Why did Zhou Hongyi return to the mobile phone market?

Zhou Hongyi was willful yesterday and spent $400 million to establish the Dashen mobile phone box company with Coolpad. Public opinion and the stock market were not optimistic. In yesterday's US stock trading, 360's stock price fell by nearly 7%, and in this morning's Hong Kong stock trading, Coolpad's stock price also fell by more than 5%.

Two years ago, Zhou Hongyi helped traditional mobile phone manufacturers sell mobile phones through online models, which was summarized as the "360 special machine" model. Under this model, Zhou Hongyi was just an online seller, and the biggest gain was that these special mobile phones were pre-installed with some 360 ​​apps.

Although Xiaomi mobile phones had already emerged at that time, Zhou Hongyi ultimately did not join the battle due to his fear of the manufacturing industry.

However, the development of things has definitely exceeded Zhou Hongyi's expectations. Because after Xiaomi, many new mobile phone brands, such as Huawei Honor, OnePlus, and Hammer, have found a way out in the red ocean.

My colleague said something that sounded a bit harsh in a manuscript: "Luo Yonghao can make a decent mobile phone, but Zhou Hongyi didn't have the courage to do it himself, and finally completed it by investing in a company. It's disappointing."

I have reservations about this view. In fact, it is difficult for a cybersecurity company to cross over into supply chain management, manufacturing and other businesses.

Just think about what happened to the Hammer phone. Even with the best OEM manufacturer Foxconn, the production capacity issue can still make the seemingly powerful Luo Yonghao become a grandson. He has to watch the factory in Langfang, Hebei every day, and most of the time he is powerless to do anything.

I vaguely remember that Zhou Hongyi once made an angel investment in a goat milk company. At that time, an entrepreneur approached Zhou Hongyi and said he wanted to make goat milk, saying that cow milk was no longer good and goat milk was so good. He also introduced that he had invented a patent that could remove the mutton smell of goat milk after three years of research.

Zhou Hongyi was soon stunned by the fantastic business plan. After tasting the goat milk provided by the entrepreneur twice, he and two friends invested several million yuan in it. However, in the end, it all went down the drain.

Afterwards, Zhou Hongyi concluded: Being an angel investor cannot be based on imagination, enthusiasm, or impulsiveness. In short, don’t do it if you are not familiar with it!

The principle of not doing something if you are not familiar with it may be the important reason why Zhou Hongyi has not really made up his mind to make his own mobile phone.

But now, why did he come in again? I think Zhou Hongyi may have felt that 360 was in danger.

The ecosystem that Xiaomi has built around its phones has proven to be much more insane than making a cool APP. Even if everyone in the world uses 360 Security Guard, it is just an APP in a phone, and no matter how cool it is, it relies on someone else's platform.

Zhou Hongyi, who has a crazy desire for control, is obviously unwilling to make a cool APP on the mobile platform.

Now, he took action.

It is hard to conclude whether the Dashen brand is good or not, but with the supervision of Zhou Hongyi, a great product manager, I think there will be no problem with the experience of Dashen mobile phones in the future.

As for whether it can win in the end and become a platform like Xiaomi, I am skeptical. After all, Timing is not the best time.

Back to the beginning, after the joint venture was announced, 360's share price fell nearly 7% in yesterday's US stock trading, and Coolpad's share price also performed weakly in Hong Kong stock trading this morning. As of press time, Coolpad Group's share price had fallen by more than 9%.

Judging from the stock market's reaction, investors are not optimistic about this joint venture deal. Coolpad's Hong Kong stock market value is about HK$7.2 billion. If the valuation of the Dashen mobile phone joint venture is reasonable, then the valuation of this part alone can reach HK$7 billion.

What does this mean? I think that either Coolpad Group’s manufacturing, factory, design and other businesses are not valuable, or the valuation is inflated, or the investors are simply not optimistic about the future of the joint venture.

I believe that more people would think that the prospects of this joint venture are not clear.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.