Old Maotai was placed on the table.

Drinking without eating is a quick route to getting drunk.

Su Yehao picked up a few slices of cold beef salad with the serving chopsticks, and everyone followed suit.

When dining with the big boss, it's better to be safe than sorry.

There wasn't a single fool present, and everyone looked quite serious, having prepared in advance to avoid getting drunk and out of line.

After all, there were plenty of opportunities to drink, but if they inadvertently said or did something wrong, they could be resented, which would affect their future.

Many internet companies had persevered for more than three years.

Since the bursting of the NASDAQ bubble in 2000, they had finally weathered the storm and were now entering a period of growth and profit.

They were already looking forward to the "stock option reward" pie that Su Yehao had drawn for them. No one wanted to leave the good company that could bring them huge benefits just before the peach was ripe.

After a few small cups of wine, Su Yehao asked:

"Since we're all gathered here today, let's talk about any difficulties your companies have been facing recently. This is a period of expansion, and it's important to lay a solid foundation. By the end of the year, the number of computers in the mainland will likely exceed 30 million, and there will be about 20 to 30 million active internet users. These numbers are already significant."

Lin Wei, the CEO of tAt, nodded and replied:

"According to the number of active users of the tAt chat software, there are about that many internet users now. I think the main problem is that many users use our products for free, but few are willing to pay. They seem to think we're running a charity, and they're especially demanding."

Hearing this, Xiao Ma felt deeply and said:

"You're lucky. The online game department I'm in charge of gets scolded almost every day. Occasionally, customer service receives calls from parents, who start scolding without any explanation. I feel sorry for them. We've already implemented a real-name registration function to restrict minors from accessing the internet. They can't even manage their own children, so they can't expect our company to verify who's playing the games, can they?"

Boss Ma smiled and said:

"That's right. Playing games occasionally is good for relaxation. We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Even without computer games, there will be game consoles, martial arts novels, and so on. Now internet cafes have restricted minors from accessing the internet. Many parents are worried about their children playing games, so they don't even install computers, which limits their children's access to the new era. That's not good."

The debate about online games would continue into the future.

Su Yehao keenly realized the problem and said:

"Perhaps I should have Huang鑽 (Huang Zuan) computers launch a parental control anti-addiction feature, such as locking the screen after two hours and requiring a password to log in. If we use this feature as a selling point, maybe we can dispel some parents' concerns."

"As for the problem of converting free users into paying users, it's not just a headache here in the mainland, but Silicon Valley is also exploring solutions. There are too few good businesses like Microsoft after all. If we don't offer it for free, others will, and being too demanding will only give the market away."

"So, the key is to find a profitable monetization model. Each company's situation is different, but ultimately it comes down to virtual value-added services, advertising services, and enterprise services. Like the Red Panda online shopping mall, which is like moving a supermarket online, that's a good business..."

The Red Panda online shopping mall has some competition with Tao Bao, with some overlap in customers.

Boss Ma didn't feel anything wrong after hearing this.

Both of these companies belonged to Su Yehao. Even if Su Yehao didn't do it, similar shopping malls would probably emerge, inevitably leading to competition.

With Tao Bao's more than 3.5 million monthly active users, its total transaction volume this year may exceed 1.2 billion RMB, which gave Boss Ma a lot of confidence.

Even eBay, which had invested nearly 200 million RMB since this year, had failed to shake Tao Bao's foundation. The price advantage was particularly obvious, and third-party merchants began to compete with each other to sell their products, which benefited users.

As long as there was a price advantage, coupled with an increasingly perfect service system, Tao Bao didn't need to be afraid of eBay, a foreign company. Copying the American model to the mainland would easily lead to incompatibility.

The senior executives talked at once, but the problems were still the same.

With Su Yehao's resources and financial support, they hadn't encountered too many crises even during the most difficult periods in the market. They only needed to focus on developing forward.

The dishes were served quickly. Crayfish, grilled oysters, lamb stew with carrots, dry-fried cauliflower, and so on were all Su Yehao's favorite dishes. Each person also had a small bowl of fish maw and sea cucumber soup.

After drinking about half a pound of baijiu (white liquor), Su Yehao mentioned:

"I've been considering that I'll probably let tot portal website accept financing first in the second half of next year. The valuation will be determined at that time. Maybe it will be around 2 billion US dollars. I'll initially raise two to three hundred million US dollars and find an opportunity to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. If the situation allows, I can also list in the mainland. This needs to be discussed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission to allow for some preparation time."

His words undoubtedly attracted everyone's attention like a depth charge, and they listened especially carefully.

For professional managers, being able to take a company public is basically like completing a game. Even if it's not a complete game, it's at least a big boss level.

Moreover, Su Yehao had mentioned long ago that he would allow employees to subscribe at low prices before the listing and give old employees and senior executives equity dividends, which was closely related to their interests.

Boss Ma couldn't hold back his words and asked first after listening, "President Su, why don't you consider listing on NASDAQ? Global investors are mainly concentrated on NASDAQ. According to tot's scale, it is fully capable of going public there, right?"

Su Yehao replied in a Buddhist tone:

"There's not much difference. Listing on NASDAQ will subject me to NASDAQ's supervision, and some sensitive data will make it difficult for me. In addition, I also want mainland investors to profit from the internet dividend, thereby increasing our ability to resist risks, which is more important than short-term gains and losses."

His asset scale in the United States was already large enough, so why give people the opportunity to hold him by the neck?

It's not that internet companies can't list in the mainland, but there are requirements for revenue and profit. At the same time, there are no regulations for different rights for the same shares, and queuing up takes a lot of time.

These troubles are difficult for others to solve, but Su Yehao doesn't think it matters.

His influence is large enough to always attract enough investors. As long as he is determined to promote it and discuss a proper solution with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it is not impossible for these internet companies to list simultaneously on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the A-share market.

The company is Su Yehao's. He can list wherever he wants.

The senior executives present were not too concerned about where to list. They only wanted to know when it would be their company's turn to list and how many shares they could get by then.

The CEO of tot and others couldn't help but smile on their faces and said:

"President Su, don't worry, we will work harder recently and we will definitely not let you down..."