Yang Mi's advertisement has been said for almost 1 1 year, and we have listened to it for many years.

Recently, 58 Tongcheng released its financial report for the first quarter of 2020, showing that in the three months ending March 3 1 2020, it achieved revenue of 2,560.3 million yuan (3140,000 US dollars), down 15% compared with the same period of 20 19, with an operating loss of 5,500.

After deducting RMB 2,683.2 million brought by domestic business financing of 58 subsidiaries to 58 cities, according to non-American accounting standards, the net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders is RMB 439.6 million (US$ 62 million).

On June 15, 58 cities listed in the US stock market officially announced the signing of a privatization agreement, and the repurchase will be completed at a price of 8.7 billion US dollars (about 6 17 billion yuan), which is also one of the largest privatization transactions this year.

From 65438+February 58, 2005, Tongcheng was established, to 20 13, 10 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and now it was announced to be privatized. 58 Tongcheng, an Internet information aggregation platform that started from the PC era, has gone through its fifteenth year.

I still remember that time, renting a house, looking for a job, looking for a part-time job, making friends, buying and selling second-hand goods and so on. Either I went to 58 cities or I went to the market. These two websites are treasures for wage earners who are working hard in big cities.

At the same time, as a China Internet company listed in the US stock market for seven years, it has now announced its delisting from the US stock market. There are various versions of speculation about the reasons for privatization. Some people say that it is helpless to deal with the regulatory risks in the United States. Others think that its performance is weak, its market share is gradually losing, and its traffic dividend is fading. It needs to be re-evaluated through privatization and then returned.

Privatization does not mean 58 failure. Today, the market value of 58 is about $8 billion. However, what will happen to the privatized 58? How much will 65438+58 be worth in 2005?

Seize the information gap and start with money.

65438+February 2005 65438+February 2005, 58 City was established. At that time, Yao Jinbo wanted to build a China version of Craigslist. Craigslist, the hottest classified advertising website in the United States, publishes all kinds of life information, sells used cars, publishes rental information, recruitment and blind date. It used to be one of America's favorite websites, with traffic comparable to ebay.

Yao Jinbo wants to build 58 City into "the first portal of local life information", and just started to do it, it got a $5 million investment from SoftBank Safran.

At first, 58 cities only did C2C business, completely imitating American Craigslist. But it is difficult to advance, that is, individual users pay. At that time, the domestic Internet penetration rate and usage were still in the growth stage, and there was no current "awareness of paying". In the cognition of most netizens at that time, the information on the Internet was available and should be free.

So it was not feasible for individual users to pay at that time. At that time, 58 thought of a trick to make money by online traffic. Yao Jinbo funded the establishment of a magazine, Life Circle, but it stopped publishing only one year later, because he found that the Internet was the place where they should focus.

After refocusing online, 58 cities joined B2C business on the basis of C2C business, and charged enterprise users through B2C business.

With the development of the charging business, 58 Tongcheng achieved a substantial increase in revenue and achieved profitability in 2009. After the second, third and fourth rounds of financing, 58 Tongcheng officially entered the stage of rapid expansion.

Like other local life service platforms in the same period, Tongcheng started in a favorable social and market environment: the popularity of PC is getting higher and higher, and the number of network users is growing rapidly. People are eager to get familiar with the network and make full use of it.

The difference between online and offline information has become a fertile ground for the growth of local life service platforms, especially in big cities where the pace of life and work is relatively fast. It is very important to obtain timely, convenient and rich information.

In the same period, Jiji.com, the main competitor of 58 cities. There is not much difference in essence. It is a classified information platform, but there are some differences.

Local life service platforms such as "58" and "Fair" actually publish all kinds of information previously published in newspapers and other printed materials on the Internet. As the carrier of network information, 58 Tongcheng and Jiji.com have incomparable advantages such as newspapers and periodicals. The release of information is not limited by the release time and form, and at the same time, more people can see the most timely information.

But when the internet is not very developed, the cost of obtaining traffic is not low.

Most of the market expenses of startups in the same city are concentrated on two expenses: advertising and endorsement, and purchase traffic.

