Chapter 20

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

Another day had gone. While China was asleep, the sun was rising in the far half of the planet.

Facebook headquarters, Menlo Park, California, USA. 10:30 a.m. local time.

The social networking giant was holding a press conference, which had been underway for some time. Nearly 100 journalists from the world’s major media newspapers were present.

The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, personally stepped onto the podium and announced, “We have recently drawn up a new decision and are hereby officially announcing that Facebook will be partnering with an internet technology company from China, XlouS, to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership. Facebook has invested 12 billion USD to acquire the rights to use XlouS’s product, Real-time Online Translator, with an exclusive license in the social space. This is the largest denomination of a single deal generated by our company to date!”

As soon as his words sounded, an uproar broke out from the reporters on scene. Lights flashed non-stop, and there was a wave of agitated discussions.

That was definitely the explosive news of the tech world today!

“We shall now answer questions from the press!” the spokesperson’s voice rang out.

The journalists raised their hands. Zuckerberg pointed and selected one of them, and the chosen one stood up immediately and said, “I’m Donnie Parker from the Wall Street Journal, and I’d like to ask you, Mr. Zuckerberg, what kind of internet company is your strategic partner, XlouS? What kind of product is Real-time Online Translator, which Facebook spent an astronomical 12 billion USD to buy an exclusive license? The company name, XlouS, doesn’t seem to exist as one of China’s most famous internet companies, does it? Thank you!”

The shutters of cameras on scene didn’t stop. Zuckerberg, who sat on stage and listened to the journalist’s question nodded and after a moment, smiled. “The nature of our partner’s business isn’t clear, but it should be part of an internet technology company. It is a newly born startup, so it is understandable that you don’t understand. We believe it’s worth 12 billion USD to get the exclusive license to Real-time Online Translator. It is an excellent product that was born for the internet and social networking platform, and we believe that this product and our partners are strategic to the development of our company!”

After Zuckerberg finished speaking, he pointed to a second journalist.

Facebook’s official press release was announced to the world via the internet by major media houses. There was no doubt that this news was like a nuclear depth bomb detonated in the ocean. The world, internet, and technology circles in Silicon Valley were in turmoil. The news release made the front page of the day’s major media and newspapers.

Facebook spent an astronomical 12 billion USD for the exclusive license to Real-time Online Translator. What exactly is Real-time Online Translator?——<>

Social media giant, Facebook, marries Chinese internet company, XlouS, for 12 billion USD!——<>

Real-time Online Translator, the new darling of the internet. Zuckerberg has once again proved his brilliant vision and powerful drive. Facebook will be unassailable in its dominance of the social world, and this emerging company from China called XlouS will be an investment darling!——<>

Shortly after the launch, Facebook’s share rose 9.8%, giving it a market capitalization of $447.3 billion, right up with Microsoft. Among the world’s top five listed companies in terms of market capitalization, the number one was Saudi Aramco from the Middle East, with a market capitalization of a whopping 2.4 trillion USD. The number two was Apple, with a market capitalization of 642.7 billion USD. The number three was Alphabet, Google’s restructuring, with a market capitalization of 581.2 billion USD. And in the fourth place was Microsoft, with a market capitalization of 449.6 billion USD. In fifth place was the social media giant, Facebook, with a market capitalization of 447.3 billion USD, rivaling Microsoft with a slight difference of only 2.3 billion USD.

Analysts were very optimistic about Facebook’s market capitalization overtaking Microsoft on that day.

In contrast to Facebook’s market capitalization, which rocketed nearly 40 billion USD, shares of other social networking companies fell in response. It was no exaggeration to describe them as plummeting, with Twitter plunging 36% that day as its market capitalization fell below the 40 billion USD mark, evaporating more than 23 billion USD. Other social networking companies also suffered. Likewise, shares of parent company, Alphabet, fell 3.1% on that day as Google was affected by its social platform, Google+.

Also affected by it was domestic social networking giant, Tencent, with shares falling 6.7% and market value close to falling below the 200 billion USD mark. According to the current trend, the company was very likely to fall below the 200 billion USD mark.

Zuckerberg burst into smiles after learning about the growth in his company’s market capitalization. Although spending 12 billion USD was quite painful for him, the payoff had clearly been fruitful, and it was only just beginning.

XlouS became famous overnight after Facebook’s official launch, and its accompanying product, Real-time Online Translator, also became a global phenomenon. XlouS, the internet technology company, was also being explored.

The company’s product, Real-time Online Translator, was surprisingly powerful and, as Zuckerberg said at the launch, born for the internet and for social platforms.

The market analyst from Wall Street commented that XlouS, an internet technology company from China, could reach an initial valuation of 36.5 billion USD on the basis of this product alone, and he stressed that its potential was huge, exceeding Ren Hong’s valuation by 1.5 billion USD. Moreover, the analyst highlighted that, according to the official Facebook release, XlouS’s product benefited a whole lot from its strategic partners. The social media users on platforms like Facebook and Instagram were the most promising consumers of Real-time Online Translator, with a frighteningly large combined number of users reaching over 2 billion. He believed that a reasonable valuation for this Chinese internet technology company was 130 billion USD.

According to market data, there were currently 3.3 billion internet users worldwide, which was an incredibly exciting figure for XlouS. Almost every internet user was a potential consumer of Real-time Online Translator and almost all of them had a reason to buy this product. Be it for social media platforms or otherwise, whenever one surfed the web and was interested in foreign websites, but faced communication problems, it was a reason why one should install the application on one’s computer, smartphone, or other electronic device.

According to unreliable sources, the Chinese company was working on a speech-to-text translation feature, which was bound to be good news for some video users when version 2.0 was released. When that happened, the company’s valuation would be further boosted.

Wall Street analysts ranked XlouS among the A+++ key investments.

Over time, it eventually became clear that everyone—including Ren Hong—had underestimated the potential of Real-time Online Translator, but that was a story for another day.