After Lin Yue left, Li Ze went downstairs again and made a trip to Legend of Mir 2. He also told Shen Qianru that he couldn't be biased, right?
Moreover, the current profit of Legend of Mir 2 was much higher than Zerun Technology.
It was not like the employees at Zerun Technology would receive better treatment while Legend of Mir 2 did not receive any improvement.
Three days later.
Li Ze boarded the flight to America.
There was also a translator hired by Li Ze and an assistant sent by IDG. The other party's surname was Wang and his name was Wang Yuefeng. He was a middle-aged man in his thirties.
After flying for more than ten hours, Li Ze finally arrived in New York City.
As soon as they left the airport, Wang Yuefeng looked around for a moment and immediately said to Li Ze,""President Li, the people sent by our company's headquarters to pick us up are over there. Let's go over!”
Li Ze followed his line of thought and saw a blonde beauty with a voluptuous figure holding a sign with the words 'Zeli' written on it.
Beside the blonde beauty was a big black man in a suit.
After following Wang Yuefeng over, he heard Wang Yuefeng exchange a few words with the other party in English. The general idea was to reveal the identity of his group.
Then, the blonde beauty looked at Li Ze and smiled as she extended her hand.""Hello, Mr. Li Ze. I'm Betty, the senior assistant of IDG's head office in the United States. You can call me Betty directly!”
The other party was speaking in English, so Li Ze didn't quite understand. Fortunately, the translator at the side immediately translated for Li Ze in a low voice.
Li Ze smiled and shook hands with him."Hello, Miss Betty. I'm Li Ze.”
The interpreter relayed Li Ze's words in English.
Betty smiled." Mr. Li Ze, our company has already arranged a hotel for you. Let me take you to the hotel to check in first."”
"You can also adjust your jet lag and have a good rest. Also, when would it be convenient for you to meet with our company's senior vice president, Mr. Jason? I'll make an appointment for you."
Li Ze thought for a moment and said,"Tomorrow afternoon."”
"Alright, then I'll contact Vice President Jason later. Vice President Jason will receive you and discuss related matters with you.”
"That's troublesome…"
Li Ze followed Betty into a business car. Soon, Li Ze and his group were arranged to stay in a hotel.
At 2:30 p. m. the next day, Betty went to the hotel to pick up Li Ze and the others and headed to IDG's headquarters in America.
"Hello, Mr. Li. It's an honor to meet you here.”
Jason was a middle-aged man in his early forties with a tall, aquiline nose of a Westerner.
When he saw Li Ze, he immediately greeted him warmly.
"Hello, Mr. Jason. I'm also honored to meet you here.”
Li Ze replied with a smile.
Although he didn't understand English, it didn't matter if he had an interpreter.
"Come, Mr. Li, please take a seat."
After everyone was seated, Jason suddenly took out two MP3 players. They were Zerun Technology's Z1 and D1 players.
Then, Jason smiled and said,""Mr. Li, I specially asked our IDG China branch 'Xiong' to get someone to bring this to America. I've been using it for the past few days.”
"I have to say that your company's two MP3 players are indeed excellent products. "I believe that after these two products enter our American market, they will definitely be able to make a difference.”
The 'bear' that Jason mentioned was naturally Xiong Xiaoge.
Li Ze smiled and said," Thank you for your praise, Mr. Jason. I'm also looking forward to the performance of our two MP3 players in the US market."”
"Then, let's talk about business?"
Jason looked at Li Ze and said.
"Good!"
Li Ze nodded.
Then, Jason continued," Because I knew that Mr. Li would fly to the United States yesterday, I contacted Wilma Group before and made an appointment with them to meet you in person in the next two days.”
"I wonder when Mr. Li will be able to meet with the Wilma Group?”
"In addition, our company has also made preliminary contacts with the four major music copyright associations in the United States. The other party has a certain degree of interest in the digital copyright of their music.”
"Whenever Mr. Li feels convenient, our company can also help you arrange a time to meet and discuss the specific authorization matters.”
