Chapter 386: Weibo MicroRead, Investing in Xiaomi, Jiang Xin Also Wants to Find a Team

Seeing Yan Li, a self-made young billionaire, still has some fame in Asia and even globally.

After all, similar cases are extremely rare; he is in the high-exposure industries of media and the internet, and his own story carries a certain legendary quality, making him the subject of constant reporting and discussion against the backdrop of widespread desire for success.

Some Japanese media even highlighted this when reporting on Lu Bu in "The New Three Kingdoms."

In fact, Lu Bu's popularity over other characters is partly tied to Seeing Yan Li's real-world identity.

The Japanese admire the strong, so Lu Bu is popular, and Seeing Yan Li—who rose from nothing to become China's entertainment tycoon—is also a strong figure; the character and actor resonate, and both are gaining fans.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese company that invited Seeing Yan Li was not merely incompetent—it was downright foolish.

After the incident was exposed by Japanese media, many netizens mocked the company.

However, perhaps to ride the wave, soon another Japanese company announced it would hire Seeing Yan Li as a spokesperson, claiming the endorsement fee was "international superstar level."

Yi An never actually received an offer, yet domestic netizens became deeply invested, analyzing whether Seeing Yan Li or some superstar commanded a higher endorsement fee and so on.

This even drew attention from some domestic companies: if Seeing Yan Li accepted endorsements, given his influence and persona, they would certainly be willing to spend heavily.

Due to the sheer volume of inquiries—and because some companies were unaware of the internal structure and contacted the artist agency instead of Yi An's Board Office—the deputy general manager in charge of artist agency affairs, Jia Qian, was forced to issue an official denial.

"Chairman Yan does not accept endorsements or advertisements."

But soon Seeing Yan Li himself refuted this, saying he does accept endorsements—but not for the fee; it's all about "fate."

And what is "fate"? Weibo quickly told everyone: Seeing Yan Li became the Chief Promotion Ambassador of 【WeRead】.

This also meant that after launching 【WeVoice】 and entering the music market, Weibo was now entering the web novel and reading market again.

Weibo has always been making diverse attempts, building a rich ecosystem centered on Weibo.

This approach has been controversial; many have criticized Seeing Yan Li for being unprofessional, throwing money around recklessly, or misunderstanding the internet and alienating everyone.

But in reality, Seeing Yan Li has his own reasoning behind these actions.

At this stage, the internet is still an era of growth, where major businesses operate alongside major businesses—Baidu's search, Weibo's social networking, Tencent's gaming and instant messaging, Alibaba's e-commerce.

Although there is competition and conflict, most of the time each company does its own thing.

But future internet competition will be in the era of stock, where everyone fights for users' time, constantly refining markets and competing on every front.

Seeing Yan Li understands clearly: Weibo absolutely cannot remain just Weibo; under the condition that its core remains unchanged, it must diversify investments, or it will inevitably be left behind.

So Seeing Yan Li has made various moves: if a venture can succeed, he pursues it; if not, he abandons it—perhaps one small business will hit the right wind and ride it to success.

Even if it doesn't make it to the end, the interim period brings good publicity, and if sold off, it can still turn a profit.

This is how many internet giants operate: Alibaba has never given up on communications, and has also invested in entertainment; Baidu has developed various new businesses.

Tencent is involved in every sector—social, antivirus, gaming, e-commerce, portals, music, web novels, comics—using its traffic pool and copycat tactics to claim territory.

So casting a wide net and catching whatever fish you can—actually, this is the correct strategy for internet giants.

But whether it succeeds depends entirely on execution.

Weibo's wide-net strategy has been relatively low-key, and most ventures leave room for retreat.

Either they are experimental or preparatory, or they complement Weibo's main business or target a specific subcategory.

For example, the e-commerce-oriented WeBuy does not directly compete with platforms like Taobao or JD. com; instead, it enters via e-commerce advertising and shopping guides, cooperating with several platforms.

