Chapter 2055 The insurmountable middleman

At this time, Ning Lu, who had been investigating for more than 20 minutes, came back and said with a smile: "I asked about the navigation clearly. We are doing it ourselves, but it doesn't seem to be a simple mobile phone navigation function."

Zhou Buqi looked up from the pile of makeup and asked, "What's going on?"

“Map surveying and geographical information collection mainly rely on satellites and aerial photography. In the past few years, Microdot Map has cooperated with the National Geographic Bureau and the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, but the data of Microdot Map is mainly purchased from NavInfo. Well, there are two companies in China that are relatively good..." Ning Lu said this and pointed upward.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It does matter, just say it. It's okay."

Ning Lu mainly didn't want the nine new secretaries present to know too many bad business things, but the big boss didn't care, so she didn't care.

"Yes, it is related. They are NavInfo and AutoNavi. They can obtain data from relevant departments. They also have many qualifications and can conduct field surveying and mapping. These are monopoly resources." Ning Lu paused, " So whether it’s Google Maps, Baidu Maps, Microdot Maps, or Apple Maps, the data is actually purchased from these two companies.”

Zhou Buqi frowned slightly, "Only relying on two semi-monopoly platforms, can we make good Internet maps? This can never be compared with foreign map services."

Ning Lu said: "Relevant departments should have noticed that they have relaxed their authority and issued licenses. Both Baidu Maps and Microdot Maps have obtained the qualifications for Internet map services and navigation electronic maps, but they do not have basic surveying and mapping qualifications."

The nine little secretaries all looked at each other, confused, and had no idea what they were talking about.

Zhou Buqi's understanding is obviously much better, "So if you want to implement the functions of micro-dot map and micro-dot navigation, most of the data will have to be purchased from NavInfo or Amap. The purchased data will be made into electronic version, and then make some fine-tuning to this electronic version based on the platform data we collected ourselves.”

Ning Lu nodded lightly, "Yes, that's pretty much what it means." What classmate Yi Ming said, he also said that in the future, as the food delivery, online ride-hailing, and shared bicycle industries develop, the data scale of Internet maps will become larger and larger. The more accurate we become, the more feedback we can provide, and the more accurate we can be.”

Zhou Buqi shook his head, "Basic surveying and mapping qualifications are the core and the foundation for building a house. The data on the Internet are only based on the bricks and tiles on the foundation."

Ning Lu followed him and gradually learned a lot of his thinking. She smiled and said: "Well, I asked, and I said that Weidian Map and Weidian Navigation are actually a platform. Takeaway, shared bicycles, and online ride-hailing The data collected through these channels are all third-party data. But the core should be the self-operated data obtained with basic surveying and mapping qualifications. Self-operated data is the core of a platform."

Zhou Buqi gave a thumbs up, "That's great!"

This is really the case.

Let alone now, even more than ten years later, none of the domestic map and navigation products can be profitable. They all suffer huge losses and can only be maintained by spending money.

A very important reason is that in the absence of basic surveying and mapping data, resource monopolies have the right to bid, and data are sold more and more expensively, leading to more and more serious losses in map services and navigation services.

This is complicated because NavInfo and AutoNavi also purchased most of their data from the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

Generally speaking, geographical surveying and mapping is funded by the state and is operated as a national project. Each place has a geography bureau and a surveying and mapping bureau. Local staff complete the surveying and mapping, and then the data are centralized to create a national geographical map. Out.

In this process, there will definitely be many omissions in surveying and mapping.

Amap and NavInfo also have basic surveying and mapping qualifications. They can also train a group of specialized surveying and mapping personnel to collect basic geographical information and then share it with the Surveying and Mapping Bureau to offset part of the cost.

The country is so big and requires too many surveying and mapping personnel. To support such a large group of people, satellites, drones, and even high-definition picture cameras for close-up street scenes also require a lot of expensive equipment.

This investment is too great.

Several parties are losing money. The Bureau of Surveying and Mapping has to rely on funding to survive. Amap and NavInfo have very weak profitability. Internet maps and Internet navigation products are even suffering huge losses.

So this is basically a social project, just like free education and free medical care. It is a manifestation of social responsibility to provide convenience for ordinary people.

Fortunately, the mid-range Amap and NavInfo were both listed last year. They are large companies with a market value of billions to tens of billions and have made a lot of money in the capital market.

The Surveying and Mapping Bureau on the front end and the Internet companies on the back end are the institutions that contribute the most money and are the two parties that can best shoulder social responsibilities, but they cannot make a profit.

To put it further, middlemen are making money.

The front end is the state, which is constantly providing financial subsidies; the back end is Internet companies, which are also constantly burning money to subsidize.

If there were no middlemen, the losses would be smaller.

But there are some connected guys here who can't get around it. Internet companies that don't have relevant qualifications can only rely on middlemen to get data.

Ning Lu didn't say these things, and she didn't necessarily know, but Zhou Buqi figured it out immediately.