Li Ze thought for a moment and said," Mr. Jason, if it's convenient, let's set the meeting with Wilma Group for tomorrow."”
"As for the meeting with the four major music associations…we'll decide after tomorrow's discussion with Wilma Group.”
"That works too."
Jason nodded.
Then, he glanced at Li Ze and smiled.""Mr. Li, if your company wants to buy the digital rights of the music library of the four major music associations, I'm afraid that the money you previously raised from IDG's Xia branch is far from enough.”
"I wonder if Mr. Li is interested in accepting the financing of IDG's American head office?”
Li Ze was stunned.
Jason saw that he seemed a little confused, so he smiled and explained,""Although IDG's China branch is affiliated with IDG's main company, it has a high degree of autonomy and independence.”
"So, if there's a chance, IDG's American head office is also very interested in financing your company.”
Li Ze suddenly understood. He pondered for a moment and said,"At present, Zerun Technology is not in a hurry to raise funds again. However, if there is a need at that time, I personally don't mind accepting your company's financing.”
Jason smiled and nodded.""Then, I look forward to the cooperation between IDG's American head office and Mr. Li.”
He also knew that Zerun Technology was unlikely to raise funds now, so he was not in a hurry.
Li Ze's words were enough.
At that time, when Zerun Technology really needed a large sum of money to buy music copyrights, IDG's American head office would naturally have a chance to get on the bus.
After chatting for a while, Li Ze and the others left.
Not long after he returned to the hotel, Wang Yuefeng came over to tell Li Ze that Jason had communicated with Wilma Group. The other party would send someone to meet Li Ze at 10 am tomorrow.
Li Ze had no objections.
The next morning.
Li Ze once again came to IDG's American headquarters.
The meeting with Wilma Group was held in IDG's conference room.
Wilma Group sent a senior manager and a few team assistants.
Originally, it was just two MP3 players entering the Walma Supermarket for sale. This kind of small matter did not require the Walma Corporation to send a senior manager to personally discuss it.
It was mainly to give IDG some face.
The entire negotiation process lasted for more than an hour.
The Wilma Group was quite adamant about the cost of Zerun Technology's MP3 players entering their supermarkets. Li Ze had been trying to negotiate for a long time, but he only agreed to a 6% storage commission and a fixed 1.5% sales commission.
In total, Wilma would take 7.5% of the sales.
This was similar to the platform commission on Amazon that Lin Dong had mentioned before, and it was even slightly lower by 0.5%.
It was still acceptable.
However, based on Li Ze's initial price of 339 US dollars for the Z1 player in the US, each Z1 player would require a commission of about 25 US dollars to the Wilma Group, which was about 200 Chinese dollars.
Compared to the commission Li Ze gave to the domestic direct sales stores…it was undoubtedly much higher.
The commission for a Z1 sold by a domestic salesperson was only 50 yuan. Adding on the 20 yuan commission from the store manager, the total was only 70 yuan.
Wilma Group directly raised the price by 130 yuan!
However, this was the US market after all, and they were earning US dollars.
Moreover, Li Ze had previously learned that electronic products like MP3s could be partially exempted from tax.
In fact, the money that Zerun Technology could earn would not be much worse.
However, Wal-Mart and Amazon needed to take such a high commission. Li Ze also planned to slightly increase the pricing of the two MP3 players in the United States to ensure his own profits.
The Z1 model was priced at 359 US dollars, the D1 model was priced at 159 US dollars for the 128M version, and the 256M version was priced at 189 US dollars!
In that case, the Z1's profit margin was about 110 USD. The profit margin of the D1 was around 40 USD and 50 USD respectively.
Converted into Chinese currency, it was basically the same as the domestic profits.
There would also be an additional portion of the export tax refund profits.
After signing the contract with Wilma Group, Li Ze immediately called Lin Yue in China and asked her to prepare a batch of goods to be shipped to America.
He also told her to prepare for the establishment of a branch company in the United States after he returned to the country and to be in charge of the business in the United States.
