo, and then there was the rise of live-streaming hosts. It could be said that they were walking on thin ice. Li Dongling didn't want Dongling Gao Ke to face this in the future.

A ticket is like a train ticket; you don't necessarily have to get on or go in to watch the show right now, but you have to have that ticket. When you want to go in, you can enter at any time, instead of begging everywhere, racking your brains, and bumping around like a headless fly without finding the way.

"Yes, but that's a matter for the future!"

Li Dongling laughed, then recalled the surging arrival of the internet era, which completely overturned any previous user growth model. He couldn't help but sigh. "At that time, I'm afraid Tianya Net might not even be able to accommodate so many users!"

But if they did nothing, they would be too passive. The arrival of the internet changed countless people and countless industries. If Dongling Gao Ke did nothing, they would lose countless opportunities for internet sales channels, promotion, and so on.

Tianya Net could bring traffic, users, and internet promotion channels; these were necessities of the internet era. If needed, Tianya Net could launch URL navigation, portal websites, and other products, quickly stirring up waves on the internet and competing for the world of the internet!

Li Dongling planned to have Dongling Gao Ke establish an Internet Business Department and launch Tianya Net. First, he would acquire the Pinyin input method from Harbin Institute of Technology PhD Wang Xiaolong and Yanjing University Professor Zhu Shoutao. With the Pinyin input method, he would announce Dongling Gao Ke's entry into the software industry!

The internet was an industry full of unknowns and unpredictability. Just like input methods, they could actually create several internet giant companies. Sogou rose abruptly with it, almost wiping out a host of old-school competitors and extending the life of Sohu. iFlytek supported a 100-billion-market-value empire with a set of voice input methods.

Now, Li Dongling also needed Dongling Tianya Net to use a set of Pinyin input methods to make a name for Dongling Gao Ke in the software industry.

"However, the internet is beneficial to Feiyan Technology. If Lü Wenhua's trip to America goes smoothly this time, and Feiyan gets the brand agency and operation rights for Yahoo in Asia, and Feiyan launches an internet product itself, then perhaps in these two years, or even next year, Feiyan will have the opportunity to list on NASDAQ!"

Li Dongling said to Yao Luoying. He let Lü Wenhua go to America to invest in Yahoo, not just to throw some money and get some Yahoo shares. Since he was shearing the sheep, he was definitely going to shear a big one.

Yahoo was just starting out. Even those two founders of Yahoo probably wouldn't have imagined what Yahoo would become in the future. At this time, taking away Yahoo's overseas brand operation rights was almost at a cabbage price.

Taking away Yahoo's brand agency and operation rights in Asia—how much would that be worth when Yahoo took off in America?

Just a Japan Yahoo would be a huge profit. Feiyan Technology didn't need to do it itself; just "renting" the Japan Yahoo brand and operation rights to SoftBank, which invested in Yahoo and Alibaba in the past life, would probably be a lying-down profit!

If Yahoo really took off, then by virtue of being Yahoo's Asian brand agent, Feiyan Technology could reach the sky in one step. As a Yahoo concept stock, it could rush into America and then harvest the leeks.

Yao Luoying didn't expect Li Dongling to be prepared to borrow Yahoo's momentum. For a moment, she became increasingly curious about Yahoo and the internet.

But then, Yao Luoying's brows furrowed. "But if that's the case, then Feiyan Technology will probably have to list as an internet company. Then what does the radio business count for Feiyan Technology?!"

Li Dongling could understand Yao Luoying's mood. He and the engineers at Feiyan Technology had been busy developing the mini radio business since last year. Listing on NASDAQ was certainly a happy event, but for the personnel in the radio department, it was inevitably a bit awkward.

"If we try to list as a radio manufacturer, then not to mention NASDAQ, even if it were the A-shares, Hong Kong stocks, or those European exchanges, Feiyan Technology might not be able to succeed!

NASDAQ lacks an internet company, but it doesn't lack a company that makes radios, even if the latter is much more profitable than the former!"

Li Dongling looked at Yao Luoying. "However, there is nothing absolute in this world. If the mini radio and the future car radio project can succeed, then it will definitely be of great benefit to Feiyan Technology's performance, and it could even save Feiyan's life!"

In the early days of the internet, major companies were all losing money. At this time, what if a company that could make money suddenly popped up? Regardless of whether its money was earned from the internet or other businesses, as long as it could make money, it would definitely be a crane among chickens on NASDAQ.

Li Dongling hoped that Feiyan Technology would become that crane on NASDAQ, using the profits from mini radios to whitewash Feiyan Technology's performance. Then, Feiyan Technology's stock price would fly to the sky, and the leeks would be scrambling to grab Feiyan's stock, wouldn't they?!

Yao Luoying exhaled. She also knew that what Li Dongling said was the truth. The radio business was currently unpopular, and this was the case all over the world. Radio manufacturers in America were also transforming. Not to mention radios, Chunlan, which made air conditioners, even judged that air conditioners had no market, and their minds weren't on air conditioners at all, turning instead to other industries.

Without fanfare, Dongling Gao Ke's Internet Business Department was quietly established. However, a sign was hung at the headquarters. As for Dongling Gao Ke's internet R&D and operation department, Li Dongling placed it in Yanjing.

As an emerging industry, it needed talent, markets, and policies. The conditions in Yanjing were more convenient than in Hanxi. At the very least, once there was movement on the internet, they could react quickly.

With Dongling Gao Ke's current revenue, they weren't as strapped for cash as before. Li Dongling directly purchased a six-story office building in Zhongguancun, Yanjing, and also bought several plots of land. With the current scale of Dongling Gao Ke's Internet Business Department, this building would have more than enough space for the next few years. When they needed to build a new office building in the future, they could build it on those plots of land. This condition was already good enough compared to when other internet companies started.

After Dongling Gao Ke's Internet Business Department was established, it immediately began recruiting talent and hired a batch of programmers. Following Li Dongling's requirements, they began to develop Tianya Net.

On the other side, Harbin Institute of Technology PhD Wang Xiaolong and Yanjing University Professor Zhu Shoutao both saw people claiming to be from Tianya Net visit them. Subsequently, the Pinyin input methods in their hands were bought by Tianya Net for a high price of 50,000 USD. Tianya Net also invited the two to serve as consultants, preparing to optimize and improve these two Pinyin input methods. ===== CHAPTER 169 =====