Chapter 757 Walnuts

Originally, YouTube was sold because it was too expensive. After several venture capital investments, they were unwilling to invest again because they saw no prospect of profit.

Google, a wealthy dog ​​company, needed traffic, so it spent $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube.

But even with Google's resources, YouTube lost money for more than a decade, and only became profitable after losing tens of billions of dollars.

So Youku's burning of money was within his expectations.

"Youku does need financing, but we don't look for venture capital institutions."

"Why?" Xie Wen asked in confusion.

Xu Liang smiled, "Youku received a lawsuit last year, right?"

"Yes, but not many."

"The reason why there are not many is mainly because Youku is small in scale and the impact is not big enough. After this "Ice Bucket Challenge", Youku will become the world's largest video website with nearly 100 million or even more than 100 million registered users.

Its influence will spread all over the world.

By then, its brilliance will attract countless attention.

The lawsuits against it will be ten or a hundred times more than now, especially those Hollywood film and television giants who own a large number of copyrights."

Xie Wen is a smart man, and he quickly came to his senses after listening.

"Do you want to use Youku's shares to deal with the lawsuit?"

Xu Liang nodded, "The short film edited with film and television copyright is one of the most important contents of Youku, so we can't get rid of the infringement lawsuit.

Instead of paying huge lawyer fees and compensation, it is better to pull them into the chariot and become a community of interests."

Xu Liang's eyes flickered, and he thought: "I hope more people will sue me at that time."

"By the way, how is the satellite thing?"

Xu Liang asked.

"Last time I wrote to the higher-ups, they only said to study it, and didn't give us a clear answer."

Xu Liang frowned.

After a moment of silence.

"No more waiting. Send a letter to foreign commercial satellite companies, we want the best commercial map satellite."

"What if they are not satisfied...?"

"Anyway, we need more than one commercial map satellite, and then we will give them another order. ... I have finally understood that these guys who are just sitting there doing nothing will never learn to change if they are not stimulated a little."

Xie Wen nodded.

This is the best solution at present.

"By the way, Hongmeng will separate the map business and set up a professional commercial satellite service company to operate it, with the company's office located in Hong Kong."

The commercial aviation market in the mainland is not open enough at present, and there are too many constraints if it is placed in the mainland.

"Okay."

"There is one more thing. The six-month lock-up period of Netcom is almost over. After it ends, I will sell 5% of Netcom's shares this year."

Xu Liang will slowly insist on Netcom's equity.

Anyway, Netcom has a dual-class equity structure, and one Class A share has the same voting rights as 10 Class B shares, which means that Hongmeng only needs 7% of the equity to master Netcom's voice.

So Xu Liang did not plan to retain too much Netcom's equity.

He only needs to retain the Netcom channel, retain this publicity channel for Hongmeng's websites and games, and retain this distribution channel for Master Kong.

After explaining the matter, Xu Liang left Hongmeng.

He did not drive home.

Instead, he came to Zhongguancun, took a turn, and parked the car in front of a restaurant with a distinctly different style.

The shape made of logs, combined with carefully designed green plants, instantly gives people a unique style.

Fresh, natural, with a hint of artistic atmosphere.

After taking a look at the "Hutaoli Music Restaurant" made of Chinese and English with light strips and acrylic boards, I walked in.

Passing through the porch and pushing the door in, the rolling heat dispelled the cold of late winter.

The graceful and melodious music flew into my ears, and my mood unconsciously relaxed a little.

A waiter wearing a women's suit and high hair came up quickly.

"Sir, how many people?"

"Two."

"Okay, please follow me."

After passing the screen wall made of various materials such as green plants, logs, and stones in front, a hall of about two or three hundred square meters appeared in front of me.

The design in the hall is even better.

The unique chandelier, the drooping green plants, the ingenious small sculptures, books and various ornaments in the corners make the overall atmosphere look very comfortable.

Xu Liang looked around and found that 70% of the seats on the first floor were occupied.

In front of the huge projection screen in the center of the hall, a band was singing passionately. The lead singer of the band was a young girl wearing a white long-sleeved sweater.

Although she was not very pretty, her voice was excellent.

"Sir, do you think this place is suitable?"

"I don't like the first floor, let's go to the second floor."

"Okay, please follow me."

Took Xu Liang from the stairs to the second floor.

Because there was a huge hollow in the middle, it was convenient for the guests on the second floor to watch the performance on the stage, so the space on the second floor was relatively small.

But not too much smaller.

Xu Liang chose a seat in the corner of the second floor and sat down.

"That's it."

Although the waitress was surprised that he chose this corner instead of a better seat, she was trained to be "customer first", so she didn't ask much.