Meanwhile, it also partners with offline shopping malls to promote and organize group purchases alongside Weibo.

It also runs its own e-commerce, but focuses on launching fashion items, trendy electronics, branded cosmetics, and so on, tailored to Weibo users.

Although these businesses are somewhat scattered, they enrich Weibo's ecosystem and allow Weibo to achieve a degree of self-sustenance and business supplementation.

Small profits are still profits; if the e-commerce market booms in the future, WeBuy can transition accordingly and capture a specific subcategory.

Compared to WeBuy, 【WeVoice】 and 【WeRead】—more focused on casting nets and strategic positioning, targeting music and reading respectively—are Weibo's key incubation projects.

Because both are inseparable from Seeing Yan Li's grand entertainment strategy!

The former needs no explanation—it's a battleground in entertainment; the latter may seem insignificant, but it's a vital foundation for entertainment IPs.

Not only does Weibo plan to invest in reading platforms, but if Seeing Yan Li gains control of Tudou, and resources and funding permit, he will also create a dedicated reading platform for Tudou.

Content IPs are never too many; even if you don't use them yourself, you can always sell them.

Whether the two companies and platforms will compete? That depends on future developments.

If needed, Seeing Yan Li can orchestrate a merger of the two platforms for independent operation, with Weibo and Tudou as upper-level and behind-the-scenes shareholders.

In short, Seeing Yan Li does not want Weibo to sit idle.

The internet industry is too cutthroat—far more so than the entertainment circle; Weibo is popular now, but in two years it might be out of favor.

According to future intelligence, Sina Weibo died from conservatism and arrogance; otherwise, given its peak influence, seizing just one or two windfalls and developing new core businesses would have prevented its gradual decline and slow death.

Of course, don't overextend—otherwise you might end up like LeEco, exhausting yourself to death.

Seeing Yan Li believes he can still manage the timing and balance; if all else fails, he can still use the system to cheat.

【WeRead】 has just been established and currently leans toward a traditional e-book platform; the next step is entering the web novel industry.

Seeing Yan Li has also studied and observed the current web novel market.

Qidian remains the industry leader, with its parent company Shengda Literature as the absolute ruler; its challenger is Perfect World's Zongheng Chinese Network.

As a new entrant, WeRead's most direct path to quick results is to bet on mobile reading.

Smartphones are increasing rapidly; the mobile internet era has arrived, and the internet is entering a major transformation period.

Due to market uncertainty, lack of experience, and terminal limitations, many platforms are hesitating and watching.

Seeing Yan Li rushed to launch WeVoice and WeRead precisely because he saw this opportunity—he hopes to seize a slice of the market during this great shift, and even establish advantages in certain areas.

If this opportunity is missed, entering the market later will require vastly greater financial and material investment, and success is not guaranteed.

That's why internet professionals love chasing windfalls—because with a windfall, you can achieve twice the result with half the effort, or even soar overnight.

…

Seeing Yan Li is watching the windfall and pushing Weibo's layout, while others have also spotted the smartphone windfall and moved decisively.

After the Spring Festival, Lei, who stepped down from Kingsoft, announced a new startup, with the core business being smartphone manufacturing, and named the company Xiaomi.

Seeing Yan Li, who has been close to Lei over the past two years, was soon invited to dinner by Lei.

Boss Lei has money, but starting a business—especially a company like Xiaomi making phones, which burns cash and carries high risk—doesn't mean spending only your own money.

When Seeing Yan Li first founded Weibo, he burned his own money directly, waiting until the company took off before seeking funding—it was somewhat against normal business logic.

From the very beginning, Boss Lei started seeking funds; even before Xiaomi's project was approved, he had already reached consensus with some friends.

The most well-known was Morningside Capital; its head had been a longtime friend of Boss Lei, and a single phone call secured his support.