He had settled the channels for Wilma Supermarket.
Li Ze asked Wang Yuefeng to help him apply for the sale of the Z1 and D1 MP3 players on Amazon. However, this would take some time, and Li Ze did not plan to stay in America for too long.
After Lin Yue came over, he would let her follow up.
……
Two days later.
Under the matchmaking arrangements of IDG's American head office, Li Ze went to the four major music copyright associations, ASPAC, MIB, SENAC, and SOUMDEXCHAANGE, to discuss the purchase of their music digital rights.
However, although they expressed a certain degree of interest, the asking price was very high.
For example, the largest ASPAC had a asking price of 13 million USD a year in music library royalties, plus a download commission of less than 60%.
As for BMW, which was second only to ASPAC in terms of the size of its music library, it also asked for a license fee of 11 million US dollars and a 60% download share.
Even if the music library was not as large as the two associations, the asking price of the two associations was more than eight million in royalties and a similar percentage of the download share!
With Zerun Technology's current funds, it was obvious that they could not afford to buy the rights to all four major music associations in one go.
Therefore, after the first contact with the four major music associations, Li Ze hesitated whether he should really bring in more investment so that he could have enough funds to buy the copyrights of the four major music associations 'music library.
"CEO Li, are you still worried about buying the music copyright?”
When they were eating, Wang Yuefeng noticed that Li Ze was absent-minded, so he couldn't help but ask.
Li Ze sighed and looked up."Yeah, the four major music associations are asking for more than they can chew. With Zerun Technology's current financial situation, it was simply not enough!”
Wang Yuefeng hesitated for a moment and could not help but say,"President Li, I actually think Zerun Technology doesn't need it at all, and shouldn't buy the copyrights of all the four major music associations.”
"After all, although Zerun Technology has IDG's funding, it's still a Chinese company. If he bought the copyrights of all the four major music associations, he would easily face an anti-trust lawsuit.”
"So, it's better to choose two of them and buy the copyright of their music library. In this way, the pressure on funds would not be so great.”
Hearing Wang Yuefeng's words, Li Ze couldn't help but be stunned.
He hadn't thought about monopolizing the market before, but now that he heard him mention it, he really had to be more cautious.
The US was quite strict in this regard.
Moreover, just as Wang Yuefeng said, Zerun Technology was a Chinese company after all.
It was better to be careful.
"Thank you for your reminder, Assistant Wang. I didn't think of this. From the looks of it, it was indeed necessary to avoid risks. There was no need to buy all the copyrights of the four major music associations.”
Li Ze said.
"President Li has never lived in America, after all. It's normal that he doesn't know much about the situation here." Wang Yuefeng smiled.”
"Actually, the most important thing is that Zerun Technology belongs to China, so we need to be more cautious in this regard.”
" Although the US says that the market is open and free on the surface, it's actually very targeted at companies from other countries, especially our country!" Wang Yuefeng said after a pause.”
"Perhaps if it was an American company that bought the copyrights of all the four major music associations, they might not be sued for anti-monopoly, but a Chinese company…the probability is very high.”
"Yes!"
Li Ze nodded and took a deep breath."Then I'll go and contact the four major music associations in the next two days and choose two of them.”
"With the copyrights of the two music libraries, at least we don't have to worry about the impact of other competitors in terms of music copyrights. It has its own copyright moat!"
Another two days passed.
Li Ze once again contacted the four major music associations to test each of their bottom lines.
After returning to the hotel, Li Ze began to carefully weigh the pros and cons.
"Xiao Dong seemed to have mentioned before that Apple in the United States would launch an MP3 player at the end of the year.”
"Moreover, the other party will also start to purchase music copyrights.”
"It seems that the matter of buying the music copyright can't be delayed for long. Otherwise, when Apple noticed and reacted, they might interfere.”
"It'll only be more troublesome when the time comes. The price for buying the music copyrights will definitely be higher!”
Li Ze did not forget the reason why he asked Lin Yue to hire software developers to develop the iMusic music platform.
