Chapter 362 Monopoly on the tourism chain
"I will go back and write out the specific planning plan, and then call you!" Li Zetian said.
"Okay." Bill Gates and Buffett both nodded and said in unison.
"Okay, it's very late now, it's time for us to leave the hotel!" Li Zetian said.
"Um."
…
The next day, AOL Chat Room.
"Do you know, a big thing happened last night! The L.Y Foundation raised 11.1 billion US dollars, 11.1 billion US dollars!!!" A netizen named "Alpha" typed to express shock.
“Here, are you kidding me, how could I raise so much money overnight!!”
"Is today April Fool's Day? You actually make up such unbelievable news, haha..."
"Haha, only a fool would believe it!"
"That's right, it's just an insult to our intelligence!"
Netizens expressed disbelief.
Alpha suddenly became furious and typed: "Damn, I'm not lying. My cousin is a reporter. He told me personally that the L.Y Foundation raised 11.1 billion US dollars at the Hilton Hotel last night. The world's richest man, Chronos Li, attended yesterday's event. At the charity gala last night, 10 billion US dollars were donated in one fell swoop without blinking an eye!!!"
Netizens in the chat room immediately went crazy!
"Damn, is this really happening?! Chronos·Li is really amazing. I can't even think of 10 billion US dollars. He actually donated it like this!"
"Chronos Li is mighty and domineering, and treats money like dirt!"
"The number one philanthropist is indeed not just a boast!"
"66666"
"Hurry up and log in to the Yahoo website. Chronos Li's donation is posted on the homepage, and there are even photos. It's absolutely true!"
"Real or fake, okay, let's go see it right away!"
A group of netizens moved to the Yahoo website one after another, and a message scrolled on the home page - "Chronos Li, the world's number one philanthropist, donated US$10 billion to the L.Y Foundation to help poor orphans!" ! ! 》.
"Damn it, even Yahoo reported it. This must be true! Mad, I'm already on my knees. Chronos Li is so rich, can you donate a little to me? A little is enough!"
"Same as above, please Chronos Li also donate some money to me, there is no rice left in the pot!"
"..."
At this moment, in addition to the Yahoo website reporting this matter, major media outlets across the United States are also following up.
"Chronos·Li is good, donating 10 billion US dollars to orphans, this is a truly conscientious businessman!" 》
"A US$11.1 billion charity gala shocked the world!" 》
…
Beverly Hills.
The 12-year-old Youran read the newspaper and muttered: "Why didn't these newspapers report on my mother? Obviously my mother is the chairman of L.Y. She is the one who works the hardest and contributes the most! In addition to donating money, my father , did nothing. Huh, it’s really annoying.”
Li Zetian: "..."
Shaking his head, Li Zetian continued to write the plan.
The name of the travel website is TripAdvisor. Trip means "travel", and Advisor means "advisor". Together they mean travel advisor. In countries where English is used, the word TripAdvisor is easy for people to understand and remember!
If the company name is Ctrip, Tuniu, etc., how would these European and American foreigners know what this website is for?
The planning proposal was written very quickly. Li Zetian had a very clear travel website in his mind as a reference, and even the design of the website was written in great detail.
Crackling.
It took more than an hour to complete a detailed plan.
"Yuqin, help me inform Buffett and Bill Gates and ask them to come to our home and say that the planning plan for the travel website has been completed." Li Zetian said to Dongfang Yuqin who was sitting not far away and was browsing documents. beckoned.
"Oh." Dongfang Yuqin responded, picked up the phone and started to notify. After a while, he said to Li Zetian: "Okay, they will be here at 1 o'clock in the afternoon."
Li Zetian nodded and immediately printed out two copies of the plan. He looked at his plan and pondered.
"If the travel website company becomes bigger and stronger, it can use its recommendation resources to promote the development of aviation, attractions, and hotels! On the contrary, if I master aviation, attractions, and hotels, it can also help the development of travel websites!"
Huge funds were obtained from the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was no place to spend them before, but now there is.
“Many tourist attractions in China and Southeast Asia have not been developed, such as the resort island resorts of Phuket and Bali. Buy them at a low price, then spend money to develop them, and then use the recommended resources of the TripAdvisor travel website to attract users to Here...hehe, why am I such a genius! By the way, the Space Exploration Company is developing civilian passenger aircraft. If you own your own airline, you can produce and sell them yourself!"
