Chapter 1105 – Old Sun, Stop him!
Half an hour later, Ding Lei had finished his lunch. He was about to chat with his friends when he received Feng Yu’s call. Feng Yu wants to meet him in his office.
“What’s wrong? Manager Feng, why are you looking for me so urgently?” Ding Lei is different from others. He is the major shareholder of NetEase with 51% of voting shares and is quite relaxed in front of Feng Yu.
“Manager Ding, have a seat. Old Sun had called you earlier, right?” Feng Yu poured a cup of tea for Ding Lei.
“Yes. He told me one of his relatives is a reporter and wish to interview me. I agreed to the interview.” Ding Lei is curious. It’s not normal for Feng Yu to pour a cup of tea for him.
Although Feng Yu had treated Ding Lei with respect, Feng Yu had let them pour tea themselves all their past meetings. What happened today?
“That is what I asked Old Sun to say. She is not Old Sun’s relative and is just a magazine reporter. The magazine is called <Wind and Rain Business Magazine>. Do you get what I mean?” Feng Yu hinted.
“This is your magazine? The magazine you setup to rank our billionaires in China?! Just ask the reporter to contact me directly will do. Why is there a need to make it so complicated?” Ding Lei replied.
“Hahaha… I had just mentioned this to Old Sun, and I think he had misunderstood me. Oh, how is Legend of Mir now?” Feng Yu changed the topic.
“The registered player is over ten million now, but the number of online players had gone down recently. I think many of those low-level accounts are registered to keep items. Maybe this has something to do with the school holidays. Some students do not have the freedom to do whatever they want when they return home.”
“Yes. It’s normal. What about our time-cards?”
“It’s selling very well. The unlimited monthly time-card is selling very well.” Ding Lei replied excitedly. Initially, he did not believe the unlimited monthly card will sell well. Manager Feng’s foresight is outstanding.
Ding Lei also plays Legend of Mir, and the quests in the game are interesting. Even the monsters and bosses are out of his expectations.
“Hmm… I think it’s time to release the Stone Graveyard map. Also, we have to release a new map every six months to attract the players.”
“We had planned everything. There will be an update in September, and we will be checking on the data to see if there are any hacking programs. The students will be returning to school, and there will be lesser complaints. I had not expected so many students to be playing this game.”
Ding Lei had gotten the new maps of the game and had conducted the Alpha test. There will be new gear and items in the new map to attract the players.
With the new items, many players will spend more time in the game and buy more time-cards.
“Ok. You all can decide on this. Are the new features to the email completed?”
“We have added one new feature, and the rest is still not stable yet. We are still trying to solve the issues now.” Ding Lei is very impressed with Feng Yu.
Feng Yu can always come up with ideas to make money. Ding Lei’s company has so many staff, but none can come up with ideas like Feng Yu.
“I heard you all had also developed a new game. How is it? Are there any registered players?” Feng Yu asked with a laugh.
“Huh?! Not a lot. It is a type of online fighting game like Street Fighter. If I had known, I should just sell this game’s CD. At least I can get back our capital.” Ding Lei is very disappointed. This game he developed is interesting, and many people love playing arcade games now. He had brought the arcade game online, but why no one wants to play?
Do arcade games have a market in the future? Yes, but not now. Arcade centers are everywhere, and who would go online to play these games? There are no joysticks, and it’s very expensive.
“Don’t give up. It will be better. How is the progress on the online single-player platform?”
“We had hired someone to develop it. But it is quite difficult as it requires high internet speed. The internet speed now will cause high lag.”
“It’s alright. The internet speed will improve in two years.” The internet speed is slow now, but the Government is investing heavily in the internet infrastructure. China’s internet speed will be faster.
Ding Lei and Feng Yu chatted for a while, and Feng Yu looks at his watch. It’s time.
“Manager Ding, it’s time for your interview, and I shall not disturb you anymore.”
Ding Lei left Feng Yu’s office and walk towards a small meeting room arranged by Old Sun. At the time, Zhou Kexin walks out of the elevator.
“Manager Ding. Nice to meet you. I am Zhou Kexin, an intern reporter with <Wind and Rain Business Magazine>.”
“Nice to meet you. Have a seat.” Ding Lei smiles. <Wind and Rain Business Magazine> might not be a prominent magazine now. However, the China Billionaires list is still quite influential in China.
“Can I record this interview?” Zhou Kexin took out a recording pen. This recording pen is given to her by the company.
“Of course.”
“Manager Ding, how did you come up with the idea of NetEase?”
“I had wanted to set up a platform for others to interact online. When I was in school, I became interested in this field. Actually, I majored in Physics, and I wondered if I had entered the wrong course last time.”
Zhou Kexin quickly wrote it down in her notebook. Ding Lei had studied Physics, and many people should not know about this.
“Why did NetEase switch focus from forums to web portals? NetEase’s forum had been overtaken by Sohu now.”
“This is because forums are not making money at that time, and the company cannot carry on losing money like this. That’s why we changed our direction to the web portal and introduced our email services. We also started to manage games to increase the company’s profits.”
Ding Lei is telling the truth. The Bulletin board system at that time is not making money. If Manager Feng had not invested in Sohu, Sohu might close down. Sohu is currently still losing money, while NetEase had breakeven because they are managing Legend of Mir. Next year, NetEase should be making profits.
Because of this reason, NetEase’s share prices are rising higher than Sohu, and Ding Lei’s net worth is higher than Zhang Chaoyang and Wang Zhixi. Out of the three juggernauts of the Chinese internet, he is ranked first.
……
When Zhou Kexin is interviewing Ding Lei, Feng Yu and Sun Lijie walk slowly towards the dining hall. Feng Yu wants to see if there are still participants inside.
Suddenly, Feng Yu saw a skinny looking man walking out of the dining hall. He was shocked and pointed to that man. “Old Sun, stop him!”