It was because he heard from his son Li Dong that the MP3 player that Apple would launch this year had an Apple platform.
Although it was only May, Li Ze had to be on guard.
At first, Li Ze didn't know what kind of company Apple was, but now he naturally understood that it was a company with a market value of billions of dollars.
In terms of financial resources, Zerun Technology could not compare to the other party.
Moreover, the other party was an American company.
Considering all this, Li Ze decided to settle the music copyright as soon as possible.
Thus, the next day, Li Ze went to the four major music associations for the third time.
In the end, they reached an agreement with the two largest music copyright associations, ASPAC and BMW.
Zerun Technology would receive an annual license fee of 11 million US dollars, plus a 55% download share.
The price of the BMW license was 10 million USD per year, and it was also 55% of the download fee!
However, Li Ze requested to sign an exclusive agreement with the two companies.
In other words, these two companies could no longer license their music library copyrights to third parties.
In addition, the agreement was signed for 20 years.
The license fee would be increased by 10% every year.
After signing the contract, Li Ze heaved a sigh of relief.
But then, he had to quickly raise funds.
Pay the two music associations a total of 21 million US dollars in royalties for the first year.
However, Zerun Technology's current funds could be used other than the 11 million USD that IDG's Xia branch had raised last time.
The money from last month's profits was used to open new direct sales stores in the provincial capitals of Xia country and expand.
In addition, the establishment of the US branch also required money, so that part of the money could not be touched.
Fortunately, the royalties for the two music associations were limited to a month, and it was already mid-May. Legend of Mir 2 would probably be able to transfer tens of millions of yuan by then.
It would be good to invest a portion of it in Zerun Technology.
The reason why it was only a part of it and not all of it was mainly because Li Ze still had to set aside a portion of the funds for the acquisition of Shanghai's Green Air electric bicycle company, as well as the research and development of electric bicycles and market development.
Just two days ago, Lin Yue had called him across the ocean, saying that she had already negotiated the purchase price with the electric bicycle company.
To buy all the shares of the other party for 50 million.
Therefore, Li Ze could not invest too much into Zerun Technology.
"Mr. Jason, last time you mentioned that IDG's American head office is interested in funding our Zerun Technology. If you still have this intention, I think we can talk about it at the beginning of next month.”
"Of course, the shares sold this time won't be a lot. This financing will mainly be used to buy music copyrights.”
Before returning to China, Li Ze found Jason, the senior vice president of IDG's American headquarters.
Hearing Li Ze's words, Jason could not help but smile and said,""Of course, Li. IDG's American head office has always been interested in Zerun Technology.”
"Then, let's talk about it at the beginning of next month?”
Jason knew that the reason why Li Ze said that he would discuss the financing at the beginning of next month was because the Z1 and D1 players would have been sold in the United States for some time by then.
The market prospects of these two MP3 players in the United States could also be seen, which would have a major impact on Zerun Technology's valuation.
On the other hand, Zerun Technology would also have to pay the first year's license fee to the two music associations.
That was why he needed to go through a round of financing before that.
Of course, if it was just for that bit of money, Li Ze actually had a way to gather it.
The reason why he was inclined to accept the financing of IDG's American head office was to deepen the interest binding with the other party so that Zerun Technology could truly stand firm in the United States.
At least, some small problems could be avoided or solved by IDG.
"Good! Then let's talk about it at the beginning of next month. However, you may need to send someone to China at that time. I may not be able to find the time to come to the United States.”
Li Ze said.
" No problem," Jason said with a smile.”
After a pause, he said,"I heard that Li, you previously asked IDG to help investigate if the US has high-speed motor technology?”
Li Ze was startled when he heard the other party suddenly mention this matter. He quickly asked,"Yes, I am. Mr. Jason, could it be that you have found out the relevant information?”
Jason shook his head." Not yet." However, if the United States really has this technology, I think there should be news soon.”
"Of course, I'll help you follow up. As soon as there's any news, I'll inform you immediately.”
"Good! Mr. Jason, please!"
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。