"Yuqin, come here, I have a huge plan to tell you!" Li Zetian said.
"Yes." Dongfang Yuqin walked to Li Zetian and sat next to him.
"Please take a look at the planning plan of the TripAdvisor travel website first!" Li Zetian handed the printed document to her.
Dongfang Yuqin took the document and read it very seriously. After ten minutes, he sighed slightly: "Mr. Li, this planning plan is very ambitious. It will build a huge database and combine tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, etc. all over the world. Transportation, etc. are all tied together, and users can complete transactions directly on TripAdvisor! In this way, the platform fee alone is an astronomical sum!"
In this planning plan, Li Zetian wrote down how travel websites can make money. In addition to the most common advertisements, TripAdvisor will charge a small fee to the merchant for every transaction that a user completes.
Li Zetian smiled slightly and said: "TripAdvisor is an online platform, like a castle in the air. Without the support of hotels and attractions, it is very unstable. What I mean is that we invest in hotels, attractions, restaurants, and airlines to support the development of TripAdvisor. Wait until TripAdvisor The popularity and flow of it has increased, and it can also feed back to hotels, attractions, restaurants, and airlines!”
Dongfang Yuqin was quick to understand Li Zetian's intention and said with a smile: "Mr. Li, you want to monopolize the entire tourism industry chain!"
Li Zetian was startled, then nodded and smiled: "That's right!!"
Dongfang Yuqin nodded and said: "Okay, I understand. It seems that I have to become very busy again. I have to investigate hotels, attractions, restaurants, and airlines around the world, select the right ones, and then acquire them."
"Well, that's right, but we can start from the United States first. Let's take it step by step, don't rush!" Li Zetian said.
The high-rise buildings are starting from the ground up. The TripAdvisor website can even start from a state.
Around 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Buffett and Bill Gates came to Li Zetian's home together.
Li Zetian said a simple hello to them, received a small conference room, and then showed them the previously printed planning plan.
After reading this plan, Dongfang Yuqin was extremely surprised. The two of them are no exception.
"Okay, this is a great plan! Chronos, you really have it. If the TripAdvisor website develops, it will definitely become one of the world's top 500 companies! Countless attractions, hotels, and restaurants have to rely on us for food. We will completely change the traditional tourism market and push it to a new level!!!" Bill Gates said excitedly!
Buffett also nodded in approval.
This plan was beautifully written, allowing Buffett to see the possibility of success, especially the profit model of TripAdvisor. At present, Internet companies are basically burning money. The reason why Buffett rejected Internet companies before is because Internet companies do not have a good profit model.
The most popular website at the moment is undoubtedly Yahoo, but Yahoo still cannot make ends meet based on advertising revenue alone.
"Mr. Li, I think it's feasible!" Buffett paused and said, "Then look at how the company's equity will be distributed?"
When it comes to equity distribution, Bill Gates sits upright and becomes serious.
Li Zetian smiled faintly: "As the proposer and planner of this project, I naturally hold the majority of the shares. How about I hold 70%, and you two each hold 15%?"
Bill Gates and Buffett looked at each other and nodded. They understood in their hearts that with Li Zetian's financial resources, there was no need for other people to invest. The two of them are very lucky to be able to join the team.
"I don't have a problem," Buffett said.
"That's okay with me!" Bill Gates also said.
"Well, let's talk in detail about the investment and future development of the TripAdvisor website!"
"OK!"
Two hours later, Li Zetian and others walked out of the conference room with smiles.
The three reached an agreement, with Li Zetian investing US$70 million, Bill Gates and Buffett each investing US$20 million, for a total of US$110 million as the registered capital of the TripAdvisor website.
"Haha, I can't wait to see TripAdvisor established!" Bill Gates laughed, paused, and suddenly asked, "Chronos, do you think we should hold a very grand press conference to announce the establishment of TripAdvisor and gain popularity? ?”
Li Zetian thought about it carefully. He has always kept a low profile in the Internet industry. When the company was first established, the outside world didn't know about it. It wasn't until it grew and expanded that it gradually became known. The reason why we are so low-key is that we are afraid that others will follow suit and cause unnecessary competition.
So, Li Zetian shook his head and said: "It's better to skip the press conference. When others see that TripAdvisor's major shareholder is me, within a week, similar companies will spring up everywhere!"
Bill Gates was stunned for a moment, suddenly realized, and couldn't help but nodded quickly: "Yes, you are right, we must not hold a press conference!"
