You were supposed to have a fake marriage with the diva, so how did you become her father?

Chapter 195 WeChat is gone

Seeing that the cooperation with WeChat had not been successfully reached, a gloomy atmosphere fell over the company again.

"What's wrong? Why are you all looking so dejected?" Lu Ran said with a smile, trying to comfort the listless crowd.

"Who said only WeChat can cooperate?" Lu Ran shook the phone on his phone, the contact name was Baidu's Strategic Cooperation Department. "This is another one."

While Baidu may not be as powerful as WeChat, it's still on par with Weibo.

The fact that these two companies approached Tutu Technology proves that the company still has great potential.

Not long after the phone invitation, people from Baidu came to visit us in person.

Lu Ran didn't know if the other party had planned to come all along or if they just happened to be passing by, but that didn't matter. As long as the other party showed sincerity and didn't touch on any issues that touched on his bottom line, Lu Ran felt that everything was negotiable.

Moreover, Lu Ran always felt that although Baidu was about the same size as Weibo, it had greater potential.

Especially the ecosystem of Baidu Tieba, which seems to better match one's own interest circles.

Deep down, Lu Ran felt that cooperating with Baidu was better than cooperating with WeChat.

After all, my own TUTU will definitely be competing with WeChat for resources in the future. As a strong social networking app, WeChat is its biggest competitor.

On the contrary, the section that Baidu is in charge of does not seem to have any intention of interfering.

Soon, the other party arrived at the foot of the TuTu Technology building.

"Mr. Lu, I apologize for bothering you." A man in his thirties stood at the front desk, dressed in a casual suit, with a friendly smile. "I'm Zhao Mingyuan from Baidu's Strategic Cooperation Department. I was nearby on business and thought I'd stop by for a chat. Do you have a moment?"

Lu Ran was taken aback. This Zhao Mingyuan was really honest.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Zhao, please come in."

In the meeting room, Zhao Mingyuan didn't immediately pull out documents like Chen Mo did; instead, he started by chatting about everyday things.

"Mr. Lu, to be honest, I'm also a victim of 'Happy Farm'." He smiled wryly, took out his phone, and opened his farm app. "Look, all the eggplants I planted have been stolen, leaving only two. Is that 'Neighbor Wang' one of your people? That's so unethical."

Lu Ran leaned over to take a look and burst out laughing.

At Zhao Mingyuan's farm, a Japanese chicken is bowing to a Chinese rural dog, a bald eagle is patrolling, and a bear is snoring while holding a wine bottle; the scene is very harmonious.

It was clear that Zhao Mingyuan was genuinely experiencing his product project, unlike Chen Mo who just mentioned it casually. This made Lu Ran feel closer to him.

"Mr. Zhao's lineup is quite impressive," Lu Ran joked.

"It's alright." Zhao Mingyuan put away his phone and said seriously, "President Lu, I'm here today to discuss cooperation. I won't make exorbitant demands; it's a genuine, mutually beneficial partnership."

Lu Ran raised an eyebrow: "I'd like to hear the details."

Zhao Mingyuan took out a document from his bag, which was much thinner than Chen Mo's.

"This is our draft proposal; please take a look."

Lu Ran opened the book to the first page:

[Baidu & Tutu Technology Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement]

Page 2, Cooperation Model: Baidu invests 30 million yuan, holding 10% of the shares, while the founding team of Tutu Technology holds 90% of the shares.

Page 3, Resource Support: Baidu search keyword promotion, Baidu Tieba pinned entries, Baidu Baike entry optimization, Baidu News source inclusion...

Page 4, Additional Clause: Both parties may negotiate subsequent capital increases or equity adjustments based on the results of the cooperation.

Lu Ran stared at the line "10% stake" and remained silent for a moment.

Compared to WeChat's 70%, this is practically an angel investment.

"Mr. Zhao, this proposal..." He looked up, carefully choosing his words, "is indeed very sincere, but I'd like to ask, does your company value us that much?"

Zhao Mingyuan smiled.

"Mr. Lu, I won't lie to you. Baidu does have a positive outlook on TUTU, but it's not at the point where we absolutely have to invest." He paused, his tone frank. "The 10% figure is based on our internal assessment. Any more than that, and you won't be happy; any less, and we feel it's not worth it. So we're stuck in the middle, giving it a try."

Lu Ran nodded and continued reading.

The resource support section is very detailed: A Baidu search for "Happy Farm" shows TUTU's official website as the first result; a "Happy Farm" forum has been created on Baidu Tieba and is managed by the TUTU operations team; the Baidu Baike entries for "Happy Farm" and "TUTU Technology" are updated simultaneously...

These resources, while not as direct as WeChat's nine-grid layout, have the advantage of broad coverage.

Baidu Search responds to billions of requests every day.

Baidu Tieba has over 100 million monthly active users.

If we can really attract traffic from Baidu, it could indeed offset some of the impact of Weibo farms.

"Mr. Zhao," Lu Ran closed the file, "I have a question."

"Please speak."

Why did Baidu invest in TUTU? Given Baidu's size, it could easily incubate a similar game internally; there's no need to invest in an external company.

Seeing Lu Ran speak up, Zhao Mingyuan was also straightforward and directly stated his position.

"Mr. Lu is a sensible person, so I won't beat around the bush." ​​He lowered his voice, "Baidu did make similar attempts internally, but they failed. It wasn't a technical problem, it was a problem with the company's DNA."

"Gene?"

"Yes. Baidu started as a search engine, and its product DNA is 'tool,' not 'entertainment.' We're not good at social networking or games. Baidu Tieba was the only exception, but that was more than a decade ago." Zhao Mingyuan paused. "So in recent years, Baidu's strategy has been 'investment + cooperation,' finding teams with product DNA, giving them traffic and funding, and letting them do what we're not good at."

Lu Ran nodded thoughtfully.

This logic makes sense.

Many large companies are like this nowadays; to put it bluntly, they invest everywhere, jumping on the bandwagon whenever something else is doing well.

Lu Ran even believed that even if he couldn't cooperate with Baidu, other giants would still come to him.

"Then why is it a TUTU?"

"Because TUTU has what we lack most." Zhao Mingyuan looked at him earnestly, "User stickiness. Your pet system makes millions of users reluctant to leave. This kind of emotional connection is something Baidu can't buy no matter how much money it spends."

Upon hearing this answer, Lu Ran smiled.

Zhao Mingyuan's words truly resonated with him. He was indeed relying on user stickiness to compete with giants like Weibo.

"Mr. Zhao, that's quite a flattery."

"This isn't flattery, it's the truth." Zhao Mingyuan smiled as well. "So, Mr. Lu, are you interested in this collaboration?"

Lu Ran did not answer immediately, but instead flipped through the document again.

Thirty million, 10%.

Baidu search + Tieba + Baidu Encyclopedia.

There are no performance-based agreements, no non-compete clauses, and no right of first refusal.

To be honest, the terms are very generous.

But Lu Ran felt that they could talk about it some more.

"Mr. Zhao," he looked up, "30 million for 10%—is that a valuation treating us like a startup?"

Zhao Mingyuan nodded, then asked.

"Mr. Lu thinks it's too low?"

"It's not that I think the price is too low," Lu Ran put down the documents, "it's just that I think we can change our cooperation method."

"In what way?"

"Share swap".

...