The first is advertising and celebrity endorsement.

At that time, in addition to commercial competition, the competition between 58 and Jiji.com was also a personal struggle in advertising and marketing. Almost all channels have done a lot of marketing advertisements, such as bus, subway, TV and so on. Long-term active in some channels of CCTV and major local TV stations.

In contrast, 58 cities are a little behind.

20 1 1 begins with Gigi. Com advertising, signed up Sabrina, who starred in the hit drama "Latency", as the spokesperson. With this advertisement, Sabrina drove the donkey to the market, although it had not been brainwashed.

Degree, but also all kinds of hegemony.

At that time, as soon as the advertisement endorsed by Sebrina was broadcast, the Baidu index in Jiji.com increased by three times, while the Baidu index in 58 cities in the same period was much lower than that in the fair.

According to Chen Jianning, vice president of 58 Tongcheng, in an interview with the media on 20 17, seeing that Jiji.com's advertising endorsement has achieved such effect and influence, 58 Tongcheng is very anxious and eager to come up with a solution. One key point is to choose a celebrity spokesperson.

First consider Sun, then consider the brand tonality of 58 cities and other related factors. Christina with the title of "national daughter-in-law" is more suitable, but for various reasons, no cooperation has been reached.

At that time, Yang Mi's "Palace Lock Heart Jade" had just finished broadcasting, and its popularity soared. After 80s, he liked The Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man very much, and finally decided to invite Yang Mi as the spokesperson. According to Chen Jianning, it only took about two days from contacting Yang Mi's agent to signing the contract.

Coupled with the advertisements of CCTV, local TV stations and subways, the investment in 58 cities is huge. At that time, it was reported that the advertising cost of 58% was close to 500 million yuan, which Yao Jinbo did not deny.

In 8 years, it became the first classified information listed in the United States.

According to public information, from its establishment in 2005 to its successful listing in 20 13, 58 cities have raised funds for six times in eight years, excluding the personal follow-up investment of Yao Jinbo, and the accumulated financing is 65,438 USD+57 million.

In 20 13, 58 Tongcheng was listed on NYSE, becoming the first classified information listed in the United States, and its share price rose by 4 1.88% on the first day of listing.

According to the prospectus, from 20 12 to 20 13, the losses of 58 cities exceeded 130,000 USD, 80 million USD and 30 million USD respectively. The year with the biggest loss is 20 1 1, which is also the fastest year to burn money. This year, 58 cities signed contracts.

At the same time, the prospectus also shows that from 20 10 to 2012,58, the city burned more than 65438+200 million US dollars, and almost all the first three rounds of financing were burned out.

Finally, in the second quarter of 20 13, before listing, 58 cities achieved their first profit.

On the one hand, 58 cities significantly reduced their advertising expenditure after 20 1 1 year. From 20 10 to 2012,58, the advertising expenditure in the same city reached $8.2 million, $68.5 million and $2,565,438+million respectively.

On the other hand, the income of paying members has increased substantially. In this quarter, the membership fee income of 58 cities increased by 38% month-on-month, accounting for 59% of the total income.

In addition to membership fees, there were online marketing services and online transaction commissions in the business composition of 58 cities at that time, but online transactions accounted for only single digits.

However, although listing has solved the capital flow demand of 58 cities, its business composition determines that it is highly dependent on the introduction of traffic.

In fact, on the classified information track, it is not as hot as the "Thousand Regiments War". At most, there were more than 2,000 classified information websites in China, and even Renren was once one of the classified information websites. In the end, just like buying a track, there are only a few heads left.

At the beginning of the founding of 58 City, the market has already made a judgment, either acquired by a big factory or listed. After eight years of painstaking efforts, 58 was listed in the same city.

Now, it is only two months since April 2 this year, when 58 cities announced that they had received a tender offer and reached a privatization agreement.

Why?

Advantages become disadvantages, 58 gains and losses.