At this time, Bill Gates suddenly thought of Yahoo and Amazon. Although neither Yahoo nor Amazon has publicly announced that the company's boss is Li Zetian, various clues show that many people speculate that the possibility of Li Zetian being the boss behind the scenes is more than 80%.
The company does not raise funds, but spends a lot of money, cooperating with companies under Li Zetian's name!
Isn't this hard to guess?
Moreover, the previous Netscape company suddenly emerged, and it was finally proven that the boss behind it was Li Zetian.
Anyway, Bill Gates believes that the most popular and excellent Internet companies are all Li Zetian's industries, so keeping a low profile is king!
Buffett smiled and did not express his position, but it could be seen from his expression that after TripAdvisor was established, it was not appropriate to make it public, at least not to reveal that Li Zetian was the company's major shareholder.
Bill Gates smiled and said: "Chronos, you have experience in building an Internet company. The TripAdvisor travel website will be left to you from now on. If you need any help, just ask. Buffett and I will definitely support it!"
Li Zetian nodded.
…
A week later, TripAdvisor was quietly established in Los Angeles, California, and then began to recruit a large number of people. In addition to engineers who wrote programming websites, the most recruited people were business personnel with strong communication skills. The TripAdvisor website is different from ordinary Internet companies. It needs to run business like crazy and negotiate cooperation with hotels, attractions, and restaurants around the world. Of course, it’s okay not to talk about cooperation, but to upload their information directly to the Internet for netizens to browse. If this is the case, users will not be able to book hotels, flights, attractions, etc. Firstly, the user experience will be poor, and secondly, it will not be able to bring revenue to TripAdvisor.
TripAdvisor has the support of a large financial backer, so it is natural to choose a better development method.
Well, Li Zetian doesn't need to worry about these, there are professionals to take care of them.
Li Zetian and Dongfang Yuqin are sorting out information to see which companies to acquire. At the same time, they can save themselves the trouble of getting involved with TripAdvisor. As long as they acquire these companies, they will naturally cooperate with TripAdvisor.
"Hilton hotels are famous in the United States, all over the United States!" Dongfang Yuqin suggested.
"Well, I have long wanted to acquire Hilton Hotels!" Li Zetian said. He suddenly remembered that when his career was still in its infancy, the bank happened to be auctioning his father-in-law's hotel, and a Hilton Hotel manager laughed at them. However, it has been so long that Li Zetian almost forgot about it.
Dongfang Yuqin said: "Okay, Mr. Li, Hilton Hotel is one of them, then you want to acquire it next..."
Li Zetian said: "TripAdvisor is popular with the general public. In fact, the style of the Hilton Hotel is a bit high and many people cannot afford to stay here. Therefore, to acquire some high-end hotels, we must also acquire some cheap hotels, such as express hotels!"
"Well!" Dongfang Yuqin took out a stack of information and handed it to Li Zetian and said, "This is the information on some cheap hotel companies that I asked someone to compile."
Li Zetian flipped through it casually and said, "Look at these, I believe in your vision. Give me the information on high-end luxury hotels."
"OK."
…
Li Zetian first started from hotels in tourist attractions in various places. Therefore, soon, news of hotel acquisitions will frequently break out in the United States, which is surprising and strange.
However, it still didn't attract much attention.
On March 20, an unknown overseas investment company suddenly launched an acquisition of Hilton. The news spread like wildfire and caused a sensation across the United States.
Hilton Hotels in the United States was founded in 1919. In less than 90 years, it has expanded from one hotel to more than 100 hotels in major cities on five continents around the world. It has become one of the largest hotels in the world and is well-known. The Hilton family also Therefore, it is very prominent and was once one of the top ten chaebols in the United States. However, that was only once!
"Damn, what kind of company is this? It's so awesome, it actually wants to acquire Hilton Hotels!"
"I don't know! I've never heard of the name Global International Hotel Investment Management Company!"
"This is the first time I've heard of it, but you have strong financial resources. You will spend US$10.5 billion to fully acquire the Hilton Hotel!"
"The U.S. economy has been in recession in recent years, and the tourism industry has also been affected. Hilton Hotels are not developing smoothly. Haha, I just don’t know if the Hilton family is willing to sell the hotel! If it were me, I would sell it quickly. For $10.5 billion, it is definitely A great price!”
