Chapter 2342 Market demand determines technology development

"Well, a landmark event."

From Jin Beomxiu's words, Zhou Buqi became more and more sure of the important value of Yahoo Korea.

It's not just a simple benefit.

Just like Ziweixing International's acquisition of Yahoo, this transaction does contain huge potential value. Not to mention anything else, the Alibaba shares it holds will be worth US$150 billion in the future.

However, benefits are only one aspect.

More important is the political value.

This will be a landmark event and a political marriage that will allow Ziweixing International to gain a firm foothold in the European and American markets from the international policy level.

Just like TikTok is very popular in North America.

The US authorities are constantly making trouble and want to block this product... In fact, they are not trying to block TikTok, but to make TikTok a public product.

It needs to be listed, it needs to be open, it needs to be transparent, it needs to disclose the information of the audit draft, and it needs to marry with the local technology giants in the United States.

Otherwise, if all Americans use TikTok and all their information is collected, they will be a potential threat.

Zhou Buqi came up and settled the matter.

For Kakao Group, there is no such political factor in acquiring Yahoo Korea, but there is a huge national sentiment factor. South Korea's patriotism is extremely strong, basically comparable to that of Israel.

As a local Internet company in South Korea, if it completes the feat of "acquiring Yahoo", it will undoubtedly become a major event in South Korean society.

Countless Koreans will have that deep sense of pride.

This is the people's will, public opinion and sentiment.

Kakao’s industry status is as stable as Mount Tai.

There is even greater value to the chaebol. Public sentiment and public sentiment represent votes, and votes can determine the Blue House's preference. This is an important strategy for the chaebol to compete with the Blue House.

Jin Beomxiu didn't know quite what Boss Zhou was thinking about, but he could also see that his attitude was ambiguous. It seemed that he didn't want to sell Yahoo Korea to Kakao.

Zhou Buqi did not hide anything and said frankly: "In the past six or seven years, Yahoo and Samsung Electronics have maintained a relatively in-depth strategic cooperation. Many of Samsung Electronics' Internet services and software services are provided by Yahoo. Technical support is provided by Samsung. Taking over Yahoo Korea will be seamless at the technical level."

"Samsung..."

Jin Fanxiu vaguely guessed something.

Kakao belongs to the modern camp.

If Yahoo Korea is sold to Samsung...Boss Zhou will not offend the left and right, and he will have to catch it with both hands.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "It's mainly because of money. Ziweixing International is currently short of cash flow, and it is best for Yahoo Korea to be able to do cash transactions. Can Kakao pay such a large amount of money?"

Jin Fanxiu came down the steps and said with a smile: "It's really impossible to get it out. Kakao can only operate in the form of mergers and acquisitions, and it can only be a stock exchange."

Zhou Buqi said: "It's better to have cash! We're short of money!"

Jin Beomxiu pondered and said: "If Kakao comes to acquire it, maybe the price of US$500 million is about the same. But if it is sold to Samsung Electronics, maybe a higher price can be offered."

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi became very interested, "How do you say it?"

Jin Beomxiu said: "Because Kakao does not need it, but Samsung needs it even more. Yahoo Korea is no longer doing well in terms of business. In the early 2000s, Yahoo once occupied more than 80% of the market in South Korea. But later, local Internet companies in South Korea developed. I learned the Internet business model from Yahoo and gradually surpassed it."

Zhou Buqi nodded. He had read relevant data, "Before 2007, Yahoo Korea had always had good profits. After the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, it fell into losses. This has lasted for five years."

Jin Beomxiu said: "Yes, Yahoo Korea has been completely replaced by local Korean Internet companies in terms of business. But in terms of technology, Yahoo Korea is still second to none. Many local Internet companies encounter technical bottlenecks, often Go to Yahoo, or Google, or Microsoft to poach people."

Zhou Buqi wanted to laugh a little.

The development patterns of the Internet in China and South Korea are almost identical.

Jin Fanxiu continued: "Kakao has the support of Ziweixing, so we have never encountered technical troubles, which makes Kakao's development very smooth. However, as far as the entire industry is concerned, the technical content is not high."

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, that's not surprising."

South Korea is strong in the high-tech field, but it is not outstanding in the field of Internet technology. This is mainly related to market demand. When there is demand, research and development will be actively carried out; if there is no demand, no one will be idle doing research.

Just like Japan, many websites still use front-end technology from twenty years ago.

In fact, it was similar in China in previous years.

This industry has no technical content at all.

The tech giants in Silicon Valley just drop by and give away money, and that’s enough.

But it’s not working anymore in the past few years.

Domestic Internet companies have increased their investment in research and development, and their technical level has begun to develop rapidly. As far as the current technology in this field is concerned, the United States is first and China is definitely second.

In fact, it is technological development driven by market demand.

There are too many Internet users in the country.

More users means greater scale.

Many backward technologies can be applied on a small scale, but when the scale is large, the entire website structure will collapse. This forces domestic Internet companies to increase investment in technology research and development. Those who do not invest will be eliminated by the market.

Unless there is a monopoly like train tickets.

You can only buy it here.

The technology is poor, the webpage crashes every day, and thousands of consumers can only endure it.

In contrast, South Korea does not have such large-scale concerns.

There are only so many people in the country.

This means that Internet companies in South Korea do not need to invest heavily in research and development. A little technology is enough, which means that the technical level of the entire industry is low.

But Samsung Electronics cannot.

Samsung's mobile phones, TVs, tablets and other hardware devices are sold all over the world. With a large number of users and a large scale, the demand for Internet technology is high.

This leads to the fact that when Samsung Electronics is looking for partners, it would rather go to Baidu, but it is difficult to find suitable partners in South Korea.

In this way, Yahoo Korea's advantage comes, which is very good for the Korean market. This is a very rich technology treasure house.

Kim Beomsu said: "Market demand determines technology development. Samsung Electronics, which has a global market, will obviously have greater demand in the field of Internet technology. This is something that the local Korean market does not have. The acquisition of Yahoo Korea is an entry for them. Opportunities for self-development of Internet services and software businesses.”

"That's right."

These words are completely in line with Zhou Buqi's thinking. This is how he designed this transaction.

Jin Beomxiu said with a smile: "If Samsung really wants to take over, the price may really be higher, maybe... maybe it can really sell for 1 billion US dollars."