From portal website to classified information website, it is a development path of information service platform from comprehensive to vertical. In this development process, the information difference advantage occupied by classified information websites quickly changed from absolute advantage to relative advantage, and then there was no advantage at all, especially after the arrival of the mobile Internet era, this process became extremely rapid.

Although the market scale of each track is huge enough, it is more realistic to maintain the user flow of classified information websites such as 58, such as how to charge users, in the case of a large number of vertical information service websites and SNS communities.

The recruitment website had Zhaopin and 5 1job before 58 cities. In the era of mobile Internet, there are vertical uses such as Boss direct employment and pulse, and there are also hundreds of subsidiaries that focus on blue-collar recruitment.

Housing rental and sale, Anjuke was established in 2007, and in 20 15, Love My Family appeared, which is also free to use and has shells.

The second-hand market is firmly occupied by idle fish;

There are countless types of social platforms for making friends in the era of mobile Internet.

For Internet users who face the explosive growth of network information every day, vertical information is obviously easier to meet the immediate needs of users. When these platforms appear, how to maintain the user flow of classified information websites is a more realistic problem.

58 has also realized the dependence on traffic import. Even Yao Jinbo himself expressed a view on 20 14 that the traditional information classification website is dead.

But in recent years, 58 cities have done the most actions, in fact, buy buy bought and dismantled, acquired vertical information platforms, and split business.

1, bought by buy buy, an information empire established by acquisition.

Judging from the target of its acquisition, 58 focuses on adding new traffic portals in various segments, and does not involve the transformation of the company's business itself.

20/kloc-in March, 2005, 58 cities bought Anjuke for 267 million dollars. In May of the same year, it acquired ChinaHR.com.. In August this year, the company increased its stake in Lafortune, a car review platform, to 70%. This year, 58 also acquired Yitongtong, a driving school, and became a shareholder in Tuba Rabbit.

The most striking M&A is Jiji.com's M&A, and their combination has formed a monopoly in the field of classified information services.

The enthusiasm for "buying while buying" is surprising. Less than a month before the tender offer was issued by Guling Capital, 58 City also signed an agreement with Xinyou used car to acquire assets related to Xinyou auction business for US$ 654.38+0.5 billion.

It can be seen that the acquisition target of 58 City is still concentrated in the original business scope of 58 City, and the traffic in various vertical information fields is strengthened by continuously acquiring vertical platforms. At the same time, it has also made a certain extension on this basis, and has successively carried out 58-home (housekeeping and other life services), transferred to the second-hand platform, and 58-city (the sinking market version of the same city) and other businesses.

It can be considered that the business focus of 58 is reflected in the business coverage. For example, in the field of job recruitment, there are high-end ChinaHR.com, middle-end 58, fair recruitment, part-time job hunting.

However, when the tide of the mobile Internet came, it did not keep up with the pace in time and did not fully transform and upgrade according to the development characteristics of the mobile Internet.

Although 58 has built a classified information empire through acquisition, especially after the acquisition of Jiji. com. Com, it seems that there is a monopoly feeling, but it can only be said that the overall business volume is huge, but there is no resultant force. Faced with competitors from every vertical market, it lacks sufficient depth and determination, which means that 58 will be tired of coping with the competitive pressure of various sub-tracks.

2, demolition, investment behavior is greater than business.

Business splitting seems to have become a habitual operation in 58 cities. Besides buying it at buy buy, 58 may do the most.

In the split of 58, it can be divided into two parts. The first is to split the original business vertically. As mentioned earlier, after the merger of 58, the first thing to do is to separate the part-time business on the two platforms and make it a "Mi Dou" brand, which has also obtained tens of millions of dollars in financing.

Also on 20 15, a few months after the merger with Jiji.com, 58 and Jiji * * * announced the split of the equity of "melon seeds used car". At the beginning of 20 19, it also sold part of its equity in Cheduo Group for $71360,000. 58 Tongcheng 20 19 financial report shows that a large part of its annual income of 20 19155.8 billion yuan comes from the sale of a large number of shares.

