Tongzi gave away Sina stocks, but did not give away Weibo stocks. Who knows whether Weibo is reliable or not.

Sina itself is still very strong at the moment.

Sina is one of the pioneers of portal news sites in Huaxia and remains an important industry benchmark.

It wasn't until 2008 that Sohu's performance and stock price first surpassed Sina's.

Sohu and Sina have been fiercely competitive in the portal and Weibo sectors.

In 2009, Sina launched Weibo, and Zhang Chaoyang subsequently launched Sohu Weibo, stating "there's no cap on investment."

Many in the industry do not have confidence in Mr. Cao.

"Let's not talk in hypotheticals; you know me well. You've been to Sina, and you've always used this Weibo product. President Qi, I've always admired your investment insights. You dare to invest in what you've never used, so why hesitate with a product you use all the time?"

Mr. Cao's words were quite provocative.

"Monetization, big brother, this thing can't be monetized at all. Look at Qian Du and Li Yanhong, they're willing to do anything for monetization, including shady operations. I'm not afraid of losing money; I'm afraid of getting dirty."

Qi Hao just cut to the chase.

He directly used Li Yanhong as an example.

Last year, Li Yanhong of Qian Du became Huaxia's new richest person on the mainland, surpassing Zong Qinghou of Wahaha with a net worth of 9.4 billion US Dollars to Zong's 5.9 billion US Dollars.

Many people praised him in all sorts of ways.

But Qi Hao was not impressed.

He would curse Li Yanhong behind his back without concern, even if Li knew, there would be nothing he could do.

"Let's operate Weibo together; you're already a Sina shareholder, holding Weibo shares indirectly. We can offer you about 18% of the total dilutive shares of Weibo after completion. Additionally, we'll give you an option to allow Donghao Venture Capital to increase its stake to 30% through a pre-arranged pricing method."

Mr. Cao was determined.

It's the Weibo war now, with each opponent looking very strong. He's having a hard time against any one of them and is especially worried about others teaming up against him.

Not that there aren't people outside who want to invest.

But those are all hungry wolves.

Sina has faced the crisis of having its founder ousted and has just stabilized. Weibo holds the future hope for the entire company. Losing control would mean complete ruin.

"What is the current equity structure of Weibo?"

Qi Hao pondered for a moment.

Honestly, he was quite tempted.

Weibo is a very useful tool for him.

In the past couple of years, thanks to Zhanqi Laiden's sharp operations and abundant funds, he hasn't encountered any PR issues.

But the future is ever-developing.

It's like how ten years ago, few could have imagined that print media would completely vanish so swiftly.

Having cards in hand brings peace of mind.

"We promise to issue options equal to 15.9% of the total diluted shares to employees over the next four years, with management taking up 5.7%. The remaining 84.1% is held by Sina's wholly-owned subsidiary. If you can reach 30%, you'll be Weibo's largest shareholder."

Qi Hao has known Mr. Cao for quite a while.

There is even a Donghao Venture Capital board seat on Sina's board of directors.

This board seat has always supported him.

Not causing trouble, not greedy, and financially robust - who wouldn't like such a generous backer?

"18%, how much?"

Qi Hao sighed. Sina is a company that's been verified by Tongzi as okay. If Weibo is now the core business of the entire company, then wouldn't it imply that this core business wouldn't fail?

After all, if Weibo fails, then Sina would be completely finished.

"I'll give you preferred stock and common stock at a certain ratio, only requiring 360 million US Dollars."

Mr. Cao cautiously proposed a price.

"Pfft, Cao, you aren't being sincere. You think Weibo is worth 2 billion US Dollars?"

Qi Hao instantly lost interest.

If you had eliminated several competitors, valuing you at 2 billion or even 3 billion US Dollars wouldn't be impossible.

But with the current landscape of coexisting powers, no Weibo product is worth that much.

"It would burn through hundreds of millions of US Dollars a year; if it's priced below 300 million, it truly won't be enough."

Mr. Cao didn't mess around with empty talk; he analyzed it from a product management perspective.

"Go talk to Old Tian. In principle, I accept your equity distribution plan, but the price is simply too outrageous. I hope you can convince him."

Qi Hao didn't want to waste his breath any longer.

He wanted Weibo but did not want to spend so much money on it.

If it weren't for his shareholding in Sina and the fact that both he and An Feng ranked in the top three in fan leaderboards, he would have preferred to collaborate with Penguin.

Penguin's third-in-command, Ren Yuxin, attended his wedding a while back.

The two of them had a small gathering the day after the wedding.

The video site collaboration had fallen apart.

Penguin had launched its own video site, and Qi Hao had Bilibili as part of a triangle alliance with novels and comics, leaving no room for Penguin to intervene.

Ren Yuxin felt it was quite a pity.

However, neither side intended to break ties, as there are still numerous opportunities for collaboration.

For example, film and TV investments.

In this field, Penguin also plans to start laying the groundwork, and establishing a film company is inevitable sooner or later.

Film and television projects heavily rely on collaborations between multiple companies.

If Qi Hao can bring Penguin Pictures along, it would certainly help Penguin Pictures avoid many pitfalls.

Penguin is currently also increasing its investment in Weibo.

If Qi Hao had no involvement with Sina, he might have collaborated with Penguin in this area.

Of course, there are issues with Penguin Weibo as well.

One is the strategic direction.

Penguin is treating its microblogging service as a tool to increase QQ user engagement by integrating its functions into QQ Space and other products.

However, the strong influence of QQ's other businesses has made its Weibo impact insignificant.

Additionally, there's the issue of rights.

The video collaboration with Penguin didn't succeed because both parties were unwilling to compromise on rights, and Weibo clearly wouldn't back down either.

Things don't happen overnight.

If there's progress, it means there's hope for a successful negotiation in the future.

Mr. Cao was already quite satisfied.

Qi Hao asked Old Tian to lead a team for the negotiation, while he began preparations for the filming of "You Who Came from the Stars."

This is a television drama.

Filming a TV drama is different from making a movie; it's relatively simpler.

As for which is more prestigious, that's really hard to say.

At the beginning of the year, a drama called "Palace" became a hit, propelling Yang Mi, Feng Shaofeng, and Tong Liya to the peaks of their careers.

More recently, another drama called "Scarlet Heart" also became a hit, pushing Liu Shishi, Wu Qilong, and a group of brothers to rise with the tide.

Both of these are Qing Dynasty time-travel dramas, inevitably compared to each other. Fans from both sides even began accusing each other of plagiarism, starting online "battles of words."

Ironic enough, it was Yang Mi's earlier drama "Palace" that seemed more like plagiarism.

There are rumors that Yu Zheng had attempted to buy the TV adaptation rights for "Scarlet Heart" but failed. He then created and filmed "Palace" and aired it first, gaining market recognition.

In any case, both Yang Mi and Liu Shishi became stars.

Yang Mi expanded her talents by singing a song called "Love's Offering," although her singing skills left much to be desired.

Of course, their stardom is relative.

It can't be compared to An Xiaoxi.

However, since An Xiaoxi transitioned from films to TV dramas after a few years, she inevitably gets compared.

Even some fans start worrying that once the drama airs, she might be outshined by these juniors.

Yang Mi played a supporting role to An Feng in "The Return of the Condor Heroes."

Her breakout role in "Chinese Paladin 3" is also a sequel to An Feng's "Chinese Paladin 1."

Liu Shishi debuted under the label of a "Little An Feng."

So indeed, they are juniors.

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