She handed over the menu next to her with both hands.

"This is the menu of our restaurant, please take a look."

Xu Liang flipped it open and took a look. There were about a hundred dishes.

A combination of Chinese and Western cuisine.

Red wine is the specialty, mainly mid-range wines ranging from 100 to 1,000 yuan, with eight or nine categories.

There are also high-end ones, but not many.

Xu Liang ordered two bottles of Luchen Shijia and ordered more than a dozen dishes.

"Sir, are you ordering too many dishes?"

"I can finish them."

The waiter said nothing more and turned away.

Xu Liang took out his mobile phone and dialed.

"Where are you?"

"I'm selecting a location for a new store in Dongzhimen."

"I'm in Zhongguancun Walnut, come over."

The woman's surprised voice came over.

"Really? Wait for me, I'll be there soon."

"Yeah."

Not long after Xu Liang hung up the phone, he saw Tong Yaya, who was wearing a beige waisted windbreaker, shoulder-length hair, and black women's leather shoes, walking quickly.

The vigorous and heroic look was completely different from the gentle and graceful appearance when they first met.

"Dear, I've kept you waiting for a long time."

Tong Yaya trotted over and kissed Xu Liang on the face.

After patting her butt, he pointed to the seat opposite.

The latter smiled and sat down opposite.

"Not bad, you are becoming more and more like a strong woman."

"Isn't it all thanks to you? If it weren't for you supporting me, I wouldn't have enough confidence to enter the business world, let alone my current position.

So, the person I am most grateful to now is you."

Tong Yaya's eyes were charming, and her expression was full of love.

She finally understood why Fan Xiaopang, such an excellent woman, was willing to follow this man without a name or status.

Nothing else.

The improvement of status, the transition of class, and the continuous accumulation of wealth are far better than love without a shelf life.

Xu Liang smiled and said, "Do you feel the benefits of starting a business now?"

"Compared to dancing and being an actor before, I still enjoy creating wealth with my own hands and feet, and being respected wherever I go." Tong Yaya nodded.

"How many branches does Hutaoli have now?"

"There are already 5, and our goal this year is to break through 20." Tong Yaya said with anticipation.

Xu Liang understood.

In the early stage, it is normal to develop slowly because of the lack of talent, funds, and management model.

Once the pioneering period is passed, the company will enter an explosive development.

"How is the revenue?"

"The average monthly revenue of each store is 590,000."

Xu Liang nodded.

"Have you encountered any problems in the operation so far?"

"Indeed, there are many problems, the most important of which are two."

"Tell me about it."

"First, our restaurant has a high occupancy rate during lunch and dinner, especially in the evening, the occupancy rate can reach 80%, and it is even full on Saturdays and Sundays.

But in the morning and afternoon, there are basically no people.

Even if we offer many discounts, there are still relatively few people."

Xu Liang smiled and said: "This is normal. Since you are named after the restaurant, of course the occupancy rate is high at noon and in the evening."

"Is there no other way to make up for it?"

"Everything depends on human efforts, how could there be no.

Each store in Hutaoli has a venue of 500~600 square meters, a huge high-ceiling space design, a large screen, and a stage, which are the best resources.

You put the table in the center of the venue By moving the chairs, you can meet the needs of holding various theme activities.

You can contact some famous poets and writers in the name of the company, invite them to come, and use the afternoon session of Walnut Tree to hold reading clubs and meet-ups.

You can also invite designers and photographers to hold fashion exhibitions and photography exhibitions.

There are also various courses, such as flower arrangement, wine tasting, music, etc.

You can even cooperate with some public welfare groups to hold offline blind date and dating parties for young people.

Although these activities cannot generate much direct income, they have expanded the brand influence of Walnut Tree among young people, and these young people in their twenties and early thirties are the target group of Walnut Tree.

It is also a business expansion to make Walnut Tree more recognized by them. "

Tong Yaya's eyes lit up.

"My dear, you have a solution."

Xu Liang smiled and said, "Go on, are there any other problems?"

"The next day, and the main difficulty I am facing now, is the lack of talent.

Hutaoli has enough funds to expand stores, but we don't have enough talent to complete this task, so there are only five stores after nearly a year of development."

"The lack of talent is a difficulty that all companies will face in their early stages. As they grow and develop, they often solve this problem through internal training.

This is the most reasonable and appropriate solution.

There is no way to get around it.

However, although it cannot be completely solved in a short period of time, we have a way to stimulate the creativity of existing talents to temporarily make up for this problem."

"How to do it?" Tong Yaya said with anticipation.

"Of course, it is institutional reform. A good system can stimulate 200% or even more creativity.

We can design two sets of salary mechanisms for store managers in Hutaoli.