Also, Xiong Zong from IDG, an old acquaintance of Seeing Yan Li's, had some confidence in Boss Lei and was preparing to invest.

Then there was Seeing Yan Li himself, who in the past two years had sought to cultivate a good relationship with Boss Lei and repeatedly hinted at his optimism toward the smartphone market.

Seeing Yan Li was not merely an entertainment tycoon or internet magnate—he was also a famous angel investor.

Tudou. com, Ganji. com, and JD. com were all his brilliant successes, and the resources he controlled were highly coveted by many entrepreneurs.

At least Boss Lei, who had been continuously raising his profile and wanted to turn Xiaomi into a national brand, was very envious of Seeing Yan Li's resources.

Seeing Yan Li readily agreed to invest in Xiaomi, but business was business.

How much equity his money and resources could buy had to be clearly negotiated.

Thus, Seeing Yan Li and Boss Lei began haggling.

Like Liu from JD, Boss Lei was very cautious and conservative about his equity stake.

But Liu from JD feared losing control, while Boss Lei considered that making phones would burn through enormous cash, and profitability was uncertain—so he needed to retain enough equity to preserve ammunition for future funding rounds.

Therefore, in the first funding round, Boss Lei was willing to give up less than 20% of equity, and once divided among several investors, almost nothing remained.

Seeing Yan Li was not satisfied; future intelligence indicated Xiaomi would raise multiple rounds, and now was the most cost-effective moment—he naturally wanted more.

"Alright, 10%. Go think it over. If it's too little, I'm not really interested."

Seeing Yan Li had not yet triggered Boss Lei's bottom-line intelligence and decided to play it cool, then probe Boss Lei's true position.

"Liu was right—negotiating with Director Yan is truly torturous."

Boss Lei smiled wryly and shook his head; Seeing Yan Li's usual personality was cheerful and generous, but once negotiations began, he haggled over every penny, refused to yield an inch, and made opponents suffer.

Yet despite being difficult, Seeing Yan Li's interest in investing in Xiaomi remained strong; though some disagreements persisted, cooperation was essentially settled.

"Let me toast Director Yan—cheers to a pleasant collaboration."

"To a pleasant collaboration."

After dinner, each returned home; Seeing Yan Li thought about Xiaomi's future intelligence.

At its peak, its market cap reached a trillion scale; if you held even a few shares, they'd still be worth tens of billions.

Another fortune added for the future brats!

Seeing Yan Li felt extremely pleased, then thought for a moment and told his driver to head to Jiang Xin's place.

Qin Dong is pregnant and can't do anything; Fan Xiaopang was busy during the Spring Festival, then returned to his hometown for the holiday.

Wang Ou and Yang Rong traveled together after the New Year; Hu Siyan had no partner, and others were either alone and couldn't handle it or weren't in Beijing.

Jiang Xin, who was in Beijing and could handle it, became the best choice!

When Seeing Yan Li arrived at Jiang Xin's home, it was a mess; after asking, he learned she'd been hosting a gathering with several friends, and upon hearing he was coming, she kicked them out.

"Seems your social circle's gotten a lot better."

Seeing Yan Li changed his shoes and teased her, because Jiang Xin's personality was straightforward—well, low emotional intelligence, bad at small talk.

Her social standing was slightly better than Hu Siyan's, but still not great.

In Seeing Yan Li's memory, no one besides Yang Xue was especially close to her.

After "In the Name of the People" became a hit, Jiang Xin became a hot commodity in the industry and gained many friends; Seeing Yan Li had attended several of her gatherings and seen related photos on Weibo.

"I've always had good social connections."

Jiang Xin refused to admit she had few friends, and especially didn't want to admit some friends only got close after she became famous—she firmly rebutted Seeing Yan Li's remark.

Seeing Yan Li didn't argue with her; he grabbed a handful of dried fruit and looked at Jiang Xin curiously.

"I heard you got into it with Sun Li?"

"How do you know?"