Constantly merging and splitting, instead of focusing on vertical fields, is less and less like the classified information website that users once relied on. It is precisely because of these capital operations that the outside world can see more clearly that in recent years, 58' s financial performance, although the performance of revenue growth is very bright, excludes the investment income of business splitting and mergers and acquisitions, in fact, its main income, membership income and online promotion income growth rate are all declining, and its operating performance continues to be under pressure.

There are even short-selling institutions that released reports twice on 20 19, arguing that 58 concealed losses through mergers and acquisitions, splitting and manipulating financial reports.

Every track is a huge market. In every track, there are 58 footprints. Take group buying as an example. In the hottest year or two of group buying, 58 once hoped to take advantage of its own merchants and users' resources to cut into the group buying track, including the market.

However, few survived in the "Thousand Regiments War", and the rest either transformed or failed completely. In the end, 58 cities with the mentality of "occupying the pit" missed the opportunity to burn money and could only watch the US group rise from the ground. Now it has become a real giant with a market value of HK$ 1 trillion.

There is no shortage of money in the same city, at least now, and there is no worry about making money. But since entering the mobile internet, the traffic has completely turned. Although 58 cities involve many tracks, and each track has a huge capacity, each track has its own industry giants. They are attacking the traditional classified information websites in terms of professionalism and vertical depth.

These vertical heads or little giants have become the strongest opponents of 58.

Write it at the end

Along the way, 58 city is the king in the field of classified information, but it has become the world in the field of segmentation.

Since 20 13 went public, its revenue growth rate began to decline, and from the third quarter of 20 18, the two cash cows, online advertising and membership service, continued to decline, and negative growth occurred for the first time in the fourth quarter of 20 19.

The latest financial report shows that in the first quarter of 2020, the number of 58 paid merchants was about 2.7 million, and membership services contributed 815.6 million RMB (1. 1.5 1 billion USD). According to the financial report data of the fourth quarter of 20 19, in the fourth quarter of 20 19, the number of paying merchants was about 3.3 million, contributing revenue of 1 1. 1 billion RMB (1600 million USD), which means its members.

The income from online marketing business was 65.438+59.54 million yuan (US$ 225.2 million), which was 65.438+07.8% lower than that of 2065.438+09.

15 This 58-year-old city has now stood at a crossroads. He is still an internet giant, but he is an old giant who has not yet reached middle age.

I can't help thinking, what are the industry barriers in 58 cities and what is the moat in 58 cities?

Is it the brand, scale, or layout in various segments?

Or perhaps, the industry barriers no longer exist, and the moat can't pass the ankle.

It is true that 58 is no longer the "magic website", but for the privatized 58 city, whether it returns to A shares or not, it is a great opportunity to start again. Aside from the old "muscle memory", the portal ecology that has continued in the PC era needs a self-subversion.

Related Q&A: Related Q&A: Why do some people say that some job information on 58 City APP is not true? what do you think? How to avoid it? Because the real recruitment information accounts for the majority.

It is normal for such online recruitment websites to have false recruitment information. Even in society, isn't there false recruitment information?

What we can do is to distinguish the true from the false and find the ideal job. Here's how I identify true and false information:

1. Is the recruitment process formal?

General recruitment should be divided into written examination and interview. If you go directly to the interview, you should be careful (except for some occupations that don't need a written test). Interviews usually take two or three rounds. If there is only one round, you should pay attention.

Second, whether to charge training fees.

As long as the training fee is charged, it is basically fake. Of course, there are also some who charge training fees to protect their posts, but very few. If you want to know, please write privately or leave a message.

Third, is it intermediary recruitment or direct recruitment by the company?

Pay attention to whether the contract signed is an intermediary contract or a labor contract. If it is an intermediary, it is recommended not to go. It will be difficult to solve the company's problems in the future.

Fourth, the salary should be asked clearly.

Time and items of monthly salary payment. And what is the basic salary. Do I need to complete my performance to get full salary?

Are there five insurances and one gold? Now call a company and pay them all.

Five, internship treatment and time

The internship period generally does not exceed three months, and the maximum is half a year. The salary is 80% of the regular employee. And whether it can be turned positive in advance.