These are common phenomena.

For example, Zhou Buqi bought a team in Magic City, which has been renamed Magic City Taizun Team, and wants to buy foreign players... This is completely different from European transfer transactions.

If Manchester United wants to buy a player, the club can just talk directly to the player's club and the player's agent. If both clubs agree and the player's agent agrees, the matter is settled.

Not domestically.

If Taizun Real Estate wants to introduce a foreign player, it needs to talk to the Football Association first, and they will appoint an agent.

This designated agent will then contact the foreign aid’s agent and club. Not only foreign players, but also domestic players. It is impossible to transfer a few players randomly between clubs.

This leads to a very exaggerated phenomenon. The transfer fee for a player is 100 million. In fact, the transfer fee received by the player's club may be only 20 million.

Even if a player's salary is 20 million, the actual salary the player receives is only 5 million. Fans who don't know the inside story will scold the players, saying they are overpaid and incompetent. A low-energy person is a low-energy person, and a high salary is really not necessarily the case.

The essence of the Internet is peer-to-peer, which means eliminating middlemen.

But some middlemen are so entrenched that they cannot be circumvented.

Innovation really requires caution.

If you bypass all banks like Alipay, it will be a bit troublesome.

When making maps and navigating, you have to behave accordingly.

"But there is a little advantage," Ning Lu said with a chuckle: "But NavInfo and AutoNavi are both on the market, with clearly marked prices. Yiming is considering a response plan, whether to acquire or make strategic investments. NavInfo Xinxin has the nature of a state-owned enterprise, and the major shareholder is a state-owned enterprise, so you cannot get much equity. If it is AutoNavi, it should be easier. As long as you are willing to spend money, you can buy it."

Zhou Buqi thought about it and took it seriously, "You can't buy it, and you can't destroy their nature as a middleman."

"ah?"

Ning Lu was slightly startled and didn't quite understand.

Didn't he just say that he was interested in acquiring Gaode? The president's office also intended to fully acquire AutoNavi. Why did it change so suddenly?

Zhou Buqi became cautious.

In his previous life, Boss Ma's style was a bit fierce. He took advantage of the nature of the Internet to eliminate the middleman of AutoNavi and directly acquired AutoNavi at a large premium. You must know that Alibaba acquired AutoNavi before it went public, which is equivalent to giving AutoNavi "original shares". After Alibaba went public, the price of the original shares skyrocketed, and Amap's former shareholders made huge profits.

Two mistakes are made here.

Ning Lu looked confused, not quite understanding what happened.

Zhou Buqi pondered for a moment and then ordered: "Tell classmate Yiming that we can invest in NavInfo and reach a certain strategic cooperation. AutoNavi will not touch it for now. Middlemen in the private industry must rely on business innovation to circumvent the situation as much as possible." Open. Intermediaries with state-owned enterprise background must be cautious.”

Ning Lu turned around and followed the order.

The nine little secretaries sitting in a circle looked even more confused, and they didn't understand what was going on. They felt confused.

Zhou Buqi smiled at them, "I think this Momo is pretty good!"

"ah?"

Everyone was very disappointed and pouted.

This product is really too vulgar.

Zhou Buqi looked at them strangely, "What's wrong? Why are you curling your lips? Pastoral, tell me?"

Zhao Li Muge said in a long voice, somewhat coquettishly: "Boss, this product is too unfair!"

Zhou Buqi said: "But it can make money."

Zhao Li Muge hummed and said, "Boss, are you still short of money?"

Yan Qiqi said softly: "Senior, does Momo not conform to our company's values?"

Even Liang Lexin, who was taciturn, the most petite, and had the most beautiful appearance like a fairy in a painting, nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, "Yes, the properties of this product are not very good."

Zhou Buqi smiled, made a downward gesture, and stretched out three fingers, "First, I am not short of money, but you are short of money; second, I did not say that I would invest in Momo in the name of the company; third, I am not short of money. Third, investment is not equal to management. The purpose of investment is to make money, which is to buy low and sell high. No matter what they are doing, buy low and sell high. The truth is when you make money."

Many people can't tell the difference between investing and operating.

If it is a strategic investment and the company violates laws and disciplines, both the capital and the management are responsible; if it is a financial investment, it does not matter. No matter how evil the company has done, it has nothing to do with the capital and its purpose. Just make money by buying low and selling high.

Zhou Buqi added, "Just like when someone buys shares of Lockheed Martin, you cannot say that he is funding the U.S. military; if someone buys shares of Google, you cannot say that he is funding foreign companies to suppress them. Domestic Internet companies; if someone buys Amway’s stocks, you can’t say that he participated in a pyramid scheme. Financial investment is for making money and has nothing to do with specific business operations.”

The little secretaries were all a little confused.

On the other hand, Zhuo Wensi, who has a round head, is quick to think. He grabbed some information and asked tentatively: "Boss, you... you just said that you are not short of money and we are short of money. What do you mean?"