Crisis to eliminate the weak also contains vitality

Jing Pao reporter Dong Huapo/wen

January 06, 2009 Tuesday

Investment guru Warren Buffett once said: "Only when the tide is low can we see who is swimming naked." The internet industry used to be the first choice of VC (venture capital), now, under the financial crisis, VC fled, internet companies once again came to the "left" of the King era. If the 2000 after the first Internet crisis, the "left" is Sina, Sohu, NetEase and other sites, then in the coming days, through this crisis can survive the Internet companies, may listen to their play for the "upstart" Overture.

Contrast]

Two crises cause different effects

For the first time around the 2000 Internet crisis, some early-stage internet industry practitioners still have a lingering fear. "2000 is the year of China's dotcom bust. In just one year, the Chinese internet has gone from frenzy to cold, to the end of the two extremes. "A person in the industry described the network bubble expansion of the scene," a large number of Web sites, in addition to do the portal of the old three (Sina, Sohu, NetEase), there are pulse network, Vientiane Network and so on, many sites flourished. So many sites, what is the scramble for? Less than 10 million of netizens, without any consumer value of netizens, a bunch of fresh not enough to see the audience. Then is full street body advertising, in short, as long as the ads can be posted everywhere. ”

"This crisis is completely different from the last. The last crisis the Internet is the originator, the Internet is in the context of the shortage of liquidity is affected by the industry, it is not from the Internet industry itself, but because of the overall economic environment of the downward-triggered, exactly, the current financial crisis in the Internet industry predicament should not be called a crisis , saying it is more appropriate to be at a low ebb. "Internet users have now reached 250 million," said Chiapo, president of the Shenzhen Internet Association, "and the internet is being scaled up, the web has become a part of most of our lives, the public is increasingly reliant on the internet, and companies are paying more attention to the Internet." All these show that the internet industry is a chaoyang industry. ”

"But in the final effect, two crises have the ingredients to squeeze the dotcom bubble," he said. Guo Jianwu, vice chairman of the Shenzhen Internet Technology Application Association, believes that the low tide is coming, the Internet industry is able to take the opportunity to scour the sand, squeezed off due to the industry in recent years the rapid development of the foam components.

[Cause]

Traditional economy involves internet enterprises

Will the cold winter of the traditional economy spill over into the internet industry, which has been a new economic representative? The answer is yes. Guo Jianwu that the income of Internet enterprises usually comes from two places: first, the provision of services, and the second is advertising revenue. In the provision of services, to business-to-business E-commerce Internet enterprises as an example, the international economic downturn, the continued decline in external demand, has been to China's foreign trade entities have a substantial impact on enterprises, trade significantly reduced, resulting in an increasingly shrinking e-commerce market, a large number of enterprises into trouble. In the third quarter of 2008, Business-to-business E-commerce, with a growth rate of 1.46 billion and only 0.7%, has slowed the growth of the online recruitment market to 4.1%, according to a survey by Eric Consulting.

Internet advertising revenue decline seems to be unstoppable, according to public information, the third quarter is usually the peak of Internet advertising, but the Internet advertising market leader of the media in the third quarter of 2008 Internet advertising revenue but there was a chain negative situation, Show that the financial crisis in foreign large advertising and domestic real estate and other advertisers cut the Internet advertising market investment to the Internet advertising market growth slowed. Shares in the media fell by 24% in the third quarter of 2008. And there is more news on the Internet that the ads to the main Yang Lian, interactive, good yes and so the income only accounted for the original income of 50%-60%, online advertising volume greatly reduced. Guo Jianwu that the traditional enterprise life is not easy, the reduction of social demand, will inevitably lead to two major sources of income reduction.

Prospect]

Crisis to eliminate the weak also contains vitality

The reporter learned that most internet companies did not see this crisis as a dead-end, on the contrary, many enterprises believe that the crisis contains opportunities. "The crisis will eliminate some of the weak in the industry, and the strong will eventually prevail," he said. "A person in charge of a technology company in Shenzhen said," Just like in 2000 after the first Internet crisis, Sina, netease these websites finally established and strengthened its portal status, I believe that after this crisis, ' strong body ' will eventually usher in their own development opportunities, become the network industry upstart. ”

In the face of the crisis, in addition to actively looking for possible income-generating opportunities, some Internet companies admit that in order to ensure that they can survive, there is a plan for throttling. "Holding a regiment to keep warm, government support" has become an open call for the internet industry. Chiapo said the association has also been active in efforts to build a number of platforms to communicate with enterprises on a regular basis, and hope that through the association of the platform, between the enterprise and the government to build a bridge between the small and medium-sized Internet enterprises to provide better services.

Recommendations]

Network Enterprises should return to the concept of enterprise

The gloomy economic outlook has left the Internet industry, which has been infinitely beautiful, sluggish, with many weak internet companies shutting down. In the interview, a detail was noticed by the reporter, some business owners handed over the double-sided printed business cards, each printed with different corporate titles, usually on one side for the traditional industry title, side for the Internet enterprise, but the name of the site is a black pen crossed off. "Before the genius shut down, did not have time to change new business card." A business owner said to reporters apologetically.

In fact, because of the particularity of the Internet industry, venture capital can be said to be the lifeblood of the internet industry. After the financial crisis, overseas investment banks and hedge funds are quick to take away their money. Data from magnanimous consulting show that China's third quarter of 2008, the number of new venture capital fund only 20, the chain fell 50%;

"Now VC will not accept too virtual things, more favored the traditional economy, the previous Internet companies that rely on the concept of speculation, to build a platform to attract VC time is gone." "The reduction in venture capital will make it difficult for internet companies in the financial crisis to raise the funds needed for development, leading to the collapse of a large number of start-ups or developing internet companies," Guo Jianwu. Guo Jianwu suggested, "The crisis requires us to return to do business, pay more attention to management, take out the effort to survive, and ultimately win." ”